Writing Wrongs

January 03, 2005

Every once in a while, I experience a bit of writing serendipity. I wondered about my Carl Faberge article. It had been accepted. I signed the contract, but the check hadn�t found its way to my mailbox yet.

I checked the magazine�s web site online, and there it was, the cover for the Imperial Russia issue. Along the side, Fabulous Faberge Eggs was listed as the first article. Was that mine?

That was a strange piece to write. A friend of mine suggested I not tackle Faberge Eggs, because let�s face it, no doubt everyone and their brother would. She recommended icons. I�d done research on both for my first novel.

Icons weren�t cutting it. I couldn�t get an angle for an article. But . . . what if I did a bio piece on Carl Faberge? What if I combined significant events in his life, the Faberge Eggs, and the downfall of Imperial Russia? What if I wrote it diary style from his point of view?

And so, Bridget Jones meets Carl Faberge was born.

I immersed myself in the project for at least a week. For three days, I was Carl Faberge. I wondered if this was what actors did to get into character. I wrote article and then for three more days couldn�t write anything else because I was still thinking like Carl.

I revised and edited, but I sent it off without letting my critique partners take a peek. I figured it was v. v. good or spectacularly awful. Only when I received the contract email (and my critique partners had sufficiently badgered me) did I let them read it.

I�m still not sure if it�s v. v. good or spectacularly awful. But on that day when I speculated whether I�d see money for my efforts, I found the check waiting for me in the mailbox when I got home.

And that was v. v. good.

Writing Progress: I finally figured out what was wrong with the second scene of The Boys� Club. Too many glasses of wine--in the scene that is, not my consumption. I wrote a vignette this weekend. Calling it a short story might be stretching it, a lot. But it was a blast. It�s been too long since I did something like that, something that wasn�t meant to be anything.

What I�ve been reading: Nada. I�ve been watching season one of Sex and the City on DVD, with the headphones on, of course.

Charity Tahmaseb wrote at 1:17 p.m.

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