I Might be Insane, But I'm Inviting You Along for the Ride
I’m writing this update from my office, and one story below me, a concrete saw and jackhammer offer alternating distractions. One moment screeches. The next quakes. I am not living my best writing life. It is par for the course of 2020.
Writing has been difficult in this insane milieu. But it’s not just writing. Just about everything takes more effort in 2020 than in previous years--eating healthfully, exercising, spiritual disciplines, fighting smartphone addiction. If this year were to be tagged with an adjective, it’d be disruptive.
Many of my routines--particularly around creative disciplines--have fallen by the wayside this year, but I’m determined to rediscover them. It’s creativity that makes us human, after all, and I’m feeling less human by the day. Today, I’m inviting you to keep me accountable to creativity. How?
Eight years ago, I wrote a novel, Bears in the Yard. I scrawled it three-quarters drunk during an impossible time, a time I felt my own life might be unraveling. It was an exploration of something, though I couldn’t say what at the time (drunk as I was). But as I’ve considered the story over the years, and I’ve come to see it for what it is. It’s a story about what it means to live a good and weathering life.
The story follows Wesley, a World War II veteran who’s confined to a hospice bed. He examines the scope of his life, the ways he’s been deconstructed and reformed, all while wrestling with anthropomorphic dream images of bears and mountain goats and geese (oh my). It’s a southern gothic story with a trace of magical realism. Still, it is unfinished, and I’d like to finish it.
I’d like you to follow along as I revised and complete this novel. If you follow this link to my Substack page and become a paying subscriber, you’ll begin receiving excerpts every week or two. You’ll also have access to an archive where you can catch up on the story in its entirety if you miss an installment. And yes, it’ll set you back a few bucks a month, but the buy-in will keep you honest (I hope), and it’ll keep me motivated (I assure you). And if this goes well, I hope to begin working on a second novel next year, one which will borrow from Bears in some small way, though with a sort of futurist twist.
Please signup to follow along and I’ll send the first installment TONIGHT. Also, consider sharing this with a friend or two, asking them to follow along (just change the email address).
Finally, I’d love to hear from you. What are you doing to stay creative in this season of insanity?