It occurred to me just this morning that I do have some of the kind of news that may be posted on a blog. It's simply this: A week or two ago I finished the first draft of the novel I've been working on, The Hideous Child. It comes, at a rough calculation, to about 80,000 words. I started writing the novel (after a period of working on planning and notes) on the 6th of May, 2010. I have begun typing it up – making corrections and revision notes as I go – but recently have very little time for my own writing.
Although I dare say in the eyes of many hypothetical people my writing career has still not even got off the ground (that's actually how I feel), this novel kind of feels like a 'mid-career' novel to me. In other words, I think I'm looking at many of the same themes as before, possibly more dispassionately, but hopefully with more skill and assurance. I don't actually know if that is how it will come across, but it's felt somewhat like that to me in the process of writing. The main theme, of course, for a story with such a title, is beauty. There's also a great deal in it about the writing and publishing scene. I'd say there's a bit of a fin-de-siecle feel to it, too.
I don't actually think that this is the best of my growing number of unpublished novels, but it seems the most likely to get published any time soon. There's not much demand for my stuff anyway, but for my best stuff there's no demand whatsoever.
Other novels of mine in some state of completion but unpublished are:
Susuki
Domesday Afternoon, Volume I: Summerhill
Novels of which I have written many hundreds of pages and then put them on a back-burner:
The Lovers
The Sex Life of Worms
The Antiquarian
I'm sure that I must have forgotten something from one or both of those categories. I feel rather absent-minded recently.
don’t feel too bad. i’ve been painting for 57 years and i am still an ‘unknown artist’. time, critics and historians will sort it all out. there’s just too many people.
I think the real problem is there are too many TVs. Or at least, if people spent their time reading books and going to art galleries instead of watching TV, life would be easier for the likes of us.
my suspicions exactly. the passivity is palpable. usher in the 50’s squared.
agreeing with evans, from my point of view, it seems there is little interest these days in original artwork. i think maybe the criteria with which we might judge a painting has been smeared.
Evans writes:I’ve came to the conclusion that the world needs more art galleries. Desperately.
Thanks for keeping us up to date. I do hope I shall be able to read all that work in published form before I depart this planet.des
Interesting post. So what have you been doing recently when not writing?
Joe writes:I demand to see your best work!
I would like to read The Lovers. I have a bit of a problem with reading books to the end, or chronologically. So if u would like to share it:-) I would be very happy to read:-)
Actually, I see I’ve missed a few comments here. Sorry everyone!Originally posted by solid copper:Interesting post. So what have you been doing recently when not writing?Thank you for asking. I’ve been doing this:http://chomupress.com/
Crikey, I missed Joe’s comment. Sorry Joe, if you’re reading this. Thank you for the demand. Hello Dominika. Thanks for writing. I shall PM you.