Writing
Wednesday, January 16, 2008 -- 10:52am
Posted by Bar


Good morning, everybody.

Happy New Year, too! I've been thinking about you all and realized  
that it's been a while since I was in touch about my book writing  
project. Several people asked about it, so I thought I would let you  
know.

It's been harder to discipline my writing activity here at home. So  
much was going on over the holidays that I lost my focus for a few  
weeks. But I'm back on track and writing every morning again. I walk  
first thing, check my email, which is what I'm doing now, and then  
sit down to write for three or four hours. When I got back from Ocean  
Grove, I was very, very lucky to find my way into a writing group  
that meets once a week here in Woodstock. The group is led by a  
wonderful writer named Abigail Thomas whose book, Three Dog Life, is  
on the NYTimes Best Seller list for 2007. I read the book last winter  
not knowing that she was a local, fell in love with her style and her  
story, and now I'm more or less working with her every week. Our  
meetings were interrupted through the holidays, but they've started  
up again. I've read two of my chapters to the very small group, and  
the response has been very good. I'll get to read one more chapter  
tomorrow night which I can't wait to do. The weekly meetings help me  
to pace myself. I have way more stuff to read than there are meetings  
at this point, so I wish we/I could go faster. But the slowing  
process gives me time to proof and proof and proof until I get things  
as close as I can to where I want them to be. So, all of that is  
great news.

I have no idea how the publishing world works except that I know that  
it is very similar to the music business. That is to say, there are  
no guarantees, you're likely not to be noticed, and it's likely  
you'll get your heart broken. However, I am excited to pursue the  
industry when I'm ready. With music, I have never really been drawn  
to the conventional music business format. With a book, I am  
completely drawn to the bigger picture. It's premature to think that  
I have anything publishable yet, but I am working towards that. I  
have fantasies about traveling around the country reading from the  
book, singing a few songs while I'm in town, and talking about  
Forrest, living, dying and loving as much as people are willing to do  
so. We'll see (as my mom and dad used to say all of the time....)

I hope that you all had a peaceful holiday season.

With love,
Bar