BRW: Behind the Blind

New feature. 

Every now and then I’ll let you in on what I’m doing and how I do it. If I have a piece of writing I’m not going to shop, I’ll show it off. I’ll let you know what I’m reading or watching, too, that sort of thing.

The novella

If you followed me from my previous blog, you know I spent A LONG TIME writing a novel. It’s finished, but it’s unpublished. It’ll stay that way. It served its purpose. I got what I needed from it. 

These days I focus on shorter material, such as my current novella. The first draft is finished as of last week. It’s about 35,000 words, which was my goal. Next comes the revision.

It’s historical fiction, a new genre for me. That means doing lots of research. 

Here are some, not all, of my sources and inspirations for this novella. Can you guess what it’s about?

• After Many a Summer: The Passing of the Giants and Dodgers and a Golden Age in New York Baseball by Robert E. Murphy
• The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood by Jane Leavy
• Tales From the 1962 New York Mets Dugout: A Collection of The Greatest Stories From the Mets Inaugural Season by Janet Paskin
• Jackson Heights: A Garden In the City—The History of America’s First Garden and Cooperative Apartment Community by Daniel Karatzas
• The Facebook group “I grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens, NYC.” Yes, I’m a member.
• The Society for American Baseball Research website
• The website This Great Game 
• This interview with New York Met Ed Kranepool
• The website Baseball Almanac
• Google Maps

In addition, I visited a number of locations around New York and took pictures, such as these of the James Monroe High School Educational Campus in the Bronx:

Short stories 

Earlier this year I wrote a non-fiction flash story under three hundred words, for a contest. I doubt I’ll pitch it anywhere, at least not in this form. 

It’s inspired by my earliest memory, from when I was about two. Maybe you’ll like it.

What is that?

Hairy. Wet. Smell of dirt, poop, meat. He breathes with a long pink tongue.

He walks across the carpet towards me. Ma? Grandma? Where are you? Why is he sniffing me? He barks. Stinky breath, sharp teeth. His tongue reaches for my cheek. Get away—

I fall. Still new at walking. This hairy thing’s coming closer. Must get up, out.

Must get away!

Outside. Where am I? No sidewalk. Don’t see Daddy’s car. Not home. No. We didn’t come by car. We flew over the clouds in a long tube to Grandma’s house. I’ve never been here before. 

Ma? Grandma?

The hairy thing got them. It’s gonna get me too. I have to find the long tube and get home. How? 

Dusty road. No sidewalk, no cars. I walk and walk. All the houses look like Grandma’s. Ma said not to talk to strangers but I need help.

Where are the people? If I don’t talk to a stranger the hairy thing will get me. How far have I walked?

Let me sit and rest. The hairy thing won’t get me if I lie still and quiet. I think.

Let me close my eyes…

I wake up on Grandma’s bed. She’s there. Ma’s there. Daddy found me outside.

The hairy thing sits next to Grandma. She calls it a “dog.” It’s her pet. She says he only wanted to meet me. She tells me to rub his fur.

I stare at it. I reach out my hand. His head is soft, rough, warm. The dog barks again. I don’t think he’ll try to eat me now.

But it’ll take a long time before I can relax around a dog.

Last month, for a different contest, I wrote a story exactly a hundred words long. In England they call that a “drabble.” 

How does one work so small? I try to keep in mind that even at this size, my story still needs a beginning, middle and end. I pace accordingly. Knowing the ending definitely helps. And I pay strict attention to word choice.

A challenge, for sure, but at the end I can say I have a finished piece in a short amount of time.

Books

I watched a Zoom chat and heard about a book I subsequently bought: Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered by Austin Kleon. It’s a deceptively simple book meant for people “who hate the very idea of self-promotion.” 

Some of the ideas he advocates are things I had done to one degree or another, dating back to my previous blog. I grew comfortable there. I hadn’t realized how comfortable until I ended it and started BRW. This book made me aware of that.

The first two years here have been spent feeling my way towards a direction. Work found the path I had set out on and pointed me in that direction.

This post is the first step back.

Podcasts

I discovered Lost Ballparks prior to writing my novella, so I would listen to it even if it wasn’t research. 

It is exactly what it says on the tin: discussion about baseball parks that no longer exist, mostly major league ones but also minor league ones on occasion. Host Mike Koser talks to ex-players, broadcasters, journalists, and others connected to baseball in some fashion. Very entertaining.

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Next Wednesday we’ll return to more radio deejays.

Anything more about my writing process you wanna know about?

@byrichwatson