A work in progress...33

I can't believe a month has almost passed since my last blog.

I had a nasty viral infection which laid me low for about a week, and then there were deadlines at work etc so not much time or inclination to write. I even stopped work on the book. I was getting terribly confused and have been trying to figure out where it was going. I didn't write anything for about a week but I didn't abandon it all together.

Joyce's Ulysses has really opened things up for me and has shown me the way. I have written 77,000 words and could easily go on, but I re-read the completed opening chapters and decided it was not what I wanted to write. I have decided to change the voice and tone of the novel, keeping the characters and most of the narrative and scenarios, but writing it in the first person. I want it to be a spontaneous piece of prose that the reader simply can't put down. I'm going to go back to Jack Kerouac's The Subtarraneans has an influence. This was quite short, focused on a relationship and was intense. I remember reading it pretty much in one go.

I'm also using some ot the techniques of Joyce and Elliot. I'm looking at the book as one long poem, I don't care about the structure, in this respect it may have the feel of DJ mix, I'm sampling all sorts of stuff, lots of references, but most importantly it's going to be original.

Feeling very excited. I have already started rewriting, I'm going to really go for it, not bother about word counts - it may make only 40,000 words, I don't care. I have pretty much done all the hard work, I have fleshed out the characters, kind of know what works and what doesn't, so it's really down to me.

Money has been a big problem, I'm earning a good wage but it doesn't seem to be enough to support a family of four. This has caused some depression, at times I feel like giving in, why bother? But at the end of the day I do love writing. I am goping to get there, I can feel it, I know it.