Progress Report: Wrapping Things Up for the Holidays

2018’s winding down, and so are my writing projects for the year. Looking back, I got a lot done. I finished a novel, finished 14 short stores, and have 4 other short stories in progress.

It’s been a little hard to sit down and write since doing my final read-through of Without Condition, my next novel. But looking back at those numbers, I’m starting to think my muse is simply telling me to take a break for the holidays.

I’m still writing a bit, though. I got some more ideas for my next book, and I’m writing little pieces here and there. I’m also putting my focus on one work-in-progress that I’d like to finish before the year is over.

Winter is typically the time of year I write novels. The weather and early darkness make it much easier to pause, ponder, and write a longer story. This usually happens in January (my least favorite month) and February, though. I think the dazzle of Christmas — as well as everything there is to do — makes it a little harder to sit down and write a book.

Even when I’m not writing as much, though, I’m thinking about my stories and thinking about what to write next. I used to panic when I wasn’t writing, but over the past year, I’ve gotten better about taking on my projects one at a time and when they feel right; and trusting that things will get done when they’re supposed to.

Happy Holidays, everyone.

Upcoming Project: “Please Give”

I’d been writing short stories for several months when a small idea popped up in my head. It wasn’t an idea so much as it was a title.

I work for a nonprofit, and for every aspect that’s rewarding, there are others that are stressful, aggravating, and mind-boggling. One of my coworkers and I had a running joke that we’d start our own nonprofit, but for people who worked at them. We called it Recovering Nonprofit Workers, shortened to RNW (pronounced “Renew”); and it would work tirelessly to save nonprofit workers from the crazier aspects of the nonprofit office life.

The joke ran its course, but earlier last summer, I found myself reflecting on it as an idea for a story. I created a folder called RNW, as a reminder to consider it. I considered it while I wrote other pieces, but had a hard time coming up with the story.

To have a story, one must have characters; and I finally got one. Her name is Beth. Working in service is her dream — a dream she’s happy to see take root in a full-time job, albeit in an office that tests her patience. She has a lot of trouble opening up to people — myself included. As such, she and her story simply flickered in and out of my mind as I worked on other things.

However, she kept showing up — and so did another character. He wavered in and out of the flashes of the story I’d have in my mind. He was obviously important, but I wasn’t sure why. Finally, in September, as I took a walk around the National Mall and daydreamed about my stories, Beth told me: “I’m sleeping with him.”

I didn’t believe her at first, because it seemed so out there, given what I knew about him. But, she assured me it was true. I believed her. And, I went home and wrote both their first date and the first time he opened up to her about something in his past.

That was in September. It is March. I’ve created 30 characters (including major and periphery), devised each major plot point, and written over 120,000 words (it will be edited). It’s gone through many changes, and will go through many more. All of them, though, follow the same premise: what is it like to be someone who works in service, yet can’t open up and allow others to help her? That premise is currently under the title of Please Give. It’s the first novel I’ve ever come close to completing, and I’m excited to see how it — both the story, and the process of writing it — ends.

I’ll share more of the plot, thoughts on writing I’ve developed during the process, and perhaps some passages over the next several weeks. I am very excited for this project, as I like the characters and really enjoy their interactions. It’s taken up a lot of my thoughts since that fateful walk in September, and I look forward to sharing some of those thoughts with you — once, like Beth, I am ready to do so.

Upcoming Project: The Campus Coffee Shop

I’ve been out of school for several years, but I still enjoy visiting campus coffee shops. It’s always fun to walk into a substitute study hall filled with espresso machines and scones, the sound of typing interspersed with the hiss of steaming milk and laughing voices. Whenever I’m near my old campus, I try to visit one of the coffee shops for a quick drink.

I visited one of my favorite school haunts, Saxby’s, over Halloween last year. As usual, I was surrounded by students 8-12 years my junior, and while I’m not their mother, there’s still quite a generational divide, especially where pop culture is concerned. So, I was pleasantly surprised to hear pop songs on the stereo from 2008 — 2010, my specific tenure at Georgetown. Not just one or two songs, but several. While the station was likely a ’00s pop selection on Pandora, I chuckled to myself and wondered if I’d perhaps traveled back in time.

I finished my coffee, met my husband at the Exorcist Stairs, then met our friends at The Tombs for burgers and beer. We went home, where we shared one final pumpkin beer, and I started a load of laundry.

Through all of that, I couldn’t shake the idea of someone visiting their favorite campus coffee shop, and having it become the place it was in their past. Between loads of laundry, I typed a story of a woman making a visit like my own, and hearing music like I heard — yet couldn’t be explained away by Pandora. That story is now called The Campus Coffee Shop, and is the fifth story — and final one profiled on this blog — within The Crow’s Gift and Other Tales.

The story begins as I describe above, though her return to the past isn’t nearly as pleasant. The narrator did not find school to be a happy place, and the campus coffee shop was her escape from its stressors — even after graduation, when she should’ve left them all behind. Perhaps she didn’t because she couldn’t — and neither could the others.

I look forward to sharing all five stories with you once they are edited, collected, and published.

The Crow’s Gift: Table of Contents

Today is a busy day, both with writing and my day job. It’s been a busy several days, but with the writing at least, it’s the sort of busy that brings me joy.

The weekend was especially productive. I got All the Pieces Coming Together from my editor, and spent most of Sunday revising it based on her notes. On that note, if you are a newer writer like me, I must emphasize how important it is to have an editor — a professional one, not simply someone who proofreads or beta-reads. I’ve had two stories edited thus far, and both have been improved by that step — not just in grammar and style, but in bringing to the surface deeper meanings and themes that I couldn’t find on my own. Even though we write in solitude, at the end of the day, it’s a team effort between writer and reader.

Because of those busy hours, I have less to share today than on Tuesdays past. In lieu of a longer post, I’d like to share the current table of contents for The Crow’s Gift and Other Tales. Three of the stories will go to my editor this week, including I Never Knew Your Name, so it may look quite different once it appears in the collection. I’m excited to see where it goes, and the same goes for the other pieces waiting to make the journey from my own computer. I will keep all of you posted on the progress of the collection over the coming weeks — including its cover.

The Crow’s Gift, and Other Tales

Upcoming Project: I Love Your Work

One of the many blessings I count in my life is getting to meet several of my heroes. My godmother and I used to spend every spring break in New York City, and we’d see Broadway shows, then wait outside to meet the cast. I got to meet several of my idols this way, including Will Ferrell and my longtime celebrity crush, Topher Grace. I’ve also been able to attend several book signings in the area, signings where I’ve met Bernadette Peters, Moby, Patton Oswalt, and Toni Morrison. I’ve been grateful not just for the sheer excitement of meeting them, but because I’ve been able to tell them in person how much I love their work.

While I’ve been very lucky to meet these people, I have not met all of my heroes. This is admittedly not possible, but in some instances, it seems as if a meeting them is specifically not in the cards. They’ll come to the area, they’ll be at a signing, they’ll visit my former school, but for whatever reason — travels, event cancellation, a lack of funds — I am unable to go. One day last year, when I noticed that one of my heroes was once again coming to town while I would be away, I laughed to myself and wondered if fate was intervening to make sure we didn’t meet.

The laughter dissipated, but the idea did not. I removed myself from it and began to formulate a fictional story in its place. What if someone wanted to meet her hero, yet kept missing him because that meeting wouldn’t be what she hoped? What would happen to her if she tried her damndest to defy that fate?

Those questions formed my third short story completed last year, currently titled I Love Your Work. The story follows a young woman named Ann, an avid bookworm whose favorite author, Samuel Miller, has written many words which have touched her. However, she’s never heard him speak those words, as she’s never been able to meet him in person. She’s presented with another chance when he comes to a local bookstore for a signing. I Love Your Work details her attempt to make it to the signing, even when it seems everything is working against her arrival. Ultimately, it’s a battle between Ann and fate — though the victor may be neither.

Like All the Pieces Coming Together, this story will be part of The Crow’s Gift and Other Tales. Right now, I plan to include five pieces in the collection, one of which I shared last week (though the version shared may change by the time I add it to the collection). The fifth and, as of this writing, final piece will be detailed in the coming weeks.

Upcoming Project: All the Pieces Coming Together

Stories usually come to me in lines. I’ll think of a title, or a one-sentence plot point, and it will nest in my head while various creative birds build upon it with characters, plot points, and quotes. One short story began with a single line that popped in my head over two years ago:

“It’s the perfect place to hide the bodies. The trouble is, there aren’t any bodies to hide.”

I have a macabre sense of humor, and it made me laugh to think of the conundrum of a killer finding a perfect place to hide someone, a place so perfect that no one was around to hide. I pictured him in his cabin, all alone and not a soul to steal in sight, wasting his days hunting animals and wondering how the hell he was going to live his desired life of murderous splendor when there was no one around to kill.

In May of 2016, I decided to help him try to find the answer. I started writing his story, under a really bad working title: “Killing Time.” It came from an even worse line: “The only thing to kill out here is time.” I’ve nixed both from my most recent draft, a draft that is now with an editor and awaiting its latest incarnation.

The story follows a nameless, wannabe serial killer who has found the perfect place to hide a body, and his subsequent quest to add a body to that equation. It is dark and humorous, though as the story progresses, it becomes more of one than the other. This was a story that, like many I’ve written, came to me only as I wrote it. I wrote it in order, with only the basic beginning, middle, and end in mind; and it was exciting to be surprised with the turns it took in between. I hope that readers have the same experience. As I wrote, I also noticed a recurring theme of control, and how setting everything up perfectly doesn’t always yield the intended result. Around the middle of the story, this theme came together, as did my title: All the Pieces Coming Together.

I will be sharing the story in full as part of The Crow’s Gift and Other Tales, which I first spoke of last week, and plan to publish over the next few months. As with The Crow’s Gift, I look forward to sharing this story with you down the road.

Upcoming Project: The Crow’s Gift

While this blog is still finding its footing, I do have a tentative schedule in mind. I plan to update it twice a week, both to space out my posts and also ensure myself time to work on the projects I want to share with you. At the beginning of the week, I will post an update on a project currently in the works. This could be a project being edited, being written, or being considered; but none are finished. At the end of the week, I will share finished pieces with you. Some could be up for revision or a future incarnation as a longer story, but all will be beyond the production stage.

Last Thursday, I shared an essay called The Park is Gone. Today, I’m excited to share some information on one of my upcoming stories.

A few years ago, I was charmed by a story about a little girl who made some unlikely friends: crows. She’d dropped a chicken nugget on the ground, and while the feeding was an accident, the crows remembered her generosity. They started to bring her gifts — mostly found objects, like tools and beads, but she kept them all. It was a testament to a crow’s impeccable memory, something proved across other studies, including the fact that crows remember who is kind to them and who mistreats them.

I started imagining a story that took all of those concepts into consideration. What if the little girl deliberately reached out to the crows? What if they became her friends? What if they remembered the people who were unkind to her? That story unfolded itself into The Crow’s Gift.

After a long hiatus, I picked up my hobby of writing fiction last spring. The Crow’s Gift was the second story I finished. It follows a young girl named Tabitha, a lonely girl who has trouble making, and keeping, friends. This changes when she befriends a murder of crows, who she waves at every day on her way to school. One crow in particular acknowledges her presence by cawing at her and flapping his wings. She names him Timothy. One day after school, she feeds him a cracker. The next day, he brings her three stones.

That is where the resemblance to the true life story ends. The Crow’s Gift dives deeper into Tabitha’s loneliness, which is amplified by a lack of friends at school, a mother who tends to disappear from her emotionally, and a bully who only offers her insults and fear. It examines her friendship with Timothy as both solace and protection. It’s a tale of friendship, though I’d hesitate to call it heartwarming.

The Crow’s Gift will be the title tale in a small collection of short stories that I’m currently putting together. I look forward to sharing more of it with you down the road.

Sonora Taylor

Tag: in the works