SATURDAY NIGHT DIRT is on its way to publication, and now I have to move ahead with the second novel in the MOTOR Series.  Below is part of a log, or diary, of I how I approach writing a novel....

July 5, 2007 Novel deadline looming this fall, but it’s difficult to write much before the Fourth of July in Minnesota. It’s just too nice out of doors– green grass, loon-calling upper Mississippi on-the-river living. But my editor, Wes A., at Farrar, Straus & Giroux in New York wants the second MOTOR series novel by the end of August.  Yikes! Also, a novel series is not an easy thing. Each novel has to stand alone, yet intersect with the previous book. SND took an ensemble approach—multiple points of view all focused to one Saturday night at the race track. Wes wants a more singular point of view—a main character—in this one. And he might be right (editors usually are).

July 6 Am going to go with Trace Bonham, 16, from SND, as the main character for the new novel. He’ll “own” the book. His story. Working title is Super Stock Rookie, but I don’t like “rookie”. I set the stage for this at the end of SND, when Trace’s driving skill is noticed by Cal Hopkins, well known Late Model driver. Hopkins feels strangely real to me—maybe more real than any character I’ve created for some time. A friend and racing enthusiast, Marsh M., is partly to blame; he loved the Cal Hopkins character, and now when we go to the actual races in Knoxville, Iowa, or Fargo or Grand Forks, North Dakota he’ll study the program, then catch me off guard with some remark like, “I wonder if Cal will be here tonight?” Anyway, it’s Trace. . . . Now I have to set about ruining his life. I think this is going to be a Be-Careful-What-You-Asked-For kind of story. Novelists have to be tough on their characters. It’s easy to be too easy on them.

July 7 The plot for novel number two: Trace tries out and is selected to drive for a new team, a team all about marketing a new product. I’m interested in several things here: how drivers move up from the local tracks to the pro level; how the forces of sponsors and marketing dominate auto racing; and—more interesting—the effects of success on a kid who might not be ready or even want it....

If you want to read the whole "diary" of writing this novel, go to my main website and the link to blog.willweaverbooks.com. Mainly on this site I'll be writing about my racing team--how that all came together. Next summer (2008) there will be regular blog entries on the Team Weaver racing season in the upper Midwest, include entries from my driver, Skyler Smith.