I’ve allowed myself a week to settle in and readjust to life outside a cube, outside the beltway, outside any previous experience.
It’s surreal, but it’s real. It’s happening. I’m here, and I plan to suck the marrow out of each moment.
I have so much I hope to accomplish, my only concern at this point is feeling overwhelmed by my wish list and that internal editor who arbitrates a great deal of writing before it ever gets written.
As such, I’ve long been aware that sometimes the most important part of creation is what you do when you’re not actively creating.
I would say I’m pacing myself, but the truth is I wouldn’t trust a straight-out-of-the-gate burst of adrenaline; it’s as much a marathon as it’s ever been. Only more so.
As such, and in truth, I have some paper shuffling and organizing to do before I can immerse myself in the next “big” project (of which more soon, I hope).
I have done, I think, my final inspection of the e-files that will, soon enough, become Murphy’s Law, Vol. One.
In order to get some additional ducks in a row, I’ve wanted to lay out the contents for the next two volumes. It looks like one will focus entirely on music and the other will, like the first volume, split chapters between film, music, literature, sports, politics, ruminations in real time and, inexorably, more music.
(I already have visions for what the next two book covers will look like, and that makes me very happy. More soon, for sure.)
It’s nice to have the occasional opportunity to reassess previous efforts and conclude that, by any reasonable measure, it’s been a tremendously productive decade.
Believe it or not, the picture above is the end result of a full morning’s labor. The most boring, but necessary part: putting the prospective pieces in place before moving on to organize, edit and prepare them for publication.
What else?
I’ll be displeased with myself if I’m unable to revisit, edit and give my blessing (after fifteen-ish years) to the first novel. As (and good friends and early readers are aware) it’s loosely structured as a tribute of sorts to Moby Dick, the combination of summer and Martha’s Vineyard would seem the ideal time and place to complete this task.
And I need to make final edits on a collection of short stories–some of which were published in 2015.
I’d also like to finish a dozen (or more!) poems that are in various states of readiness. I’m cautiously exuberant about being able to complete about 20 poems all focused on a central theme (of which more soon, I hope).
Then, on to the next novel or memoir. We’ll see.
We’ll see which one of these boxes speaks to me first, or most loudly.
To be cont’d…
