Slip: The Prologue

My first book is entitled Slip. I'll get into the premise of what the book's all about in my next blog post. In the meantime, here is the prologue. Some of you will have read something similar before.

I jerked back into consciousness, acutely aware of the excruciating pain in my head. A thick fog filled my mind, making it impossible to think.

The intensity diminished for a moment, my mind clearing just long enough for me to formulate a simple question: Who am I? Before I could answer, pain shot from the side of my head into my eyes plunging my mind back into the haze. I felt the sharp intake of breath, sucked through my clenched teeth.

I’m alive.

Why does my head hurt so bad?

One thing at a time. I had to remember my name.

I wanted to cry out against the unbearable pain but my body wouldn’t respond. All I could do was breathe. Panic set in. I was trapped in my own near-lifeless body.

I mustered all my cognitive energy, fighting my way through the thick blackness that wanted to overtake my mind.

Ty.

Another painful dagger in my left eye.

Ty Reed.

Somehow, instinct perhaps, I knew that was right. At least I had that much under control.

I knew my name.

Why does my head hurt so bad?

Deep in the recesses of my mind, complete control was climbing with herculean effort to the surface. Awareness of myself returned slowly as I battled against the darkness.

My head felt like it was clamped in a vice and with each beat of my heart, it throbbed.

Focus, Ty! I had to command myself. A war between consciousness and merciful oblivion raged in my mind. A part of me wanted to let go, to succumb. The rest, becoming more powerful by the second, wrestled for answers.

Was it dark or were my eyes closed?

Why can’t I tell?

Thoughts were moving through my head like molasses in a freezer.

Slowly, painfully, I became more aware of my surroundings. The barely-noticeable ache in my back caused by the lumps in the mattress told me I was lying down. I also felt a dull throbbing pain in my right arm. I wiggled my fingers and felt a burning sensation that I hadn’t experienced before. As consciousness returned, I gingerly tested each limb. A vague recollection crept into my mind. My right arm was broken. I knew that.

How did I break it?

It took several moments before my mind was clear enough to realize that my eyes were closed against a bright light that penetrated my eyelids just enough that I knew it was there; contributing to the searing pain.

I lay still, comprehending nothing more than pain. Somewhere a short distance away I could hear the beep of machines.

Hospital machines.

A hospital? Why was I in a hospital?

The steady whirring sound of an electric analog clock somewhere to my right penetrated the sound of the blood pounding in my ears. Awareness was increasing and I focused intensely on each sound, determined to suppress the pain that engulfed me.

I raised my left hand toward my head and heard a voice that sounded so far away.

“He’s awake.”

The voice, distantly familiar, broke my concentration, halting my fight against unconsciousness. In the split second before I gave in, like a bolt of lightning, everything came back to me.

The Beginning

In the beginning . . .the earth was without form, and void. While this blog is certainly nothing quite so grand as the creation of the world, it is a place that is currently without form, and void.

Early in October 2011 I had a crazy idea that immediately started burning a whole in my brain: I should write a book. An idea with some merit preceded the book writing one and it ate away at me for a long time. Later in the month, early in the morning of a blustery October day, I sat in my office at work, scouring the internet for structure to help me with an undertaking that, at that point, was consuming me.

It was during that morning that I was introduced to National Novel Writing Month. Beginning November 1st of each year, participants are urged, prodded, and begged to produce 50,000 words in a single month; no small feat.

Well, being ignorant as I was, I started typing. I gave up sleep, exercise, and even food, and by the end of the month, I had 56,183 words on paper and the beginnings of a good story told in a very bad way.

So began the revision process. I've been revising those 56,000+ words for two and a half years. At one point, the entire novel was just shy of 100,000 words. I've done a lot of cutting and a lot of adding. Six major revisions have brought me to where I am today.

During the ensuing months and years, I have spent considerable time learning how to improve my writing. I'm still awful, but I'm making marked progress toward something. I have yet to write anything marketable; but I'm working every day to get better.

One week ago, I was listening to "The Narrative Breakdown." James Monahan and Cheryl Kline do a great job motivating me each week. However, last week they dropped a bombshell on my book. I've known all along that it was terrible. They helped me identify what it was.

With heavy heart, I stopped where I was in the revision process. My book was in need of a major overhaul. I realized that the all important inciting event was way too far into the book (roughly page 80 in a 240 page book).

Committed to seeing this thing through, I restarted the book. Today. That's right. I've dropped the big ax on the entire thing and I'm starting over. There's a big caveat. I will reuse a ton of material from version 6.0 (and 5.0). Version 7.0 is going to begin with a fresh perspective and a whole lot more action.

That leads me to the point of this post. As I go along, I would appreciate the input of those who read this blog (basically my mother, my wife, and the aforementioned Jason Chandler). From time to time, I will post snippets from the book here. I invite anyone to post comments. Please try to be as constructive as possible. If you love something, please tell me why. If you hate something, please do that same.

My ultimate, bucket-list goal is to produce something worthy of publication. I'm fairly certain it will never get published but I plan on collecting a lot of rejection letters in the process.

So, please check back often. I'll be posting the first part - the prologue - in just a few minutes.