Karleen Koen

BookEnds

off the horse

June 1, 2010

Tags: Louis XIV, writing, revision, novels, Louise de la Valliere, Athenais, Montespan

Hit another wall. Friends showed up this weekend, and I took time to go out with them. Lifting up out of the story like that has made it hard to go back in, charging forward, as I was. Fear is up. What am I doing? What do I know? How can I write new material? What if it isn't good? On and on.

It takes a lot of courage to write a story, and this one is an especially big one. And now I've added some new things when my editor wants it as lean as possible. But it's the only way I know to answer some of the questions she asks. Today, I don't want to write, I want to crawl under the covers and ignore everything. But when you fall off a horse (as if I ride horses! Houston may be in Texas, but it's a city!), the old saying is to get back on. What on earth made me create such a big, restless stallion?

Sometimes I think I've forgotten how to write. The first story I wrote took me a long time to create and craft, but I didn't question myself once it was finished. I believed in it. I'm not as bold anymore.

Comments

June 7, 2010 5:50 PM EDT

lean? What the hell lean? pay no attention to your editor.the gloriousness (word?)is the richness of each and everything you discribe.If we,your readers,wanted drab we could read Harlequin.bah! we want the illusion of a three-d novel. color,lust,scent,texter. now,tame that big horse into being a unicorn. off you go!

- victoria mason
June 7, 2010 6:28 PM EDT

Thank you so much for your comments. Really.

- karleen koen
June 8, 2010 7:34 AM EDT

You have become my new favorite author. I've read all three books and am on my second go around now. Not to add more pressure, but . . . will there be another book about Alice and Richard's lives together, and the girlhood of Diana ? Your writing is fabulous and enables your readers to feel as though we're there,enjoying the sights and sounds of the time, and your characters become friends, (or enemies). Thank you, so much, for sharing your gift with us. Tammy

- Anonymous
June 8, 2010 1:53 PM EDT

If you'll go over to What's in my Blogs on the Home Page, there's an entry called "Psychic Order." In it, I talk about the seeds of books to come. I will work on another Alice and Richard book, once Before Versailles is done. I don't know about a book when Diana is young. Who knows? But thank you for asking....

- karleen koen
June 9, 2010 11:52 AM EDT

Disruptions are absolutely the bane of the writing life. I remember when I used to write all the time--dissertation days, anthology days, lots of reviews and article days etc. And I set 4 PM and after as time to quit and meet friends for coffee. Anyone whose schedule didn't fit I didn't meet. Unless I did--and then boom. It's amazing how "getting off the horse" makes it so hard to get back on. And you lose the momentum, the stream.
I wrote much of my dissertatin--a biography--in the archives of TWU Library in Denton and had to write in the archive room. Amazing concentration and intensity. Wonderful--even the back and forth to Dallas didn't disrupt the continuity. But oh, give up one day to friends and it was like starting over. I HEAR YOU.

- Miriam Kalman Friedman
July 23, 2010 8:28 PM EDT

You have become one of my favourite living authors, (second only to JK Rowling) and I've read a lot, so please soldier on and keep working on your present novel. I'm certainly looking forward to reading it, but don't rush it; keep working on it till it's as good as I'm sure you can do. Best wishes, Jocelyn Scott, a fan in Toronto, Canada

- Jocelyn W. Scott
July 25, 2010 1:42 AM EDT

I just wanted to add my words of encouragement. Don't doubt your talent, your writing is exquisite. Part of what makes it so is the attention you pay to details and how you them in. Besides, the more ambitious the project, the better you'll feel when you complete it. p.s. While I'm excited about any story you release, I too would love to hear more about life after marriage!

- Anonymous