Personal Update

Touching base.

I’ve been working on the book form of my essays on writing, and the rough draft is done. It’s been my obsession for a few weeks, and I want to keep at it but there are a few reasons I need to let it sit for a while:

1. It’s just the smart thing to do. People say distance allows you to return to project fresh, but what that really means is you fall out of sync as the writer. All those rhythms you assume are in the writing are no longer in your brain. You can’t mask your failures the same way you have been. You come back to the project and now you see as a reader does, hearing what’s on the page instead of what’s in your brain. It’s good to step back.

2. I’ve been asked to write another article for another Substack publication, and I haven’t even figured out what I’m going to write about.

3. I have a short story half done that needs some attention.

So, while I’m away from my book on writing, I’d love if some of you would be willing to beta read it for me. It’s about 35k words long, and I want to be modest in promoting the idea of you beta reading it. After all, I’m just me. Normally, you want some literary giant to write these things, but the fact is I’m really excited about how it turned out. I’ve been working on this because it can be hard to come by meaningful insight on writing for people who aren’t baby-fresh to the scene. This is the book I needed. At least, I think it is. I’ve not yet fallen out of sync as a writer, and I don’t know if it really transferred to the page. I need you to tell me where I’ve gone wrong.

Also, if you beta read the earlier version of the book from last year, let me know if you want your name mentioned.

Besides that, I need to move my mother so that’s she closer to me. My daughter will soon leave her law firm to clerk for a federal judge in the city, and the stock market on Friday was just brutal. It’s woken me in the night the last two days in a row. Other than my day job, managing the group home, that’s pretty much everything. That, and I’ve been wrestling with a great deal of anger over my dad. He’s been dead 14 years, and I never understood why older people held onto that stuff but I get it now. I really do.

I’m juicing. That’s something. Somehow, I’ve got to get in better shape, and this is where I start.

This might be the most newsletter-like newsletter I’ve ever sent out, but now you know what’s going on for me. I hope some of you will want to beta read the book. Let me know.

Thanks,

Thaddeus