07/04/2007: "Novel done in draft; California Literary Review"

Hi All,

Well, the post-THE FIGHTER novel is done in draft. It's printing away merrily as I type this, all 180,000 words and 700 pages of it. Of course, those numbers are going to come down in the revision process, after I set it aside for a month and go through the emotional divorcing procedures wherein I first become ambivalent to it, then openly skeptical, then disgusted by it all, then hateful of it, which is when I can pick it up again and ruthlessly edit the hell out of it, getting rid of all those silly nonsensical bits---the type of stuff that typically will find its way into this blog, for example---that I thought were the height of pathos or intelligence at the time of writing but now see in their true light: as things to be axed. In the meantime I've got a few short stories to write, a boxing match to prepare for, etc, etc.

Another review for THE FIGHTER, this one from the California Litarary Review. Very nice. Comparisons to Ellroy and McCarthy and Vollman, which are ... I don't want to call into question the opinion of the reviewer, in this case John Holt, because his opinion is as valid as anyone's I guess, but personally, well, it seems almost too kindly a stretch to make. This book, I swear ... the reaction to it is schizophrenic. You got people saying the nicest things about it, then you got people lambasting it, people refusing to publish it, people going this way, that way ... I don't know, makes it difficult to get a bead on where I stand as a writer, what progress, forward or backwards, I may have made or continue to make. It's fairly impossible to drum up any concrete conception of what I've done with these reviews I keep getting. Or maybe some writers get these sort of yo-yoing critiques of their work, I don't know. I try to keep as level-headed as possible about it and I do believe I'm getting better in the way I internalize it all, the way a butcher eventually becomes a bit desensitized every time he slices one of his fingers. You do get this emotional callusing effect taking over, but man, it's weird for me.

I really hope this next book, should it ever be published, gets a more understandable reaction. I mean, understandable to me, personally; conceivably everyone else gets what's happening here with this book, which is really just a more see-sawing version of what happened with RUST AND BONE and even THE PRESERVE before that.

In any case, my thanks, as always, to John Holt for his (very kind, in this case) review:

http://calitreview.com/2007/07/02/the-fighter-by-craig-davidson

All best, Craig.