The journey of my novel and the creative process of writing it will be documented here as I regularly set my intentions, structure the narrative, craft the characters, detail the settings, integrate the symbolism and record my process. I will document the creative process sharing online what would be shared in person within a writer’s group.

To begin I’ll revisit what I have written to date to identify gaps. The narrative is taken from an ancient tale, I did this intentionally to take away from the angst of deciding what happens to my characters. This has worked well for writing the main story parts, but I have found myself cycling over and rewriting them rather than pressing forward to claim the story for myself beyond this.

Fear is also a factor that stands in my way but I’m ready to stand firm and shove it aside to progress with this piece and make it my own.

The idea for this writing collection is inspired by the John Steinbeck work Journal of a Novel:

Journal of a Novel (1969)

Not originally intended for publication, this work is a series of letters written by John Steinbeck to his long-time friend and editor, Pascal Covici, during the writing of East of Eden. Throughout these letters, Steinbeck mentions his worries about various parts of East of Eden and provides insights to some of the characters. Readers also see glimpses of the rest of Steinbeck’s life in these letters. He mentions his sons, Thom and John, as well as his wife, Elaine.

NATIONAL STEINBECK CENTRE

Time to get writing.