In my Poe’esk studio, I practice and pursue the love of writing. At times, like now, I use the dining room table for ease, but the creativity of new thought and adventures turning to ink on paper begins in that studio. This new novel, The Penny, is testing my research abilities, my memory, and my new-found way of life, but I persevere. Yesterday at McLean & Eakin, I looked at every book cover, jacket, summary and author profile I could in the time allowed, and while intimidating, there really is an avenue of success available if you work hard enough. Weaving threads of thought, painting visions of emotion and warping one through time is a joy knowing someone somewhere will understand; that a person would be touched by your own efforts and desire to write. But the love of writing is more than market driven. In fact for me, none of it begins from a market standpoint. I begins with my own emotions and my own desire to tell a story. If it works, great. If not, there’s always another. I’m sure much to the chagrin of anyone connected to my financial future this sounds a little scary, to say the least, but the truly great writers wrote what they wanted in a way they wanted and people followed. In these days of massive publicity and massive 24 hour connectedness, I do understand the game has changed, but for  me, writing is emotional. It’s story lines and characters, history and research, secret ironies, coincidental foreshadowing, twists and turns, ebb tides and tidal bores, it is anything that causes me sleepless nights, preoccupied conversations, and moments of staring off into space. Best of all, it’s all on my time. Deadlines happen, yes. Events are planned, yes. But during that time of creating and erasing, I’m in my own world. I’m in any time frame I want to be in and in any character’s head I choose to be a part of. The love of writing is not for everyone. It’s not like going to work, clocking in, collecting a paycheck and taking two weeks of vacation. The love of writing is living that lust twenty-four seven. It’s knowing that with every conversation, every walk, or every anything, some story may evolve or a current one change. The excitement of having your mind on fire is breathtaking. It is exhilarating. It is frustrating. It emanates from my studio outwards. It is life-giving.