In a lot of ways, it feels like things are starting to make sense for me. And it a lot of other ways, it feels like things are as chaotic as always. Everyone seems just a little frustrated, but I’m not sure most of them can articulate why. I know I can’t.
I finished Okie Dokie last month, and I have done a couple of edits to it since. I hope I’m at a point where I can leave it alone now. My copies come in the mail Saturday, and I’ll really know then. I’m both excited and terrified to have my writing available for others. That was always the goal, but I’m just so nervous about these things. I hope others can appreciate my point of view and I’m looking forward to getting feedback, even if that feedback is negative. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I actually just assume that if someone doesn’t like something I’ve written, then that is just a preference they have and does not reflect on my writing in any real way. If the consensus is negative, then I’m just writing the wrong things for current audiences. I will have to wait and see. The really difficult thing will be critiques by those I admire or grammatical errors pointed out by those I don’t.
I’ve started working on my next book, which will be similar to Okie Dokie in that it will contain selections of poetry from the past twenty years, as well as a few new poems to pull the book together. I’ll have one or two more like that before relegating unpublished poetry to a “remnants” book of some sort in the future. I have some things I’ve written that I really love, but I’m not sure how to make them work in any of these projects. I do want a story to emerge from the collection, even if only loosely. Okie Dokie was about myself and about how I see the world around me. The second book will be about family and the places from which they came. The third book is about friendship and love. If I need fourth or fifth, I’ll do another about myself and then a last one about family, as those are the two subjects I’ve written the most about. I’m also not limiting my writing. I have other things I want to write and those things will fall into the projects that make the most sense for them.
For October, I’m enjoying some spooky stories and songs throughout the month, and I am of course bothering family with those things. I miss sharing things with people. I find everyone becoming increasingly isolated, and not just in my own family. I’ll post some of those things on here during the month.