A commitment to Tendril

[vaneramos]

Morning glories in Edwards Gardens, Toronto


Last week I mentioned it's time to reconnect with my literary children. Today while working out at the gym, I chose Tendril.

She was conceived two years ago during National Novel Writing Month. I had a fun romp, but the first draft demanded complete rewriting, and has sat untouched ever since. Now I must reconvene with Tendril. The main plot I'll keep: a teenaged girl enters cyberspace to rescue her father. Alice in Wonderland inspired it. Last week Danny and I watched the Czech film version, Neco z Alenky by Jan Švankmajer, which extrapolates the story's dark surrealism. Tendril's voyage will be a quest for adult knowledge.

I won't post it in blind_king. Two reasons:

1. To transcend my desire for immediate attention and explore the writing impulse that has filled dozens of handwritten journals in nine years. I want to see how my intimacy with pen and paper nurtures Tendril.
2. Writing on paper will free me to work in parks, cafés, libraries, Toronto.

Work starts tomorrow, 3 to 5 pm six days a week until it's written. I have a world to design and research to do, beginning with a review of Lewis Carroll and my own manuscript.