The First One to Speak Loses

Epigraph is from one of my favorite books.

What we, or at any rate what I, refer to confidently as memory—meaning a moment, a scene, a fact that has been subjected to a fixative and thereby rescued from oblivion—is really a form of storytelling that goes on continually in the mind and often changes with the telling. Too many conflicting emotional interests are involved for life ever to be wholly acceptable, and possibly it is the work of the storyteller to rearrange things so that they conform to this end. In any case, in talking about the past we lie with every breath we draw.

—William Maxwell, So Long, See You Tomorrow

Friday, July 5, 2013

Day Four: July 5, 2013

Busy day in Temecula. Up early to read before heading out to spin class. This writer needed to move her body. Found a place very close. I must say, exercise (SWEAT) gives me energy all day long. Will go several more times.

So I reread the slim book that I've used as a template to structure my fiction. Monkeys by Susan Minot is a hybrid of short stories and a novel. There are arguments on both sides, which begs my question: has my fiction evolved into a novel or is it a story cycle?  As I contemplated the last two story/chapters (9 & 10) I found myself going back to Chapter 8 because the ending has to be earned, it has to be at once surprising and inevitable. That's what re-vision (to see again) is all about.


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