In common usage among my peers, to shed load means to get rid of something. In British usage I've learned that it means a large amount. In some technical fields it means to ration power. All three definitions seem to be in the back of my mind today. Over the past few years, after reaching a noteworthy age, things that once held my interest have fallen by the wayside. Perhaps not so much fallen by the wayside but do not hold my interest they same way as before. What remains is my interest in writing, the pursuit of writing, devoting my free hours to it in a way that did not hold my interest at an earlier age. I read something within the past few days that has been the partner to shedding load, a phrase that goes something like this: "Rewriting is found to be an excuse for not going on." John Steinbeck said that.
The vast majority of my time these past four years have been devoted to rewriting. For many years I used rewriting as an excuse for not going on, laying aside a project for years as other things held my interest more than the effort of putting pen to paper and saying something.
As the years passed, I shed load, and now what is left is rewriting. And rewriting some more.
Stay tuned for Chapter One of my detective novel.
Roppongi, Tokyo, on New Year's Eve
Among other things, I am writing a detective series that takes place in Tokyo. The first novel, "Be Careful What You Ask For," centers on a much-admired Tokyo police inspector being forced to confront his ties to a crime family while investigating a murder in Roppongi.
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