Alter egos

I haven't wanted to use my real name as the author of this blog because I do a lot of work in public relations and marketing as a freelance writer, and I'm rather apprehensive about being shut out of the market due to my political beliefs. I'm still not going to give you my real name, though it's not all that hard to figure out for anyone who's interested.

The thing is, apart from my "paying work" and this blog, I also write fiction. Thus far, it's been generally historic novels and one really offbeat mystery, but nothing really political. Of course, one of my novels was about the US Civil War, and even 150 years after surrender, the US Civil War remains a political issue.

I would have been on the Union side, probably. But I probably would have voted for Douglas rather than Lincoln. (And the slave states might have seceded eventually had Douglas won rather than Lincoln.) I think I would have been quite concerned about preserving the Union -- and that's what the North was fighting for initially. Lincoln didn't issue the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves until 1863, halfway through the war. Everyone understood that it was all about slavery, though.

But I digress....

I love the mystery novel I wrote, and I'm apparently almost alone in that. Most mysteries follow a kind of formula, but this one doesn't. Unfortunately, most mystery readers like some degree of predictability; that's why they read genre fiction. My mystery is kind of surprising, and it's not clear at the outset exactly what the mystery is. (Don't worry, plenty of other things to keep the reader occupied.)

In one way, the mystery was inspired by Doctor Zhivago, although it's not at all political and no one but myself would ever see the links between the two books. My novel is actually absurdly funny in a lot of places and is meant to be.

I also published it myself, since after years of studying the fiction market and contacting agents and all that, I scientifically calculated that I will probably be dead for 31 years before I get anything read and considered by a bona fide trade book publisher. I don't think I want them tampering with my work, anyway. They want things that are either 1.) mindless and continuous action, with some silly supernatural element; or 2.) heartfelt and touching and identifying a whole new, heretofore overlooked set of social victims.

The key to writing this second type of novel -- the more serious kind -- is to stick in some random word in the very first sentence so it doesn't make any sense. Or it sort of does, but... What exactly does the author mean by that? No one will have the faintest notion, but they'll all pretend they do to avoid looking like ignorant clods. And they'll probably publish it. It may even be nominated for the Pulitzer or National Book Award or Critics Award or whatever it is. But not my taste. I can't read that kind of stuff, let alone try to write it. I find it depressing to read some really nice work, only to find out the theme was borrowed from a "Brady Bunch" rerun.

So, anyway, I publish myself. That means you can't get the book into book stores -- another long story, but the existing publishing and distribution system just isn't set up for book stores to sell books from independent authors. Also, I don't do much marketing. A.) I have very little money. B.) For some reason, I can't get it out of my head that once the damn thing is written and edited, I'm done with it. Continuing to market it for months and months is kinda like having your grown children yo-yo back home to live in your basement, pilfer all the ice cream from the refrigerator, and keep borrowing your car.

At any rate, I'm writing a sequel to the mystery now that is very political. So that might explain why I'm not blogging as often as before. It's a whole lot more fun to write fiction. In fiction, I can make a happy ending.

So, who is "Gigi"? That's a name my sister gave me. She was 14 months older than me and just learning to talk when I was born. I still remember her poking her fingers through the slats in my crib, probably hoping I'd suffocate or something so she could continue to be Dad's exclusive "Princess." Eventually I became his "Pigeon." I'd rather be called Gigi than Pigeon.

Anyway, if you want to get in on the ground floor, my published mystery is called Life Without Music and it's available at Amazon. The sequel, so far, is called The General Welfare, but that might change. I'm sure I can come up with something better than that. It's a thriller-conspiracy thing, of course. But if my past work is any indication, it sure won't be what anyone expects -- nothing predictable, including the characters.

But I also will keep on blogging, probably just not as often. Try to stop me...