May 9, 2005
I have two broad categories of things that can slow or stall my fiction writing productivity--call it writer's block if you want, but I'm not a huge believer, per se. Writer's block is a subject for a different day. I think one thing is insecurity over the commercial viability of a piece I'm working on. I never used to have that problem, naively thinking that whatever I wrote would be salable. It's only as I've gotten more fiction published and I've directed even more of my energies to what will be viable for publication, what will the editors like, what will the public like, etc., that these insecurities cause problems. And at the same time, I seem to be more successful at it. And again, that's more for a blog on writer's block, or what, for me, might be called writer's block.

The other problem, and I think this is an enviable problem in many ways, is how too many current things get in the way of writing. I was cranking on the first draft of the new thriller to follow-up the two that we're negotiating over (The Devil's Pitchfork and Serpent's Kiss). Then my 2 agents (it does seem as if the two agents in my agent's agency are both handling me now), have expressed an interest in Bad Intentions, but want me to re-work the lead (or lede, if you have a journalistic background). I mentioned the possibility of a prologue with a shortened first chapter and Ashley (not Irene), said send it, so I did, and now I'm waiting for her reaction before I start the overall re-printing, re-writing thing. Plus I have to await a letter/e-mail regarding the Dirty Deeds contract releasing me from the option clause.

And, of course, it looks like the contracts for Pitchfork & Serpent will be coming my way for my happy signature shortly, and I know that both of those manuscripts will require light re-writing and packaging of the disks, etc., and the deadlines for those are, last I knew, June 30 and September 1, respectively. But I don't want to start on those until I see the actual contract. So, in a way, I feel like I'm coming and going at the same time. I should be working on something, Angels Falling, probably, but I've got several other things I should be doing, so I'm a little bit frozen. A tiny bit.

Otherwise, I wrote a book review (not a positive one, but I was kind) of Iris Johansen's Countdown (what my editor referred to as a "wallbanger," meaning, I take it, that the book deserved to be flung at the wall before it was completed), and wrote a draft of a podiatry article, some miscellaneous bookkeeping and e-mails, etc. So I'm being productive, but I don't FEEL productive.

Maybe the next chapter of Angels... maybe I need to be in Denver...

Best,
Mark Terry