The R Word
Welcome back after what I hope was a wonderful long weekend. I was at my desk yesterday, wrapping up a feature column about seeing Jack Kerouac's 120 foot-long manuscript at the New York Public Library earlier this year. That seems like forever ago.
It's nearly impossible to say anything about Kerouac that doesn't sound overdone or obvious. Yet, "fools rush in ...."
I am also working on a sidebar that will explore the status ... and future ... of the Blake-Kerouac House in Rocky Mount, N.C., the home on West Mount drive where Kerouac stayed for a time in 1956.
It's probably no surprise the recession has reached its claws into this isolated writer's life. I had saved up enough money to work on the novel for a few months and most of it has trickled out to pay for heat last winter, car repairs, vet bills, food for the critters. Did I say gas?
Who knows what the future holds. I'll keep going as I always do, and the money will have to take care of itself. We'll tighten our belts around here for a while and get through it.
Still, a recession provides great tranquility and a slowdown means I can focus more fully on the novel. I have several short stories brewing and plans to publish them at a local printers under my own Permanent Press imprint.
