Disneyland will be available from Amazon.com by the end of this month in paperback. Some of my philosophy students, as well as friends and relatives, have asked what purpose I had in writing and publishing the book. These questions led me to question myself and my motives in writing the novel. It is not the first novel I have written.
Long ago, perhaps as many as 30 years ago, I wrote a book entitled Reel to Reel. I really never attempted publication as the novel was autobiographical for the most part. I wrote it for me, to assist me in sorting out the experiences of high school, a brief stint in college, and 8 years in the Army. I believe Reel to Reel has found its final resting place in a trunk, a trunk in storage halfway across town.
The second novel was entitled After the Eclipse. I never attempted publication of that novel either, and I don't remember why I wrote it at all. I don't even know where the manuscript might now be found. Both of the aforementioned novels were written on an old portable typewriter.
Later, when I returned to graduate school, I had several short stories published in literary journals. I would someday like to compile those stories into a book of stories and attempt publication.
One of my professors in graduate school was Robert Nelsen, a very fine writer and teacher out of the University of Chicago. He is the author of many wonderful short stories and other works. He worked for years on his own novel and had, I believe, come very close to publication on several occasions. He was then the Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Texas at Dallas. His classes were always full and he was revered by his students. I asked him once what purpose he had in writing his novel and attempting to publish. He told me that a novelist with a purpose is not really a novelist, but a business man. The authors of how to books have a purpose. A true novelist has no purpose, he said. She simply writes because she must.
I had a purpose in writing Disneyland, so perhaps I am not a true novelist. My purpose was really to tell a story that I wanted to share. I did not have to write the book. I wanted to write the book. I can't wait to complete Disneyland's sequel.
I am new to blogging. I'm not quite sure how anyone manages to stumble across my blog, but they do. My statistical page indicates that more than 400 persons have read parts of my blog. I wish some of them, or all of them, would post a comment. At the moment I feel as if I am broadcasting into space hoping that some day a reply will come back out of the void.
I hope people with read my book. I want to know what they think of my story,
I hope people will read this blog. I want to know what they think of my posts. I want to know what I think of their posts. In short, I would like some dialogue. Tell me how to improve the blog. Engage me in conversation or controversy.
Do you have a blog? Tell me how to get to yours.
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