Off the Page is now available as an e-book, on these sites:
And these places still have the hard copy:In the US, the beloved Politics & Prose in Washington, DC, McNally Jackson in NYC -- or find an independent near you via Indie Bookstore Finder.
In the UK, Foyles and Waterstones.
A favorite quote from Off the Page, from Mary Kay Zuravleff, whose third novel, Man Alive!, is also available at the above bookstores.
"I’m writing to match some tune in my head, some flavor from a dream, translated into words on a page. The first few drafts, my people move monstrously through contrived mazes. Eventually, I can stop pounding on their chests and filling their lungs. They’ll sit up and blink, and then, to my amazement, samba down a path far more imaginative and inevitable than what I’d envisioned.
Once we’re all satisfied, there are still drafts devoted to language and description, gestures and observations. When I make a pass for smells, I’m almost done. For both of my novels, I gave a draft to a few choice critics whose exceptional advice was on the order of, “I almost see the constellation you were aiming at, but you missed a star here. And here.”
Then I rewrite it one more time."
