It stands out in my memory as the first
time I went into a store specifically to buy a notebook for a
specific purpose. I was driving from Boulder to Littleton. It’s a
long drive. I took HWY 93 out of Boulder to Golden. In Golden, I got
on 6th, and then took a small jog to Colfax staying there
briefly. I went through Morrison, got on C470 to Bowles, maybe, I
can’t really remember. All I know is that I lived in Boulder and I
worked in Littleton. It was on this long drive that I first conceived
of a story that consumed the whole drive. When I got to work, a
franchised picture framing outfit in a strip mall, I went into the
Kmart next door and bought a notebook. It was a cloudy day, I
remember that much. It was the spring, late April or early May 1993.
I can’t remember much more about all of
it. What happened was that I started to write this story in a spiral
notebook since this was still three years before I discovered the
composition notebook. Shortly after I began to write this story, I
left the frame shop and started working at the Health Department. I
wrote on this story at work, if I can admit to it. I wrote a lot
during the two years I worked a the Department of Health. It was a
very boring job and no one seemed to check up on me. I loved writing
there because it was without distraction and I really felt like I was
getting away with something. And the story I began while on a drive
from Boulder to Littleton, I later named The Exile
and for years I considered it a novel.
Funny
thing, it isn’t a novel, nor was it ever. Another funny thing, I
never read it. Yet another funny thing, I bought a computer sometime
later and it sat on a desk in the dining room of an apartment I
shared with my girlfriend at the time and she typed the story. I
didn’t even do the second draft.
I have
opened up and updated the file over these last thirty years, even if
I have never read it. It was typed in WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS. I
later updated that to MS Word. And years later when I left Word for
Open Office, I opened the file up and updated it again. To the best
of my recollection, I have never read it. It’s about 17,000 words, 76
pages, double spaced and in courier 10pt font. And that’s all I know.
Due to
the success of the April Camp NaNoWriMo project, The
Cataract I decided to rewrite
this story as well. It’s my desire to triple the size, make it a
complete novel, something I can really call a novel. And I hope it
proves to be a fascinating look into 1993.