March 18th, 2012

New Work

After *The Big Dream* launched last September, I had–and continue to have–lots of very cool opportunities. To do readings, to teach classes, to do interviews, sundry other fun stuff. All this coincided with a very intense period at my job, as well as wedding planning, cat discipline, a tax catastrophe, and just a lot of general life stuff. What I’m trying to say is, I haven’t been writing very much lately.

But I do still write–just very slowly, a few sentences here, a reworked page there, a complete of crisis of confidence every third week, as you do. Stories even occasionally get finished, though at a rate so much slower than my norm that it is kind of driving me crazy.

So new stories exist. In fact, I have lots of “new” work, because I didn’t stop working on *TBD* when it got published in September–I stopped in January when I handed it over to Biblioasis. I did work through copyediting, proofread, marketing materials, etc. in the ensuing 9 months, but basically I was free to write other stuff, and I had an incredibly productive period. Partially it was the same panic-induced work frenzy I had after handing in *Once*–“my baby is *gone*!!” partly it was that I was doing very little public-arena stuff since *Once* was three years old and the new book yet-to-be, and partly it was because I got a grant and took a leave of absence from my job.

What I am saying is, there are actually *lots* of stories of mine that most people would register as new because they haven’t been seen or heard anywhere. And though I’m kind of at a low ebb of confidence right now–not writing very much will do that to me–I do *like* some of these new pieces. I haven’t read any of them in public because I have been busy promoting *TBD* and I haven’t sent them to any journals because the aforementioned low confidence is making me a big fat chicken (also, my printer is broken).

Well–no more! I have done more than 6 months of only *TBD* readings and I’m sure one aberration will not cause anyone to forget the book exists. I can borrow a printer if I have to and a few rejection letters would probably not destroy me at this point in my life, despite my fears.

I am getting back on the horse. See you at Pivot at the Press Club on Wednesday.