Imagine that! A blog post with no accompanying eye candy! Today we look at the written (or more accurately, typeset) word. I’ve said the blog is all about writing practice, and I’m coming up on my 500th post. I’ve noticed that many visitors arrive here on old pages then peruse through the posts from a year ago or more. Others come for the no-knead undead ciabatta, and others are looking for a picture of a chocolate cupcake and like the one I used for “Cupcake: Gone”. Not nearly as many have ventured onto the writing page, which tells me the audience for long works online is as sparse as the aisles of Borders bookstore these days. I can’t say I blame you—I stroll through blogs online and if it can’t be consumed in a few minutes I usually don’t bother. To me a book is a conscious investment of time while a blog entry is an amuse bouche.
So with the understanding that writing takes time, I’m taking the next week off from the blog to focus more on my writing. I’ve got two books done and am deep into the third. The first is historical fiction set in WWII, the second is a non-fiction adventure travel account, and the third is…fun. With my first two books I had to concern myself with facts and chronology so the third book is a young adult fantasy that goes places I dream of. If people have as much fun reading as I’ve had writing, I might find a readership. First, though, I need an agent. I’ve been prepared for rejection, accepting it with a shrug. And how couldn’t you? Finding an agent is like fishing, and if you want to hook a salmon on every cast, you’re in the wrong sport. And since I don’t fish, I just assume it’s all cast and no fish, so just the fact that I’ve had some promising bites is enough to tell me my work has promise. And with only 15 rejections under my belt I figure I’ve only just started the agent search.
If my work has been entertaining, instructional, and thought-provoking over the last few years I hope you continue to frequent this site. Above all it’s a place to discuss handicraft, whether that’s in the kitchen or at the writing desk. And as always, I encourage you to learn from my mistakes. See you next week.
Writer, architect, father, husband.
Hey! Turns out this is my 500th post! Good, I’m one-twentieth of the way to ten thousand.
Count on me!
Hi Peter, I wanted to introduce you to the blog of one of my longest known buddys in blog-dom. Her name is Pam Hawley and she is also an aspiring writer. Her posts are mainly about her writing and many other writers comment quite a bit. Here is the url: http://hawleyville.wordpress.com/.
Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll check it out!