Gonzalo Barr

Twice now I’ve missed the anniversary of this blog.  My inaugural post appeared on June 17, 2007.  (That’s one day after Bloomsday.  Maybe I can use that to remember my own blog’s birthday.)  Last year, I didn’t post about the anniversary until July 4.  I just forgot.  This year I had an excuse.  I was away and my access to a computer was limited to a few minutes twice a week, but I missed it just the same.  And though this time I’m not writing about it as late as July 4, I’m close.

When I inaugurated the blog in 2007, I had only a very general idea what I would do with it.  Two years later, that hasn’t changed. And you know what, I like it that way.  Not everything in life has to be planned or even known.  A little room for discovery and surprise are good, don’t you think?

It’s the same with novels. I started writing one in February of last year and had only a general idea what it would be about. Since then, I’ve revised and rewritten it several times. Yet it’s only now that the narrative arc is becoming clear to me. By focusing on the beginning, the rest of the story has acquired a clarity it did not have before. Long walks and long trips are very good for thinking through problems like that. Perhaps I could have avoided this had I outlined the novel before writing. Yet the idea of outlining seems to me anathema to creative writing. You wake before sunrise and sit down alone at a desk to discover something, not just to execute it. It’s thrilling when your own book becomes something you didn’t know or even expect.  It’s an emotion that long outlasts the novelty of the discovery.  It’s the pay-off.

I do want to thank everyone who has contributed here with comments.  And through the blog, I have met and made some friends in places as far from Miami as Europe and Asia.  That alone makes blogging a happy endeavor.

So here’s to another year.  Who knows what will come of it.