Doing some editing on the book this morning. Today I will send in a draft that will be printed as galleys, paperbacks essentially that will be sent to the press for review and to key book buyers. The book still has rough spots, but I will clean most of them up today, then spend the next week or two really polishing it into the form we can actually publish. So I’ll be sharing some excerpts with you here and there as I come across something I find interesting. By the way, this is most likely the book cover we will use. It may change a bit, but it won’t change much. I’ll create another post next week explaining why it looks the way it looks. It’s pretty fascinating, actually. For now, here is the beginning of a chapter:
Chapter Twenty-Five: The Thing About a Crossing
It’s like this when you live a story. The first part happens fast. You throw yourself into the narrative and you’re caught in the water, the shore is pushing back behind you and the trees are getting smaller. The other shore is inches away and you can feel the resolution coming, the feeling of getting out of you’re boat and walking the distant shore, looking back to see where you came from. The first part of a story happens fast, and you think the thing is going to be over soon. But it isn’t going to be over soon. The reward you get from a story is always less than you thought it would be, and the work is harder than you imagined. It’s as though the thing is teaching you the story is not about the ending but about the story itself, about your character getting molded in the hard work of the middle. The shore behind you stops getting smaller, and you paddle and wonder why the same strokes used to move you but they don’t anymore. -You got the wife but you don’t know if you like her anymore and you’ve only been married five years. You want to wake up and walk into the living room in your underwear and watch football and let your daughters play with the dog because the paddling doesn’t move the boat anymore and the far shore doesn’t get closer no matter how hard you work. The shore you left is just as far and there is no going back, there is only the decision to paddle in place or stop, slide out of the hatch and sink into the sea. Maybe there is another story at the bottom of the sea? Maybe you don’t have to be in this story anymore? Maybe you can quit and not have to paddle in place anymore?
It’s been like this with all my crossings. I have a couple boats and take them to Orcas Island and make the crossing from Orcas to Sucia, and it’s always the same about leaving the shore so fast and getting to the middle and paddling in place for hours.
I knew it would be like that when we crossed the country on bikes, too. I sent in my paperwork and did my miles in the mountains here in Oregon and showed up in Los Angels, knowing we would start fast, that the Pacific would fade behind us and we’d be in Phoenix by sunset and then we’d spend all the life of Moses crossing Texas and the Delta and it happened just like I thought it would. We grew into the roads and the roads are where we lived. We slept in rock quaries and on the doorsteps of churches. I slept on the floor of a convenience store just off the caprock in Texas. I put my head by the beer to get some cold air and it didn’t matter to me that I had a condo back home or a bed, because you become the character in the story you are living and whatever you were is gone. None of us thought it would end. We never felt close to the shore. Even in Virginia, we felt as far as Louisiana.
When we left Bob’s dock at midnight I didn’t want to paddle through the night or across the wide inlet. We had to go for hours into the pitch black and the inlet was so large and the dark was so dark for hours we couldn’t make out either shore. We had to guide ourselves by stars, each boat gliding close to another, just the sound of our oars coming in and out of the water to keep us close.
I think this is when most people give up on their stories. They come out of college wanting to change the world, wanting to get married, wanting to have kids and change the way people buy office supplies. But they get into the middle and discover it was harder than they thought and they can’t see the distant shore anymore and they wonder if their paddling is moving them forward. None of the trees behind them are getting smaller and none of the trees ahead are getting bigger. They take it out on their wife, on their husband, they go looking for an easier story.
Robert McKee put his coffee cup down and leaned onto the podium. He put his hand on his forehead and wiped his grey hair back. He said you have to go there, you know. You have to take your character to the place where they just can’t take it anymore. He looked at us with a tenderness we hadn’t seen in him before. You’ve been there, haven’t you? You’ve been out on the ledge. The marriage is over now, the dream is over now, nothing good can come from this. He got louder. Writing a story isn’t about making your peaceful fantasies come true. The whole point of the story is the character arc. You didn’t think joy could change a person, did you? Joy is what you feel when the conflict is over. But it’s conflict that changes a person. He was shouting now. You put your characters through hell. You put them through hell. That’s the only way we change.
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Profound. Thank you.
“they go looking for an easier story”… that’s exactly what i would have done, until perhaps after i read your book. i need the book now!!
can i also just point out that Los Angeles was spelled wrongly?
You have a real gift, Don. Thank you so much for sharing it.
It’s surprising how open you are on these posts. Allowing all of us to gawk and give our opinions of this and that. Takes guts.
I do love to hear about the process of you writing a book and seeing it to its fruition. Both insightful and inspirational.
Amanda
I think it’s funny how a guy like Robert McKee can inspire so much from writing about story. Like you, Don, I was inspired to live a more interesting story after an encounter with Mr. McKee through his best-selling bible on screenwriting. I found the fingerprints of God throughout Story, even though Robert’s obviously not the “religious” type. Since then I’ve heard you speak several times about your master class with him and your bicycle journey across America. Good stuff. Now, I need to see someone about selling a Volvo…
Can’t wait for the new book!
re: #4 D. Johnson’s comment:
Amen.
Love the cover. And I echo the rest of the comments, just those short paragraphs have spoken to me in a powerful way. Hurry and get that book out!
Very captivating in just a short passage. Cannot wait to read the rest the book.
No more grammar errors detected. (Of course, I did not catch the “your” error.)
Nice work, Don. Your writing speaks to me and I am grateful for it. Thank you.
Thanks for posting this, Don. I can’t wait to read the rest!
Just printed it out so I can read it before I go to bed. lol. I’m really excited for the book! I really hope that it goes well for you and that it has a lot of sucess. I’m assuming its more about the story than your own fame and glory.
I’m pretty sure I’m right. I guess I could do with the cover. It’s not so bad anyway. 
Btw, I loved the project These Numbers Have Faces. I wish more and more of these institutions worked in my home country Angola (just above Namibia. My grandmother and family do everything they can through church ministries and try to get people off the streets but they alone cannot do much.
I used to be really proud and not really looking at the conditions there and the help needed. When you are so familiar with a country in that state you almost accept it as a way of life that cannot be changed. I live in Europe, I have a good life and they don’t. They hide their suffering, always keeping good attitutdes but the suffering is there. If no one is doing much, it can start with me.
I’ll start at the church. Maybe I’ll be on to something.
Anyways, just wanted to talk to you about Invisible Children. On April 25th they are hosting this event called The Rescue where thousands of people around the globe will “abduct” themselves to represent the thousands of children abducted by Joseph Konin to become child soldiers in Uganda. It’s devastating. I can’t go to The Rescue because there is nothing being held here. But you Americans can do something with all the amazing resources you have. Visit: therescue.invisiblechildren.com and COME TO THE RESCUE!!
God Bless you,
Guimel
Lisbon, Portugal
oh yeah. Keep checking the blog I created for you!
I write a lot more in my personal one (just click my name)
unresolvedjazz.vox.com
I try to keep up with it as much as I can, its not much but I feel like I’m doing as good of a job as I can.
anyways, take care!
Don,
This is seriously exactly what I am experiencing right now. The truth of what you wrote resonates deeply with my circumstances. Thank you so much. I cannot freaking wait until I get to read more.
I have been thinking over and over about the midpoint – where the progress is questionable – I may have to quote you before you even finish your book!
I have a feeling I’m going to read this about a million times. Thanks.
Too true. And truth is what all art should be about.
John Mayer from No Such Thing:
“And all of our parents
They’re getting older
I wonder if they’ve wished for anything better
While in their memories
Tiny tragedies”
Is there anything more full of pathos than the realisation that you are 40 and aren’t going to change the world after all?
Oh man, now I really can’t wait for the book to come out…
you have know idea how much reading this meant to me. Thank you.
I have just recently begun to read your materials which were to me, timely and new but most definitely some welcome relief. I started with Through Painted Deserts and am finishing Blue Like Jazz. So as not to be long-winded, i’ll cut to the chase. Great Stuff. This book fixing to be published sounds to be as equally great a stuff. The thoughts you have, seem to parallel mine but I’m always thought of as weird by friends and family. I had no idea that God made a lot of people to go through similar things. If I liked to write a little bit more, I’d do it for a living and you’d be one of those guys looked to for inspiration; I’m going into video instead. =) Much Brotherly Family-O-God style love to ya.
Still son’t care for the cover, but can’t wait for the book. Love ya Don. Keep pluggin’ away.
It’s funny how some things shine relevance in your life, especially when your not seeking for it, or at least you didn’t think you were.
I’ve always loved your writing style Don, and the way you always strike the right cords with everything. I know how it is when your writing this stuff, too. When I write I always ask myself that same question: Is this really going to matter to anyone? In the long run you can see it as useless knowledge, the bits and peaces of artistic work you’ve struggled on don’t seem to be formulating and things just kinda seem, well — blah! But months pass and you skim across this little writing you did and BAM it hits you, its profound and you are even amazed you wrote it — Well, a least thats how I feel about my writing.
Nonetheless, outside of the writing life goes on. Some people say life is about the Ups as well as the Downs — well for me, its about the Ups that get shined in your face and stanched away, while the downs get deeper and crueler. For me story isn’t being stuck in calm of the water, rather it is turbulent swells of churning water, letting me up high enough to see shore, but crashing me deep into the sea over and over. The only calm I seem to get is the time it takes me to swim back to my boat and reset myself.
I think for you Don, your life is in a stand still. Not only is that common for writers, its common for someone your age. Hell, I’m only 26 — so what do I know. But Robert McKee was right when he said — “You put your characters through hell. You put them through hell. That’s the only way we change.”
How does God play part in all this? I don’t know. Maybe you will have some hopeful explanation of God’s part in our lives that seem full of disappointment and struggle. For me I’ve almost lost hope. You know that “Open Table” thing your starting? Yeah, well the question about who God is for me? I was told God was in control, and if I put my life into God’s hands I will be protected. And I did. Four years went by rather easily, and I guess I lost it. And I have been in hell ever since. There is Good amongst the Bad, but nonetheless a lot of Bad. Do I blame God? Hell, I blame everyone but myself — who I should blame is me. But Yes, I blame God. Because the one behind the barrel of the gun, after exhausting all possibilities, is God — squeezing the trigger. Why? Why do I believe that, or Why is God doing that? I don’t know. Maybe its true for both Characters and Us — we only change when put through hell.
I have a great story, but I seem to avoid it because its depressing. I write about everything else, elegantly and artistically I piece it together. But its not the whole story. Its not where I’ve been, the hell I’ve seen. Its not about the $65k Job stanched from me, and the current job lost. Its not about the home lost, and the homelessness lived. Its not about the friends who betrayed me and the 20 years I almost spent in prison. Its not about the love I had, the love I lost, or the love I found. Its about everything else in between. Because that is the stuff that doesn’t hurt. That is the stuff I can rationalize. But I wish it was about the hell I’ve been through. I stop myself though because I don’t need validation for those things, not from someone else at least. The only one who can validate me and give me a good reason for those things is… well… God — He hasn’t answered…
Thanks Don for your writing. You are one of my biggest inspirations for writing, and I love what you have done. Thanks a lot!
-Steve
I know so many people have said this (I suppose because it’s universally applicable), but I just wanted to tell you how much this resonates with me. Ever since graduating from college, I’ve found myself so dissappointed with the daily-ness of life, and how change doesn’t come quickly or with fanfare, and I’ve wondered, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ It’s so good to be reminded that God so often works through processes and not just big dramatic events. I am encouraged to be faithful in the small, every day things and trust that by His grace, I will eventually reach the other shore. Thanks so much for your own perserverence! Keep swimming!
“you have to go there, you know. You have to take your character to the place where they just can’t take it anymore.”
That spoke to me — just had a baby and about a day or two into his all-day non stop screaming (with barely any sleeping),kept thinking, “Can I back out? Can I give him back? No way in hell I can do this.”
But the character is growing.
Thanks for sharing. I love your stuff.
- Sara
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this, and shouting a louder, and louder, and louder AMEN to this part: Writing a story isn’t about making your peaceful fantasies come true. The whole point of the story is the character arc. You didn’t think joy could change a person, did you? Joy is what you feel when the conflict is over. But it’s conflict that changes a person. He was shouting now. You put your characters through hell. You put them through hell. That’s the only way we change.
Don, you gave a message at Mars Hill (Michigan) about story nearly two years ago now. I’ve listened to that message probably a dozen times since then. I’m hoping this book carries that message even further. You don’t know how God used that message in my life. You see, I’m planting a church. My wife and I packed up our home and our two little girls and moved 2500 miles, from one coast to the other, to plant a church in Durham, NC. It was that message that convinced me and began to speak to me about living a good story. In fact, it was the combination of that message, and some other things in my life, that became the name of our church. Story Church. Thanks Don. I can’t wait to read your book, and if it is anything like I think it will be, I hope we can give it out at our launch in September.
Honest & Epic. Vulnerability – fountain of life…a give and take lesson the humble & impoverished have taught so well. Cheers Don.
I’m glad you write.
Absolutely incredible.
Can’t wait to own the book.
I liked the cartoony one with the truck driving off the bridge better…but this one is pretty cool too.
Stunning… I can’t wait to read the book!
Stunning… I can’t wait to read the book!
hey don! I just wanted to say that i’m very excited about this book. i didn’t know you were putting out a new one and i absolutely love your writing style. i hope i get to meet you someday. cheers
“You have to take your character to the place where they just can’t take it anymore.”
I want to know that place!
R:WT 09
I love this chapter; like everyone else has said, I can relate to it so much at this point in my life.
What means the most to me is all the other comments saying how much they can relate to the story. Makes me feel slightly less alone.
Thanks, fellow comment-ers. =)
John Fischer just turned me on to your books, so I’m a bit of a newbie. Just finished Blue LIke Jazz. This one is looking like it will be as good!! Thanks for sharing your gifts of insight and writing.
don, i read blue like jazz in 2005 and have anxiously “gobbled up” every book of yours since. i absolutely cannot wait for this one.
grace and peace to you.
(The typos were problems left from the co-authors, duh people;) Enthralling and full of punch; thanks for the bitty preview.
I seriously can NOT wait to read the rest of your book!! Dang.
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