Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Silence of the Blog



Just thought I should post a little note about my lack of posts. The reason's simple I'm writing. And writing. And writing. Since returning from Europe, I have become a word-gushing machine. This blitzkrieg-behavior (let the project roll over everything in its path) inevitably happens as I enter the home stretch with a novel, but this time (as I complete Book III, The River of Shadows) it's been more intense than ever before.

Last night Sandor Ott, the old imperial spymaster, threw himself down a hatch to avoid being killed by a black-powder explosion. He lay there with the smoking debris raining down on him softly, not yet sure if his back was broken, calculating how he could best exploit this act of sabotage. I felt we shared something: monomania, in a word. He lives and breathes conspiracies, I live and breathe this writing process. I'm dense about nearly everything else.

Fortunately my poodle, Chloe, takes me out for fresh air. Here she is last week, reminding me how to play in the snow.

6 comments:

ediFanoB said...

Hey Robert,
nice to hear from you. I'm impressed and also happy that you have such creative time. So I look forward to 2010 and the release of The River of Storm.

I learned a new word from your post: Monomania.

Cheers to Chloe for showing you a part of life beside writing :-)
You have more snow than we have in our region. We always have the dream of "White Christmas". But most of the time the dream doesn't come through.

Anyway I hope you will find time to celebrate Christmas with your beloved ones.

Janeite42 said...

It's great to know that The River of Storm is progressing. I just finished The Rats and the Ruling Sea last week. Not only was the story fantastic - and I am most anxious to find out what happens next, and why - but your writing continues to awe and delight me. Thank you for another wonderful reading experience!

Aidan said...

Wow. Last time I visited this blog was after I finished the first book, and it had had a grand total of two or three comments from other people in its entire history. I remember emailing you saying you deserved more attention from fans. Looks like you've got it. There seem to be almost no blog posts without comments now.

I'm glad to hear the writing is going (I was tempted to say 'going well' but as a writer myself I know not to suppose that 'going' and 'well' always mix so perfectly). Take lots of walks with Chloe; enjoy your snow. Here in the S.E. of England we never get a white Christmas.

Your faithful fan,
Aidan

liz ryland said...

Love the picture of Chloe. It's great that she's making you take a break every once in awhile.

Thanks for giving us an update and I'm glad that the words are 'gushing' out.

I should also say thank you for once again increasing our vocabulary. ;-)

~ liz

Mark said...

Hi Robert,

Just finished 'Rats and the Ruling Sea,' really thought it was brilliant, but you left it on a slight clifhanger...can't wait to see what happens next. Good luck on completing book number three.

I agree with Aiden this site deserves more attention from fans.

Mark

Robert said...

Dear Aidan, Liz and Mark--

Thank you so very much for these messages! I'm really touched. It's a trying time, I won't kid you. In a literary sense I was raised in a land of plenty. I had time (and took the time) to make my stories exactly what they needed to be. I never realized what a gift that time was--I won't say "luxury," because that suggests something we like to have, but don't really need. Whereas good writing, I'm convinced, demands time.

When I hear from readers who appreciate what I'm doing, my choices feel like good ones, for a time. You make it worthwhile--so thanks again.

Back to the ship with me. When I stepped away Pazel was trying to kill someone in a blind rage; probably shouldn't leave him too long unattended.

Yours--

RVSR