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Evening Writing Course in Salem this January, Writing Update, Misc.

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It’s been a few months, hasn’t it? When I start getting emails from readers wondering what I’ve been up to and whether something new will be coming out anytime soon, often with a note of concern for my welfare, I realize I should probably give a little update. And just because we’re nearing Thanksgiving, that’s a picture of my cat, Paisley, enjoying the comfort of the fire on a chilly November evening. See, we’re all fine and cozy here.

Nothing new on the publishing front, alas, though when the dust settles in December this should end up being a very productive writing year. How can that be? It’s been a year and half since I’ve published something, the longest stretch in years. Well, it may be obvious, but it’s still worth pointing out that there’s a big difference between writing and publishing. I very much see writing as a discipline. I get up early and write my daily words. I keep striving to get better. That’s it. That’s all there is. Everything after that — the publishing side of the equation — is just details. Those details can be important, but they tend to sort themselves out as long as I just do my best and keep my primary focus on meeting my daily quota. Some projects take longer than others, some have to be put aside for a while, and some have to put aside for good. It happens. It’s all just part of the discipline.

So that’s a long-winded way of saying yes, I’m writing, quite a bit, actually, but no, there’s nothing new coming out at this time. For you Garrison Gage fans, that’s the book I’m working on now.  When will it be done? Who knows. It’s done when it’s done. I realize that’s not exactly helpful to my readers, but having a very Zen-like approach to the craft keeps me sane, especially since I balance the writing and other creative work with a university career and raising two kids. I just don’t want anyone to think that just because nothing has been published lately that nothing has been written.

On another note, I’m teaching WR 464: Writing for Publication again this January for Western Oregon University. A little twist this time: It’s part of a new offering of courses in my hometown (twenty-five minutes away from WOU itself) as the university starts ramping up a Salem, Oregon presence. It’s also offered in a hybrid format, meeting for two hours on Wednesday nights from 7:30-9:30 while the rest of the content is online. For me, I’m focusing on the business aspects of publishing in the face-to-face component, so there’s plenty of opportunity for questions, with the craft part of the class online. (Otherwise the content is much the same as previous times, which you can read more about here.) I’ll be back to post a bit more info soon, but the first session will be Wednesday, January 9, 2019.

If you have a serious interest in writing and selling fiction and creative nonfiction, and you want to learn the nuts and bolts of professional writing, both the traditional and self-publishing routes, I promise you that you will get a lot out of this course. My goal is to clear away the myths and set my students on the right path. If you want to get on that path, take the course. The rest will be up to you, but I will do my best to get you on the path.  Use the contact form on this site if you have questions. And no, it’s not going to be offered fully online anytime soon. Perhaps someday, but the hybrid online/evening course approach is what the university is focusing on for the Salem courses for right now. It’s a great opportunity to get upper division college credit as well, if you’re working on finishing your degree.

Back soon. If not, though, remember, I’m still writing . . .

Port Orford, Oregon – July 2018

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That’s a picture from our recent week-long stay in Port Orford, Oregon. We rented a beautiful house nestled in the hills near Port Orford Heads State Park, and just forty-seven steps down to what was practically our own private beach. Heidi took this photo when we walked down the grass-covered steps that first night at dusk. It was such a magical moment that I actually said, “It’s like something out of a fairy tale.”  The southern Oregon coast is so far from the major areas of Oregon that it’s not nearly as touristy, which isn’t a bad thing at all in my book. We had fun hiking the South Slough Estuary, visiting the Cape Blanco Lighthouse, and just hanging out as a family, as we often do when we make our frequent forays to the coast.

Alas, no publishing news to report. It’s been a lot longer than I’d prefer between books, but sometimes it can’t helped. I do appreciate your emails, even the hectoring ones, because a hectoring reader is still better than no reader at all, I think. Yet in the end I just have to write my daily words and trust in the process. While I truly appreciate every reader I have, I can’t do it any other way. The books come when they come. Sometimes they come out fine the first time, sometimes they go sideways and need a bit more work, but I’ve learned the hard way (oh boy, have I) to just keep the focus on the work.

If you want a good book on the subject, check out Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel. It’s one of my favorites. When Herrigel himself was learning archery from a Zen Master in Japan, he was scolded for fixating too much on the goal itself:

“Put the thought of hitting right out of your mind! You can be a Master even if every shot does not hit. The hits on the target is only an outward proof and confirmation of your purposelessness at its highest, of your egolessness, your self-abandonment, or whatever you like to call this state. There are different grades of mastery, and only when you have made the last grade will you be sure of not missing the goal.”

 

Postcards from the Garage: Sunset in Bandon, Oregon (and a brief update)

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That’s a shot of the beach in Bandon, Oregon in mid-December. My daughter wanted to visit her best friend, who moved to northern California a few years ago, and we found a way to make it happen — flying her down from Portland to Arcata. It’s not something we can always do, but special friendships are worth a special effort, we believe, so we do what we can. The problem was that the airline decided to drop the route from their schedule (lack of demand, I guess), so while she was able to use one of the last scheduled flights south she needed to be transported home another way. I made it into a father/son road trip, and the two of us drove down together, cutting over to the coast at Reedsport, Oregon and heading south on Highway 101 all the way to Crescent City, California, where we picked up my daughter. As anyone who knows me can probably guess, I seldom pass up a chance to spend time on the Oregon coast. Staying in Bandon allowed us to break up the drive and enjoy a few fun stops, like the John Dellenback Dunes Trail. The Umpqua Dunes were rumored to have inspired Frank Herbert to write his classic of science fiction, Dune. Here’s a shot of Calvin atop one of the towering hills of sand:

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And here’s another, with the ocean far in the distance, just to give you a sense of how strangely wonderful this place is:

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Other than that, not much to update, really, just thought it was about time to say something since it had been months. We’re still improving our old house and kids are fully settled into their new schools. I’m still working on the book I’m calling the Big Epic. I know quite a few of you are waiting for another Garrison Gage book, and believe me, it’s the next one on tap, but it was just time to work on something different for a while. I’m keenly aware that there’s risk involved, that my readers may not always follow me to what’s turning out to be a very different kind of book, but risk is also a critical part of being any kind of creative person, I think. Otherwise, if you’re only going to play it safe, why bother?  So, there it is. Somehow I find myself writing a strange hybrid of paranormal/alternate history/time travel/suspense/romance . . . Or, you know, a book that just doesn’t fit neatly into any categories. C’est la vie. That’s all for now, hopefully back before too long.

Summer Update: Buying a House, an Eclipse, and Other Writerly Disruptions

51r-JkDGNiL._SL300_First, a tiny bit of publishing news. A Lighthouse for the Lonely Heart, the fifth Garrison Gage book, is now available in audio. You can download it at Audible, Amazon, and elsewhere. Steven Roy Grimsley continues to do a fantastic job narrating the books.

In addition, it seemed like about time for another general update. I know, I know, I’m such a prolific blogger, cranking out posts at a torrid pace of one every month or two. But that’s okay. If nothing else, I’m living proof to my writing students — I taught WR 464: Writing for Publication again this last spring, and promotion is one of the last things we talked about — that it is quite possible for a fiction writer to have a successful writing career and barely be online at all.

Work continues on a new book I’m simply referring to as The Big Epic, though not as fast as I’d like (more on why in a moment), and after wrapping up teaching a one-credit course on publishing for non-writers, we’re in the late summer lull at the university before things pick up in the fall and I start doing a lot of workshops and training for faculty wanting to take advantage of different aspects of digital media in their coursework and scholarship. A good chance to take a breath.

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While there was only one brief trip this summer —a quick foray to Astoria, Oregon over the July 4th weekend  — it’s been the most intense few months we’ve had in years. The reason? We bought a new house. Actually, we bought an old house that’s new to us, a charming 1930 home in the “Tudor Rival” style, with two stories and a basement. While a few things have been updated over the years, it still needs a bit of work and TLC, but it’s such a lovely old house that we’re okay with all that. It’s also just a few blocks away from both of the kids’ schools and just a few more blocks from the best park in town, so the advantages to us go beyond the house itself. Still, we lived in the previous house for sixteen years, so there are a lot of good memories there.

But boy, this whole process has been exhausting! As we contemplated starting down this road a few months ago, when we were deciding whether to make an offer on the  house, I told Heidi that this process (buying/selling/repairs/moving/etc) would consume our lives for six months at least, and I think my prediction has proven fairly accurate. We’re about four months through that six months now — if you consider the beginning point when we first thought about moving.

What else? Oh, the eclipse. We were right in the path of totality and experienced it from our front yard. What else can be said other than it was amazing? I expected it to be amazing, but what I didn’t expect was to have such a powerful emotional response to it, to spontaneously whoop and burst into cheers when the fun finally disappeared behind the moon. We wanted to experience it at our house partly to mark our start there (we’d only been in it a few weeks at that point), and  I’m glad we did.

This week, I saw my daughter off to her first day of high school. My son started middle school last week. It’s a time of change. It’s been a hectic summer, and I’ve let my creative output suffer because of it. I’ve also, despite my best efforts, let the Nonsense Factory  located in Washington D.C. get into my head more than usual, and I’m determined to channel that energy into more productive things. We’ll see how it goes.