Saturday, July 21, 2012

I've Been a very bad blogger

First, my apologies. I knew a lot of time had gone by since my last post, but when people started to ask, “Are you OK?” I knew I’d really left things too long.

I’ve also been very remiss about returning emails. If you’re written to me, thank you! I am not ignoring you and will write back shortly.

The problem, I’ve discovered, is that I’m a one-trick pony. Am working on Book "Seven days life", and when I’m doing that I can’t write anything else. Nothing. It’s like my mind turns itself on when I sit down to work on a chapter, and just switches itself off when the chapter’s packed up.

Good news! Am now on Chapter 2 (three, really, if you count the preamble). Now the doubt sets in. I find there are at least two stages to writing. The first stage is when you feel really good and confident. The second stage is when you think, “OMG, it’s all awful.” You can go back and forth between these two poles endlessly: confidence, despair, confidence, despair. It’s a tiny bit crazy-making.

There are wonderful people in the world called editors, and I’ll be contacting mine soon for some professional feedback. A few clear words from an editor (“fix this,” or “this doesn’t work,” or “have you thought about X?”) can totally stop the crazy see-saw. The problem is that you can’t contact an editor until the material is pretty much ready to go, and to get to that point…well, it’s the see-saw again.

I’m blogging today because I’m not writing. I have a headache, and–even WORSE–it’s starting to get hot in Delhi. Like, really hot. I have a fan and a air cooler but I hate feeling as though I can’t head out during the days. My brain just fries. I lose my glasses and forget my sunblock and it all just goes downhill… :(

See! I do love to blog. I could babble on for hours. I like reaching out. I just have to try harder to do this while I’m writing. There might be one or two of you still reading. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone else gave up on me. There will be more to follow. More b*tching about the summer. Updates on the book. Oh, and stuff about loneliness and isolation and how to respond to it.

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