E________, first draft, 41,200 words
As I write this, I am sitting in my local coffee shop. A student at a nearby table is making ferocious underlinings in a book called The Death of Adam. I’ve just looked it up to post the link, and I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the guy is a philosophy student. Or maybe poli-sci. Regardless, although I am a grown man, the title is deeply disturbing to me. I would like him to move on, or at least do his underlining with the book flat on the table like a normal person.
It is also an irresistible lead-in to my explanation as to where I have been the last couple of months. Fortunately (for me, at any rate) I have not died. I have, however, been otherwise occupied.
My last entry here was on February 21. On February 24 the Russians (re)invaded Ukraine. Multifarious sanctions followed. As sanctions are a big part of my day job, I have simply been far too busy to do anything else. On April 5, when Braking Day was finally published, I worked a 16-hour day, had a quick glass of champagne and went straight to bed. I’d like to feel sorry for myself, but no one is trying to drop high explosive through the roof of my house.
Now that the sanctions are bedding in (and I pray they do some good) I can finally come up for air. It’s been weird to go to my local bookstore and see my book front and center in the new fiction display. That said, I can never show my face there again. My wife insisted on telling everyone there that the author of Braking Day was in their midst and they should be super, super excited. I wanted to die.
The critics appear to have been kind. I’ve had positive mentions in, among others, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Publisher’s Weekly. I’m just hoping you folks like it. Fingers crossed!