Day 28 Notes

Day 28 (Friday, June 21) was the day when I got to the end of the book that I was editing, which was book 1. On Day 28 I finished another pass of book 1. Whenever I get to the end of a book, I usually try to celebrate a little and take a photo. In this self-portrait, I'm holding my laptop in the photo because that's where the book is. Book 1 isn't quite ready for publishing, but it's closer than ever. I feel very good about this draft. I still have to do some proofreading, but that's not a big deal. The hard part is done. The book has been written and edited and now it's almost ready. With some final proofreading, and some final editing, it'll be ready for publishing.

In this photo, you can see my writing room. You can see my laptop (I keep that book underneath--it serves as a steady platform no matter where I'm writing). You can also see my headphones, which I often wear when I'm writing. Sometimes I play music, but most of the time I use them to block sound. I'll wear earplugs too (both earplugs and headphones) when I really want to focus.

I remember this day quite well. I remember editing the last pages of this draft. I remember sweating and feeling excited. The end of a book is an exciting time, for both the reader and the writer. There's this end-of-the-book mentality that kicks in. Yon can see how many pages are left. You get excited. You read a little faster. I know I was editing faster that I usually do. Then comes the last sentence. I actually tweaked the last sentence a little. It's all for the book. I've heard people say: "The book becomes the boss." And in some ways that's really true. You do what you gotta do. You keep working. And then one day you get to the end, and you pause and reflect, and it feels pretty good.

View From Day 25

This year I got the pig gig. I'm talking about the 2013 Pig Party. My friends have this great party every year. It's in June. Anyway, Day 25 was a few days before the gig. Day 25 was when I did some practicing for the gig. Below you'll see a photo from this practice session. I'm in my writing room, playing my electric guitar. The way I practiced was I had a little concert in my room. I played a set (about an hour long, mostly folk songs and guitar music), and I recorded the set with my little audio recorder. Recording something makes it real. It makes it feel more like you're on stage. Someone's listening--the recorder is listening--it adds a little pressure which helps simulate the live concert experience. I remember this day, Day 25. The practice gig was a lot of fun. I played my practice gig first, then I did my editing. I guess I took this photo right after the practice gig. This was a fun day.

no subject

my friend wrote me an
email and she had
no subject written in
the box at the top.
and when i saw no subject
I felt good
because right away i realized
that would be a good title for a
book, or maybe a poem.

this is the poem that i sat
down to write.
i sat down in the kitchen,
my laptop on the table
and i started writing.
i still have my headphones on my head.
i was watching a movie on my laptop,
and then i saw this one scene that just
made me stop the movie and start writing.

the scene was this:
Pablo Picasso,
in a room, painting.
the film is The Mystery of Picasso.
my friend gave it to me and it's one
of those great gifts,
so great that i will be forever grateful
for the gift.

so Allen, thank you.
and Pablo, thank you.
and let's not forget the filmmaker:
Henri-Georges Clouzot.
and thank you to my laptop,
my old Dell,
for i could not
at this precise moment
carve these words into the Internet
if not for this machine.

there's another poem right there:
if not for this machine.
i could just write that poem inside
this poem. a poem inside a poem.
that's probably been done before.

now i'm just playing around with ideas
and words.
and i guess that was my goal.
seeing Pablo in the film, painting,
having fun,
getting lost in the work--that
made me want to do the same.

and i think it was also the email
that my friend sent me.
the "no subject" email.
in the email she wrote about
things such as art and playing around.
and those things went into my head
and Pablo fortified these things,
all of which has led me to this.

this no subject poem that i've
written on my blog.
i wrote if you
and i wrote it for me
but mostly i wrote it for you.
i don't think i'll ready this poem too
often. but you might read it this year
and next year and maybe the one after.
poems sometimes get sticky like that.

this morning i was up at 3:30.
another good early morning,
and one of my first thoughts,
as i lay in bed was:
i need a poem to help me out of bed.
(there's another poem title right there)
but i was being serious.
i was tired and foggy and i wanted
John Giorno to help me out of bed.
but John was on my computer
and my computer was turned off.
so i had to get myself out of bed.
so now I'll listen to John recite
"Thanks For Nothing"
and i'll think about life and New York City
and i'll not worry about this poem
even though i didn't do spell check
or even proofread this
baby.

Notes From Day 16

I’m back on the blog. I logged in to write a few words about today. It’s Day 16, Sunday, June 9. The editing is going well today. I’ve been at it since about 9 in the morning. It’s almost 5 now. I’ve been through 20 pages already. That feels like a solid chunk. And I’m going to rest for a short time and then I’ll probably keep on going. I want to work until it's good and dark.

            I found some new information today. I did some research and found out that the slug I photographed the other day belongs to the genius and species Limax maximus. It's Limax maximus, the great grey slug, also called the leopard slug. You can read more on the Wiki. They live 2.5 to 3 years. That’s pretty good. I would have guessed less.

            During one break today I played a little guitar. I played my new electric. I had the window open. Something about playing in the room with the window open—it gave me an idea for a book: a book about a person who plays guitar at home everyday and people come and sit in his yard and listen. It could be a nice short novel. Or it could be a sort of Roald Dahl kind-of-book. Time goes by. Things happen. A story is born.

            This is how it is with book ideas—the ideas just pop into your head. It seems I usually get a book idea every day or so. Often it comes as a question: You know what might be interesting is if so and so happened?
             Okay, that’s enough for now. I just wanted to write a short little post. My mind needs rest. Maybe some reading, maybe some music. I’ve been listening to “Jessica,” the song by the Allman Brothers. Today “Jessica” has been a fine sunny companion. The version that I’m listening to is a high-quality version from last summer’s Merriweather show. You know about Merriweather, right? Merriweather is one of the great old concert venues in the world . . . . America is full of venues and music festivals. And here we are in early June. Concert season is just getting started. Is everybody in? The music is about to begin.

A New Era For My Blog

As many of you know, I started this blog back in 2007, which was the summer that I rode my bike across the country. After my summer travels, I kept the blog going. I tried to make at least one post each month. Some months I posted more, and some months I posted less. In 2012 I didn't post anything, although there were some posts that I started but didn't finish. I always thought I'd go back and finish these posts, but now I've changed my mind.

Now it is time to move forward. Today is a big day for this blog. Starting with this post, I am going to shoot for one post every week or so. Why not? I'm a writer and I love to write. And I'm tired of telling people, "Yes, I have a blog, but it's terribly out of date."

No more of that. Now is the time for freedom. And to be free in your mind you must be honest with yourself. Honesty is very important when it comes to writing. So here we go, here's the truth: In 2012 I posted no posts. But 2012 was a great year of writing. I wrote many books. So what if I didn't put anything on my blog? A person can only do so much. And there's no use beating myself up over what I could have done. This is one of the most important things when you're living the writing life: you must learn to be incredibly kind toward yourself.

Now that I have relieved myself of my past blogging debts, I feel much better. Now I am free to move forward with new posts. New posts! Yes! Some new words for you to read! Ah, it feels good. This post is the first of many that are to come.

Now it is springtime and springtime is a good season for writing (I know I say this about all the seasons). I have lots of projects going right now. I'll get into some of the details later on. Right now I want to write about today, and then I want to post a few photos, and then I'm going to maybe do a little more work and then go to bed. Today is Day 14 of my 100 More Days of Editing. The way this book works is each day I do my editing, and then I write a chapter in my 100 More Days of Editing book. When this book is done, you'll be able to read about my adventures writing and editing. I've come to realize that writing a book really is an adventure. I was talking with Kyle about this last night. Kyle just finished riding his bike across the country for the fourth time (Good Work, my friend). I said to Kyle, "With each book I get the same feeling that I get when I'm on the road." Kyle liked this idea.

Today my writing adventure took me through twenty pages of prose. Twenty pages is a solid day of work, especially considering the rewriting I'm doing. Today, like most days, I was working in the writing room. It rained hard for much of the day, so Marley and I didn't do much walking. Come evening the rain stopped and I took Marley for a walk. When I opened the front door, I was greeted by a giant slug. The slung was climbing up the glass of our storm door. Right then I knew for sure that I was going to write this post. In addition to sharing my new blog mentality, I wanted to share some photos of the slug.

We're really in the heart of springtime here on the East Coast. The East Coast jungleland is in full effect. Green leaves and flowers and green grass and lots of rain and slugs and worms and the humidity. Now for the photos.

Slug photo 1

Slug photo 2

Slug photo 3

Slug photo 4

The van Gogh umbrella I like to use:

The view that Marley and I have at the beginning of our walk:

Down below is the view that Marley and I have on the way back home (notice the fallen branch on the lower right--due to all the wind and rain today). I really like this view because I always think about how I'm walking back toward my writing and this always excites me.

As always, thanks for reading. Have fun and safe travels and keep up the Good Work.

Fondly,
Jeff