I have no idea what I am doing.
I’m a classic introvert. Whenever someone asks me questions about my life I never know how to respond; I usually just stare at the floor and mumble until the poor soul realizes that talking to a rhododendron would be more entertaining. I do a little better speaking about my work, but even then I get tongue-tied and am often reduced to pointing at things and grunting to make myself understood.
This being the case, when my publisher told me that adding a personal blog to my website would be a good thing to do, our phone conversation went something like this:
Publisher: “Your readers would love to know more about you.”
Me: “But I’m an introvert! I’m no good at talking about myself.”
Publisher: “You’ll be writing, not talking. I’d never ask you to talk in public. That would be excruciating for everyone involved.”
Me: “You’re a very mean person.”
Publisher: “Just write the blog, Bart. It will be easy.”
Me: “But I don’t know what to write about. I’m a fiction writer, not a blogger.”
Publisher (sighing heavily): “You’ll think of something. Look, I’d love nothing more than to hold your hand through yet another neurotic meltdown, but I’ve got other calls to make. Gotta go.”
Me: “Hello? Hello?”
Anyway, I eventually decided to give it a shot. For what it’s worth, here’s today’s offering:
I’m reading ON EARTH WE’RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS by Ocean Vuong. It’s heartbreakingly good—the kind of book that makes other people want to be writers. Other books I’ve read this month are: LESS IS LOST by Andrew Sean Greer, THE SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller, WE ARE THE ANTS by Shaun David Hutchinson, THE FALL OF FIVE by Pittacus Lore, OUTLIERS by Malcolm Gladwell, and LONESOME DOVE by Larry McMurtry.
When I die of mysterious causes, the coroner who slices me open will be shocked to find my belly full of books, consumed gluttonously over the course of my life. Trillions of words will come spilling out of the slit in my abdomen and flood the morgue; the city will have no choice but to repurpose it as a library.
Or at least that’s my current goal.