{"id":7145,"date":"2015-10-13T23:09:21","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T23:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=7145"},"modified":"2020-02-23T17:17:04","modified_gmt":"2020-02-23T17:17:04","slug":"the-novelist-heals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/the-novelist-heals\/","title":{"rendered":"The Novelist Heals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forget any romantic images you might have of novel-writing: that it’s nothing but staring out big picture windows at the sea and autographing copies of your books.<\/p>\n

No, unfortunately novel-writing, even if you love it, is a draining, soul-sucking enterprise.<\/p>\n

\"DSCN9476\"
Ten months later, with the help of his neighbor’s faithful beagle, the novelist is nearly healed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While writing my novels, I strive so hard\u00a0to make each one the very best it can be, the work takes everything<\/em> from me, leaving me creatively, emotionally and physically spent.<\/p>\n

Since I finished A Truth Stranger than Fiction<\/em>\u00a0last December, I’ve written very little new material. True to form (this happens every time I finish a book), for most of this year I questioned whether I would ever write again.\u00a0But as my best friends know, I started writing again recently\u2014after a 10-month period of healing and refilling the tank.<\/p>\n

“When the tank runs dry you’ve only to leave it alone and it will fill up again in time.” \u2014Mark Twain<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what did I do this year to heal, to refill the tank? Let me count the ways…<\/p>\n

\"DSCN8678\"
I dusted and mailed copies of A TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION to friends, fans and reviewers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN8708\"
I did a lot of cross-country skiing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN8684\"
I went cross-country skiing with my dad, Big Al.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN8724\"
I went cross-country skiing with Alexas and drank beer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN8736\"
I spent time with my best friend Brian’s dog, Milly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN8780\"
I celebrated my 45th birthday with my best friend Brian and his family. Here, his boys made me a birthday cake: my favorite\u2014gingerbread.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN8888\"
I went to the top of a mountain above Easthampton, Massachusetts. This is the view that inspired Dr. Seuss’s Grinch and his view of Whoville.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9146\"
I started a new photography project: interesting barns. This one, on Chestnut Ridge Road outside of Millbrook, has been standing since I was a child. I would pass it on the way to my grandparents’ from Maine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"11231798_10206963408657265_124717466074237436_n\"
I hung out with my best friend Jason Scott, the Huck Finn to my Tom Sawyer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Shooting\"
I went shooting with my friend Bob Hanaburgh, here firing Dakota’s gun: a Sig Sauer .45 ACP. I shot very well, once scoring a 77 out of a possible 80.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN8981\"
I visited the top of Mount Holyoke (what a view!) with Alexas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN8996\"
I took serendipitous photos\u2014this one on the Vassar College campus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9069\"
I took photos of the place I love so much\u2014the Millbrook countryside, a.k.a. “Wellington” from ONE HUNDRED MILES.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9231\"
I visited The Breakers\u2014the Vanderbilt “cottage” in Newport, RI\u2014and the Tennis Hall of Fame.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9247\"
I spent a weekend on Cape Cod.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9264\"
I watched kite-surfing on the Cape.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9320\"
I ate the best scallops I’ve had in 20 years, at a restaurant in Provincetown on the Cape.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9336\"
I walked the beaches of the Cape Cod National Seashore, my trusty notebook ready to take notes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9361\"
I took long walks around Millbrook\u2014here on my favorite road, Woodstock Road, which appears in 100 MILES and A TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9349\"
I snuck up on a young buck deer eating windfalls beneath an apple tree.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9354\"
And herons overlooking still ponds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9368\"
I found covered bridges in Vermont…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9369\"
…and drove through them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9374\"
I played golf with my best friend Brian (pictured), and another time with my best friend Jason.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"photo4\"
Golf in Dover, Vermont.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9386\"
I captured idyllic Vermont autumn scenes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9406\"
I stumbled on a Vermont heritage festival and church rummage sale.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9400\"
Inspired by the scene, I sat down and began writing a new story.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9403\"
I relaxed and enjoyed myself.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9451\"
I spent a weekend with Alexas at my friend’s vacation house in Vermont. We relaxed in the hot tub, meandered through the state looking at the foliage, and spent evenings in front of a fire.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9467\"
I saw amazing autumn scenes like this one.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"71rpCbo+udL\"
I reread two or three dozen of my favorite stories by Guy de Maupassant…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"143a26e8799f6922a786931a89d0f8c9\"
…my favorite stories by Raymond Carver…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"GranadaSherlockHolmes\"
I watched the HD restorations of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series (that modern SHERLOCK can suck it).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Flirting
I’ve been studying French intensely, as well as a bit of Spanish and German.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9526\"
I made an apple pie.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"chess1\"
I started playing chess again.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9218\"
And I began writing again. :) Both indoors…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9487\"
…and outdoors. Alone, and with…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN9483\"
…my neighbor’s faithful beagle, Goliath.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forget any romantic images you might have of novel-writing: that it’s nothing but staring out big picture windows at the sea and autographing copies of your books. No, unfortunately novel-writing, even if you love it, is a draining, soul-sucking enterprise. While writing my novels, I strive so hard\u00a0to make each one the very best it … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13,14,233],"tags":[226,228,229,227,223,225,224,232,230,96,95,231,222,221,92,93],"class_list":["post-7145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal","category-writers","category-writingexperiences","category-writing-life","tag-autumn","tag-beach","tag-books","tag-cape-cod","tag-chess","tag-french","tag-healing","tag-jason-scott","tag-maupassant","tag-novelist","tag-novels-2","tag-raymond-carver","tag-vermont","tag-writers-life","tag-writers-2","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7145"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8435,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7145\/revisions\/8435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}