Here’s a photo of me after my eight mile run today, because this is still a running blog dammit. With that said, this post might be more about writing. Naked.
For me, the two hobbies are tightly linked. I write my stories in my head while I’m running. I mean, what do you think about when you’re running? I write stories.
A number of people asked me if I wrote down the speech I gave at my daughter’s wedding this summer, because I didn’t read from a piece a paper and they thought it sounded “from the heart”. I feel like I wrote it down. The weekend before, I wrote it down in my head during a long drive to Aspen. So to a degree, it was rehearsed.
I hope my writing sounds from the heart. I hope it sounds real. Honest.
I published a book earlier this year, but I won’t be stuffing it in anyone’s stocking this Christmas. Despite being a product manager, spending half my days practicing product marketing, I sort of suck at self-promotion. Clearly, I know how to do it. You can see I’m wearing my favorite self-promo shirt in this photo, but it doesn’t come naturally to me.
My goal is to develop writing skills, and self-publishing competence, over the course of years as I approach retirement. I don’t need to be immediately successful. I hope to be better once I have the time to truly focus on writing. My skills advanced considerably from my first book to my second. I’ll be happy to maintain that pace.
The writing in my second novel was much tighter. My editor on my first book told me I was the King of fragmented sentences. I did write some awkward sentences. She added semi-colons to a number of them. Initially, I accepted those edits, but I went back later and rejected half of them. I discovered that I have a certain writing style that I’d like to keep. I have a habit of writing one long sentence, followed by a shorter sentence, followed by a single-word sentence.
It’s not a constant cadence, but a regular rhythm. I speak like this too. Sometimes.
Once I discovered my pattern, I decided that I liked it. It’s my personal style. I’m not going to shy away from it, even if it’s wrong. It’s my personal poetry.
I do need to gain more confidence in self promotion if I’m going to continue self publishing. It’s strange because when I’m writing, I’m full of confidence. I have preferences that might appear tame. I write what is called “closed-door” sex scenes, but I do write about intimacy. That’s not because I’m shy, it’s because that’s what I prefer to read. At least, in my genre of tech thrillers.
Autobiographical fiction became popular during the era of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe. Many people still say that all fiction is autobiographical. I don’t think about that while I’m writing. It’s after publishing, when friends start to question me on some of my characters, that I realize, holy shit, this might be a memoir. And I become insecure, wanting it to sell to the anonymous public, but I stop promoting it to friends.
I’m going to have to get over that if I want to become a writer. It’s not writing if it’s not naked. Genuine.
I can try to put on a robe afterward, but the marketing phase of publishing is not the time to become shy. Still, if you’re on my Christmas list this year, don’t expect one of my own books. I’d be remiss, and totally suck at self-promotion, if I didn’t implore you to gift one to yourself. And at a time when we all reflect on our gratitude for all everyone has given us, thank you for reading my books and my blog, and for not critiquing my fragmented sentences.
A Runner's Story 