Apologies to Marvin Gaye and 4 Non-Blondes for stealing their title. Though, I guess in the case of the Non-Blondes the title is “What’s Up” and I’ve simply stolen the chorus. Hmm.
Here is an update.
Persy’s Song is finally in Jill’s hands. Digital hands, but hands nonetheless. Everything is going slow, and will continue to do so. The reasons:
- I am working 60 Hour weeks. And have been for nearly a month. This will continue for the foreseeable future. No, writing is not my full-time gig.
- I still need to do cover work. And it’s been awhile. I need to re-learn things that I have forgotten since the last time I’ve been through this process
- I need to relearn much of the publishing process. More importantly, I must learn the ‘stuff’ that has happened and changed in the process over the last 3 years.
- I am writing another book, and writing will always take priority over the two items above.
Most of these items are not difficult. Some are even fun. But they do take time, which is at a premium at the moment. See the first bullet point. I don’t have the luxury of being able to hire things out. My writing makes enough to take the family out to a nice meal on a good month. Some months enough to buy single cup of Joe for Jill. Many months absolutely nothing. This is only to illustrate that I cannot justify taking on the added expense of getting help with the above tasks. So, they will take time.
There is a lot of good right now, though.
Since late May, when I started writing in earnest again, I have only missed two or three days. Probably the best part of this is that I’ve learned to be OKAY with those missed days. Again see the first bullet point above. Missed days have had the tendency to spiral into missed weeks and months in the past. Even when they were justifiable, because y’know 60 hour weeks.
I’m writing a little slower now. I’m learning to be okay with this, too. Sometimes, I purposefully slow my start in the mornings to allow me to “tap into my characters.” It’s a fine line, and I have to be careful to not let critical voice creep into this process. There is a lot be said for just sitting down and getting the next sentence down, but I’ve also learned that I am a deep thinker. Very deep. And to not leverage this strength is doing a disservice to my stories (and the characters.) The writing of The Smallwood Harp is going well. I am somewhere north of 15,000 words. New words happen in the morning before work. Most evenings I get something done on the stuff needed to release Persy’s Song and other publishing business related items on my already released books that I’ve neglected for too long.
My son is starting his second year at the local Community College and will head off to a university next Fall. We’ve had a couple of campus visits this Summer. It’s been all good, and I’ve been grateful for the little time I can steal away from his studies and video game play.
Anyway, there you have it. An update. BTW, What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye is one of the best albums ever made. Not that I have a strong opinion on it.
Talk at you soon
Check out my books.
–TD
Tony D. Writes Pulp Fiction 