One of the luxuries of not writing under deadline is that you can put a work aside for a while to let it season. Pick it up again a few months or even years later, and you may see so much that needs reworking or the trash can, but at other times the page can astonish you.

I’ve had that experience lately at the monthly open mic nights at the arts center, where I’ve been reading snippets from my published The Secret Side of Jaya as well as selected poems. As I was halfway through my time on the stage one night, I was struck by the thought, “Who wrote that!” It was a daring approach to fiction, completely contrary to what would emerge from the Iowa Writers Workshop, but it was mesmerizing my audience. I certainly wouldn’t write that way again, either. Still, I feel pride.

Sometimes, of course, that sense of “Who wrote that, it is so incredibly fine,” is countered by “Who wrote that piece of tripe? I’m glad it never saw publication.” Sometimes only pages apart.

Reading at an open mic or as a featured reader is a valuable test for how a page works, as you can feel from the energy in the room. Lately, I’ve been taking pages from the middle of a novel and reading them without an explanation of the previous action. Think of them as a trailer for a movie.

~*~

Well, mine is a contrast to the kids who get up on the stage and apologize for reading an old work, meaning something they wrote three weeks ago or even three months. Little do they know!

Parts of The Secret Side of Jaya go back 50 years.

~*~

At the moment, that has me wondering how non-writers revisit earlier times in their lives. Photos, old letters, trophies, musical albums?

The Argentine writer Borges took the concept so far as to ask himself about Borges and the other Borges – the one on paper and the other in the flesh – which one was which, at any given time? He no longer knew.

Or the Japanese composer who insisted he wasn’t the same person today he was yesterday, much less 30 years earlier.

Another consideration in revisiting earlier writing, especially as drafts, is that what we’re most fond of is likely to be what bothers others the most; what we’re about to toss out in the next revision may be what is most effective with our readers. The point was raised, I believe, by Joyce Carol Oates, but it’s true to my experience.

As critics of others’ work, by the way, we’re likely to be harshest on those whose work is most like our own! Too much mirror?

~*~

You can find my novels in the digital platform of your choice at Smashwords, the Apple Store, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Scribd, Sony’s Kobo, and other fine ebook retailers. They’re also available in paper and Kindle at Amazon, or you can ask your local library to obtain them.

If you’re not a booklover but still think your story would interest tons of readers, let me tell you, Forget it.

An editor can tell immediately when somebody’s manuscript is from a non-reader.

~*~

For other wannabes, the big test comes in submission of a manuscript. Typically, the first step is in approaching small literary journals, but be warned the rejection rate is steep. When I began, it ran to about 20 rejections for each piece accepted. And that went for just one of the three to five poems that went out in each submission. And that was for established, recognized poets.

Another place to start is as a contributor to a local newspaper, covering local public meetings and the like. At least your work will appear in print or the equivalent.

Still, when I was submitting poetry this way, I managed to get more than a thousand acceptances. I have deep gratitude for the devoted editors and publishers who encouraged me, back when. We need more, should you want to step up.

I think, too, of all of the envelopes, clean photocopies (once that was acceptable), postage stamps, time involved researching addresses. It got pricy.

When I was actively submitting to the journals, I could never predict who would accept what, no matter how long I’d known a publisher or how carefully I had examined the publication.

It was a quirky process, this exercise of seeking homes for personal work. The reactions of editors and readers is so idiosyncratic and varied that the same poem could be considered too intense, by one, and not raw and bloody enough, by another.

~*~

The bigger step came in trying to land full-book publication. More was at stake, considering the costs, especially in a marginal niche like poetry.

As for fiction?

Approaching literary agents was generally a black hole. Few even bothered to return the self-addressed stamped envelopes. Book publishers, ditto.

I had some nibbles, even so.

Even with a few non-literary manuscripts, I was repeatedly running full force into brick walls.

And then ebook opportunities came along. It still requires self-promotion in search of a readership. So here we are.

~*~

At this point in my life, I’m backing off from the cutting edge, wherever that is. Hate to admit I’m also out of the loop and haven’t kept up with literary journals. As for the hot celebrated novelists? I don’t recognize their names. Of course, they don’t recognize mine, either.

The real challenge for both of us is encouraging others to read as an essential part of human understanding. Since you’re reading this already, I’m assuming you’re already active in that commonwealth.

Stay the course, please!

In the hippie circles where I lived immediately after graduating from college, I remember visiting one couple’s apartment on the second floor of a former Victorian carriage house, not that it was in any way chic. They had one room that had benches or modest pews around the four walls, something I now see as resembling a Quaker meetinghouse interior.

Their reason was the small group they welcomed to study the works of Armenian mystic George Gurdjeff (c 1867-1949). He’s best known for his book, Meetings with Remarkable Men, published in 1963, describing his visits in remote mountains and deserts mostly, places he paid homage to eccentric and often aged holy men of varied stipes.

Looking back at my own life and people I’ve met, though, I’m not sure his were any more exceptional than many I’ve known. Maybe they were just a bit more eccentric.

It’s a thread running through most of my work, actually.

In my relocations around the country, I’ve lost touch with 99 percent of them, but do wonder how the rest of their lives unfolded.

Here’s a sampling.

• High school classmates and other youths from our church.
• Fellow commuters and faculty from the new Wright State University.
• The other residents in my two dorms in Indiana, especially the ones who show up in Daffodil Uprising.
• The other residents of the hippie farm in New York’s Southern Tier or my Hawley Street digs in town. See Pit-a-Pat High Jinks.
• The yogis of the ashram and those who came as guests. (Yoga Bootcamp.)
• Ex-lovers over the years. (Blue Rock, Braided Double-Cross, Long-Stem Roses in a Shattered Mirror.)
• Colleagues from the public policy research institute at Indiana University. One of the leaders did go on to win the Nobel Prize in economics. As for the others?
• Fellow poets and writers along my way.
• Fellow journalists and other newspaper workers. I’ve come across a few and read of others, but mostly they, too, have faded from sight. Eight papers in all. (Hometown News.)
• Quakers I’ve experienced in nine yearly meetings.
• The staff as the media syndicate where I worked, plus newspaper editors in 14 states, back when I lived in Baltimore.
• Mennonites and Brethren in Maryland.
• Neighbors around the Jacuzzi at Yuppieville on the Hill, Granite State.
• New England Contradancers in Greater Boston and across New Hampshire and southern Maine.
• Greek Orthodox in Dover. (What’s Left.)
• Voices in Revels Singers in Watertown outside Boston.

Trying to trace down even a few of them has been frustrating. Some have shown up in news reports that led me to them, fleetingly. Many of the women have taken their husband’s surname, which becomes a barrier. Facebook has led to some from my high school years, but beyond that I am surprised by the number of “friends” who are inactive at their profiles or other folks who have no online presence at all. And then there are ones I’ve come across at Find-a-Grave.

It’s been quite a cast in my zig-zag journey to here.

By and large, though, I’m seeing how short we’ve come in regard to the lofty goals we once professed. My heroes, especially.

~*~

That said, you can find the novels they inspired in the digital platform of your choice at Smashwords, the Apple Store, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Scribd, Sony’s Kobo, and other fine ebook retailers. They’re also available in paper and Kindle at Amazon, or you can ask your local library to obtain them.

Let’s start with the prompt: Imagine yourself in the position you desire.

For much of my life, that had two conflicting scenes, the newspaper editor in his community in contrast to the successful novelist in a tweed jacket in a New York study or a poet in something more funky.

Much less for the supporting people my life, starting with wife and children?

When I last looked at the question, it essentially asked me to consider my early retirement years. How curious! The newspaper editor, at least, was out of the picture.

At its core, I craved recognition (affirmation!) – after years of largely reclusive labor. But which circle did I most want to recognize me – hip, alternative culture? Quaker, international literary, Seacoast New Hampshire? At some level, perhaps, it was also wanting to visit Dayton and be known even there – or to hear again from many people I’d known and lost contact with in my relocations. The Quaker world is awfully small and restrained, especially with its three sharp divisions. The literary world, meanwhile, has so many high priests and exclusive emphases – could I move among them? Yet, if the Society of Friends is to survive and grow, I needed to move beyond its confines and reach out to a wider audience. In a larger sense, then, my recognition would be as one who brilliantly bridges these disparate worlds. If only.

I did imagine a significant amount of time would be engaged in travel – public readings, workshops, conferences. Eight weeks a year, split between Quaker and literary? Perhaps an additional retreat or camping trip? The travel could also include three-day weekends for symphony, opera, and galleries.

I also imagined having three books published on paper each year – one of poetry, one of Quaker practice, and one of fiction or memoir/genealogy. (They were already written.)

The rest of the time would be correspondence and basic living, including a social life, concerts/plays/etc.

I do believe such reflections are important in channeling what might otherwise be simply drifting through life.

So back to the questions.

Define what you are trying to accomplish. Be clear about what you’re setting out to do. What problem are you trying to solve? What new ground are you trying to break? What will happen if you manage this well? What will happen if it isn’t managed well?

I would have said, Brand myself as the leading new Quaker voice – or at least an original Thinker. (Think of Bill Stafford in the Church of the Brethren, Wendell Berry, even Mary Oliver the Unitarian – who has emerged since?) What I want to do is bring Quaker theology into the center of contemporary thought and discourse, and then to renew the life of the Society itself. The poetry and fiction add to my credibility as a writer.

Well, that has slipped past me.

Now for another hard question.

Who do you think would play me in the movie version?

~*~

You can find my surviving novels in the digital platform of your choice at Smashwords, the Apple Store, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Scribd, Sony’s Kobo, and other fine ebook retailers. They’re also available in paper and Kindle at Amazon, or you can ask your local library to obtain them.

Assuming that you’re an active reader, let me ask where you’re obtaining your books of interest. With a thousand or more new novels every week, you can’t possibly keep up there. As for bookstores, there are only so many shelves. Ditto, public libraries.

Some of those stores and libraries do have sections where their employees recommend new volumes, and I applaud that, even while physical bookstores fight for survival.

Goodreads is another option, though also quite crowded.

For commercially released works, the New York Times reviews and a few other sites are key to the latest.

But my interest – and work – falls outside of that realm, and I do believe the real action takes place at the fringe.

Quite simply, I see opportunity for a dedicated reader – especially a recent graduate in literature – to set up shop online as an informed critic in a specific vein. What I’ve seen too often among the bloggers who review is gushing froth about stuff they like, akin to movie fanzines, rather than any critical detailing of why something soars above the pack or even why others fail. They don’t say what makes the piece they’re praising truly stand out.

The ideal I’ll acknowledge is the French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema, founded in 1951, which ran only pieces extolling new work of merit, rather than all new movies. It gave rise to a new wave of cinema, one based on daring directors rather than the film actors aka “stars.”

~*~

Real change originates at the fringe of society, not at the center. It typically develops in obscurity, sometimes flashing into widespread recognition and acceptance, and that’s been true in literature over the years.

Rarely will truly adventurous pages be found through the bestseller lists, but when one does break through, then everyone – writers, readers, publishers, and booksellers – will be in pursuit. Imitations will abound, as well as new labels and genres for marketing.

So how do you find fresh books and their writers, the kind who turn you on, fill you with a sense of discovery and make you want to tell everybody you know what they’re missing?

The history of novels is filled with instances of canon masterpieces that were rescued from oblivion by a single critic, either in a pivotal review or by sustained championship. And nothing beats word-of-mouth by a few fans.

So here we are, in a remarkable period of access for both readers and writers, thanks to digital advances. The problem is that there’s so much, there’s no way to keep up.

That’s where a few celebrity critics could step in.

~*~

Sometimes I regret writing novels that are “out there.”

It could be fun writing sharp reviews of many lousy books if I weren’t facing retaliation. (By idiots.)

Still, I feel it’s an opportunity well worth examining for an enterprising young English major graduate: sorting through the eruption of new writing and signaling what might be worthy of further examination.

By the way, online I usually don’t click the button on “pages” or “posts” that have more than 20 “likes.”

Like what is this, a popularity contest?

Still, on the receiving end, it is nice knowing that some folks are at least seeing this. Better yet is when you know that someone else “gets it.” Or, as I originally wrote, “Digs it.”

~*~

So back to the opening question, How are you finding the writing that excites you?

Are there any websites you would especially recommend?

Here’s your chance to give a shoutout.