My dad is coming to visit this month. He lives alone in rural Ontario and I always feel vaguely worried about him, though he’s quite spry for a 77-year-old fellow. I convinced him to be here for his birthday this year, so I bought him one of these photo frames you can upload pictures directly to from a phone app. This way the kids can send things to him with a couple button pushes, which I think is a very Gen Z way of communicating. Hopefully he likes it and hopefully the kids don’t weaponize it.
Anyway, before he gets here, I am clewing up some things I needed to get done, including writing my updates on this thing.
WRITING:
Fiction
A couple days ago I finally finished the first draft of a novel I have been thinking about for over 20 years, and that I started writing in earnest in 2013. Some time in 2015 or so, I showed the first couple hundred pages to an agent who liked it but wanted significant changes and it sort of just took the wind out of my sails. I know that what every writer wants to hear when showing their work is “BRILLIANT! CHANGE NOTHING! THROW OUT THE JOYCE AND ISHIGURO TO MAKE ROOM FOR MURRAY!” but I really just wanted an opinion on whether it “would be” sellable, not instructions on how to write the novel they wanted to sell.
So I set it aside, unfinished. Just before the pandemic, I went back to writing fiction, but spent about six months writing the first 400 pages of a fantasy novel while sitting all day in a coffee shop eating cookies and drinking americanos. Once lockdown hit, I never wrote another word on that one either.
A couple months back, I printed out both novels-in-progress and started by reading through the literary one. Damn, it wasn’t bad. It just needed restructured. So I decided to finish writing it as originally envisioned and resolved to edit it into shape later. And I did it. 351 pages of literary adventure with guns and robberies and fights and bomb threats. Not bad! Now comes the work.
Poetry
I have begun writing again, but slowly. Just really trying to figure out what my voice is. The lack of take up on my selected edition really changed the stakes for me. If no one’s really paying attention to what I’m saying, I can pretty much say whatever I want, no? So mostly I am writing to please me, right now. I have some new poems in a journal out of the UK called Bad Lilies and I did a sort-of interview with Catherine Owen on her lo-fi podcast Ms Lyric Poetry Outlaws.
I did take a pause after the last book came out, the longest I’ve ever stopped writing since I started, but between teaching courses and running the Front of the Line poetry community and doing what academics would call “service” work through participating in some awards and grants programs, I kept my mind somewhat related to poetry—awards and grants for various provincial councils, small awards like the NOWW writing contest and larger ones at Yale and the Canada Council.
Also helping a few friends and students put together their manuscripts. It can be quite the daunting task if you’ve never done it before.
Aphorisms
I am still picking away at a collection, but having written 900+ for my first two books, the going is slower. Lots of ideas, but avoiding repeating myself is a concern. So I am just letting them flow as they come. Might take a couple more years.
Nonfiction
How much work have I done on my non-fiction book about teaching poetry? Zero-much. I have done zero-much work. ZEE. ROH.
PERSONAL:
We lost our beloved border collie Mitsou back in January. She was a champ til the end and she is now part of a lovely garden bed in the yard where she liked to snutch about under the shade of the bird cherry out back.
She died of old age, which is all one can hope for, but with a dog who was a puppy until the age of seven or eight, and then still quite spry until 14, the last six months or so were a sharp decline that was hard to watch.
It took us a while to decide if we wanted to re-up on the dog life, but both Elisabeth and I are dog people and, frankly, we couldn’t resist this face:
So, please meet Samwise de Murrayaffi. An Australian Shepherd named for the most stalwart of literary companions, the hobbit Samwise Gamgee—the only mortal who was able to possess the Ring and be able to give it up freely, despite its power. He already has many nicknames—when he’s rambunctious I call him “Slamwise”, and when he’s sneaky I call him “Scamwise”, and when he’s silly I call him “Hamfast” (which is the name of one of Sam’s eventual children with Rosie Cotton—look, you knew I was a nerd), and when he’s being naughty I call him “Smeagol” or “Stinker”, depending on the severity of the transgression.
Anyway, besides writing the novel and working marketing books, this has been my main endeavour the last month. He’s a smart lad, and eager to learn and please, but when he gets tired or hangry, he turns into a cross between a Gund teddy bear and a velociraptor—soft fur, sharp teeth.
INTERESTS:
TV
We watched some schlocky TV, including The Mandalorian and the start of Andor. The latter is attached to what I think might be the best Star Wars film (Rogue One), but it was sooooo sloooooow to start. Need t o get back into it. The other SW shows don’t really interest me that much. A few good comedy specials, including the John Mulaney one where he’s back from rehab. Has a great edge to it.
Movies
The boys took me to see the new animated Spiderman movie for Father’s Day (nicely played, guys… the gift that gives back), and it was actually great. The animation was spectacular and the story was touching and fun.
My dad and I have a standing date to watch all the Indiana Jones movies together, so thus his trip timing. I’ll be seeing it next week. Didn’t bother with the fourth one after a friend whose judgment I trust said to forget about it.
I can’t recall if I mentioned before, but I also loved The Banshees of Inisherin. A lovely fable with some interesting subtext about the effects of industrialization on the human ego.
Books
Read books by Carl Phillips, Kevin Young, Stephen Marche (this wee book on failure was fantastic), Maggie Burton, more Tolkien as always, and some books on mushroom foraging.
Books coming up by Michelle Good, Nathan Whitlock, and Jana Prikryl.
Gaming
Running a new D&D campaign with a bunch of artsy types and it’s glorious. People are just there to have fun and laugh and look each other in the eye. Getting to use my minis and all the terrain I crafted for my old group is like finding a secret toy chest full of things you forgot about. Really enjoying it.
I bought myself a new desktop machine that is quite frankly a monster and so I am getting to play a bunch of video games I missed. Deep into Diablo IV right now, which is essentially about clicking madly until hordes of bad guys go splat and tiny dopamine hits are dropped by their bodies. Not bad. Played Metro Exodus (good story, little “replayability”) and more Cyberpunk 2077, but waiting now on the DLC update for that one.
Painting
I keep coming up with ideas for compositions, but never find the time or space to get them done. That said, I started keeping a small sketch file, in case I ever find myself trapped away from life in a studio.
CONCLUSION:
Not too bad. A definite improvement over 2022, so far (I hesitate to write this with the spiteful universe looking on), which is not what I expected. Soon it will be blueberry season and I hope to get out metal detecting a time or two. Would love it if Samwise had enough recall by then to come with. Working on the training with the liver treats. Wish me luck.