I’m not writing right now.
This isn’t due to any kind of block, but rather a by-product of being too busy with getting The Cradle ready for publication, beginning edits on The Red Boy, and working through a number of time consuming projects and initiatives at the office.
Not writing is not a good feeling. I’ve gone through periods of low productivity before but still managed to write at least a little bit of something every day. Not writing leaves me a bit shaky, queasy almost. Not writing does odd things to my dreams. Not writing makes me feel disconnected, on the fritz.
It’s not a feeling I particularly enjoy.
The hectic pace has kept me away from most of my friends on Facebook and Twitter as well, which doesn’t help my feeling of disconnection at all. And, obviously, I haven’t been posting very much here as well.
And yet, there’s been some very interesting things happening on Pinterest. I’ve been posting there for a while now but it’s been very interesting to see it gain momentum over the past few months. My wife doesn’t typically jump on whatever Internet bandwagon happens to be passing by (unlike me) but she’s gone deeper than I expected when I sent her the invite. And together we’re doing our best to press back against the overwhelming tide of cupcake photos, quirky nail polish ideas, and hair braid how-to’s.
Or, as one of my colleagues put it: “You guys are the dark side of Pinterest.”
I have to admit, on a site seemingly overrun with babies-in-peapods reposts and virtually identical my-dream-kitchen boards, that sounds like a compliment.
Pinterest has some interesting creative potential as well. I’ve got boards devoted to each of my books — posting my take on the characters, hoping other people might want to contribute their own. I’ve also got a board with little fragments of story that occur to me, hoping that someone will start up a collaboration back and forth through the comments.
Fun stuff. This was the kind of world I was trying to find twenty-five years ago when I sat alone and awake until four o’clock in the morning, looking out my window.*
Not alone anymore.
“The prose is exquisite, as usual if you are at all familiar with Camp’s work. The characterizations are great again.”
It’s been a little over a week now since The Cradle went on sale and the response has been a bit surprising — lots and lots of people have been buying the book and a few reviews are even starting to show up on Amazon and GoodReads.
Overall, this is probably the best launch response I’ve seen so far. And I’m grateful to everyone out there who’s jumped in to show their support.
“I love this book. I cannot put this book down. I want to know more about Jee, and her new adventures in this book. TM weaves a tale like no one else. He lures and captures your imagination with enthralling characters and images that could be straight from the movie screen.”
There’s still a week left to order the book and get the special pricing, as well as a whole slew of special offers and giveaways.
It’s available in hardback, softcover, and Kindle. An ePub version and audiobook are on their way. I was disappointed in my original recording for the audio, so I’ll be spending the weekend re-recording that.
Ordinarily I’d be annoyed by this kind of a setback but the most excellent Michael Levy has graciously given his permission to use two of his compositions as accompaniment to the audio. This delights me to no end. I’ve been a fan of Michael’s music for a while now — he plays ancient music on replica instruments, capturing the spirit of ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, and beyond. It’s fascinating, remarkable work and I can’t recommend it all highly enough.
His new album Ode to Ancient Rome has just been released, but there’s a lot more where that came from.
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* And before anyone gets too smarty-pants with the “Maybe you’d be writing more if you weren’t on Pinterest” comments, you’re probably right to some degree. On the other hand, Pinterest isn’t really something I do during my usual writing times — it happens earlier in the evenings when my wife and I are unwinding after the day (hey, it beats watching television).