The wind is up in Provincetown
The wind is up in Provincetown today, Wednesday, January 18th. It's really up. It woke up my beloved, who checked the weather channel, only to find it reporting 25 mph winds. These winds are more like gale force. They're shaking the whole building and rocking the table. My coffee wouldn't be sloshing about in my mug if the winds were only 25 mph.
Later today, we'll be leaving for the mainland again. It's been wonderful, being 50 miles out to sea for almost a week, but all good things must come to an end, I supposed.
Anway, it'll be good to get back and get crackin' on the material I wrote while we were here. I'm writing another book. Not the sequel to Bait (not just yet - the initial drafting is coming later this year), but another completely unrelated novel. A novel that I've been wanting to write for many years, but didn't quite know how. Now I know. So, I have begun.
In the past week and a half, I've written well over 100 pages. I don't want the book to be that long, but that's what I thougth about "Bait", and it ended up fairly hefty, by my standards, I'm doing everything in my power to keep the size down on this thing, butthe story will be told. The story will not be short-changed.
Can't say much about what it's about, just yet. Only that it's set in the suburbs of Boston, and it carries forward a long-standing theme that's recognized pretty universally. So far, so good. I believe it's all possible and it feels genuine.
Bait has only been out six months or so, now. Sales are still slow, but that's to be expected in this day of competing information. I don't feel a tremendous sense of urgency around doing a promotional blitz with "Bait". It's a timeless story, and it's one that won't lose its relevance, once we're out of this century. I really do believe the underlying concepts and tensions and dramas of Bait are central to the human condition, and just as Steinbeck or Hemingway or Stein or Sand have stood the test of time, I believe Bait will prove to be one of those kinds of books. Do I count myself among the immortals? Why not? Why bother, if you don't believe to the very core of your being, that your work has lasting merit? I just have to hope that others feel the same.
It all takes time. And if Bait is worth the effort of reading, it will find its place in the world. Sooner or later.
Keeping this blog is an odd thing for this writer. I know I need to do it, and it can really come in handy, and if I want to reach my audience more thoroughly, I need to keep this blog. But writing novels is such a different process, than blogging. And when I'm in novel-writing mode (which I very often am), the speed of blogging almost throws off my pace for fiction. Fiction, to me, is much more about introspection and letting it flow at a measured pace, whereas blogging to me is all about just getting something out there. Quickly. Post haste. Get it out there - get it out there - get it out there... people are watching, people are reading, if you want people to come back you've got to give them something new and fresh to come back to. Or they might not come back again.
There's an awful lot of pressure in that, for this writer.
So, I'm taking the pressure off, and I'll blog when I can. But I'm not making a huge deal out of it. I'll update when I can, when something comes to mind. Who knows -- I may find even more inclination to do it, once I take away the *requirement* that I do it.
Giving up might be the first step to becoming more fully engaged.
Later today, we'll be leaving for the mainland again. It's been wonderful, being 50 miles out to sea for almost a week, but all good things must come to an end, I supposed.
Anway, it'll be good to get back and get crackin' on the material I wrote while we were here. I'm writing another book. Not the sequel to Bait (not just yet - the initial drafting is coming later this year), but another completely unrelated novel. A novel that I've been wanting to write for many years, but didn't quite know how. Now I know. So, I have begun.
In the past week and a half, I've written well over 100 pages. I don't want the book to be that long, but that's what I thougth about "Bait", and it ended up fairly hefty, by my standards, I'm doing everything in my power to keep the size down on this thing, butthe story will be told. The story will not be short-changed.
Can't say much about what it's about, just yet. Only that it's set in the suburbs of Boston, and it carries forward a long-standing theme that's recognized pretty universally. So far, so good. I believe it's all possible and it feels genuine.
Bait has only been out six months or so, now. Sales are still slow, but that's to be expected in this day of competing information. I don't feel a tremendous sense of urgency around doing a promotional blitz with "Bait". It's a timeless story, and it's one that won't lose its relevance, once we're out of this century. I really do believe the underlying concepts and tensions and dramas of Bait are central to the human condition, and just as Steinbeck or Hemingway or Stein or Sand have stood the test of time, I believe Bait will prove to be one of those kinds of books. Do I count myself among the immortals? Why not? Why bother, if you don't believe to the very core of your being, that your work has lasting merit? I just have to hope that others feel the same.
It all takes time. And if Bait is worth the effort of reading, it will find its place in the world. Sooner or later.
Keeping this blog is an odd thing for this writer. I know I need to do it, and it can really come in handy, and if I want to reach my audience more thoroughly, I need to keep this blog. But writing novels is such a different process, than blogging. And when I'm in novel-writing mode (which I very often am), the speed of blogging almost throws off my pace for fiction. Fiction, to me, is much more about introspection and letting it flow at a measured pace, whereas blogging to me is all about just getting something out there. Quickly. Post haste. Get it out there - get it out there - get it out there... people are watching, people are reading, if you want people to come back you've got to give them something new and fresh to come back to. Or they might not come back again.
There's an awful lot of pressure in that, for this writer.
So, I'm taking the pressure off, and I'll blog when I can. But I'm not making a huge deal out of it. I'll update when I can, when something comes to mind. Who knows -- I may find even more inclination to do it, once I take away the *requirement* that I do it.
Giving up might be the first step to becoming more fully engaged.
posted by Loren Stone | 6:47 AM
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