|
|
|
|
I don’t know about the rest of you writers out there, but back before my dream of publishing became a reality, I had this fantasy about being a writer. It was all about long, quiet days in front of the computer, a pot of tea at my elbow, a candle flickering in my office, my brain whirring over character, plot and brilliant dialogue. In that fantasy, I had hour upon hour of interrupted time, days to write and read and carefully edit. I am relaxed in that fantasy. After all, I am a writer, and that’s what a writer’s life is like, right?
Not!
As the last week has proved, the real life of a writer does not match the naive dream I once created. The reason is simple: all too often, life gets in the way.
Last week, we had two scheduled trips to the burn unit of a local hospital with my son (he’s healing just fine and is back to work), a trip to a different hospital with a friend who had out-patient surgery, a furniture delivery. Oh yes, and Malice.
For those of you who weren’t there, you missed a fine time. Malice Domestic is a conference of both mystery readers and writers and it was great–and exhausting. I ran from the airport (well, I actually went in a Rav 4, but you know what I mean!), to the friend’s house where I stayed, to the hotel. From there to a lovely dinner given by the fine folks at Berkley Prime Crime and the next day, from a meeting with my agent to a panel to a book signing to . . .
It was a very busy couple days.
I returned home Sunday evening, then on Monday, headed to the Festival of Mystery sponsored by Mystery Lovers bookstore in Oakmont, PA. What a fabulous event! Lots of authors, hundreds of readers, plenty of books sold. A writer couldn’t ask for more.
Except for maybe a few weeks of those long, quiet days I once dreamed about. Oh, and that pot of tea. Right about now, that sounds really good!
-
Casey, quit yer bellyaching.
When I got home from Malice and Oakmont I got right to work: I got up at seven on Monday, walked the dogs, had a cup of coffee, organized all my receipts from the trip, slept on the couch until two, staggered around the house like an idiot for several hours, watched American Idol, slept on the couch until ten, then went to bed.
And today? Well, I’m feeling a little tired today, so . . . .
by C.R.
on April 30th, 2008 at 6:27 am
-
I think I saw you a total of two minutes at Malice, Casey. It’s something how the time gets sucked away there! I guess we’ll have to have a blog signing one of these days so we can catch up in person. Now off to one of those quiet writing days, where I’m getting my daughter breakfast, doing laundry, mowing the lawn…
by Judy
on April 30th, 2008 at 6:47 am
-
Whaaa,whaaa, boooo-hooo-hoo. You writers are all like those prima donna athletes out there.
You make W A Y to much $$$$ for anyone to feel really sorry for you.
Oh….and then there’s the end zone dance when your book comes out. Party, party, party……like Lou Holtze drilled into his teams….when you score, try to look as if its no big deal…act like you’ve been there before!
That that all you poison-pen peoples!
Now I’ve got to get back to work myself. Saving all the little people from the world.
Zz
by Zorro
on April 30th, 2008 at 7:00 am
-
I hate it when I have to get up from my lounge chair pool-side, put down my drink, take off the sun glasses and answer these blogs.
by don
on April 30th, 2008 at 7:16 am
-
Know what you mean, Don.
By the way, Z said he was getting back to work, so it looks like the pool boy’s finally coming to scoop out that allegator poop.
by C.R.
on April 30th, 2008 at 7:34 am
-
Waiting for my airline ticket…..and I’ll be there in a jiffy.
Zz
by Zorro
on April 30th, 2008 at 8:16 am
-
I was not looking for sympathy, merely trying to explain the complexities of my life. And I did not get out of the poolside chaise to do it. Or off the couch.
Judy, you’re right. Another thing we might consider is some kind of group publicity piece for the hand-out table.
Casey, wiping her brow from the effort of typing this post
by Casey
on April 30th, 2008 at 8:17 am
-
In all this talk of hard work, CR has failed to mention how skillfully I parallel parked my huge station wagon in Oakmont.
by Casey
on April 30th, 2008 at 11:21 am
-
No way did you parallel park your little red car. I’ve seen you at work driving and parking. No way!
Zz
by Zorro
on April 30th, 2008 at 11:55 am
-
I started laughing at the pool boy mention. Remember Bill Murray in Caddyshack, emptying the entire club pool because Ted Knight’s wife saw a ‘log’? Murray goes in after the pool is emptied, picks up the ‘log’, sniffs it and eats it? I think it was a Mars bar? Knight’s wife passes out.
by don
on April 30th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
-
It was a Baby Ruth. (This spoken by someone who is not a huge Caddy Shack fan, which tells you something about how effective the crazy humor really was.)
by Casey
on April 30th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
-
Casey did parallel park in Oakmont. And did several thousand dollars worth of damage to what had been a very cute little BMW coupe.
by C.R.
on April 30th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
-
My car sustained not a scratch. And since no one saw me hit that itty bitty BMW, it doesn’t count, right?
by Casey
on April 30th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
-
Truth is, the BMW driver, who had just parllel parked in the slot ahead of us, saw Casey go into her wild parallel parking turn, and quickly moved his car up several feet.
Why am I making fun of you Casey? Given the “touchy” story you have on me?
by C.R.
on April 30th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
-
I wasn’t going to bring it up, CR, but since you’ve been disparaging my parallel parking abilities . . .everyone on the blog, ask CR about the “touching” experience he had at the Festival of Mystery!
by Casey
on April 30th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
-
A touching experience???Like a Kodak moment??Or a Hallmark boo-hoo movie. What’s it all about Alfie, I mean CR?
Zz
by Zorro
on April 30th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Leave a Reply
|
|
|
