I post something here every month related – though sometimes loosely or tangentially – to my written works. This month, I’m going to get a little more in touch with my feelings and write about me. Here’s an important thing to know about me: I do not like to write about myself. And that’s an understatement. I don’t think I have terribly interesting or significant things to say. I don’t believe anyone is anxiously awaiting the next post on this blog. The only reason it exists is to declare that I’m still trying to produce more novels. As long as I’m posting regularly, people can rest assured that a new book will be available eventually. (That is anxiously awaited, right?)
Because the purpose is solely on the books, nearly every time I try to think of what to post, I need to suppress an impulse to apologize for not announcing a new book. I want to write how sorry I am that I haven’t dreamed up a new love story yet. Then I get defensive. I want to know how I can possibly be expected to churn out 50+ thousand words of witty banter, quirky characters and warm sentiments in a few weeks. No one can do that.
This month, however, I was happy I could write that I’d finally finished a rough draft for the next book. I can’t write that though. Because then I’d have to apologize for that being only the first step. I’d have to say I’m sorry I haven’t found time to check the thousands and thousands of words for typos and misspellings and those weird cases where I wrote a sentence that no longer makes sense even to myself. I’d have to ask forgiveness for not having it formatted for ebook or print yet, that I don’t have a cover or even a title to put on that cover. I’d have to say please don’t be mad that my rough draft took several months.
We all know that books take a long time so I’m not writing any of that. (Okay, we’re pretending I didn’t write it.) Whatever I do post this month or any month, there is still an apology between the lines. But there’s also a promise that I’m working on something more interesting, that someday in the only sort of distant future I will be able to announce a new book. When I do, I might not be thinking about how long before the one after that.