Boat building

Lately, I've been posting the first few chapters of my detective novel on sites for critique. As well, I've offered it to my writing group for the same purpose. Once in a while, when someone asks what I've been doing lately, I tell them about the story, and if they express an interest, I send them a chapter or two.

I've come to the conclusion that writing a novel and talking about it with friends is like building a boat.

At first, the builder is so excited about his project he tells everyone, and kind listeners tolerate his prating on until the builder eventually begins to realize that perhaps only other boat builders are the ones interested in his misadventures.

Over time, the boat builder realizes that saying nothing is the best course, until the time comes when perhaps someone who expresses an interest in his project stops by for a look.

The boat builder eventually reaches the point where all his efforts must be focused on the boat, and that sharing it with others is time lost, with the exception of sharing some of his trials and tribulations with other boat builders, who offer excellent suggestions.

The boat builder knows that someday soon the boat will be ready for deep water and if all goes well, a christening will be a welcome. It is that moment the boat builder has firmly fixed in his mind. Everything else is the journey getting there.

The Write (fill in the blank)

I have to admit I've been uneasy about blogging. Brave New Deadline is the progeny of a column I wrote while editor of a weekly in the B.C. Rockies, After Deadline. As I shift from daily journalism to writing novels and, with hope, luck, sweat, luck, good karma and luck, I have been focusing on creating a blog about writers, writing, publishing, the whole magilla.

So I thought I'd start with this: http://tinyurl.com/86jan6a.

Nine Writing Milestones: Let's see...

1. First completed piece: Done.

2. First readers: Done

3. First critique: Done

4. First publication online: Not so fast. I know I should be paying attention to this, but here I am, with my blog, putting this out into the ether. So I have some catching up to do.

5. First publication print: I've had plenty of things published in newspapers. I count this.

6. First payment: I earn my living writing and editing stories. Call it a back-door entry, but I'm counting this, too.

7. First book-length draft: Now I'm into what the writer is talking about. I've written three book-length drafts. Several times. Over and over. And it's a bitch. In a good way.

8. First completed book: Taking into account what the writers's definition is: Yes. Twice. And the one I'm working on now is the one closest to meeting my personal level of "it's ready to go."

9. First published book: The author promotes the notion that if one's manuscript is published in ebook form this satisfies Milestone No. 9. Perhaps. And perhaps I'm still a hidebound traditionalist that wants to go the author-editor-publisher route, get the contract, the advance, proof the galleys, see the book in print, and send that to my Mom, who won't care a fig if it's on the Internet. You know what I mean.

My own 'big step': I'm in my first writers group. I've never taken a creative writing class, never even sniffed an MFA. Journalism major, like I said. And I'm transitioning to what I hope is a writing career. So yep, I am in writer's group. And it was a great time. I look forward to the next one.

I'll be checking out other writing blogs and sharing what I like. I hope you do the same. Let me know. We're all in this together.

On Writing a Letter

The other day, after an especially good phone call with someone whose friendship defies time, the notion of writing a letter to this person proved irresistible. But I waited several days, mulling over the intent, what to write, the right tone, all the things absent in this world of emails and texts. Writing a letter requires time, thought, patience, and a good pen. I wimped out and grabbed a Bic and my trusty legal pad, but that's not the point. Good stationery is fine, but the letter is the thing. And after writing a good warmup letter to my parents -- my mother loves getting letters -- it was time. And it was written before I realized I was signing my name.

So into the mailbox it went.

I just learned of its reception, satisfying to the other party, which is the aim of a letter, isn't it? As with all things these days, a mention on a social website elicited comments such as "I remember letter in a mailbox, they still do that, huh?" and "saving the envelope and keeping the letter, we should all try it" and "Oh good June, they can put it right next to the dinosaur display (at the Smithsonian)... I can't wait to see."

I used to write lots of letters to lots of people all the time. Then came the 21st Century. I've decided that phenomenon isn't a good enough reason to stop writing letters.

But finding a stamp could prove problematic, given time.