Huston Piner's Blog, page 9
June 5, 2013
A Mini-Celebration
Hurray! I just finished the first complete draft of Conjoined at the Soul. 1979 Sophomore Randy Clark discovers he's gay. Now all he needs is a boyfriend.
June 4, 2013
I have been remiss
I have been remiss in not thanking Annette at Zipper Rippers for
interviewing me last week and spotlighting My Life as a Myth.
Please for give me, Annette, and thanks for everything!
interviewing me last week and spotlighting My Life as a Myth.
Please for give me, Annette, and thanks for everything!
May 22, 2013
A Word about My Life as a Myth
Good morning! I’ve been asked to say a few words about the history of My Life as a Myth published today by Prizm Books.
Rummage sales are the last vestiges of the old medieval markets. Believe me; poke around and you’re likely to come across things you’ve never seen before. Last year, I found something very unusual.
I was rooting through the offerings of a couple in their late-fifties, both aging flower children still wearing tie-dye shirts and dungarees. They certainly had a weird variety of things they’d accumulated over the years: old books, records (Lawrence Welk? Guy Lombardo?), bongs awkwardly disguised as flower vases, and assorted odds and ends. Really, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find a mummy.
Sifting through the bric-a-bracs, I felt like an archeologist, pondering the culture that had brought these strange things together in one place. But what caught my eye was a cloth-covered book. My curiosity got the better of me, and I picked it up. It was fairly old, worn and coffee-stained, and filled with yellowed handwritten pages. (There were only a few dozen blank ones at the end.)
Steeply priced at ten cent, I wondered who would even consider buying such a thing. But you know how it is; once a reader, always a reader. My eyes involuntarily began deciphering the clumsy script.
What I discovered was the journal, a diary if you will, of a high school freshman named Nick Horton from way back in 1969. I was even more surprised that the kid had lived in my hometown and gone to the very high school I attended many years later. After a couple of pages, I knew I had to read the whole book, and if possible add it to my own growing collection of clutter for a future rummage sale.
I went to the man sitting next to the cash box. I was a bit afraid the book might be something that had made its way to the for sale pile by accident.
“This is marked ten cent,” I said, holding it up so he could see it.
“Okay then,” he said. “Five cent too much?”
“No, ten cent is fine,” I said. “I just wanted to make sure you intended to sell it.”
“Why not? It’s an interesting read if you’re into that kind of thing.”
“Then why are you selling it?”
“We found it when we moved in here. The Old Lady and I are getting on; we’re moving to a smaller place near the kids and won’t have the room.”
I paid him the ten cent.
When I got home I made a pot of tea and picked the book up again. Bittersweet memories of the longings and dreams of teenage life kept me reading. Because I’m from the same town as Nick, if from a somewhat later period, it was easy to get lost in his story. As I read, I remembered visiting The District with friends and the many ups and downs of high school life in Chadham, Virginia.
“Are you ever coming to bed?” my partner asked sometime after midnight.
“Just a bit longer,” I mumbled, entranced by the story of this kid who reminded me of so many people at that age, including myself.
My partner just shook his head, tousled my hair, and stumbled back off to bed – over the years he’s come to know me too well when it comes to books. I finished sometime before dawn and spent the next several days getting over the exhaustion of my marathon reading session. (Don’t believe what they tell you about people needing less sleep the older they get.)
Weeks passed and Nick’s journal continued to haunt me. I encouraged my partner to read it and often found him crying or laughing at this or that entry, just like I had. We began talking about Nick’s adventures and agreed that it was a story worth sharing with others. So after typing it out, I took it straight to Prizm Books.
With very few emendations, everything Nick wrote is what Prizm is publishing today in My Life as a Myth. If you ever saw the original, you’d be thankful that I’ve corrected the spelling! Other than that, only two or three entries were omitted, things that ultimately had little or nothing to do with the important events that happened that year.
Nick’s journal was written in a different time, both simpler and more complicated than the one we live in today. Some things were better then; many are better now. The major difference is that Nick’s world was much more innocent than own. What hasn’t changed is that delicate first flowering of young love, the awakening of passion, and the challenge of being yourself. (There are other things that haven’t changed, but you’ll read about those in the book.)
It is my hope that you will find My Life as a Myth as important as my partner and I do. For those of you Nick’s age, I hope you celebrate his triumphs and learn from his mistakes. In the end, whatever you think, I hope you come away from it stronger than you were and that you always remember, reputations seldom deliver on promises of happiness.
Huston Piner
Rummage sales are the last vestiges of the old medieval markets. Believe me; poke around and you’re likely to come across things you’ve never seen before. Last year, I found something very unusual.
I was rooting through the offerings of a couple in their late-fifties, both aging flower children still wearing tie-dye shirts and dungarees. They certainly had a weird variety of things they’d accumulated over the years: old books, records (Lawrence Welk? Guy Lombardo?), bongs awkwardly disguised as flower vases, and assorted odds and ends. Really, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find a mummy.
Sifting through the bric-a-bracs, I felt like an archeologist, pondering the culture that had brought these strange things together in one place. But what caught my eye was a cloth-covered book. My curiosity got the better of me, and I picked it up. It was fairly old, worn and coffee-stained, and filled with yellowed handwritten pages. (There were only a few dozen blank ones at the end.)
Steeply priced at ten cent, I wondered who would even consider buying such a thing. But you know how it is; once a reader, always a reader. My eyes involuntarily began deciphering the clumsy script.
What I discovered was the journal, a diary if you will, of a high school freshman named Nick Horton from way back in 1969. I was even more surprised that the kid had lived in my hometown and gone to the very high school I attended many years later. After a couple of pages, I knew I had to read the whole book, and if possible add it to my own growing collection of clutter for a future rummage sale.
I went to the man sitting next to the cash box. I was a bit afraid the book might be something that had made its way to the for sale pile by accident.
“This is marked ten cent,” I said, holding it up so he could see it.
“Okay then,” he said. “Five cent too much?”
“No, ten cent is fine,” I said. “I just wanted to make sure you intended to sell it.”
“Why not? It’s an interesting read if you’re into that kind of thing.”
“Then why are you selling it?”
“We found it when we moved in here. The Old Lady and I are getting on; we’re moving to a smaller place near the kids and won’t have the room.”
I paid him the ten cent.
When I got home I made a pot of tea and picked the book up again. Bittersweet memories of the longings and dreams of teenage life kept me reading. Because I’m from the same town as Nick, if from a somewhat later period, it was easy to get lost in his story. As I read, I remembered visiting The District with friends and the many ups and downs of high school life in Chadham, Virginia.
“Are you ever coming to bed?” my partner asked sometime after midnight.
“Just a bit longer,” I mumbled, entranced by the story of this kid who reminded me of so many people at that age, including myself.
My partner just shook his head, tousled my hair, and stumbled back off to bed – over the years he’s come to know me too well when it comes to books. I finished sometime before dawn and spent the next several days getting over the exhaustion of my marathon reading session. (Don’t believe what they tell you about people needing less sleep the older they get.)
Weeks passed and Nick’s journal continued to haunt me. I encouraged my partner to read it and often found him crying or laughing at this or that entry, just like I had. We began talking about Nick’s adventures and agreed that it was a story worth sharing with others. So after typing it out, I took it straight to Prizm Books.
With very few emendations, everything Nick wrote is what Prizm is publishing today in My Life as a Myth. If you ever saw the original, you’d be thankful that I’ve corrected the spelling! Other than that, only two or three entries were omitted, things that ultimately had little or nothing to do with the important events that happened that year.
Nick’s journal was written in a different time, both simpler and more complicated than the one we live in today. Some things were better then; many are better now. The major difference is that Nick’s world was much more innocent than own. What hasn’t changed is that delicate first flowering of young love, the awakening of passion, and the challenge of being yourself. (There are other things that haven’t changed, but you’ll read about those in the book.)
It is my hope that you will find My Life as a Myth as important as my partner and I do. For those of you Nick’s age, I hope you celebrate his triumphs and learn from his mistakes. In the end, whatever you think, I hope you come away from it stronger than you were and that you always remember, reputations seldom deliver on promises of happiness.
Huston Piner
May 21, 2013
The Book, the Soundtrack, out now!
Avaiable today from Prizm Books, My Live as a Myth.
For part one of the 'soundtrack' (:p), check out http://www.youtube.com/embed/VVWNZPOU...
Also read about it here on Goodreads at My Life as a Myth
The Day Before Jitters
Today will always be memorable to me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's my birthday. (Yea! Me!)
Secondly, it's the day before my first novel My Life as a Myth will be published by Prizm Books. To say that I'm more than a little nervous is like saying World War II was a minor skirmish.
Happily, I came across a lovely piece by Holly Robinson at the Huffington Post. It's titled When You Finish Your Novel, What Then? Below is a quote:
Meanwhile, you experience doom-and-gloom sentiments: "What good am I? I can't even pick up the living room!" Maybe you think, "The novel is dead. Why do I bother? Nobody reads anymore." Or, "I'm not earning money doing this. In fact, I'm costing myself money! I should quit before my family has to live out of the car!"
Check it out.
Secondly, it's the day before my first novel My Life as a Myth will be published by Prizm Books. To say that I'm more than a little nervous is like saying World War II was a minor skirmish.
Happily, I came across a lovely piece by Holly Robinson at the Huffington Post. It's titled When You Finish Your Novel, What Then? Below is a quote:
Meanwhile, you experience doom-and-gloom sentiments: "What good am I? I can't even pick up the living room!" Maybe you think, "The novel is dead. Why do I bother? Nobody reads anymore." Or, "I'm not earning money doing this. In fact, I'm costing myself money! I should quit before my family has to live out of the car!"
Check it out.
April 5, 2013
Beautiful Poem by Young Poet
Thanks to Lee Wind for bring this moving free-verse to wider attention.
NPR Snap Judgment Performance of the Year / Noah St. John, "The Last Mile".
NPR Snap Judgment Performance of the Year / Noah St. John, "The Last Mile".
March 29, 2013
The WIP Bully
Over the years, I've heard many musicians talk about the muse that inspired them to write this or that song. The idea of artistic inspiration is certainly not new and applies to writers no less than tunesmiths.
Hayden Thorne raises a somewhat different point that for writers the WIP itself sometimes rejects what we otherwise intend. It’s an interesting and certainly true observation. When I was writing
My Life as a Myth, I found the book leading me down several paths that had not been part of my original plans in any way. The project I’m currently working on is revealing the same tendencies. When the muse pulling the strings turns the current WIP into a bully, the writer can do little more than follow the path indicated. I encourage all aspiring writers to consider this as they hone their own literary skills and put pen to page (or fingers to keyboard).
Happy Easter, and/or for those well into it, Pesach Tov!
PS To check out Hayden's writings here at GoodReads, click the following: Hayden Thorne
Hayden Thorne raises a somewhat different point that for writers the WIP itself sometimes rejects what we otherwise intend. It’s an interesting and certainly true observation. When I was writing
My Life as a Myth, I found the book leading me down several paths that had not been part of my original plans in any way. The project I’m currently working on is revealing the same tendencies. When the muse pulling the strings turns the current WIP into a bully, the writer can do little more than follow the path indicated. I encourage all aspiring writers to consider this as they hone their own literary skills and put pen to page (or fingers to keyboard).
Happy Easter, and/or for those well into it, Pesach Tov!
PS To check out Hayden's writings here at GoodReads, click the following: Hayden Thorne
March 21, 2013
Editing done! YEA!
Phew! Just got word from Prizm's excellent and wonderful Vincent Diamond that we're through with edits on My Life as a Myth! It wasn't so painful actually, only one round and we were done. Now it goes on to the proofing team.
Let me just say: If you ever have the good fortune to get published, I don't think you could find anyone, and I mean ANYONE, more qualified, friendlier, more helpful and encouraging to work with than Vincent Diamond! Absolutely the BEST!
Let me just say: If you ever have the good fortune to get published, I don't think you could find anyone, and I mean ANYONE, more qualified, friendlier, more helpful and encouraging to work with than Vincent Diamond! Absolutely the BEST!
