A klaxon in my professional field is a loud warning device to tell the operator that something horrendously bad requires immediate attention.
Sometimes a klaxon is augmented by verbal instructions. "Pull UP. Pull UP" is my favorite.
I made a terrible mistake today. A couple days go I wrote about a sound track alluding to background music at a release party. [ I also forgot to mention "Watching the Detectives" from Elvis Costello. Must be on the list. Must].
Today, I consulted Google for images of the search phrase: "release party."
I know. And look - before you go and do it. Don't. Just. Don't.
If you're reading this, you write. You have friends. You might get some at a release party. Sympathy buys for your book maybe? Maybe.
I write murder. There just won't be a ton of people at my release party.
I finished a story last month in the "literary fiction" genre about a fifteen year old boy learning to kill by convincing two of his friends to drown themselves. Not really getting a parade for that piece. Might get in Tin House - but not a parade.
If you write kiddie lit or happy stories about collie dogs who find their way back to Timmy, great. I love those stories,too. I bet your release party will be awesome. Go ahead, look it up on Google.
If you left a dismembered body in the town mulch pile last fall, well. Maybe you can find a buddy and have a piece of pie at the local diner to celebrate.
Looking ahead is a great habit. It keeps us alive behind the controls of tons of steel and aluminum hurtling through space. Looking ahead as a writer with thoughts of joy and celebration: maybe not.
No one is going to cheer that I've killed Blitzen with a lump of coal down his throat. It was however a very funny story. I'll try and get it clean and ready to submit this summer for a Christmas issue of EQ.
We all have different expectations. I bought Saul Bellow's Humboldt's Gift today. I've not read it. Got him the Nobel prize in '76. He mined all his personal relationships for material.
Write something. Don't look ahead, just write.
2 comments:
"just write." Words I live by.
And good luck on getting into EQMM, Many of my friends have but I've yet to pass over the transom. Too many bad words in my pieces. Or least I comfort myself by saying that's the reason.
It's a tough beast to crack. What they take has an odd cadence.
Thanks for coming by!
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