Division Street

I'm starting to wind down toward the end of the novel I'm writing about families affected by the current wars and I feel obligated to share that it's been a unique experience.

First, it's incredibly draining. While my novel is fiction, it's based on bits of conversation, letters, posts, and message threads that I've had the good fortune to have shared with me. The lives of these families can be very hard and to some small degree, I feel I have shared that as they share with me.

Second, like any very good novel, it has taken on a life of its own. I sat down with an idea and tried to plan a book. But as the characters came alive, they have often taken their own route, said and done things that I could not expect, and forced the book to be about them rather than any false premises or my personal ideology that I might have exacted upon them. The book is neither pro- nor anti-war. This isn't my story, it's theirs.

Third, I've been rather amazed in talking with literary agents for representation (I have a great agent in David Fugate at Waterside Productions, but they're exclusively technical) at how many voice concern at representing a book that might in any way be critical of anything touching on current politics. Some have been kind enough to share their specific concerns with me rather than send a form letter, telling me that the climate is not right for anything that doesn't sound like Oliver North's autobiography.

I find this last point chilling. But I'm also not letting it stop me. I want an agent with balls who finds me a publisher who also boasts a set of big ones, and I know I'll find it. This is not about me, my writing, or my ego, but about the important story these characters are caught in.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm generally pretty critical of my own work. But this book is good, and it's good because it's honest and gritty and based on an amalgam of people living these real lives, people who think even though it hurts to do so.
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