Book #2, Where Art Thou?

January 17, 2008 · Posted in Writing · Comment 
Thinking about it this morning: it’s been over a year since I typed “The End” on the last page of Like Glass, and the ever-elusive Book #2 is nowhere in sight.  Sure, there’s been tons of excuses — too much work, too much on my mind, can’t write this story because it’s too much like Book #1 and I don’t want to be pigeonholed, can’t write that story because it’s too different and I need to create a “brand” of sorts, etc.

I have had a couple of ideas that have stayed with me pretty strongly throughout this past year, and while they will keep me in kind of the same “genre” (whatever genre I’m in), I’m thinking one of them will be Book #2 when the ideas are done simmering.  Maybe even both of them — they aren’t formed well enough yet to say they’re entirely separate.  Or maybe I’m sitting on #2 and #3, and they’ll just come right out when the time is right.

That’s the main thing that I’m trying to convince myself of — there’s no need to force them out right now, I’m not on any kind of a contract or anything like that, so they don’t need to get written tomorrow.

Sure, lots of people say that you need to make yourself write, you need to “get in the habit”, you can’t just sit back and wait for your muse.  That’s probably true to some degree, but (for the time being at least) writing is an escape from stress for me — why the hell do I want to force it?  That takes all the enjoyment out of it, and I’m sorry, but if it’s not enjoyable, it’ just not worth doing in my opinion.  And I’m sure anyone who’d read something I’d forced out would be able to tell that my heart just wasn’t in it.

That’s one thing I’m looking forward with the upcoming move.  One of the books I’ve had in mind is set in El Paso, and it’ll be much easier to write about the city when I’m there and can see the streets and mountains I’m trying to write.  Granted, we’re going to be so damned busy and stressed trying to get settled in down there that I won’t be able to see straight half the time, but with a little patience perhaps the book will find its way onto my computer within a few months of our arrival.

I’m going to go smoke and get ready for work now; it’s a little early yet, but no sense waiting to the last minute.

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