Tonight's Must-Read

Mark Pettus has a terrific new online literary journal called The Picolata Review. Go check it out.

Pay particular attention to Jamie Ford's stunning short story, entitled I am Chinese. I can't link to it directly, but click on The Picolata Review site and scroll down. Mark's done a wonderful job, and Jamie's piece is brilliant.

On my own novel, last night I finally cracked the 35,000 word barrier. And the 36,000 word barrier. And the 37,000 word barrier. If I'd gone for another hour, I swear I'd have hit 40,000. I was in a trance. I had to pry my fingers from the keyboard at 2:30 this morning and force myself to go to bed. I haven't had a writing session like that in a while. Damned book was writing itself.

I'm between a quarter of the way and a third of the way done with my first draft. I need to take this first dozen chapters and edit them for my agent. But I need to treat this chunk of manuscript like a completed first draft: Cut, form, rewrite, polish, repeat. Once those pages go to New York, I'll start the next chapter.

No, I've never written this way, but my agent is also a terrific editor, so I'd like to know what she thinks before I finish the story. It'll be easier to fix my mistakes now, 37,000 words in, than it will when I've got 110,000 on the hard drive.

But enough about my progress. Go check out Mark's terrific new journal, and be sure to read Jamie's story. You'll be glad you did.

Then get back to work. I hope you find the autopilot.

Adam