SOMETHING CALLED A BLOG TOUR

My wife spent a good three days explaining to me via email and at home what exactly a Blog Tour is.  I guess I don’t get out much online because I’m still not quite sure what it is.  What I’ve gathered is that one writer sends two writers a Blog Tour invite, the two writers answer some questions about the writing process, and then they send along an invite for two other writers to do the same.  Everyone answers the same questions.  Everyone helps to promote each other.  As you’ll see below I utterly failed at the small task passed my way.

First and foremost I was invited to do the Blog Tour by Lori Jakiela.  To be honest I have not read much of Lori’s memoir work but I’m a huge fan of her poetry, so much so that I’ve read what she has out there quite a few times.  Lori is one of those folks who can really get the line down.  As a writer she’s one of those poets whom you want to be envious of when you read a poem that knocks your socks off, but instead of wallowing in envy you want to do something just as amazing.  That’s my kind of poetry.  So thank you Lori for the invite.  I’m sorry I pretty much failed you, but hopefully Ally Malinenko will hold up her end and keep this Blog Tour going.  For all of you taking the time to read this, here’s a link to Lori Jakiela’s blog and her answers to the Blog Tour.

Now….without further ado, here are my answers to the Blog Tour questions:

What are you working on?

I just finished two rough drafts on two novels.  Both use the same character from my 2013 novel, The Librarian.  The first is called The Wine Clerk, and pretty much picks up the action about six months after the end of The Librarian with Rand Wyndham working in a wine store and living back in Buffalo, New York. 

The other novel is called Mary Bermiano.  It’s about a much younger Rand getting involved in his first real relationship.  It takes place in 1994.  I had the draft hanging around for a number of years and basically rewrote it as a Rand book.

I’m getting ready to start another Rand book…The Poet.  It’s hopefully going to be about Rand working once again as a librarian and dealing with the poetry scene.  I plan on bringing back Carolina and basically doing my best to write a classic Three’s Company plot with subtle mention of Don Knotts.

How does your work differ from others’ work in the same genre?

It doesn’t really.  I’m one of thousands of little Bukowskis out there.  My writing is pretty straightforward because I hate reading shit that I can’t understand.  If I try to do anything different, at least different for myself, is I try to add more humor.  Especially in fiction.  All the old fiction I wrote was always so heavy.  Some of the poems too.  Everything has to be so precious.  It was as if I’d learned to write by hanging out with Zach Braff.  I realized around my mid-30s that I really wanted to tell dick jokes, and would’ve been better suited writing a sitcom than poems or novels.

Why do you write what you write?

Ah….the eternal question.  The eternal answer: I don’t know?  To be honest I write what I write to please myself.  The subjects that I choose to write about are the subjects that I want to read about.  It’s as simple as that.

How does your writing process work?

Monday through Friday I’m up at 5 a.m.  I write.  Hopefully I have some ideas floating around so I’m not spending too much time on Facebook or looking at internet porn.  Hopefully I’m not hungover.  I generally write from everyday life so it’s not that hard to come up with something.  I do well with anger and disgust and humans being humans there’s always someone out there who raises my ire.  Two days ago some kid was calling another kid a fag at the 59^th Street station.  I thought kids these days were post-social and didn’t call each other fags.  I’ll probably write a poem about that today.

okay, so that’s it.  Lori here is where I failed you and this whole gig.  I tried for a week to find writers to do this.  Some didn’t respond.  Some weren’t interested.  The truth is that I simply do not know a lot of writers.  I know bartenders and waiters and waitresses and, sadly, a ton of Librarians. But I don’t really know any writers.  Especially writers with blogs.  If I do know writers I’m usually not aware that they have blog because other than my blog and reading the NY Times I try and spend as little time online as possible.  So I’m very sorry.  That said, if people get back to me I will be posting a link to their blogs.  Let’s hope Ally comes through.

Tomorrow....a return to the poems!