leukemiasurvivor.com

Wish I could figure out how to make the MT templates do what I want them to do. Even though I'm not advancing the story, I am in the midst of improving it. Filling in details, adding a little across-the-board spit and shine.

For example, here is a paragraph from my first entry that I'd never edited beyond cursory first draft changes:

Then I will be talking with Mom. We are standing in the kitchen at the new house. She is writing a grocery list. I'm swishing a glass of ice water around, listening to the ice clank against the sides, asking her about insurance. We talk about this fairly often. It concerns me, my ability to find insurance with such an ominous "pre-existing condition." I'm not even paying much attention to what I'm saying, just random questions for her to field. Suddenly she'll start crying. Real tears, running fast, and they make me uncomfortable.

I've been making wholesale changes throughout, starting from these very early words. This section now reads as follows:

Maybe it's 1992; I would be talking with Mom. We'd stand in the open kitchen at the new house, the cleaner, newer, more spacious house that she and Paul had moved into after Laura and I had gone away to our respective colleges. Mom is working on a grocery list, standing in front of the refrigerator with a small notepad, opening and closing cupboards almost at random. I'd be leaning up against the corner by the double sinks, swishing a glass of water around, listening to the ice clank against the sides, asking her what she thinks about insurance. We've talked about this fairly often since graduation: it concerns me, my inability to find insurance with such an ominous pre-existing condition. COBRA won't last forever. What am I supposed to do when I finally get a real job?

I'm not even paying much attention to what I'm saying, just random questions for her to field. She's The Mom, the solid, strong business woman. She knows these things. But suddenly she'd start crying. Real tears, running fast, and they would make me uncomfortable.

I've got a ton of pages marked up. Slowly working my way through them all, currently getting ready to make changes to the scene where I'm third-person again, stupidly staring at a bloody toilet bowl.

There's much more to come. Much more new prose to follow, even though it won't be in the form of any brand new entries. I'll keep trying to get these templates to work the way I'd like, to better highlight new writing in old entries. Until then, the table of contents on the left, or the more printer-friendly version of the story remain the best ways to keep up-to-date.