What a day. What a lilting, bourgeois opera, but I have yet to write the libretto. The highlight:
1) I finished my novel today. The ice storm helped, offering time at home, and sound effects. That crackle of ice on limb on wind opened something and let me let it be done. The end of the story was very simple. Ends are weird, and I don’t know if this is the right one, but it came clear and natural, so I will let it be for now. There’s still a passel of work to do, but I got to the end of the story! This novel took me ages, what feel like lifetimes, to finish–the first note I have with the germ of idea is from 2001, and I’ve been writing it since 2004. But for now I’m done. In a way.
To celebrate, I opened the week-and-a-half-old bottle of wine from the fridge (a very good wine that my friend Kurt, owner of Emporium, recommended) and put on The Black Rider by Tom Waits. (Sounds from Tom Waits have been partially to blame for the novel.) My husband celebrated with me; my daughter said she didn’t like the music but didn’t insist I turn it off.
After dinner, I noticed the dripping from the picture window (a leak, we need to figure out why, and have it fixed) was tap tap tapping with a tad more force than it had been this afternoon into the yogurt containers there to catch the drips…still is, but now fortified by towels, and other vessels to catch the water…saw a thin line of shine, so just in case, I emptied the cabinet below of myriad cups, saucers, tea, cocoa, and other important detritus…all dry…so for now, all I can do it sit back and wait to see if this really is the storm of the season, and see if the power will go out.
And probably best to eat some ice cream, which is still frozen. That’s the most obvious bourgeois bit, the ice cream. Because I’m not trapped in an ice-covered wonderland without it.
But I just heard a really creaky sound outside…
Rebecca Kuder 
Congratulations, Rebecca! Hope winter was good to you last night.
Congratulations on finishing your novel!
i like it that tom waits has had some influence on it. he’s my favorite kind of inspiration. it makes me more curious about reading your novel when its out :-)
Thanks, Marly! Winter was a bit fickle, but could have been much worse. Hoping yours wasn’t bad, either.
And Sara, thanks! Have you seen him perform? I’ve had the luck to see him three times, and even though it was later and not earlier tours, it was great to see him–especially at the Cleveland House of Blues in 2006, when I was only about ten rows from himself. And he’s hilarious in films, too–recently saw the The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which, if you’re a Tom Waits fan, you should see. For me in terms of the novel, it’s the texture of Tom Waits: the clang, the metal, the patina… I realized that while the imagery of my previous novel was all water and air, I wanted this one to be about metal and earth, and fire, too, come to think of it. Meanwhile I was getting fully into Tom Waits, so his music became my way in, if that makes sense. Hoping the revision on this one won’t take as long as the previous, and that it will find its way between portable covers sooner. Will keep you posted. Thanks again for stopping by!
oh, you are so right about his texture; He is my favorite artist, but somehow I could never articulate what’s so amazing about him. and wow I’m so jealous of your ten rows from him seat!! awesome! I’m yet to see him live, and I’m not optimist it’d have the same effect as his earlier tours :( but it’s still better than nothing.
wish you luck with the rest of the work!
Sara, I am still working on articulating what it is about those sounds. I’m sure you know he was highly inspired by Captain Beefheart. I am a novice to Beefheart, and find a lot of his music sort of unlistenable (but worth listening to anyway…) but there was one song on “Black Rider” the other night that really reminded me of some of “Trout Mask Replica.”
I was so glad to see TW in 2006 and 2008, but I do wish I’d been able to see Get Behind the Mule and other earlier tours… Maybe when they give me that time machine I’ve been bugging them about…
Thanks again for stopping by!
Go Kuder..go Kuder!! xoxo
p.s. And someone retained the contents of that h.s. classic ONE HUNDRED DAYS TO A MORE POWERFUL VOCABULARY. ;)
Arden, who you talkin’ bout?
Did “myriad” give me away? I love that word.
Well well well – we will have to agree to disagree on myriad – to me it always sounds off – as in, I know that the way you used it is correct, but no matter where or when I see it in print/blog, it always FEELS like it should have ‘the’ or ‘a’ infront of it.
For this reason, it has been SQUASHED from the passel of words I consider my vocabulary. (I only made it to DAY 23 in the book, so there you go!)