Writing In Past, Present And Future Tense

With the initial news of my memoir (The Portland House: A 70's Memoir) publication acceptance by Electio Publishing gone by, things are ramping up in the writing realm for me. The publisher reminded me there will be an initial push to get some things in order, then a significant lull in the action and then things will ramp up again a few weeks before the book comes out. (January 23rd, 2017).

But in addition to the current push for the Portland book, as I refer to it, I am looking forward and backward a bit too. A few of the things going on at the moment.

• I am finishing up the final touches on the Portland manuscript. Specifically, I am tweaking a few things in the Acknowledgements, and making sure things are in order before sending it off to the publisher for their edits.
• I am also soliciting a few back cover blurbs from fellow authors. These are more difficult to write than you might imagine. You have to summarize the energy and emotion of a book in a few sentences. Some are better than others, but it is the first thing people see when they turn the book over, so they are important.
• I got a really, really nice email from a gentleman that I met at a Dirty Shirt book signing a few months back at Tribeca GalleryCafe and Books. Here's a little of what he said. "

I finished “Dirty Shirt”, and really enjoyed it. It truly put me in the Boundary Waters, visually and emotionally.I especially connected with a sentence on p125 - “The lonesome, whispering call of the loon occasionally rang out   to remind us that we were mere visitors in this hallowed place”. Well done, my friend.

There's something both humbling and gratifying to hear such feedback from a reader. It is what compels me to keep going.

• The guys who helped me with the book trailer for Dirty Shirt have rallied and said they would be interested in doing another for The Portland House. To me this is a little like The Blues Brothers. "We're gettin' the band back together!" The trailer is a fun diversion from the intricacies of writing and is a good use of other creative talents. More as it comes together.
• Work on my next book forges ahead. I am working on a book about Cretin High School which I attended from '76-'79. Lots of stories come out of four years at an all male, Catholic, military high school
• In addition to all of these things, I continue to get rejections and a few acceptances for some of my poetry that is floating around in literary Purgatory. I submit when I can, write when I can and still look at it as one of my passions.
• Next Saturday, I will be taking part in the 100,000 Poets for Change reading at Books and Company in Oconomowoc. I will be reading a couple of poems in the open mic portion. It should be a fun event!

So, lots of irons in the fire, and I love it that way. I consider it my other full time job.

I tell people my day job feeds my family and my night job feeds me. 

That about sums it up.

Blogging off..