Finished two stories in the last couple of days. They’re short ones, but as the pundits keep telling us, size doesn’t matter.

"The Secrets of Toronto"

1,201 / 1,201 (100.0%)

"Twillingate"

2,032 / 2,032 (100.0%)

I didn’t want to write anything too involved – nothing that would interfere with my work on the novella (I should have an update for you on that by Sunday) – and now I can explore some different markets that only accept shorter stories. Aces!

Note: I was just looking back at a journal entry from a few days ago in which I listed my progress on "Twillingate." Comparing the word count from then to that of the finished story might suggest that it took me a week to write six extra words and thus complete the story. The truth is not quite so simple. I actually wrote many more words, about seven hundred, I think, and then went through the process of polishing the story and turning it into something hopefully salable. That process (in my case, anyway) consists mostly of omiting needless words – one of the most important rules in Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. Therefore the word-meter, as flashy and stylish as it may be, is not necessarily indicative of the actual work involved in crafting these priceless gems of story-telling genius. Uh … yeah.

• Currently reading: "Born With A Tooth," by Joseph Boyden

Kathryn’s grandmother died today. She was 92 years old, and up until she went into the hospital last week, she’d been living on her own in a house, happy and healthy. She lived a very interesting life, and I’m sorry I wasn’t around long enough to hear all of her stories. I’ll always remember the few she did tell me, like being one of the first people to ride the subway in Toronto, and how, after moving to Lakefield, she became friends with Margaret Laurence. She gave Kathryn her collection of personally autographed books, and I can still recall how she described the well-known author: "She had a strong mind, and she was kind."

So was Gran.

Kathryn’s grandfather is a very fascinating man. He and his wife came to Canada from Holland after World War II (Kathryn’s grandmother is fond of telling the story of the arrival of the Canadian soldiers and how they gave everyone chocolate bars), settling with their kids (one of whom was Kathryn’s father) first in Whitby and later in Peterborough. A noted child psychologist, Kathryn’s grandfather is one of those guys who seems to know a little bit about everything. He has a huge home library, and he has given me many of his books, including a particularly gorgeous collection of the most famous writers of modern literature. He wants these books to stay in the family, and I really can’t blame him. It’s a beautiful collection, and I’m honored to have it.

This past weekend he let me take a number of books: the unabridged edition of Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage; Selected Poems, by T.S. Eliot; Selected Poems, by William Blake; Selected Works, by Robert Browning; and The Paper Men, by William Golding. Yep, a very generous man.

It was a very nice weekend, not just because I got new books but also because it was Kathryn’s sister’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Care-Bear. I’m looking forward to seeing you and Glenn in Ottawa in a few weeks). We ate an enormous dinner on Saturday night, then stay up at 1 a.m. watching the last few episodes of Lost that they had missed. Good times.

"The Secrets of Toronto"

1,057 / 2,000 (53.0%)

I forgot to mention it on Friday, but I started yet another short story, this one a dark tale set in Toronto, one that looks as if it will actually be ’short.’ These bits of writing during my work on the novella are fine as long as I don’t get sidetracked. Best to keep ‘em. small.

• Currently reading: The Edge of Running Water, by William Sloane

Kathryn surprised me today with an autographed copy of Joseph Boyden’s short story collection, Born With A Tooth. She asked him to sign it to "my fiancée, you know, the future writer," and this is what he wrote: To Ian - my fiancée & future writer! Love, Joseph Boyden

That’s one for the books (ha-ha).

• Currently reading: The Edge of Running Water, by William Sloane

We’ve got a heavy bank of fog coming across the cemetery tonight, coupled with a storm that is just now starting to show some lightning. Makes for some very surreal, almost ghostly, flashes of light.

I’m back in the ‘borough this weekend, so there won’t be any updates until I get back. I’ve been keeping them to a minimum anyway since I’ve been working my tail off on the novella and not one but two new short stories. The first one is called "Life" and the the second one is called:

"Twillingate"

2,026 / 4,000 (51.0%)

As I said before, I find writing these shorter stories (short for me, at least) helps take off some of the pressure of the novella, which is coming along well, thank you very much. Right now I’m just trying to get a solid framework finished, then I’ll go back and make it pretty – hack and slash, baby.

• Currently reading: The Edge of Running Water, by William Sloane

Just got off the phone with Jake, who gave me some of the best feedback on a story that I’ve ever received. I had given him "Leaves Brown" to read a few months ago, and this was the first time we’d spoken on the phone since. Apparently I keep my friends close and my really good friends … well, not that close at all.

Anyway, the comments he gave me on "Leaves" (especially on the opening) were so brilliant and yet so simple that, in typical fashion, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of them myself. But I guess that’s what Jake is there for. He’s not just good-looking, folks; he’s also a damn fine editor.

Thanks, buddy. Happy Valentine’s Day to me!

(Wow, look at that, a post that some will no doubt consider homo-erotic and yet not a single Brokeback Mountain joke in sight!)

• Currently reading: The Edge of Running Water, by William Sloane

You can’t start Monday off properly without a solid kick in the nuts. I think my grandmother said that. Anyway, I got a rejection today from Fantasy & Science Fiction for my new story, "Clean." Not much in the ways of feedback, but I think it’s a good little yarn, so I sent it right back out into the wastes the minute I got back from work. You’ve gotta wean the little ones right away or else they’ll never leave home.

Meanwhile, in the things-I-didn’t-need-to-know department …

• Currently reading: "All the Traps of Earth," Clifford D. Simak

Finished my first week on the new novella, which is also my first novella.

Heroine

9,861 / 50,000 (20.0%)

It seems to be going along fairly well. The beginning was somewhat difficult – it’s hard to tell how much to give and how soon to give it – but I found that jumping ahead a bit allowed me to clean out most of the bottleneck. And I suspect I will be using further drafts to carry this out even further.

I’ve never worked on a piece this long before, and while I don’t find its length intimidating I do find it somewhat disheartening to think that I might get bored or frustrated with the idea. I think I am more likely to feel the latter seeing as how I feel the story is solid and interesting enough to hold a reader until the end. The key is to show everything instead of tell it, which is the cardinal sin of most writers – they end up explaining their story instead of letting it unroll naturally. I’m trying to let it flow and come along on its own, but it’s queerly like watching your son riding down the street on his bike sans training wheels for the first time, or watching your daughter go out on her first date. I feel nervous about the story, I want to protect it, instead of letting it become … well, whatever it is it wants to become.

Hopefully a couple more weeks of work on it will allow me to loosen my grip.

"Life"

1,344 / 5,000 (27.0%)

Oh! I also started writing a new short story this past week. I found having something else to work on made it easier to progress on the novella. Like time outs or something, I guess. Whatever works …

• Currently reading: "Troll Bridge," by Neil Gaiman