Ongoing Pursuit Of Happiness


I've had a run of successes lately with my poetry and nonfiction publications. I take them for what they are - a writer mucking about trying to make his mark on the world - even if only at a micro scale. It is absolutely the best part of my creative life at the moment, as I suck at art and can't carry a tune or play an instrument. My writing is my favorite getaway after a day of dealing with technical issues at my day job. It is a perfect compliment actually.

On top of the hardcopy and online publications, I have been doing some virtual Zoom readings here and there as well. Last week I read my second place winning poem, Wordnapped, from the Jade Ring Contest for the Wisconsin Writers Association. It was a nice recognition of the contest winners. This one provided a $100 award, so I always joke that sometimes poetry does pay. Ha!

I've been noodling around with what I think is my next book. After kicking around some ideas, I realized that I have years of cabin stories to draw from, so my thought is a book something along the lines of "Cabin Tales" that highlights some of the good times I've had with family and friends at cabins in various locales throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. I'm about 20 pages in, so I have a good start, but so begins the long process of write, edit, repeat. 

I have also just begun shopping my finished memoir titled, Cretin Boy, out to publishers. In case you didn't know it is a recounting of my days at Cretin High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lots of humorous stories about my days between the walls of Cretin under the dual oppression of religion and the military. It goes beyond that into the angst of being a teenager in the '70s struggling to discover who they are. There is no way to describe this time between submission and acceptance. It is just a time of high anxiety and expectancy. 

I've had a few positive inquiries, asking to see more of the work, so I am hopeful that that is a good sign. This selling of self - selling of your work, toil and sweat - is the hardest part of writing. It makes editing look fun. At the same time, the waiting gives me something to look forward to, a necessary feeling in these days of living day to day. 

So, as fall sets in, I'll keep doing what I've been doing. Writing, revising, submitting and maybe even a little celebrating.

Blogging off...

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