My Third Novel's Conclusion, My Heartbreak

My heart begins to break when I think about completing this particular book -- because this narrative has sustained me like no other story I've known. It's both more personal and more universal than my other works. But beyond memory and archetype, it's a cri-de-coeur about needing to become the person one is destined to be. And in the writing, I have met my own life's work, my own fated journey -- having the sense all the while that the pages are suffused with a resonance, an energy, an electrified field that defies explanation. Writers hope and pray to be overtaken by a work in this way -- to be conscripted into passionate service of a profound story. To experience it even once in a lifetime seems a great privilege. I still have several months before this novel is complete, and this constitutes my reprieve. Because I'm not ready for the beauty to end.




Saturday, June 26, 2010

Rescue

Michele Vavonese sends a sensitive cover -- from which I include a rather captivating portion with this post. Somehow, I'm compelled by the empty cage having its own space, though I do promise to follow by posting the whole work. What is it about the cage that speaks to us of rescue? Of the evidence of embarkation? Among the quotes that inspired Ms. Vavonese's work -- I was visiting a place where my heart was unfastened. I was trying not to cry when I felt it come loose.