Swimming
an excerpt from a novel-in-progress, plus notes on a passion project
Thank you for reading Novella. Today’s post is a bit different: an excerpt from a novel-in-progress. I’ve been working on this novel off and on for about ten years. Like most of my books, it is inspired in part by place—specifically, our old house perched on a canyon in the Northern California suburbs.
For many people the word “suburbs” is a dirty word, implying a kind of stale, cookie-cutter existence, but often the first thing I see in the morning is a buck staring into the window, a family of deer having breakfast below our driveway, or birds of prey wheeling over the canyon. Sometimes in the middle of the night I get a sense of something outside, and I walk into the hallway to see something like this fellow…
One night some years ago, I heard a deep voice say, “Michelle,” and I climbed out of bed to see a big cat standing in the driveway, staring in the window. The cat became a character in The Wonder Test, named Mister Fancy. While the cat in the book makes several appearances, the actual cat appeared only once, just long enough to insert himself in a novel. Upon seeing the cat for the first time, the narrator is shaken:
I have a strange thought. It was the cat who spoke those words to me in my sleep.
I have always sensed something strange and magical about this house, though I am willing to accept that it is just my overactive imagination. At any rate, the idea for the novel-in-progress I’m sharing with you today came to me not long after we moved here. For most people who walk into this house for the first time, it inspires a moment of vertigo. Sometimes, early in the morning when the fog moves over the quiet canyon, I still have sense that the house could tip over at any moment.
The protagonist and narrator of the novel feels much the same way. Although the book is not autobiographical, the protagonist does share a home with me. With the exception of our first house, a Doelger in the Westlake district of Daly City, every place we have lived has appeared in a book.
Even though I put this book aside for years at a time to pursue other projects, it remains dear to my heart. If you’ve ever had a passion project, you understand that the thing you love creating doesn’t always happen quickly. You start it one day in a flash of inspiration, and years later you look back and discover it’s still on your to-do list. I thought I’d share a bit of it here with you. Thank you as always for reading and supporting my work. It means a lot to me to know that there is someone on the other end of the keyboard, reading.
