Blog No. 208
Last week’s post got to least amount of views of all my posts in the last three years. I suspect it was the title. It felt wrong as I was typing it, but I couldn’t manage to get anything better. Maybe a generic title would have done the trick, or maybe that wasn’t the issue at all. Either way, that was a disappointment. Thankfully, the same info is available under the events tab. So, when you’re done here, you should go check that out. Also, while last week’s post was about events, I failed to mention the slew of events I am eagerly anticipating that have nothing to do with me (other than me attending).
One of those was Monday night (causing me to miss boxing) but it was worth it. Daniel Lockhart, local author and publisher released his new book of poetry Big Medicine Comes to Erie. I only got a taste, but it was enough for me to buy the book (adding it to the never ending pile for me to read some time before I die). Briefly, before this turns into another failed post about events, there are a few coming up in my facebook feed I would like to mention. By the River Poetry and Prose (that I am a part of) has several sessions with different authors and publishers coming up. The Walkerville Artists’ Co-op has a Book Fair that I am not part of at all. It’s local authors and artists though, so I try to support. Also, I have yet to go to a Mouth Piece Storytelling event. I think I’m intimidated, or maybe just really lazy, but the latest, Master Mouth-Off, Mouth Piece Storytelling is on the horizon, and I’m tempted to go. It’s hosted by Vanessa Shields, and she is really nice, super sportive, and a heck of a poet too.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Over the last month and a half (ish) I’ve managed to get my boots strapped up and got into a reasonable writing routine. I’m getting close to the end of Pilot (within ten-thousand words I think) and I’m eager to wrap it up. There is still a lot of work to do, and everyone’s schedule gets crazy this time of year, but I think I can keep up the pace. I’ve managed to pump out over seventeen-thousand words in the last Forty six days and I don’t see any reason for me to fall off now. In fact, my pace as increased over that time. I know some of you may read that and scoff at such a pathetic number, but it’s progress for me. I’m really happy with the way it’s going. Granted, the speed has decreased the quality a bit. I feel like I’ve been overly repetitive the last few sessions as I write my way back into the plot, but that could just mean I’m more aware of it due to the speed. It was always going to need a second, third, fourth, and maybe fifth draft.
I’m just slightly concerned with the word count. Sure, I’m well over my initial goal, but I tend to think of things in thresholds. Forty-thousand words is a novella and sixty-thousand is a short novel. I’d hate to fall under the novel length, or end up sitting just on top of it. It’s all nerves. I’ve never finished a novel, so second drafts on this scale are a new thing. I’m excited to get to that stage, but after spending the whole year working on this thing, I’m not eager to start picking apart all my mistakes. Maybe I’m getting too ahead of myself, but I have a bunch of things on my agenda for next year and Pilot has been holding them at bay. Am I scared of them? Scared of the impending work? I know I’m eager to get moving forward.
Either way, who knows. I’m almost done and I have things lined up, waiting for my attention. I’m banking on this momentum to carry me forward to the next couple projects, especially since they are shorter than Pilot has turned out to be (and because my current situation makes it less likely Pilot will see the light of day for some time). With that in mind (because I know you are all bummed out that you won’t be able to read Pilot for a couple years) I am eager to get one of the shorts out for everyone to read and enjoy. But that may not be finished before the summer. Maybe. You’ll have to wait and see.
Ben Van Dongen 