Back to life...

Taking time away from writing proved rewarding, in many ways. And irritating in others. I was able to separate myself from a need to produce something now, now, now and the guilt that accompanied not being able to because it became so overwhelming a need...I was achieving nothing but chaos and confusion. So for the last week I've been hearing suggestions about A Place of Safety that lead it back to being a story about a boy caught in an impossible time, and keep it away from any overripe melodrama.

Brendan's not a typical Derry boy. He doesn't play marbles or run around with other boys or even really pay attention to the children in his neighborhood. He likes tinkering with things. Fixing them. Gets satisfaction from that and thinks other activities aren't worth his interest. He's got a focus that is almost scary, and is only occasionally broken when something truly important cuts into it...or he's forced to step out of it.

His younger brother Rhuari has some of that in him, too, but his deals with reading and finally learning Gaelic. He also just does things to get along, without hassle, while Brendan can get taken up in stubbornness. The kind that settles into, I want to do this or that and see no reason not to, so I will. Which is what usually gets him into serious trouble with his mother.

That's part of the reason he gets so focused on Joanna. He senses in her a person who will pay him real attention, accept him as he is and not just be an annoyance. She jolts him out of his little bubble so that when they finally do connect, face to face, he locks in on her to the point of where he begins making decisions about himself based on what she might or might not do...which leads to disaster.

I'm printing up a copy of the last draft of Derry to go through and make notes in a red pen. Hard not to see those as you input changes. I'm going to pull back as much as I can from the bluster and sweep and historical aspect of the story...something I was getting to caught up in, myself...and try to make it a simple tale about a young man who just wants to live his life.

Which is all Brendan ever wanted.