A Book Gig for Teachers
This weekend I have a book gig to talk to teachers about the process of writing a novel and the use of the Internet for the modern writer. Unbelievable! Back in the day my teachers all pulled their hair out to try to keep me in my seat and now they want to know how in the world some old Doc not only took up the writer gig, but managed to get a book to the top of the Amazon Country book chart.
As usual I have been wild busy all week. Don’t tell my agent but I haven’t made my outline yet. I usually abandon it as soon as I figure out what the folks want to hear about anyway.
As best I can tell, to create a physician bluegrass fiction writer mix in equal parts of 40-11 ICU call nights, hundreds of bluegrass festivals, the King James and the complete works of Mark Twain, a pretty wife who can play the bass, two kids who love ice cream and helicopters, Three Musketeers worth of loyal employees, a zillion colo-rectal cancer screens, bunches of tears and lots of laughs, zany bluegrass boys, golf gamblers and card sharks, one part Choctaw Indian doctor who smokes and drinks too much, a couple of amused legal eagles, an exasperated agent, a big sister editor, and the best blog reader/writers on the planet, and then you’ve got a start on it.
After that all I had to do was edit until I’d chipped away everything that didn’t read like a novel and voila there it was.
Warn’t nuttin’ to it. What would you want to hear if you were a teacher? Let me know by tomorrow. I worked way too hard this week and I’m unprepared at the moment. I’ll be ready though. My Marfar’s gonna be at the gig with me and all good little Southern boys do most everything they do to try to impress their girl.
Dr. B
Tags: a book gig
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
April 8, 2011 at 8:11 pm
Doc, have a great time this weekend.I know you will enjoy talking to the teachers.I wish I was there to be an interpreter for you. We could be like the two cops on Sanford and Son. You talk like a Doc and I will translate in into Educationese. I have contacted several of the people I met. I have few more to do this weekend. Take care and enjoy.
April 8, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Smitty,
Yeah the teacher thing goes back to Mama. She gave up her English teacher gig to raise me. Bless her heart.
We sure did enjoy having y’all in North Carolina. I’m sure we’ll be bound for Alabama with a banjo on our knee, so we’ll be back to Mississippi.
Marfar says hello and that she’ll write soon.
Dr. B