Skinny Dipping

[6.x.24.a : dimanche / #SD2024] … how completely dependent on spurts of thought, coming as I walk, as I sit, as I wash the dishes—things churning up in my mind & so making a perpetual pageant, which is to me my happiness. Thus describes V.W.’s way of life. She’s still working on the final chapter of Mrs. Dalloway, but a visit from Karin & Ann throws her into a wobble : if this last chapter spoils, the book spoils. But what cares Karin! And that’s just how it is ,, the people that are close to us, even the closest in some cases, don’t see what’s so important about the books we’re writing and upon what precarious circumstances our books are born from. … We know V.W. will put an end to her Mrs. Dalloway and she’ll be “glad to be quit of it.”

I’m writing this chapter/post in the evening. I don’t usually type in the evening. If I write late in the day, I usually write by hand, but the publication process I’ve developed requires a certain flexibility in my habits. In §83 I hinted that after a year of experimenting and planning and trying things, I’ve arrived at a process that I’m going to stick to for the next three years : so, till October of 2027 … at least ,, and beyond if …

What delayed my morning typing session was my decision to finish Von Neumann’s Elephant before writing anything new. I spent all yesterday morning proofreading and correcting Von Neumann’s Elephant. I thought I would be done last weekend with the second novelette in my Nova Letters art project, but I discovered two sections in the draft which required significant work and rewriting, so all the new material I wrote this past week had to be checked and integrated into the text. Once the novelette was proofed and I’d prepared the print version, I then had to post the book’s text online so that you (dear reader) can read it. I ran into a little snag with the downloadable ebook version, but that’s fixed now. And I’ve even mailed hard/paper editions to … Now I can move on to other tasks … like writing new entries for Skinny Dipping (delayed for a week because of the work on Von Neumann’s Elephant).

Maybe you have some questions? I hope you do? Would you like me to provide some answers? How ‘bout I tell you a story?

About a year ago, I decided to begin publishing my writing. How to go about that was a long search and a possible answer or approach came when I (quite by chance!) discovered write.as”). I decided that my publication process would have (at least) four components: a space where I could write freely about what I’m doing (Skinny Dipping), a kind of scroll upon which my books would be typed and sent out into the world (leadworth whose colophon is the ibis), a behind the scenes area (manna) where I post whatever I happen to be working on at the moment … a kind of unfolding rough draft version of what’s then worked on and published on (the) leadworth (a kind of river), an interactive, social-media presence (@theangler) since that’s how we communicate online … and one more component: actual, hardcopy, printed editions of my books … mailed to whoever wants them or discovered by chance in places carefully selected but informed by an element of chance and circumstance.

That’s the broad overview. There’s a lot I could write about each one of these components and why I’m going about this publication process in this way … it’s taken me almost a year to figure it out and to get it working so I’m not going to be able to say everything that I could say in a short chapter : and maybe I don’t need to say anything. Just get on with it right? It’s more fun eating the soup than it is to have the cook stand there next to your table telling you what a struggle it was to find the perfect recipe. Still, some of you might be cooks and so would be interested in a little soup theory … so stay tuned!!