Rebecca's Gift

I have written before about my friend Rebecca and her magical studio in the woods that was once the studio of sculptor Walker Hancock. Every time I visit her I come away awash in feelings of creative bliss and pleasure. Ever since Mark’s book was printed and we were notified it was on its way here to Gloucester, I have been thinking about what comes next in my life. I spent two years working on Mark’s book and, though I did my own writing in that time, I never gave it the complete, focused, devotion I gave to his book. That is too bad.

I was complaining about this to Rebecca recently and she made me an incredible offer. She was going away for a few days and the studio would be empty. Did I want to come stay for a few days to see if I could get some work done. What a wonderful treat! It is hard for me to give myself time just for myself. I’m always wrapped up in other people’s project. Part of this is necessary in order to earn a living but a good deal of it is done because I firmly believe that we artists and writers are obliged to help and support one another. Sometimes, though, I forget about my obligations to my own work.

I started working on The Old Mermaid’s Tale twelve years ago. In that time it has gone through many revisions and long periods of neglect. It has spent years in the hands of different literary agents who loved it but then never did anything with it. I know that the prevailing wisdom in these cases is just move on — start the next book. I did, but I could never give myself to it completely because I felt an obligation to my characters and their story.

In between agents and revisions, I wrote short stories. I sold a few of them (“Killing Julie Morris” was just bought by Level Best Books for their next anthology). But the longer, more romantic ones, though much praised by my writing groups, never found the right market. I began assembling them into a collection but every agent I queried said the same thing, short story collections don’t sell — Alice Munro can’t even get her collections sold. So I moved on to a second novel.

But the world of publishing has changed dramatically in the past ten years. According to statistics less than 5% of the books published by the major publishers earn back their initial investment. Publishers, like many other corporations, have become such monsters that they are like dinosaurs, unable to consume enough to support themselves. Today they rely on movie sales, DVDs, computer games, and those horrid little “gift books” to keep them profitable. The era of the small publisher is upon us. It was for this reason that I began Parlez-Moi Press three years ago. At the time I envisioned it as an e-publisher but as printing technology has changed, so has my vision for Parlez-Moi Press. After the work I did on Lila’s book of poetry and Mark’s book I realized I could do the same thing for my own books. The problem was finding the time to make that happen.

And that brings us to Rebecca’s gift. What a wonderful experience this has been. No internet connection, no telephone ringing — just a few days to spend alone with the characters I love.

The first day I managed to work through all the revisions to My Last Romance and other passions, get the format finalized and am now nearly ready to go to press. The second day I spent 12 hours working on The Old Mermaid’s Tale. It is my goal to trim it by 20% and I am nearly there. I took time out for a few walks and to cook but otherwise I sat at the table in that grand old studio with my laptop and the wind blowing through the leaves and absolute, wonderful silence. It was wonderful. At night, when I lay in bed looking out at the stars shining on the quarry, I thought about the amazing forces that exist in this world that can give us creations like the characters in my stories or the angels that Hancock formed here. Now, it is time to leave and go back home and that is fine, too. I haven’t seen the ocean in three days though I can smell it here and hear the boats out on Ipswich Bay. Today was productive. I worked on the cover and am over halfway through the text. I have a lot to do but I am so much farther along than I ever could have imagined. What a blessing. What a gift.

So, as I pack up my computer and get ready to go back to my life I give my deepest thanks to Rebecca for her gift and to the spirit of Walker Hancock for his. I have done good work here. It is magic.

Thanks for reading.