Oprah Backtracks To Save Face

James Frey will appear on Oprah today and I won't be watching. I am glad to see someone finally saying something. It's about time, Oprah.

Oprah backtracks on James Frey

C'mon, the guy lied, we all got duped. It's time for him to go away so we can get back to real literature, real issues (Hamas wins in Palestinian election), and real life.

With that in mind, you should know I'm writing quite determinedly on my novel. It is fiction, completely fiction.

This story started as a dream I had back almost ten years ago. I wrote a first draft that really wasn't good and my agent turned it down September 12, 2001. It has taken me this long to get back into it, to realize that my plot worked just fine, but that my writing, my thinking processes, need to be stronger.

The second draft is blowing me away. I see plot tricks in there that subconsciously appeared, tricks such as the likes of Michael Crichton would be so proud of. I have two so far, that may be all I can bring forth. But I'm so happy with the first 15k words. This is the story I want to tell.

I admit, I know people who can pour our novels at the speed of touch type. I cannot. It irks me. Maybe I'll get faster after my first novel is done. Maybe I'll figure out a better system for writing a novel. Charles Dickens churned out novel after novel after novel, but Jane Smiley insists that his best novel was one of his last, the one that took the longest and caused him the most angst.

So I'm okay for now. I like the plot, I like how it is coming down to the page, and I like the momentum. It's working.

My goal is to have a first draft by June 1. Think I can do it?