What's happening to me?

I know, I know. The posts have been scanty lately.

Something strange is happening. Instead of writing little snippets--beginnings--I'm scrawling out page after page. And after I'm done with that, I think, "Hmmm. I need to write about this part next."

I'm not satisfied with the snippets anymore. I want to wait it out till it feels done. Get it down, then a little more, then go back, figure out what it all means, throw some of it out, rewrite some, then start all over again.

It's been good. I'm writing more than I ever have. It's a different kind of writing. It's less about the end product than a process of collecting. Letting it all drift in, piece by piece. Not so good for blog posts though.

I've been taking a memoir class with Ariel Gore. Some hip mamas will know her. Or if you live in PDX, you might have seen her name. She's a nice person, probably a good writer--she's published several books after all--but she's a crappy teacher. I almost dropped out of the class after the first session. The only redeeming quality of the class is that it forces me to write with a purpose every single week. I chose the "Looking at Old Photos" snippet, and I've worked on a section of it each week. Blowing out each story into four or five pages (always feeling like I could write more), until now I have four, semi-fleshed out chunks. And in the process, I've figured out what the overarching purpose is for the piece. Whew!

Already I'm thinking, "That second chunk isn't the right story to tell." It's a good story, but doesn't do anything to support the other three. So I have to rewrite that, then figure out how to better weave them together. It's weird...a year or so ago, I would have been antsy at this point to move on. Now, I just want to go back, write it again and again. I'm getting obsessive.

Hmm. What else? I've been reading a lot. Memoirs. Right now, I'm reading "World of Light" by Floyd Skloot. Reading his stuff teaches me more than sitting in a room with Ariel Gore for two hours each week. (And it's cheaper!) I've been thinking about starting to do book reviews, as a way to more "formally" teach myself about the craft of writing. Maybe I'll post them here.

In other news...some of you know that I got hit by a car while riding my bike. It's the reason I'm home this morning: I'm waiting for the insurance dude to drop off a check and pick up the crooked bicycle. I'M FINE, by the way. The accident happened about a month ago, and there's little sign of it on my body. Skin heals fast! But speaking of being antsy, the weather's been great here and I'm annoyed I don't have a bike to ride.