Cool! I’ve no idea what’s going to happen next and that’s just where I like to be with this story. I could totally identify with that addiction to / longing for greatness. (Not claiming it, but I know the feeling.)
I’m glad you’re still guessing at this point. RE: the greatness thing, I confess this is one trait of Lefty’s character that annoys the shit out of me because I think I have a latent version of it! Thanks for being here.
I, too, understand that longing. Don't we all know it on some level in some way at some time in our lives? I don't know. I think it's so very human to long to matter, to find meaning and bring it to others.
Love that we're in this fantastic journey of a novel together, Julie!
It’s funny how some of us have so much more of a need for it than others, right? There’s definitely a lot of me in this book. I’m sure that’s not surprising at all!
I love that y’all are here on this journey with me every week too. It’s hard to imagine writing a novel with a caravan anymore.
Yes! That longing to matter. And the dark/flip side is to worry that your life won’t matter. One of my favorite Henry James stories is “The Beast In the Jungle,” which is about just that.
I’ve often wondered if it’s even possible to be an artist and not care about “mattering” to the larger world. Any artist who publishes their work and claims to have no greater ambition, I have trouble believing.
Rose, I think you’re the first reader to ever comment on one of these little lead-ins I drop into the top of every audio version of the episode! Believe it or not, I end up spending a disproportionate amount of time having to think those up when I’m in the booth about to record an episode. I’ve come to dread them…
I wondered how you always managed to find these phrases for the introduction, that it was not easy doesn't surprise me... and yet every week you succeed! Bravo!
I’m so glad it landed for you, Kimberly. I didn’t really think about how it might liberate Lefty to finally drop some of the pretense he’s carefully constructed for all these years but I think you’re right.
I love the interviews - they really reveal so much about the characters and relationships. And I laughed out loud a couple times listening to this one - at “Are you done? I hope you don’t laugh at everyone you interview” and at Lefty’s joke about Greta as the rock he crawled under. Haha! And I definitely left this one really, really wanting to hear what happens next.
Yay, it’s working! I always worry about these narrative device shifts— that readers will get irritated by dropping into an interview when they were hoping the story would continue as it was before. But I found it was the only way to get to what I wanted to show in this complicated dynamic. Thanks for being here for it, Robin.
So sorry I missed responding to this, dear friend. I’ve been a bit upside the past week. Thank you for the kind words. We’re get close to the end now…. I can just about see it.
Cool! I’ve no idea what’s going to happen next and that’s just where I like to be with this story. I could totally identify with that addiction to / longing for greatness. (Not claiming it, but I know the feeling.)
I’m glad you’re still guessing at this point. RE: the greatness thing, I confess this is one trait of Lefty’s character that annoys the shit out of me because I think I have a latent version of it! Thanks for being here.
I, too, understand that longing. Don't we all know it on some level in some way at some time in our lives? I don't know. I think it's so very human to long to matter, to find meaning and bring it to others.
Love that we're in this fantastic journey of a novel together, Julie!
It’s funny how some of us have so much more of a need for it than others, right? There’s definitely a lot of me in this book. I’m sure that’s not surprising at all!
I love that y’all are here on this journey with me every week too. It’s hard to imagine writing a novel with a caravan anymore.
THIS!
Yes! That longing to matter. And the dark/flip side is to worry that your life won’t matter. One of my favorite Henry James stories is “The Beast In the Jungle,” which is about just that.
I’ve often wondered if it’s even possible to be an artist and not care about “mattering” to the larger world. Any artist who publishes their work and claims to have no greater ambition, I have trouble believing.
Me toooo!!!
Off to find the story
‘The road to redemption is an unmarked trail that goes straight up’ — whew! Very insightful!!
Rose, I think you’re the first reader to ever comment on one of these little lead-ins I drop into the top of every audio version of the episode! Believe it or not, I end up spending a disproportionate amount of time having to think those up when I’m in the booth about to record an episode. I’ve come to dread them…
That’s funny! I always enjoy those - sorry to hear you find making them up ‘dreadful’!
I wondered how you always managed to find these phrases for the introduction, that it was not easy doesn't surprise me... and yet every week you succeed! Bravo!
Thank you, Susie! I see it as practice for a fallback position as a fortune cookie scribe if this whole fiction thing doesn’t pan out.
Loved this chapter. Lefty’s brutal honesty about his relationship to Kelly was strangely refreshing. Painful, but freeing maybe?
I’m so glad it landed for you, Kimberly. I didn’t really think about how it might liberate Lefty to finally drop some of the pretense he’s carefully constructed for all these years but I think you’re right.
I love the interviews - they really reveal so much about the characters and relationships. And I laughed out loud a couple times listening to this one - at “Are you done? I hope you don’t laugh at everyone you interview” and at Lefty’s joke about Greta as the rock he crawled under. Haha! And I definitely left this one really, really wanting to hear what happens next.
Yay, it’s working! I always worry about these narrative device shifts— that readers will get irritated by dropping into an interview when they were hoping the story would continue as it was before. But I found it was the only way to get to what I wanted to show in this complicated dynamic. Thanks for being here for it, Robin.
I think it’s a really effective device!
I am clueless as to how you're going to end this story Ben... each time I think, just maybe, I have an idea, you send us off into another rabbit hole!
A sign of great story telling.
So sorry I missed responding to this, dear friend. I’ve been a bit upside the past week. Thank you for the kind words. We’re get close to the end now…. I can just about see it.