Dear You VIII

It looks like that for the first time in years I came to know what “A writer’s block” is all about. I haven’t been able to write anything for a few days now, but I can’t really say that it bothers me. The thing is that I’ve probably “burned” myself up. What do I mean by that? Well, for the past eleven months I’ve been writing and rewriting almost non-stop, producing: a novel and a half, two novellas and two short story collections. All in all I’ve written well over two hundred thousand words, which in my mind’s eye is quite astonishing.
So, since I cannot write, what do I do? Nothing much really. I read a lot (I’ve read Michael Connelly’s “Echo Park” in just one day and started with “Blood Work”), I try to enjoy a bit of free reign walking around and drinking a bit, I “play” at my facebook and try to create a decent page at Red Room, and, of course, I go through the English translations of my stories yet again.
As you can see nothing exciting goes on in my life right now, and somehow I like things just the way they are.
Probably my “writer’s block” will not leave me by the time I go back to Cyprus, but hopefully I will be able to finish the book I’m working on by the end of June.
Anyway, that is all for now.
Keep reading and drinking!

Dear You VII

As my days in Chiang Mai are fast coming to the end I’ve started thinking that I should extend my stay here for at least two more weeks. I haven’t made up my mind yet though. The thing is that while here I have my life completely under control and can work without much trouble towards my goals; something I really can’t do back home.
I’ve just finished writing the first part of my new novel -which will count forty to fifty thousand words- and hopefully by tomorrow I’ll start with the second. The story keeps changing direction every now and then, the “tragic” touches are increasing by the page, but the end is well written into my mind and probably nothing will change it. The only thing I can say for the time being is that it’s not going to be a happy end.
As for my readings, well, nothing really changed since the last time I wrote to you, since Michael Connelly is still the writer who keeps me company. I’ve just finished with one of his “Harry Bosch” novels called “Lost Light” and started “Echo Park”.
Weather-wise it’s been brilliant for the last five days; all in all maybe we got maybe an hour’s worth of rain. However the low season is low as ever and only really tasteless places like Spicy and Hot Shots seem to get some serious business these days.
Ok, that wraps it up for today.
Have a nice day from the land of smiles and keep reading.

Chok Tee

p.s. As time goes by I seem to miss more and more my classic readings: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Oscar Wilde, Kazantzakis and so on. Well, maybe I should to something about it when I get back to Cyprus