Tracking the Wild Novel
January 1, 1970
August 2005 Newsletter from the desk of Karen BrichouxContents:
*News
*Article: Tracking the Wild Novel
*What I’m Reading
News:
*At some point in August, an interview I recently recorded with Arts Editor Laura Spencer of KCUR-FM 89.3, the NPR station for Kansas City, Missouri, will air. This was my first radio interview, and I’m told all the most embarrassing gaffes I made will be sure to be included. If you’d like to hear me embarrass myself, I’ll post the time/day on my website just as soon as I know the information myself. KCUR-FM can be heard live via the internet.
*I also had a recent interview in the Lawrence Journal-World. You can find it and listen to an audio clip of me reading from THE GIRL SHE LEFT BEHIND here: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/jul/21/authors_latest_novel_leaves_chick_lit_label_behind/
*The buzz so far is that FALLING INTO THE WORLD will be released in October of 2006. More on that as I find out myself.
*If you would like to be added to my snail-mail mailing list to receive a postcard informing you of upcoming releases (this amounts to one postcard a year and is the only thing I will send you), send me your mailing address at email@karenbrichoux.com Please put “mailing list” in the subject line. The amount of spam lately is making it difficult to figure out what is legitimate e-mail (this goes for all e-mail). I try to always respond when I receive an e-mail (even if it takes a few days), so if you don’t get a reply, I probably didn’t get your e-mail.
Article: Tracking the Wild Novel
I loved nature shows when I was a little kid, so indulge me in the title for this series. I thought it might be somewhat interesting...well, maybe only vaguely interesting...if I were to keep you informed about the progress of my next book.
This will be my fifth book since selling Coffee & Kung Fu back in 2002. (For now, let’s ignore the 3 full novels and three partial ones that are in the trash.) It’s also the book that will be the basis for contract negotiations with my publisher.
I’m nervous about the idea for Book 5.
You’ll have to excuse me from talking about the idea itself. A long time ago, I discovered that if I talk about the idea too early, my desire to write a book based on that idea simply melts away, a little like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz after Dorothy tossed that water.
Not that it matters at this point.
It’s not that I’m nervous the idea won’t be good enough. I’m not nervous that I’ll have a hard time writing the book. I’m scared that the idea simply. won’t. show. up.
I have a germ of an idea. I’ve had that germ for months now. Has it developed into a full-blown, rampaging disease of an idea? No. Have characters introduced themselves to me in the middle of the night? (Don’t laugh. That’s happened.) No. No, the idea just sits there in germ form and refuses to do any dividing and conquering. It’s the most annoying little germ. I want to kick it. “Get up! Say something! Do something! Don’t just sit there!”
My journal--font of idea growth--remains stagnant. I blame the heat. We’re having hot, dry, nasty weather with highs around 100 every day. I’m sitting in a puddle of my own sweat and dreaming of fall. The garden is brown and what isn’t brown is covered in powdery mildew, thanks to the weird weather we’ve been having. The dirt is rock hard and no amount of water seems to help. Even the glorious hardwood forests in this area look like trash dumps filled with poison ivy and ticks. Fall will change all that, but right now, even the great outdoors is stagnant. Still, the light is changing and fall--with its magical feel--can’t be too far away.
In the meantime, I’ll sweat and write various things in my journal and try not to think about the idea too hard. Sometimes ideas are like the proverbial pot put on to boil. Maybe it won’t notice that I’m watching it out of the corners of my eyes.
What I’m Reading:
THE NUTMEG OF CONSOLATION by Patrick O’Brian
JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL by Susanna Clarke