{"id":6225,"date":"2014-12-17T17:27:32","date_gmt":"2014-12-17T17:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=6225"},"modified":"2014-12-20T04:09:13","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T04:09:13","slug":"on-recognition-and-accolades-why-i-drank-the-metaphorical-motor-oil-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/on-recognition-and-accolades-why-i-drank-the-metaphorical-motor-oil-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"On Recognition and Accolades: Why I Drank the Metaphorical Motor Oil this Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OHMFM_Cover_188x300\"It came as a com\u00adplete sur\u00adprise to me last week when I found out that anoth\u00ader one of my books had been cho\u00adsen by IndieRead\u00ader as one of the best books of the year. Last Decem\u00adber it was my short sto\u00adry col\u00adlec\u00adtion The Man, The Myth, The Leg\u00adend<\/em>, and this year IndieRead\u00ader select\u00aded my mod\u00adern pas\u00adtoral nov\u00adel One Hun\u00addred Miles from Man\u00adhat\u00adtan<\/em> as a Best Book of 2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t read it yet, con\u00adsid\u00ader pick\u00ading it up for your\u00adself or a friend as a Christ\u00admas gift. It\u2019s avail\u00adable as a Kin\u00addle ebook<\/a>, or in print<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No writer, if he wants to go on liv\u00ading, holds his breath wait\u00ading for good reviews or acco\u00adlades. There are long<\/em> peri\u00adods when noth\u00ading hap\u00adpens on the recog\u00adni\u00adtion front, and in fact a writer can pub\u00adlish a book and have years<\/em> go by before any\u00adone notices it at all.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, when the recog\u00adni\u00adtion and mod\u00adest acco\u00adlades come in, you have to acknowl\u00adedge them and be thank\u00adful. As a writer, you cross many vast deserts alone, spend\u00ading a lot of your writ\u00ading life thirst\u00ading and starv\u00ading for some kind of recog\u00adni\u00adtion. The trou\u00adble is, if you don\u2019t get the deli\u00adcious cold spring water and the pic\u00adnic table full of food some\u00adwhere along the way, you become will\u00ading to take recog\u00adni\u00adtion in what\u00adev\u00ader form it comes to you, no mat\u00adter how unhealthy it might be.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a scene near the end of the James Bond movie Quan\u00adtum of Solace<\/em> in which Bond dumps the bad guy in the mid\u00addle of a desert, prob\u00ada\u00adbly 100 miles from any\u00adthing, and he drops a can of motor oil on the ground and says, \u201cI bet you\u2019ll make it twen\u00adty miles before you con\u00adsid\u00ader drink\u00ading that.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Quantum

Quan\u00adtum of Solace: Bond dumps the bad guy in the desert with a can of motor oil. Nice.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have to tell you, folks\u2014earlier this year I was in that desert, and I\u2019m ashamed to say that I drank the motor oil.<\/p>\n

And rather than quench\u00ading my thirst at all, it only poi\u00adsoned me. I won\u2019t go into detail about the form that that motor oil took; all I\u2019ll say is that I craved the real thing (pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal recog\u00adni\u00adtion and sales) so much, I was will\u00ading to accept fawn\u00ading and ado\u00adra\u00adtion as a sub\u00adsti\u00adtute.<\/p>\n

But that was ear\u00adli\u00ader this year. As I go into 2015, launch\u00ading the next Dako\u00adta Stevens mys\u00adtery, A Truth Stranger Than Fic\u00adtion<\/em>, on Jan\u00adu\u00adary 1, I\u2019ve had my hunger for recog\u00adni\u00adtion and acco\u00adlades tem\u00adporar\u00adi\u00adly sati\u00adat\u00aded, most recent\u00adly by the IndieRead\u00ader hon\u00ador, a long pro\u00adfile in The Pough\u00adkeep\u00adsie Jour\u00adnal<\/a><\/em>, and a high\u00adly favor\u00adable review of 100 Miles <\/em>by Kirkus Reviews<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I real\u00adize there will be more deserts in my future as a writer, but know\u00ading what I know now\u2014that the motor oil in no way quench\u00ades your thirst<\/em>; it only poi\u00adsons you\u2014I won\u2019t be drink\u00ading it again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n