Been A Lame Blogger Lately

I started writing a book on Sunday, and I'm trying to keep up a pace of about 2,000 words a day. I hope to be done in a month or so. In the meantime, blogging may take a backseat. I'll still be posting, though not likely with the frequency at which I'm used to. I have no idea where the book is going, which is half the fun and half the challenge. But I'm enjoying the hell out of it.

I got to thinking about how much I blog, and while I enjoy it a great deal, it all just goes away. "Ephemera," as my friends at Public School Intelligentsia call it. So I decided to write something that might last a little longer; longer than some old blog post that gets buried in the archives, to be pulled up at random when someone searches for Land O Lakes Butter Trick or Amtrak Sucks, two of my most trafficked posts here. Longer-lasting also than the throwaway ads, brochures or web copy I write for a living.I've always advised creatives to keep something on the side that no one has a say in. Paint, write, take pictures, draw, sculpt or play music. If all your creativity is spent working for your clients, you can learn to hate your gifts. That's why I started blogging. Now I'm going to take my own advice a little further. The best part about writing this book (aside from the freedom to create with no other goal than to entertain) is that there's no one telling me it's wrong or that the call to action isn't strong enough.

So, if anyone comes across this post by accident, likes my writing style and is also a literary agent (or knows one) hit me up and we'll talk about my forthcoming novel. It has very little to do with advertising and marketing, though they play minor roles. It is rated R for occasional adult language, sparse graphic violence and a little nudity. It's a good story. The first of many. (And yes, I got ahead of myself and created the jacket image above.)

Eventually, I want to live on an island like Graham Greene and write a mere 350 words a day after I've gone swimming in the Mediterranean and drank a few cocktails. Then I'll look them over in the evening, edit them a little before dinner and then go to a show. When my publisher calls once a week, I'll say, "You need to stop pressuring me, man. This shit doesn't write itself, you know. And I'm almost out of Elijah Craig, so why don't you get on that and gimme a break. And by the way, I want a clause in the next contract stating that under no circumstances will Keanu Reeves play a character from any of my books if they are optioned for film."

And no, my name is not Jack, but my middle name is John, and I understand that Jack is often a nickname for John, (though that never made sense to me) so that's my pen name this time around.