why it's almost like being in love...

(I can hear Nat King Cole's wonderfully soothing, crooning voice as I write this post: What a day this has been/What a rare mood I'm in/Why it's almost like being in love...)

I've been shouting this from the social networking rooftops all day today: I'm so friggin' in love with our supporting character. Seriously, I wanna make out with him.

There are several reasons why this feeling is so, er, stimulating.

For one, it's a sign that the writing is working. The idea for the scene was my writing partner's. It's relatively simple in that it's not a love scene or crucial to a story arc or climactic in any way. It's two characters who see each other at an unexpected time and place and circumstance. She (my writing partner) called me yesterday morning with the idea, excited, and I could practically hear the percolating sounds her brain was making as she explained it to me. "Go write it!" I commanded. She sent me the draft this morning, and the more I read, the more I fell in love with him (our character) and the moment he was immersed in.

For another, it's a sign that the character is alive. He takes deep breaths, wipes the sweat and mist from his face. She smells the salt in the air. They have a casual conversation. No pretense, no flirting, not even the slightest physical contact. And yet, we can see just a hint of vulnerability in both of them. Just enough to make them real, to make us care.

Third, it's a sign that our collaboration is working. Actually, this has never been an issue. It's worked from day one. And while it's not a permanent partnership--I'm already sketching my next couple of novels and planning to write them solo, and I'm sure she'll move on to her next project w/out me, it's a once-in-a-lifetime alliance that has made writing this novel such a blast. We have had to make concessions, argue to keep things in or take things out. We've had to shift the balance of the workload, but we've almost always managed to share the vision. We've managed to stay on the same page, even when we're working on different scenes and chapters, or not working at all. A match made in heaven, I suppose.

So many times, the writer is immersed in the laborious part. The constant re-seeing, re-reading, re-thinking, and re-writing. I think the average reader doesn't see how much doubt goes into the process. A good writing day is essential to the process. A good writing day makes all the difference in the world.

So today I am in love. I'm in love with our character, I'm in love with our novel, and I'm in love with our process. I'm in love with writing.

Now, if we could just figure out how to bottle these days...

today's blog tour appearance

Today I'm at Writer Unboxed discussing my recent writing partnership. There are a lot of differences between writing solo and writing with a partner who is also a friend.

Thanks to Therese Walsh for hosting me!

Also, thanks to all my Aaron Sorkin friends who took the time to leave a comment, whether it was here or on Facebook, publicly or privately. I'm touched by the way it touched you.

my partner in crime and me: a story of collaboration

I've been promising you this post for weeks now. Here's how my writing partner and I worked on our manuscript back in December:

We each came armed with a massive binder containing our manuscript. Each of us had annotated its pages with questions, ideas, reminders, and the occasional smiley or frowny face.

We had a pretty set schedule. Up at 8am. By the time the morning routine was done, we immediately got to work, never later than 10:00.

We'd go page by page.
Me: Do you have any comments on this page?
Her: A couple.
Me: Share.

And then we'd systematically go through our notes (sometimes of the same line or paragraph or character motivation) and would proceed to talk about the characters and story as if they were real people and places. Sometimes we got stuck on a word or a line, and spent 20 minutes wordsmithing (even my mother, a room away, chimed in a few times). Sometimes we disagreed on a piece of dialogue or a character response or description. We made our cases, and usually compromised in the end. When we liked something, we complimented the writing (at times unsure of which one of us wrote it). When we didn't like something, we made fun of the writing and each other. (As the novel progressed, we marveled at the new levels of suckage it had reached.) The ability to laugh at yourself and your work, especially if the writing is not going well, is a crucial step in the process. More so if you are collaborating.

This was all before lunch.

After lunch, we'd resume our place, and work until dinner. After dinner was West Wing time. We included this as part of our work. The West Wing provided us with simultaneuous motivation and relief. Some nights we squeezed in a couple more hours of work before bedtime.

Some days we changed our scenery, be it the Barnes & Noble cafe or a different room in my mother's house. When we weren't talking about our manuscript, we engaged in debates (is Long Island really an island?), trivia (Where did the Pine Barrens get its name?), and I put her three years of chiropractic school to work (Why does my jaw pop when I eat certain foods? Why do women get menstrual cramps? What is that annoying knot in the back of my neck?). And so on. We laughed a lot, we ate good food, and we enjoyed the beauties of the East End. I even showed her the creepy Santa that stands outside the variety store on Main Street and sings when you pass it (it's not human, but it's real...)

We still have a lot of work to do on our manuscript. More scenes to write, a lot more to revise, and more feedback from readers. The best part of the project is how much fun we've had. We always said from the get-go that even if no one else likes our book, we do. And sometimes that's all that really matters.

checking in

Friends, my apologies for going MIA. I'm currently staying with my mom on Long Island, and while her house reeks of comforts, internet access is not among them. I've been getting a chance to connect to civilization only every other day, once a day, if I'm lucky. And being that we're expecting a blizzard any minute, who knows when the next opportunity will be.

I've also just finished a week of intense revision and editing with my writing partner in crime on our novel Why I Love Singlehood (yes folks, we have a title!). We unanimously agree that we KICKED ASS, and we're very excited about this novel even though we still have a lot of work to do.

When I get a chance, I'll post a review of our work week. One thing I'll especially focus on is the importance of laughing at yourself when the writing is reaching new levels of suckage. Let's just say that we laughed a lot.

Anyhoo, in the meantime, if I get snowed in for days (and it's very possible that I will), let me wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Writing, and safe travels.

I recommend eating as many cookies as you can.

the getaway

My writing partner in crime had a rough week, and in what was clearly one of those temporary-insanity-as-a-means-to-restoring-sanity moves, proclaimed that she no longer wanted to do the very thing she's devoted the last three years of her life to. On the verge of graduation, she proclaimed that she wanted to chuck it all. The thing that caused sleepless nights, panic attacks, mind-numbing hours of studying, and practice practice practice.

All while occasionally co-writing a novel when she found a spare minute, day, or week.

We've all had those moments. Hell, my mother HUNG A SIGN ON THE DOOR: Buy One, Get One Free, when my twin brother and I wore down her very last nerve. I've had teaching days when I swear I'm a fraud, and never want to set foot in a classroom ever again.

Writers occasionally want to throw their computers out the window (although, as my good friend Elspeth recently wrote, thank goodness for that Delete key). Doctors want to take up fly fishing. Heck, I'll bet the president is wishing he stayed home on that cold day in Illinois two years ago and played Guitar Hero instead.

So, as a sign of solidarity, I offered to run away from it all with my writing partner, my friend. Open the very cafe in which the bulk of our novel takes place, complete with cookies and reading nooks and regular customers to sit around and debate the really important stuff -- Culture Club vs. Duran Duran. Drake's Cakes vs. Little Debbie. Aaron Sorkin vs. David E. Kelley. And so on. Just say the word, I said, and I'm there. I'll even move back up north and live amongst all those Red Sox fans again.

And don't think for a minute that there wasn't some little part of me that wasn't kidding.

Of course, we came to our senses. This would be the only cafe that opened late and closed early -- I am so not a morning person. Besides, she's too damn good at what she does and she knows it. And there's all those aformentioned Red Sox fans...

We miss each other, and we miss working on our manuscript. Our momentarily proposed getaway was really testament to the world we've created through our collaboration. We're writing the book we want to read. We're creating a place in which we wouldn't mind living. We're listening to the voices of those we love dearly, and telling their truths.

This is just one of many reasons why I love writing. It's a magical camera that makes the world happen through my lens. And it all happens with words.

We can't wait to finish our manuscript and get it into the hands of readers. Perhaps it'll be shared by coffeeshop dwellers gathered around a table, discussing things over lattes and cookies, like trying to guess which one of us wrote which part, or who the protag should've ended up with, or who's going to play whom in the movie.

You know, the really important stuff.