The Inexorable Grind

“Pickup Lines From a Pickup Truck” has now been on the proverbial shelf for almost three weeks and I have begun the inexorable grind towards anonymity. I wonder if the other authors at RedRosePublishing.com experience the same phenomenon; if Raven Star, Shara Azod, Skyler Gray or Jae-Lynn McKnight are struggling with their next projects?

Hell, for that matter, did John Grisham feel this way after “The Firm.” I remember reading that Grisham followed up “The Firm” by writing “The Pelican Brief” in six weeks. Granted, it wasn’t the best novel he wrote, but he did sell the movie rights. I wouldn’t mind that type of follow up.

But, it would appear that my window of opportunity is slowly closing. I doubt I can afford to wait a decade between books like Donna Tartt or David Duncan. I do have another coming soon, “A Slice of Life,” but after that, the Romance pipeline is empty. I have started two other short Romances, but have all but abandoned them at this point. I lack the discipline to write regularly and that is a product of having a full time job and young children. I also have a young adult novel and a memoir in the works, but all of my writing projects are being neglected currently. I doubt that admission is going to fire up my readership, but, that constituency is pretty small at present.

The nice thing about writing short stories, Romance or otherwise, is that the time required to complete a project is relatively short. This allows people with other obligations, like me, and people with short attention spans, like me, the opportunity to complete projects and submit them for publication. Once the demands on my time slacken, I feel confident in my ability to devote more time to writing. In the meantime, I will continue to explore writing opportunities and to read.

My current reading list includes Michael Chabon and Kurt Vonnegut. I have been a fan of Chabon’s for almost ten years, but Vonnegut is a new addition for me. I read “Slaughterhouse Five” about a month ago and am currently reading “Welcome to the Monkey House.” It’s a collection of short stories. Both of these authors intimidate me. If I wasn’t aware of the wide variety of readers, I may actually quit writing when considering their prodigious talent. Of course, I feel the same way about a lot of writers.

In spite of the intimidation factor, I am going to work hard to reverse the inexorable grind towards anonymity; I am going to work hard on the next project; I am going to work hard to continue writing. I hope you continue reading.

Spike