Today I finally put some painting time in. It’s been a while since I’ve done that. I’m still working on that cluttered collage on the gessoboard. Working on that fence has been taking forever, but then again, I haven’t been putting in the hours or days.

I’ll be losing that spaceship. I don’t want it in there, I’ve decided. I want a pretty flat color and I’m even thinking about going with acrylic instead of oils – just for the “sky,” even though this is pretty abstract. It’s still based on a landscape of an old trailer in the desert though.

Instead of painting very much, and as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been writing like mad, working on the book. I’ve probably written a good 20,000 words or more, and that’s not even including what I did to the first chapter. I finally gave it a first real draft. I wasn’t going to do that until I gave the entire book a whole first pass, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s decent, but of course it will need a couple more drafts after I’ve written the whole book. I’ve spent a good deal of time with it though, but that’s just how that goes. It’s not the same kind of writing as writing down the first pass. It takes much longer.

I’ve also written another year of my life (in the first pass), so I’m about 24 in the book now. I also realized that there are spots I’ve already written some time ago. I guess I forgot about writing them. Still, I need to be patient. It’s going to take as long as it takes. I just can’t rush it even though I know a bunch is going to be edited out.

As scary as it was, I let mjp read my first chapter that I made into a first real draft. I mean, I’m glad I did. I got tremendously constructive feedback. He was very helpful. I feel like I will know what to do better on the next draft now, and in the meantime, I would like to write in my blog more often.

You’d think I would want to write less in my blog so that I could spend more time on the book and not waste my writing time on blog entries, but not so!

Apparently there’s something about how I write in this blog that makes me a much more comfortable writer. According to mjp, a “better” writer. It’s because I don’t try so hard. And that’s what holds me up a lot when I am working on the book. I lose my voice and try to “be a writer.” Do you know how much that ruins everything? Well, it does.

So, I have an idea.

I’m going to re-write that first chapter again specifically for the blog. That way, I will hopefully write it completely differently than it is written right now. It’s a risk, I know, but it’s going to be an exercise for me. Maybe a really good one, who knows.

So I’m committing to this and any of you readers out there that might be interested are going to have to hold me to it. It’s a kind of experiment for me to write more naturally and I think it will work. I only have concerns about how revealing it’s going to be. That makes me rather nervous, but these things will be coming out when the book is published anyway – I just expected that stuff to come out all at once – ripped off like a giant band-aid – you know?

Anyway, stay tuned.

And I guess I should forewarn everyone now, before I post the chapter – there will be lots of foul language and some graphic situations. Lately I have been mindful of my language on the blog (mostly), but the book is written how I would naturally speak 😉 and I am quite the potty mouth! Anyway, my point is that it’s not for your kids or the easily offended…so beware of the mighty F-word. Oh for shame!

OH! By the way, Craig Krull is taking my work to Palm Springs to a “Pop-up” exhibition the weekend of Valentines Day, during the Palm Springs Fine Art Fair. The exhibition is called SMALL HOUSE and it runs Thursday, February 11th through Sunday the 14th. It’s also Modernism Week there in PS, so there’s lots to do in the city. I might even go, if I can manage the drive. I’m not sure yet, but I’m going to try.