BENJAMIN LEROY
I'd like to tell you that I've got exciting news or some wedge of insight (initially, I typed that as "incite" and I thought it was cool, but worth changing) to share with you, but I don't. Not really at least.
I've been on the road for a longtime. Last week I went camping and rock climbing in central Oregon. Had a bunch of first time experiences that will help shape me as a publishing professional, but also as a human being (as an example, here's me crossing a creek/river in a Jeep for the first time). So that's good and important and all of that. I ended up meeting a bunch of wonderful people at the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland last weekend. Really looking forward to reading some of the pitches. Hello to you! I'm glad we had a chance to meet.
From Portland, I flew the red-eye to Boston (first class~!) to hang out with my co-workers in MA, and then down to Cape Cod cause trouble with my author, friend, and mentor Randall Peffer (quick sidenote, here's Peff telling the story of the time he tracked down the King of the Hobos for National Geographic). The two of us taught at the Cape Cod Writers Conference, including a wonderful lunchtime talk about what in the hell is actually going on in the publishing world. I had on my Captain Contrarian outfit today. To all of you who might be reading the blog for the first time because I saw you today--Hello! Trust me, I'm usually 80% more educational than I'm being right now, this is admittedly just a sleight of hand filler.
At some undetermined point in the future, when I'm good and ready, I'll leave the Cape Cod area and head home, but, I'm not going to lie, it's going to take a little bit to pry me away from here. I plan on spending the weekend with my own novel and some solitude.
I'm a lucky, lucky guy, and I'm doubly lucky for having you in my life.
Keep writing.
b.
