Author's note #2
Discover more from portrait of a body (in pieces)
If everything that was planned went according to that plan, about now you would be receiving the 27th installment of In Pieces. Alas. Best laid plans have never met my son.
When we met, my wife introduced me to a quote by the spiritualist Ram Dass, who said: If you think you are enlightened, go and spend a week with your family.
I might modify that for my owns means to: If you think you have time and energy to write a novel, try living with a one-year-old.
In order for me to successfully manage to send twenty-one consecutive chapters of this novel-in-pieces over the first seven months of this year, a lot of stars had to align.
What those stars were mostly aligned with was his sleep schedule, which up until June was pretty clockwork (the more experienced parents in the audience are laughing at my naivety about now) and gave me just enough rest to write reliably.
Long story short I didn’t get any sleep in July and August and my mid-summer writing break turn into a much longer pause than scheduled, but it’s fine now.
Through trial and many an error we have found a schedule that works for everyone, which means I’ve found some time and energy to write.
All this is to say I’m sorry, and that there are new chapters of In Pieces coming soon.
The posting schedule may look a little different, but I’m going to finish this book. I love writing it and sharing it with you, and I’ve missed sending updates.
One small change to the program is that the month of August will now be a lost chapter, a missing piece if you will, and the story will pick up in September.
August was giving me trouble, and as any fiction writer knows sometimes it’s best to get the draft finished and come back to it later. So I’ll come back to it.
The story will work fine without it, and August will be a bit of a treat when it arrives.
This project was always meant as an experiment. It has taught me how much I can accomplish with the right work ethic, and at the same time it has exposed my limits.
Anyway, thank you for your patience. I’m putting a pause on paid subscriptions until I’ve sent out a few more chapters to make up for the extended break. You shouldn’t have to wait too much longer for something new to read.
The pieces are slowly coming together.
Dan :)