Lax and Lapses

Yes, it's been awhile since I have written in this space. Chalk it up to post-election blues or holiday blues; the persistence of
something blue among all this red. And red is my favorite color.

The official opinions are over on
Sunoasis Opinion. Here I see a way to try and convey the overall picture of Sunoasis.com. It's always being rattled by the chains of necessity. We are merely humble indentured servants obeying the dictates of our superiors. Thank you.

We finished the newsletters. This month the focus was on
marketing, a word that is dreaded by most writers. It's a lousy word. I wish it didn't exist. I wish I had never heard of it. But, there it is. It reminds me of the guy I used to pass on entering Shakespeares Bookstore in Berkeley, California.

The guy was selling copies of his self-published book of poems. They were dreadful poems but I was intrigued by the idea that a guy would stand outside a bookstore and sell them. "Why do you stand here selling your poems?" He looked at me a bit pained. Yes, closer up I could see he was one of the wounded. "This,
man, is where the action is." And now it makes sense to me. A person standing outside a bookstore with a book to sell is going to attract much more attention than a lousy book of poems placed inside a bookstore with thousands of other morsels.

No, I dislike the whole concept of marketing. After all, the market did not lead me to my discoveries as a young person in those bookstores and libraries of fabled Berkeley. In fact, if I remember right, I was running away from the market.

At any rate, the internet has given writers and others of the creative tribe an unprecendented opportunity. The barrier to marketing has come down a bit.

It's worth studying the rudiments and understand the system through which your precious work will move. I've read a good deal about it but I still don't understand it and don't trust the decisions of the market.

I've been reading a little book written by Edith Wharton on writing novels. It reminded me that at one time I had wanted to write novels. I read them voraciously as young people do. More life in novels than this putrid thing around is! That is the great seduction of novels. The whole form took a nose-dive in the 60's and 70's because of the cultural shift from language
to sight and sound. This is why my father still reads enormously but my brothers read hardly anything. They watch and listen. It says a lot. Ha.

But, as someone commented, without great audiences there can't be great novels. I believe that is so. The novel has to believe in itself, believe that it is the great thing going. It has to be written by those who Orwell termed are, "not frightened."

I'm always impressed by the quality of short stories I receive at
C/Oasis. Some wonderful talents show up with strange tales.

For those who blog make sure you read the link on Sunoasis to the article about blogging and advertising. Something has been started that will not end for awhile.