Other Stories

"When oh when is your next book coming out?" That question, from a comment on my last post (hi Corinna!), is something I've asked myself a lot since the turn of the millennium. My first book was basically a gathering of the least embarrassing stories I had written since my teens, almost none of which were produced with an eye towards a possible future collection. The second one is taking a bit longer than I thought it would. Maybe I'm dreading the legendary sophomore slump that can strike writers, bands, directors, and basically anyone who ever made a fairly well-received anything. Of course, looking at it another way, I'm very happy to be in the position of dreading a sophomore slump at all.

I have a good idea what the second book will look like (see cover study, above), but the problem is coming up with more of the other stories referred to in the title. I do know that I want it out soon, perhaps even by the end of this year. While some works may be ruined by rushing them, the same result can come from lingering too long on something, revising and revising it until it's spoiled. Perhaps a Clive Barker-like writing frenzy will overtake me -- I remember reading somewhere that he wrote the Books of Blood in an astonishingly brief span of time. (I may be misremembering, though). Subterrania should be markedly different from Happy Endings -- otherwise, what's the point -- but exacly how different and in what ways is something I'm still figuring out. But anyway, thanks to Corinna and other friends (and some strangers, bless them) who have been interested enough to ask me the question that begins this post.

"I do have a specific way of writing, in that I put it off as long as I can and make it as difficult as possible for myself before my impending deadlines force me to overcome my self-loathing just enough to sit down and write something. Once I’ve started writing, though, I’m always surprised by how engaging it actually is." ~ from an interview with Allan Heinberg, writer for The O.C., Sex and the City, and Young Avengers