The Great Phenomenon
Michael Haskins – www.michaelhaskins.net
As I said recently, my new book, NOBODY WINS, has been published. A relief? Well, yeah, kind of. The past few weeks I put aside the writer’s life and became the ad exec and PR guy! The end of writing leads to the beginning of a whole other world. Time consuming. Also, you don’t know if you’re getting results. When I write each day, I see the pages, count the words, finish a chapter. Never mind, I’m just about done and while I know I will have to tweak the PR and ads every once-in-a-while, it’s mostly behind me.
And that brings me to the Great Phenomenon! I’m bored! Don’t get me wrong, I have things to do, like catch up on my reading, organize my writing room (wife’s suggestion), catch up on my reading (I know, I already said that, but it’s important if you write, you gotta read). Read as much as your write.
I live in a stilt house and underneath is like an extra room. It’s mostly enclosed with trellis with colorful vines and plants, orchids, also ceiling fans, and a TV. A great area for entertaining or just reading. As uncharacteristically hot as it has been in Key West, under the house is still cool. I’ve read most every day sitting down there with my Guinness and pets.
I have the next book outlined in my head and somewhat down in my notebook. It opens in Key West, as Mick Murphy Key West Mysteries usually do, but it takes Murphy to the Panhandle and New Orleans. I’ve figured I’d better make those research trips before I start and since the story begins, probably, around late October, I wanted to travel at that time.
I’ve no short story to work on, nothing to edit and nothing to write. I find myself wandering the house, working in the garden, talking to the two dogs, cat and rabbit (no they don’t answer me back, that’s why I talk to them, no interruptions, whereas my wife . . .).
By late afternoon, the nervous energy has built up and I want to do something. It’s so easy to head to Old Town and the Smokin’ Tuna, Hog’s Breath, Schooner Wharf Bar – hell, why stop there? Green Parrot, Half Shell Raw Bar, Harpoon Harry’s – ok, time to stop so I don’t bore you!
I think what I’ve learned from this phenomenon, other than my drinking tolerance has dwindled, is that I am programmed to write. This free time, time to myself, time to reflect, is all BS. My good time is my writing time. It sets me free. It relaxes me. I need those afternoons with the laptop under the house, stuck on a chapter and having a wee drop of Jameson’s and a cigar while I talk to myself, or the animals, looking for a solution. I need that inner-fight to be who I am.
When I finish writing a book, it is both exciting and frightening. Hemingway called the in-between time his “black ass” period. I am beginning to understand what he meant. When a writer is all you are, all you can hope to be, you gotta write. Yeah, I need a break occasionally. A dinner in Old Town, a ride to the mainland, my weekly trip to the Big Coppitt Gun Club to shoot. But when my feet hit the tile floor in the morning, I turn on the laptop, make my café con leche and go to work. It makes me happy. Keeps me straight, keeps me sane. And it beats hell out of being bored.
If you find yourself in Key West on Sept. 13, my book release party is at the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon, 2-4 pm, stop by. If you are near Cranford, NJ on Sept. 20th, I will be at the Kilkenny House Irish Pub late afternoon. Stop in, buy me a pint and buy a book. At least a book!
Siocháin,
Michael
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