Conceiving an idea for a long piece of fiction called Under Angels in the winter of 2006, one moment.
Banging out a treatment of the idea that spring, a few weeks.
Throwing the treatment in a drawer to distance yourself from it, two years.
Deciding to revisit the story in the summer of 2008 and tell it in the form of a novel, one moment.
Outlining the novel that summer, two weeks.
Throwing the outline into a drawer and forgetting about it, six months.
Finally getting around to reading the outline over the holidays in 2008, one night.
Choosing to embrace the task of fleshing the outline out into the novel it needed to be, a split second.
Deciding to do it publicly on your blog, another split second.
Coming up with a crazy New Year’s Resolution idea to blog each of the outline’s 26 chapters every two weeks for a year, from January 1 2009 to December 31 2009, another split second.
Blogging the 26-chapter novel, 365 days.
Throwing the blovel in a drawer to get distance from it, one winter.
Revisiting the blovel, reading it, editing it, and writing four brand-new middle chapters, a spring and a summer.
Preparing the finished novel’s manuscript and finishing it on Halloween, a few weeks.
Beating out the novel into a 110-page adapted screenplay in November 2010, two weeks.
Digesting the reality of the story finally being told, ongoing.
Feeling the separation anxiety, ongoing.
Embarking on the marketing phase of the project, ongoing.
Getting feedback from various selected readers, ongoing.
Having your old man text you to let you know he finished the Under Angels novel last night at 3AM, priceless.
Just horrible. They might as well put a question mark after the “hello” to get the full effect. Like, you know, totally barf me out gag me with a spoon?
RELATED: Comma Mistakes
July 2009, Hollywood Hills CA.
