{"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":"

For\u00adget any roman\u00adtic images you might have of nov\u00adel-writ\u00ading: that it\u2019s noth\u00ading but star\u00ading out big pic\u00adture win\u00addows at the sea and auto\u00adgraph\u00ading copies of your books.<\/p>\n

No, unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly nov\u00adel-writ\u00ading, even if you love it, is a drain\u00ading, soul-suck\u00ading enter\u00adprise.<\/p>\n

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Ten months lat\u00ader, with the help of his neigh\u00adbor\u2019s faith\u00adful bea\u00adgle, the nov\u00adel\u00adist is near\u00adly healed.<\/p><\/div>\n

While writ\u00ading my nov\u00adels, I strive so hard to make each one the very best it can be, the work takes every\u00adthing<\/em> from me, leav\u00ading me cre\u00adative\u00adly, emo\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly and phys\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly spent.<\/p>\n

Since I fin\u00adished A Truth Stranger than Fic\u00adtion<\/em> last Decem\u00adber, I\u2019ve writ\u00adten very lit\u00adtle new mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal. True to form (this hap\u00adpens every time I fin\u00adish a book), for most of this year I ques\u00adtioned whether I would ever write again. But as my best friends know, I start\u00aded writ\u00ading again recently\u2014after a 10-month peri\u00adod of heal\u00ading and refill\u00ading the tank.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the tank runs dry you\u2019ve only to leave it alone and it will fill up again in time.\u201d \u2014Mark Twain<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what did I do this year to heal, to refill the tank? Let me count the ways\u2026<\/p>\n

\"DSCN8678\"

I dust\u00aded and mailed copies of A TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION to friends, fans and review\u00aders.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN8708\"

I did a lot of cross-coun\u00adtry ski\u00ading.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN8684\"

I went cross-coun\u00adtry ski\u00ading with my dad, Big Al.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN8724\"

I went cross-coun\u00adtry ski\u00ading with Alexas and drank beer.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN8736\"

I spent time with my best friend Bri\u00adan\u2019s dog, Mil\u00adly.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN8780\"

I cel\u00ade\u00adbrat\u00aded my 45th birth\u00adday with my best friend Bri\u00adan and his fam\u00adi\u00adly. Here, his boys made me a birth\u00adday cake: my favorite\u2014gingerbread.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN8888\"

I went to the top of a moun\u00adtain above East\u00adhamp\u00adton, Mass\u00ada\u00adchu\u00adsetts. This is the view that inspired Dr. Seuss\u2019s Grinch and his view of Whoville.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9146\"

I start\u00aded a new pho\u00adtog\u00adra\u00adphy project: inter\u00adest\u00ading barns. This one, on Chest\u00adnut Ridge Road out\u00adside of Mill\u00adbrook, has been stand\u00ading since I was a child. I would pass it on the way to my grand\u00adpar\u00adents\u2019 from Maine.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"11231798_10206963408657265_124717466074237436_n\"

I hung out with my best friend Jason Scott, the Huck Finn to my Tom Sawyer.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Shooting\"

I went shoot\u00ading with my friend Bob Hanaburgh, here fir\u00ading Dako\u00adta\u2019s gun: a Sig Sauer .45 ACP. I shot very well, once scor\u00ading a 77 out of a pos\u00adsi\u00adble 80.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN8981\"

I vis\u00adit\u00aded the top of Mount Holyoke (what a view!) with Alexas.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN8996\"

I took serendip\u00adi\u00adtous photos\u2014this one on the Vas\u00adsar Col\u00adlege cam\u00adpus.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9069\"

I took pho\u00adtos of the place I love so much\u2014the Mill\u00adbrook coun\u00adtry\u00adside, a.k.a. \u201cWelling\u00adton\u201d from ONE HUNDRED MILES.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9231\"

I vis\u00adit\u00aded The Breakers\u2014the Van\u00adder\u00adbilt \u201ccot\u00adtage\u201d in New\u00adport, RI\u2014and the Ten\u00adnis Hall of Fame.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9247\"

I spent a week\u00adend on Cape Cod.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9264\"

I watched kite-surf\u00ading on the Cape.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9320\"

I ate the best scal\u00adlops I\u2019ve had in 20 years, at a restau\u00adrant in Province\u00adtown on the Cape.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9336\"

I walked the beach\u00ades of the Cape Cod Nation\u00adal Seashore, my trusty note\u00adbook ready to take notes.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9361\"

I took long walks around Millbrook\u2014here on my favorite road, Wood\u00adstock Road, which appears in 100 MILES and A TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9349\"

I snuck up on a young buck deer eat\u00ading wind\u00adfalls beneath an apple tree.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9354\"

And herons over\u00adlook\u00ading still ponds.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9368\"

I found cov\u00adered bridges in Ver\u00admont\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2026and drove through them.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9374\"

I played golf with my best friend Bri\u00adan (pic\u00adtured), and anoth\u00ader time with my best friend Jason.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Golf in Dover, Ver\u00admont.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9386\"

I cap\u00adtured idyl\u00adlic Ver\u00admont autumn scenes.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9406\"

I stum\u00adbled on a Ver\u00admont her\u00aditage fes\u00adti\u00adval and church rum\u00admage sale.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9400\"

Inspired by the scene, I sat down and began writ\u00ading a new sto\u00adry.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9403\"

I relaxed and enjoyed myself.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9451\"

I spent a week\u00adend with Alexas at my friend\u2019s vaca\u00adtion house in Ver\u00admont. We relaxed in the hot tub, mean\u00addered through the state look\u00ading at the foliage, and spent evenings in front of a fire.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9467\"

I saw amaz\u00ading autumn scenes like this one.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"71rpCbo+udL\"

I reread two or three dozen of my favorite sto\u00adries by Guy de Mau\u00adpas\u00adsant\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n

\"143a26e8799f6922a786931a89d0f8c9\"

\u2026my favorite sto\u00adries by Ray\u00admond Carv\u00ader\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n

\"GranadaSherlockHolmes\"

I watched the HD restora\u00adtions of the Jere\u00admy Brett Sher\u00adlock Holmes series (that mod\u00adern SHERLOCK can suck it).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Flirting

I\u2019ve been study\u00ading French intense\u00adly, as well as a bit of Span\u00adish and Ger\u00adman.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN9526\"

I made an apple pie.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"chess1\"

I start\u00aded play\u00ading chess again.<\/p><\/div>\n

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And I began writ\u00ading again. :) Both indoors\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2026and out\u00addoors. Alone, and with\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2026my neigh\u00adbor\u2019s faith\u00adful bea\u00adgle, Goliath.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For\u00adget any roman\u00adtic images you might have of nov\u00adel-writ\u00ading: that it\u2019s noth\u00ading but star\u00ading out big pic\u00adture win\u00addows at the sea and auto\u00adgraph\u00ading copies of\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"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}]}}