Almost there

I'm down in the desert of southern California, near the town of 29 Palms, visiting my good friend Christine. I went out of town to finish my novel.

Christine, who was my lover long ago, moved down to the middle of nowhere -- otherwise known as Wonder Valley, an unincorporated area that is the last scattering of houses and shacks before 50 miles of moonscape before you get, by a back road, to old Route 66 -- about eight years ago. Since then, not only have several of her friends moved down here, but so have a number of other artists, including Deborah Iyall, a painter who is the former lead singer of the New Wave band Romeo Void ("Never Say Never," the song that goes "I might like you better if we slept together"). I keep meaning to buy a place here as well -- it's probably the cheapest real estate in California -- but in the meantime I satisfy my desert longings with frequent visits.

I knew the solitude and space, far from the business of keeping hearth and home together in San Francisco, would help my writing and allow me to put together the several-day-long push needed to complete my first draft. Dec. 31 was my self-imposed deadline, but due to various hangups back in San Francisco, and the storms that hit the Bay Area three days after Xmas, I got down here a day late. But I did get right down to work.

So today I can report that I wrote 2750 words yesterday and 5000 words today and have but two scenes left to go, which I will happily complete tomorrow, the first day of the new year. And that will be the complete first draft of the novel I've been working on since November of 1997. Stay tuned for that announcement.