{"id":7809,"date":"2018-02-24T17:25:41","date_gmt":"2018-02-24T17:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=7809"},"modified":"2018-04-07T18:06:24","modified_gmt":"2018-04-07T18:06:24","slug":"backstory-the-story-behind-perpetuating-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/backstory-the-story-behind-perpetuating-trouble\/","title":{"rendered":"Backstory: The Story Behind Perpetuating Trouble"},"content":{"rendered":"

The open\u00ading sen\u00adtence of Per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adat\u00ading Trou\u00adble<\/em> is absolute\u00adly true: \u201cI was told to write this book by a pair of alien girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

That inci\u00addent with the alien girls, along with every\u00adthing else in my mem\u00adoir about the writ\u00ading life, real\u00adly hap\u00adpened<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Enter a Pair of Alien Girls<\/h2>\n

On a glit\u00adter\u00ading Octo\u00adber morn\u00ading in 2008, I picked up two young women who were hitch\u00adhik\u00ading. Before tak\u00ading Hoku and Astrid (their \u201cadopt\u00aded\u201d names) to the well\u00adness retreat cen\u00adter where they worked, we went to near\u00adby Burg\u00ader Hill Park, climbed the hill and talked.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

A view of the autumn foliage from the top of Burg\u00ader Hill.<\/p><\/div>\n

They pro\u00adceed\u00aded to give me all kinds of advice about my writ\u00ading career\u2014especially what I should be writ\u00ading about. I need\u00aded to be writ\u00ading about myself, they said. My every\u00adday life. My adven\u00adtures. My \u201cwis\u00addom.\u201d They told me all of these things, I drove them to the place where they said<\/em> they worked, and then\u2026they dis\u00adap\u00adpeared.<\/p>\n

You should read the book<\/a> if you haven\u2019t already, but I\u2019ll share this much with you: When I went to find these young women lat\u00ader that day, I dis\u00adcov\u00adered no one else had seen them, and even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly came to the con\u00adclu\u00adsion that they weren\u2019t young women at all but rather aliens in human female cor\u00adpo\u00adre\u00adal form. (By the way, when I say \u201calien girls,\u201d some of you might be pic\u00adtur\u00ading young women like this<\/a>, but the ones I spent that morn\u00ading with looked more like Amer\u00adi\u00adcan hip\u00adpies.)<\/p>\n

Nat\u00adu\u00adral\u00adly, my encounter with these two alien girls made an indeli\u00adble impres\u00adsion on me, and I began to write the book they\u2019d encour\u00adaged me to write: a book of per\u00adson\u00adal essays\/stories about real events in my life, in the vein of three writ\u00aders I admired: Gar\u00adri\u00adson Keil\u00adlor, David Sedaris and E.B. White.<\/p>\n

I Start Writing the Book<\/h2>\n

A view of the Vil\u00adlage of Mill\u00adbrook from the top of the Trib\u00adute Gar\u00adden steps.<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the fol\u00adlow\u00ading year, the pieces\u2014which I wrote almost exclu\u00adsive\u00adly in pen\u00adcil and my younger sis\u00adter Mandy typed up\u2014poured out of me. I wrote the first draft of the book dur\u00ading the sum\u00admer of 2009, seat\u00aded in a camp chair I took every morn\u00ading to a near\u00adby park, the Mill\u00adbrook Trib\u00adute Gar\u00adden.<\/p>\n

A piece about the alien girls. One about my wife and I try\u00ading to get rid of a bunch of Thomas Kinkade \u201cpaint\u00adings\u201d that a rel\u00ada\u00adtive had giv\u00aden us. Anoth\u00ader one, enti\u00adtled \u201cRevenge Fan\u00adtasies,\u201d was a long med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion on revenge, famous duels in his\u00adto\u00adry, and acts of revenge I\u2019d tak\u00aden against my ene\u00admies over the years; I end\u00aded up leav\u00ading it out of the final book because I felt I\u2019d grown con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adably dur\u00ading the inter\u00adven\u00ading 8 years.<\/p>\n

The first draft of what became Per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adat\u00ading Trou\u00adble<\/em> ini\u00adtial\u00adly ran to 250,000 words; that\u2019s longer than Moby Dick<\/em>. This is why part of my writ\u00ading process includes let\u00adting my works \u201ccool off\u201d in a draw\u00ader or a clos\u00adet for months or years (some\u00adthing I\u2019ll dis\u00adcuss in greater detail in the weeks to come). This way, when I return to the book, the gold is often imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly notice\u00adable, and the tail\u00adings or dregs are notice\u00adable too.<\/p>\n

In the sec\u00adond and sub\u00adse\u00adquent drafts of the book, I cut the dregs and refined the gold.<\/p>\n

With every book that even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly reach\u00ades pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion, there\u2019s a moment when it ceas\u00ades to be strings of sen\u00adtences or para\u00adgraphs, or even a loose col\u00adlec\u00adtion of essays or chap\u00adters, and it becomes a dis\u00adcrete, liv\u00ading, breath\u00ading thing. It becomes a book<\/em> with its own iden\u00adti\u00adty beyond that of the per\u00adson who wrote it.<\/p>\n

The Book Comes to Life<\/h2>\n

<\/a>For me, that moment with Per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adat\u00ading Trou\u00adble<\/em> came when the idea for the title pre\u00adsent\u00aded itself. Pri\u00ador to the final title, I had been con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ading titles includ\u00ading Thank You, Alien Girls!<\/em>, A Por\u00adtrait of the Artist as a Mid\u00addle-aged Man<\/em>, and even Livin\u2019 the Dream!<\/em> But none of these titles excit\u00aded me.<\/p>\n

I was leaf\u00ading through Fitzger\u00adald on Writ\u00ading<\/em> when I came upon this quote by F. Scott Fitzger\u00adald from his nov\u00adel The Crack-up<\/em>: \u201cI avoid\u00aded writ\u00aders very care\u00adful\u00adly because they can per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adate trou\u00adble as no one else can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up to that moment, my book had been like the life\u00adless mon\u00adster in Mary Shelley\u2019s Franken\u00adstein<\/em>. That quote was the jolt of elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty that gave it life. Sud\u00adden\u00adly every\u00adthing in the book\u2014every essay, every sen\u00adtence, every line of dialogue\u2014was uni\u00adfied and had a pow\u00ader\u00adful sub\u00adtext. In all of the pieces, all of my mis\u00adad\u00adven\u00adtures, I did<\/em> per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adate trou\u00adble; I took a mar\u00adgin\u00adal\u00adly bad or uncom\u00adfort\u00adable sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion and invari\u00adably per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adat\u00aded the trou\u00adble and made the whole thing worse.<\/p>\n

When I typed \u201cPer\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adat\u00ading Trou\u00adble\u201d on the cov\u00ader page, I knew I had a win\u00adner. It might or might not become a best\u00adseller, I thought, but I had cre\u00adat\u00aded a uni\u00adfied, fun\u00adny and poignant piece of art\u2014a book that my writ\u00ading hero E.B. White might have approved of (although I use more adjec\u00adtives and adverbs than he would have liked), and one that my grand\u00adfa\u00adther (an admir\u00ader of E.B. White him\u00adself) def\u00adi\u00adnite\u00adly would have enjoyed.<\/p>\n

Me, when I read Fitzger\u00adald\u2019s quote and con\u00adceived of the title PERPETUATING TROUBLE.<\/p><\/div>\n

Look\u00ading back on the writ\u00ading of the book now, while I cer\u00adtain\u00adly have the alien girls to thank for encour\u00adag\u00ading me to write about myself, I think that the pri\u00adma\u00adry rea\u00adson why the book is any good is because I wrote what I want\u00aded to read.<\/p>\n

This is always my first con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion when writ\u00ading: \u201cChris\u2026what would you<\/em> like to read?\u201d I don\u2019t try to imag\u00adine some phan\u00adtom Every\u00adman or Every\u00adwoman read\u00ader; hav\u00ading learned that I tend to be my harsh\u00adest crit\u00adic, I write to please myself first, think\u00ading that, if I like it, oth\u00ader read\u00aders will like it.<\/p>\n

The Real Chris Orcutt<\/h2>\n

<\/a>And I real\u00adly do like Per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adat\u00ading Trou\u00adble<\/em>. It\u2019s 100% my real voice, and it\u2019s how I tru\u00adly see and inter\u00adact with the world. Some\u00adday I hope I get to do a read\u00ading from it, because I\u2019ve learned that that\u2019s when I can real\u00adly put my per\u00adson\u00adal\u00adi\u00adty into the words.<\/p>\n

If you enjoy the works of David Sedaris or Gar\u00adri\u00adson Keil\u00adlor, I hope you\u2019ll con\u00adsid\u00ader pick\u00ading up Per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adat\u00ading Trou\u00adble.<\/em> Kirkus Reviews declares my \u201carch essay col\u00adlec\u00adtion about the ups and downs of the writ\u00ading life\u201d to be \u201ca quick and amus\u00ading read\u201d and its author, moi<\/em>, \u201ca vibrant char\u00adac\u00adter and enjoy\u00adable writer.\u201d The Mid\u00adwest Book Review echoed this sen\u00adti\u00adment in even pithi\u00ader form: \u201cAn absolute\u00adly fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading and enter\u00adtain\u00ading read from cov\u00ader to cov\u00ader, [Orcut\u00adt\u2019s] Per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adat\u00ading Trou\u00adble will have par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar inter\u00adest for any\u00adone famil\u00adiar with (or them\u00adselves liv\u00ading) the life of a writer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next week I\u2019ll take you behind the scenes with my writ\u00ading and share some of my process with you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The open\u00ading sen\u00adtence of Per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adat\u00ading Trou\u00adble is absolute\u00adly true: \u201cI was told to write this book by a pair of alien girls.\u201d That inci\u00addent with\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,3,75,364,22,365,7,76,177,270,13,14,233,15],"tags":[386,384,124,383,382,94,378,380,165,389,390,379,328,376,265,387,111,388,391,159,155,349,367,104,393,375,385,377,221,92,93,355,352,392],"class_list":["post-7809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-craft","category-memoir","category-memoirs","category-pencils","category-perpetuating-trouble","category-personal","category-process","category-research","category-workspace","category-writers","category-writingexperiences","category-writing-life","category-writingtools","tag-alien-girls","tag-aliens","tag-amazon","tag-backstory","tag-behind-the-scenes","tag-chris-orcutt","tag-david-sedaris","tag-e-b-white","tag-ebooks","tag-essay","tag-essays","tag-garrison-keillor","tag-humor","tag-keillor","tag-kindle","tag-kirkus-reviews","tag-memoir-2","tag-midwest-book-review","tag-nonfiction","tag-nook","tag-orcutt","tag-pencils","tag-perpetuating-trouble","tag-redheads","tag-reviews","tag-sedaris","tag-ufos","tag-white","tag-writers-life","tag-writers-2","tag-writing","tag-writing-life","tag-writing-memoir","tag-writing-process"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7809","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=7809"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8041,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7809\/revisions\/8041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}