Jeff—Saturday
No good news to report from Greece, except an expected
increase in tourism.
No good news to report from the US, except an expected
increase in late night TV material.
So, where does that leave an optimist?
Prayerful.
Well, at least summer is right around the corner. Sorry, I meant spring. From the way the
weather’s been, my mind lapsed into thinking we already were deep into
spring.
Whoops, I better be careful. No reason to rile up climate change deniers into
thinking I’m suggesting something untoward is happening to our planet by our
own hand. Then again, they should rest
easy, because the North Koreans seem hell bent on making concerns over indirect
man-made threats to the elimination of our species moot.
Pause. I don’t even
want to think about how our nation is planning to address that little
situation…and by “little” I’m referring to the guy in charge over there.
Hopefully, in more than 140 characters.
Speaking of creative writing, I’m jumping into writing a new
book, and the going is slow. Hard to
concentrate on writing fiction when the reality of each day hypnotically
carries us further off into the incomprehensible.
Yet I’m trying. And
shall succeed (remember the prayerful part :)).
I’m pretty sure most writers would agree that what keeps us
going through these questioning moments (not writer’s block) is simply this: a
sense of duty to our fans. Not grand advances
(?), thoughts of awards, or the lure of fame, but knowing there are folks out
there who genuinely appreciate what we write.
They fire us up.
I know, because today I received an email from a fan (a Scot
no less) living in Greece with her Texan husband. Modesty restrains me from
repeating her much appreciated words, but one line struck me as particularly
apropos for my current state of mind.
“We like to imagine you typing away, perhaps in Greece,
perhaps in New York, but typing away wherever you might be.
And so I shall type away as requested, happily putting
reality behind me, and moving on into a fictional world where I can be more
assured of the outcome of each passing day.
Time to get back to work.
—Jeff
