PLUS:
Watch a video interview with David
AND: David Gives
Advice to Aspiring Writers
AND:
Listen to a Writer's Voice interview with David
The
Writerly Life
Read
Episode 1
| Read
Episode 2
Read
Episode 3
| Read
Episode 4 | Read
Episode 5
Episode
6
Finally,
Broken Jewel is out.
For
artists of all stripes, the moment when your project goes public
comes with anticipation, hopes, and no small chorus of worries.
Making your living in the public eye is nerve wracking for all
but the most inured or jaded. Reviews, friends, sales, the cavernous
bookstores where you never find your book well-enough positioned,
all of these weigh on the writer’s heart in the first months
following release.
You
take what you get, you celebrate the great reviews (Broken
Jewel is doing exceedingly well in this category, I’m
pleased to say), you rail against the blindness of the poor or
tepid reviews, and you laugh when your friends tell you they found
your book in an airport and turned it to face cover-outward, turning
another's spine-out. You gnash your teeth when a pal says he couldn’t
find the book but they had three copies of your other books, and
one more friend says the bookstore she went into had sold out
but they were not replaced. I find myself looking at faraway libraries’
catalogs to see if folks are reading the book around America (they
are). I and all writers struggle with, essentially, forcing myself
to ignore the very moments we have spent years bringing to fruition.
It’s
never what you hoped for (I suspect even among the handful of
writers who enjoy universal sales and recognition). It’s
always different somehow, better and worse. The good news gets
clouded by the lukewarm. Then something great happens and your
expectations fly even more out of whack upwards. Folks write to
say they loved it. They write to say you made a mistake on page
310. They write on Amazon.com that you are a master or an idiot.
Sigh.
What
leavens all this is the next book. Swear to God, it’s perverse,
but the best thing any writer can cling to while a book is out
is the book in his/her head. The research, the thrill of watching
the characters emerge and interplay, the mist slipping away from
what reveals itself to be a rock-solid plot, these are joys unmatched
by any real world results. The next book, the impossible becoming
unlikely becoming promising, turning into actual - that’s
an alchemy of imagination with which the real world cannot compete.
So, that’s what I’m doing right now. Starting to dig
deeply into my new idea. It’s going to be a contemporary
tale: I’m taking a hiatus from history for this one, and
headed to Afghanistan/Pakistan. I, like all Americans, am concerned
over our conflict there. I want to study it, find a heartfelt
human adventure there, and depict it. I’ll use the same
tools as in all my previous books, driving the story with characters
not machines, exploring the men and women behind the events and
action. (Click
here to see pictures.)
Broken
Jewel taught me an immense amount about crafting good, clean
language. I really feel that I have arrived at my real and truest
voice in this book. I’m eager now to turn that loose on
a modern story. The tentative title is The Angel Mission,
and all I’ll say is it involves today's Air Force. In fact,
the Air Force has been very generous, allowing me permission to
work with any of their air bases around the country. I’ll
keep you posted as I move along through my travels and research.
But, I’m raring to go.
Also, I’ve made a switch in my agency relationship. I’ve
moved from William Morris-Endeavor to Janklow Nesbit, specifically
to Luke Janklow. I spent a wonderful 10 years with WMA, and the
last several with Tracy Fisher as my agent. But for this new direction
in my career, I made the difficult decision to bring in a new
set of eyes and energies. That’s Luke. I’ve been very
fortunate in this arena, and expect I will remain so with my new
agency.
Here
in Richmond, I’ve the honor of serving on a new non-profit,
with the mission of working with our public high school students
to give them literary and artistic platforms. We publish their
creative work around the entire public high school system and
the city at large. The Podium
Foundation is an exciting new challenge. We’re in our
second year, and the work we’re finding these kids can produce
is extraordinary and surprising.
If
you would like a signed copy of any of my novels, please contact
Fountain
Bookstore here in Richmond. Tell them how you want it signed,
and I’ll drop by and do it, with pleasure. The bookstore
will ship to you.
If
you’ve enjoyed any of my books, in particular Broken
Jewel, please
let me hear from you. I answer all my emails personally, with
appreciation. Reviews on any of the on-line services do help,
so please, if you feel like opining in a forum, Amazon.com and
B&N.com await you.
That’s
it for now. I’ll wish you all a safe and restful holiday
season. Remember your neighbors and the less fortunate, as well
as your loved ones. Be safe. Find and give peace.
All
best regards,
David L. Robbins
Richmond, VA
—Posted
12.6.09
|
Click on image to enlarge it.
The
great tree on the site of the Los Banos internment camp.
Lecturing
at the Library of Virginia.
In the Australia
rain forest; I found a leech on my toe.
The
ravine outside the Los Banos camp, where the guerillas and 11th
Airborne waited for the rescue assault.
Embattled
barracks on Corregidor.
University of Santo Tomas, site of the largest internment camp
in the Philippines.
Inside MacArthur's suite at the Hotel Manila.
The Podium Foundation's logo.
|
