{"id":2441,"date":"2012-11-05T19:42:55","date_gmt":"2012-11-06T00:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.old.caraghobrien.com\/book\/?p=2441"},"modified":"2012-11-05T19:52:18","modified_gmt":"2012-11-06T00:52:18","slug":"unexpected-gifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/writing\/unexpected-gifts\/","title":{"rendered":"Unexpected Gifts"},"content":{"rendered":"

You all know how much I love my editor Nancy Mercado since I babble on about her every chance I get. You may not know that these days, she\u2019s on maternity leave with her sweet and miraculous babe.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t be happier for her.\u00a0 She gave me a thumbs up and an enormous amount of trust on her way out the door, and now, basically, I\u2019m facing months of no editorial feedback on Book 1 of Project Next.<\/p>\n

I have a complete draft, mind you.\u00a0 This novel went through several revisions before my agent and I ever sent it to Nan on submission.\u00a0 But considering that it usually takes me twelve drafts to have a real book, I still feel like I\u2019m early in the process, and normally, I would welcome Nan\u2019s input around this stage.<\/p>\n

It has been startling and terrifying to discover how dependent I\u2019ve become on Nan\u2019s feedback.\u00a0 She\u2019s been a safety net of ideas, questions, and encouragement, and without her, there are so many ways my manuscript could go wrong. When I came back from book tour and an enforced break from my writing, my project loomed so large and intimidating that I could barely force myself to open the file. \u00a0I dreaded heading into it again, and even more, I dreaded heading into it alone, unarmed.<\/p>\n

\"\"

For us, Sandy meant six days with no power, but we had a generator for basics and wood for heat. My heart goes out to those who have been hit worse.<\/p><\/div>\n

Then, last week, in the midst of Sandy chaos, I opened the file and gingerly tiptoed over the sill.\u00a0 To my astonishment, my story sucked me in.\u00a0 It pulled with needy, hungry claws, like it was starved for air, and this ornery, devious creature is now gleefully playing outside the fence.\u00a0 It\u2019s like the ground had to disintegrate beneath my feet for me to discover I have puny, scrappy wings.\u00a0 I have tumbled into a wonderful place, an exploring, open-ended, creative, devil-may-care land far from the terrain I knew.\u00a0 Anything goes.<\/p>\n

Each book I write seems to require its own process, and this one apparently needs me to write wild, without my net.\u00a0 How unexpected this is to me.\u00a0 How scary and fascinating. \u00a0How perfect that now is the time my editor is on maternity leave. \u00a0Later, someday, the reasonable grown-up part of me will certainly resurface and look around for guidance, but for now, the brave, new, twisted, magical side of me is delving deep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You all know how much I love my editor Nancy Mercado since I babble on about her every chance I get. You may not know that these days, she\u2019s on maternity leave with her sweet and miraculous babe.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t be happier for her.\u00a0 She gave me a thumbs up and an enormous amount of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[246,37],"class_list":["post-2441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-project-next","tag-writing-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2451,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions\/2451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}