Yep. I know it's been a while since my last update. After a dizzying series of visits to Tulsa in search of the perfect domicile, I am back at square one. It's disheartening when you've put in so much time and effort and everything even remotely possible has vanished or slipped away, or you didn't have enough money, or didn't like it, or whatever...

The relocation thing has definitely taken a toll on my business and writing life, but I did finally get in a good developmental session with my new project. After picking up Téa Obreht's The Tiger's Wife once more and hoping to finish it this time, I am struck by how amazing a young writer she is.

The gift of language isn't taught; it is merely honed an cultivated. I'm convinced true literary greatness comes from the soul, and the greatest of it must be inherited by some divine birthright. Whether that literary greatness ever comes to complete fruition or success is another matter altogether, one in which I am still currently embroiled.

After four inexplicable manuscript losses at agencies, my manuscript still has only been read by one agent, who highly praised it and asked to see more work in the future, work that is more along the lines of magical realism. This new project, I suspect, may end up being that--even though the initial opening written during last year's NaNoWriMo quickly turned into a fantastical sort of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon kind of thing. Drawing it back to earth will be interesting.

Playing around with the narrative structure is fun, and this will be an interesting exploration of third person multiple POV, with flashes back and into a first person present storyline, much like Obreht's first novel.

Non-writing and writing friends alike are stymied by this strange blockade to my manuscript. Gremlins, perhaps, spiriting away electronic files and erasing to-do lists from agents' memories? At this point, I'm not ruling out anything.

One thing is certain, though. I know that the race is won by those who persevere. And twelve years of personal suffering before healing has taught me how to persevere. I will finish this race well.