On the cusp

Last night, instead of writing this blog in advance, I went to our local Mystery Writers of America chapter dinner.  Two local writer friends, Alma Katsu and Allison Leotta, were our speakers.  They're both former feds turned full time writer.  Our head table was top-heavy with writers--Kathryn Johnson, Ruth Glick (aka Rebecca York) and Art Taylor were also there.  So of course the conversation turned to writing, including who was still on deadline and who had just turned in something. 

I found myself saying "I'm on the cusp of a book."  And then wasn't sure what I meant by that.  So I came home and looked up the word "cusp."

The first two definitions made me think I'd misspoken.  "A point or pointed end" and "a point, projection, or elevation, as on the crown of a tooth." Okay, when you're getting close to delivering a book, maybe it does feel rather like a pointy object digging into your back, saying "Finish me! Edit me!  Polish me!  Turn me in!"--while the nonwriter part of you is trying to derail the process, muttering about books to read, movies to watch, long-neglected household chores, gardening projects that seem so alluring when you don't have time to do them.  Still--not sure that's what I meant. 

The third definition is geometric (a point where two branches of a curve meet, end, and are tangent) and the fifth architectural (a decorative device, used especially in Gothic architecture to vary the outlines of intradoses or to form architectural foils, consisting of a pair of curves tangent to the real or imaginary line defining the area decorated and meeting at a point within the area). Even farther afield from what I wanted to convey.  In astronomy, it's a point of a crescent, especially of the moon. In astrology, the zodiacal degree that marks the beginning of a house or a sign. At this point I was convinced that my writer friends probably thought I was a loon when I said I was on the cusp of a book.

It wasn't until the seventh definition that I realized I hadn't misspoken--a cusp is also a point that marks the beginning of a change: on the cusp of a new era.

Yeah.  Because that's what it feels like when you're nearing the end of a book project.  The end of an era.  And a whole new era looming ahead.  One minute I've lived with this book too long and want to kick the damned thing out the door.  The next minute I say no, there are still things I want and need to do to it.  And I'm eager to get to the next book I'm going to write and at the same time saying "Noooooo . . . I need to think about it some more (and I want to play a little first)."

The pushme/pullyou mood is stronger than usual because I'm on an accelerated writing schedule this year and next, squeezing in a Christmas Meg book between the regular 2013 and 2014 books. And I also have a couple of short stories I promised to write, on what seemed, at the time, like really long deadlines. So as soon as I pry this manuscript out of my hands and send it to my editor, I'll be diving straight into the next project. 

But I haven't finished the book yet.  I haven't started the next project yet.  I have one foot in the old and one in the new.

On the cusp.  I find it's a curiously satisfying place to be.

Of course, my favorite seasons are the transition times.   Those first cool September days when you get a taste of what fall will be like.  The first late winter days when a hint of warmth reminds you that spring is coming.  And at least here in the Northern Virginia area, we're definitely in that fall transition time.  This summer was particularly brutal.  But we survived it. They're predicting a colder, snowier winter than usual.  But we're not there yet. Right now, the days are warm and sunny, the night are cool and crisp. 

Right now my almost-finished book still holds possibilities I could explore (well, if I wanted to test my editor's patience).  And my next book is all possibility, though thanks to my synopsis, I have a map to help me explore that possibility.  Right now I'm liking it here on the cusp.  Anyone else fond of the cusp?