I'm experiencing withdrawal. You see, I'm part of an online community of writers...the best in the world, in my fair opinion...called Backspace. Terrific place, and everything I know about the business of publishing I learned there. If you are a writer, you should check it out by the way. However, for the past two weeks, Backspace...well, at least, the forums of Backspace...have been off line. This is because they are doing technical improvements installing new forum software. But for a Backspace addict such as myself, I'm starting to act pretty weird without my fix.
For example...during the time away from this writer's board, I actually finished writing my book. Woo-hoo! But it is a highly unusual event, finishing a book, and I have to wonder if it is because of my cold-turkey withdrawal. Oh, perhaps it is just coincidence. But perhaps not.
Take, for instance, the fact that I actually have my query letters written and ready to send out. I mean, I'm never so organized. See what I mean?
Frankly, I'm nervous what could happen next. Contract an agent? Make a sale to a publisher? I'm living a dangerous existance at the moment, off Backspace, and it's making me nervous.
And if this happening to me, I have to wonder what is happening to my other Backspace friends. Are they surviving? The long quiet is disconcerting, and I can hope it will end soon.
In other news, I suppose it is fashionable to mention it is a whole new year now. 2006. The year of the Winter Olympics. The year of the Super Bowl (just don't ask me which Super Bowl...but I think is Super Bowl XL, which, if I remember my Roman numerology, is 40). Also, it is the year I plan to have my book published...or at least accepted for publication. We'll see how that goes, because of course, you'll be some of the first to know. And, as readers of this blog, you are under contractual obligation to not only buy my book when it eventually hits the shelves, you must also actively push the book on your friends, family, and complete strangers you happen upon. Don't believe me? Scroll down and read the fine print*. See?
Anyhow, welcome to the new year.
By the way, I did take my kids to Grace Centers of Hope on Thursday, which I mentioned in my last blog. We worked the "G" room, which means we unboxed and organized a bunch of donated toiletries and other various items onto the shelves. (Did you ever know there were like a hundred brands of toothpaste in the world?) Anyhow, my boys had a blast, though they were constantly side-tracked by the aforementioned toothpaste, insisting they spend the couple hours we had restacking the toothpaste boxes so that they could save about six inches of shelf space. However, my six-year-old came away not believing me when I told them that the people who lived there didn't have anything of their own because they were homeless. I mean, after all, we just unboxed literally tons of shampoo, soap, conditioner, notebook paper, brushes, and other miscellaneous items in quantities beyond their imagination. Clearly, they must have more money than we do!
Happy New Year.
* You, by having read the words of this blog entry, not including this fine print, implicitly agree to actively push Ryan Bruner's as-yet-unpublished book on friends, family, and complete strangers.
