I have attended the Tuesday Morning Book Talk, led by Dr. Emily Auerbach for years.  So many years I’m not sure how many but I’m guessing more than ten years.  When I launched my book I sent her a copy and asked if she would consider including it as a book for our Tuesday Moring Book Talk.  Months went by and I never received a response.  I didn’t understand because we’ve communicated by e-mail many times.  I finally mustered the courage to ask her about it after one of our Tuesday morning sessions.  I learned that the university e-mail system had changed and she was having a problem that her e-mails were getting filtered and deleted as scam.

At our last two classes in April she invited our group members to submit books to read in our fall 2014 group.  I didn’t say anything in class because I felt I had already been bold to suggest my own book.  She did send me an e-mail to ask if Marshall Cook would be willing to lead the discussion if she included my book.  Of course, he agreed.

Several weeks ago I received an e-mail from Marshall telling me my book had been selected but no details on the date.  Then he sent me a follow-up e-mail telling me it would be discussed on October 28th.  I was both overwhelmed and exhilarated, Marshall even published the date and time in his e-zine Extra Innings and invited readers to attend.

I was confused that I never head directly from Emily.  Yesterday, I received the notice for the Fall 2014 Booktalks and there I am, listed on October 28th and 9:30 a.m.  I’ve never received the notice in the mail previously, so my guess is that is Emily’s very subtle message that she’s selected my book.

It is a great honor to have Emily read my book and decide it is worthy of discussion by our book club.  As an independent author/publisher it just doesn’t get any better. 

Here is some information to follow-up:

October 28, 2014 9:30 a.m.                                                Registration:  608-262-2451 or
Madison Public Library – 3rd Floor                    http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/classes/literature.htm     201 W. Mifflin St.
Madison, WI               
                                                                                                                                  





  

I like to write in the mornings at our local coffee house.  I wait until after the rush of the work-a-day folk have rushed in to fill their travel mugs with java and dash out the door.  Between 8:30-9:00 calm has returned and tables near electrical outlets are readily available.  I find there is something unique about the coffee house environment that fuels my creativity and the noise and constant background chatter are a wonderful distraction that enhances my focus.  It’s also fun to hear the little comments:  “he’s the write;”  “somebody said he’s writing another book;”  “I think he’s writing a sequel.”  I’ve also had two reading events at the coffee house and the owner is kind enough to keep a small supply of my book on a shelf in the front of the store.

One day recently I was finishing my writing session and glanced up to see my friend, Peter.  He was looking around the room, I thought for a place to sit or find someone to visit with.  I motioned him over to my table and asked him to join me.

“Oh, I can’t stay but I wanted to share a story with you.  My wife read in the newspaper that your book was listed as one of the good reads for the month.  She didn’t say anything to me but went to Madison and inquired at several bookstores.  She came home and told me that she didn’t understand but none of the book stores she visited carried my book.  I told her to look on our shelf.  There she found your book.  She opened it and asked me, ‘how did you get a signed copy?’  My friend just laughed.  We know the author, remember?”

I thanked Peter for sharing his story and promised myself to return to the coffee shop the next day for another writing session and who knows what else.  

In a previous post I explained how I’ve used setting a weekly word goal to motivate myself and provide structure to THE BIG GOAL of completing the first draft of my second novel this year.  I’ve been humming right along and have found that most weeks I exceed my goal which gives me a wonderful warm, fuzzy feeling.  Most important it’s proven to be a fantastic tool to subdue Editor Man, that pesky super hero that insists on editing as I write.  I’ve found his kryptonite.

When I set my weekly goal I forget one very important fact.  Some weeks I have other activities that render writing next to impossible.  For example, later this month we’re driving to Omaha to spend a week with our son, his wife and our 18 month old granddaughter.  I intend to devote myself that week exclusively to family and will give writing a rest.  The result will be that week I miss my writing goal by a country mile.

This past week having that realization sent me into a panic.  I didn’t sleep for two nights trying to figure out how to squeeze in more writing time before the Omaha trip.  Then I realized I’ve made other commitments and I’ll lose another three days in writing.  For the month, I won’t be able to write for eight days (that’s a quarter of the month!).

So much for my astute planning; this week I bore down for serious writing.  As my Dad used to say, I was in a tizzy.  This week I cranked out over 6700 words, three times my goal and 65% of my goal for the entire month.  At the close of Saturday’s writing session I realized I would attain my word goal for the month – I could relax.

I found myself a slave to the goal I had created.  That isn’t healthy.  The loss of sleep and emotional trauma was too heavy of a price.  I did learn that with enough effort I can be very productive.  In fact, I may have given myself to small of a weekly word goal.

Goals are great but you can’t let them own you.  I’ve learned my lesson.    

Benediction is the title of Kent Haruf’s most recent novel (published 2013).  The novel takes place in now familiar Holt, Colorado some 100 miles north of Denver in the plains.  To finish my recuperation from the norovirus last week I read this novel in just three days.

Haruf successfully throws out the formulae approach to novel writing with a primary protagonist, conflict and story arc.  Instead, this novel gives us a “slice of life” view of about an eight month period.  There are multiple stories of Dad Lewis dying, the Johnson’s, a grandmother raising her granddaughter after her mother dies of cancer and minister who has the audacity to take Jesus seriously.

Haruf has his own unique style, doesn’t put conversations in quotations and rarely uses “he/she said” clauses.  The affect is to draw the reader closer in to the conversation almost as if you were sitting in the scene with the characters.   

The book begins with Dad Lewis learning of his terminal diagnosis and ends with his death from lung cancer.  Haruf gives the most accurate yet unsentimental description of death I have ever read.  A decade ago following my mother’s death I volunteered at a hospice.  I learned to care for the dying in the most human way.  Being a male, I was asked to bathe and shave the men because they were uncomfortable with female nurses or volunteers helping them with these tasks.  A great deal of comfort can be found in simple, everyday aspects of life.

From a writer’s perspective it’s refreshing that novels don’t need to be plot driven, conflict laden stories.  Novels can be about what happens to ordinary people, in a small town on the desert.