The Point of the Journey is Not to Arrive

A slightly early momentum update on one of my two February resolutions:

I saw one of my cousins this past week. He also happens to be a writer. He asked about the progress of my newest manuscript, recalling that I’d said I was setting a goal to finish the first draft by the end of February. But he asked the question from an informed point of view: “So that was just a pipe dream, wasn’t it?”

Yes. Yes it was.

At the beginning of the month I’d ambitiously thought, “I did the first 50,000 words and even more in a month, so I’m sure if I just buckle down I can get the rest of it done in that same amount of time!” But February isn’t November, and without the whole novel writing month gauntlet in front of me, there’s no deadline to race against. February was about half over when I realized I’d never reach the goal, and after accepting the mild disappointment that came with admitting that I thought back to what my original goal for this manuscript had been back in November: just to get a good head start on it. Which I did. Writing 50,000+ words in thirty days is no ride around the lake, after all.

During November I’d get caught up in the occasional endorphin rush when something went well, and I’d start believing I was closer to finishing than I really was. But new characters would show up as I pushed through. New levels of complexity and different subplots introduced themselves. When that month-long sprint was over and I took a break from working on it, I remembered that this idea was something I’d wanted to try for a long time, and I’d have to bring my A game if there was a chance I could reach the level I wanted achieve. As much work as it is, it’s very gratifying to watch a manuscript come together the way you want it to. The process of sitting down and writing it is the best part for me, so why deprive myself of that by adding the pressure of a manufactured deadline?

When I send in a book order for my class, eventually the students will ask, “When are the books going to get here?” My answer is always the same: “When they get here.” That’s going to be my deadline for finishing this first draft now: It will be done when it’s done. So if you were following my word count updates and observations this past November with any degree of curiosity to see what the finished product would be like? Well, don’t hold your breath.

However, there are four or five other manuscripts I’ve written that are floating around in the world, or sitting on the shelf beside my desk, or sitting in PDF form on my external hard drive, all waiting for their turn to come back up in the queue and get the final coat (or coats) of polish they need before they’re submission-worthy. And a couple of them don’t even suck. It’s almost all middle grade or young adult fiction: Haunted lakes... depressed middle schoolers... pre-teen revolutionaries... creativity pushed to the brink of insanity... even a darkly spiritual and fairly revealing memoir that would give readers more insights about me than most could stand. So I’ll just throw it out there that if anyone is ever curious to see any of the writing that gets referred to so frequently here on Summer Vacation, all you have to do is ask. But as for the current one I’m picking away at? It will be done when it’s done. And I'm just going to keep soaking up the experience of it while I can.

Going Solo

Some of my cousins and I exchange a lot of e-mail about some fairly random things. Music winds up being a common topic, with the thread typically having to do with the Top 10 songs from some category or the Best artists who do whatever we’re discussing. There’s usually more disagreement than common ground between our lists, but it always lead to more discussion. Whenever we get going on these Top Whatever lists, I always think of the guys in Championship Vinyl from the movie “Hi Fidelity” putting together lists of things like “Top 5 first tracks from an album” or “Top 5 songs about death.” That movie proves you can’t run out of comparisons to make when it comes to music. And since so much of music is purely subjective, it’s impossible to ever give anyone or anything the title of Best Ever and be unequivocally right about it... even though one of my cousins recently tried to crown Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull as -- hold on, I want to get this right -- “probably the greatest rock and roll writer/musician of all time.” (I know, right?)

So in the spirit of that acknowledgement, I can’t say that any of my favorites would ever be anyone else’s Bests. But I’ve decided to start a new Summer Vacation category tonight, in which I’ll list my Top 10 current favorites from some category. There’s historical reasoning behind a Top 10 being the standard: Some of these same cousins and I would exchange Top 10 lists as a regular part of actual written letters some twenty-five years ago. I’m just trying to revive and upgrade the tradition for the 21st Century. Anyone else who wants to chime in with an opinion -- feel free.

Top 10 #1 - All-Time Favorite Guitar Solos. In my opinion, a great guitar solo needs to meet two criteria: (1) It has to demonstrate some true virtuosity in the playing, and (2) it has to compliment the song instead of just providing some show-off fireworks. There’s always the possibility some of these might change, but I feel what I have here is a pretty solid list, in alphabetical order:

1 - “All I Want is You” by U2. Performed by The Edge. A great example of how a quiet love song can have a guitar part shred right through and perfectly compliment it at the same time.

2 - “Because the Night” by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Performed by Bruce Springsteen. Bruce is commonly overlooked as a guitarist, but the live version of this song from his 1975-85 boxed set shows that he’s got some chops.

3 - “Blackbird” by Alter Bridge. Performed by Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy. A slow-build of a song with a dual trade-off solo that blows it up into a heartbreaking epic.

4 - “Brighton Rock” by Queen. Performed by Brian May. From the “Live Killers” album, which was one of the first cassette tapes I ever wore out, because of this song.

5 - “Fall into Velvet” by Steve Lukather. Performed by Steve Lukather and Steve Stevens. A raunchy blues song that has me almost breaking one of my own two rules, because most of this song is just two really good players showing off. But since the dueling solos fit the song so well, it still makes the list.

6 - “Hollow Years” by Dream Theater. Performed by John Petrucci. I’m referring to the live version of the song found on their three-disc “Live at Budokan” album. Every tour I’ve seen Dream Theater on has featured at least one song they’ve reimagined to insert a Petrucci solo that blows the roof off the place. Another example of a ballad with a perfectly-complimenting noisy guitar right in the middle.

7 - “Seeds of Gold” by Neal Morse. Performed by Steve Morse. One of many highlights in this twenty-six minute epic of a song. Even though Neal didn’t record it, I did see him pull it off live in Seattle. I was proud.

8 - “Solitary Soul” by Spock’s Beard. Performed by Alan Morse. Yes, Neal and Alan are related (brothers) but Steve Morse isn’t. I have a lot of imprinting on this song. While the solo isn’t at all flashy, it captures the tone of the song better than almost any other example I can think of. I didn’t realize how powerful it was until it came up on my iPod the last night I sat vigil with my older sister at our younger sister’s bedside. I can’t hear it now without thinking of that night.

9 - “Surrounded” by Dream Theater. Performed by John Petrucci. He’s my favorite guitarist so he gets two on the list, and again, this is one of his live improvisations. I hear him play the solo in this and it frightens me a little to think it’s possible for any human being to be as good at anything as he is at playing guitar.

10 - “Youngstown” by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Performed by Nils Lofgren, and again with the live version. The first time I heard this song live was on the E Street reunion tour, which happened to be the final show of the 20th century Bruce played. The song originally appeared on a mostly acoustic album, so when they played it live and Nils spun himself into a frenzy onstage shredding through this, I was blown away. The best part? The same song with the same solo came up again at my most recent Springsteen show back in November, and Nephew #3, an aspiring guitarist himself, got to see it live. I can only hope it made as much of an impression on him.

All right. There’s my list. Agree, disagree or disregard as you will....

Two Years Later

In all seriousness, and with all due respect to anyone who reads this: Please do NOT ever ask me if or when I'm getting a new dog.