Baby steps. As in, the writer makes his way to becoming a Writer with them. In August, his short story “See No Evil” will be published in The Portland Review. Additionally, on July 14, he’ll be reading at Maiden In the Mist in lovely ol’ Portland, Oregon, as part of the 1,000 Words series (you can tell the writer’s becoming bona fide by how many links he has in his blog to various projects). This reading’s going to be a particularly special event, not just because it’ll be taking place on Bastille Day (“Let them eat tapas!”) but because it’ll mark the first time this writer will be compensated for his literary output. The payment? One free drink. Like I said, baby steps.
In other news, he’s up and podcasting at The Portland Fiction Project (though potential listeners beware: it won’t download in Safari), where he will also be interviewing his former professor and Dane Peter Fogtdal and reviewing said Dane’s new novel, The Tsar’s Dwarf, soon to be released from Hawthorne Books. Look for that–oh, I don’t know, late July or August, I guess–he guesses (you might remember Mijnheer Fogtdal from past posts here at Thus Around Us).
On a more personal note, the writer will be going to Maui again in about three weeks to visit a friend (an interesting story there: I’m going to the same island, same town, approximately half a mile from the same house I stayed last year when I went to Hawaii, but the person I’m going to visit is entirely unrelated to Nixy, with whom I went last year). The writer is filled with enthusiasm and apprehension about this trip. Enthusiasm because, well, it’s a vacation. With a beach and a sun and fruity drinks. Apprehension because he will be returning to the scene of the crime wherein the victim was his kidney and the culprit was a stone. Will there be a sequel? He wonders. Does lightning ever strike the same place twice? Is lightning comparable to a kidney stone? Only in the amount of pain it can generate. Apprehensive again because once there had been a time when he went to Paris once a year. As in France. As in the city of love and light. My God, he thinks. Maui? What have I become?
There’s more to be said in the personal realm, of threatened litigation and failed romances, of chance encounters both providential and not, of friends who have left, returned, sought solace and gotten pregnant, but it’s been a while since the writer last posted a blog and he doesn’t want to overwhelm you, sweet, patient reader, or himself. Remember: baby steps.
