Imbolc\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New (Bloodroot) Moon<\/p>\n
My table at lunch had more monks.\u00a0 Word had got around that I was working on a novel.<\/p>\n
Brother Benet listed other writers who came from time to time to write, “John Hassler used to come here frequently, especially for his first 6 novels.”<\/p>\n
Brother Sebastian, stone and wood sculptor and the Abbey’s tailor, said, “Yes, he’d have readings. ”<\/p>\n
Great, I thought.<\/p>\n
“Bill Holm came here, too,”\u00a0 Brother Benet said.\u00a0 “And Kathleen Norris.\u00a0 She’s back in Honlulu, now.”<\/p>\n
Father Michael added another, a guy who’s name they couldn’t remember, but “He’s an junior high English teacher and also works in a funeral home.”<\/p>\n
The lively and the dead.\u00a0 Sounds like a good title.<\/p>\n
“Oh, yes,” Brother Benet said, “He got an MFA.\u00a0 He wrote a book of short stories, all set in the funeral home.”<\/p>\n
We all got a chuckle out of that.\u00a0 Must be a quiet place to write, that sort of thing.<\/p>\n
I admit I felt intimidated.\u00a0 Bill Holm.\u00a0 John Hassler.\u00a0 Kathleen Norris.\u00a0 Big names in serious literature and here I am writing a fantasy novel.<\/p>\n
Father Michael, it turns out, reads fantasy.<\/p>\n
I’m 25,000 words further along than when I got here and I think they’re pretty good pages.\u00a0 Not great, but pretty good.\u00a0 Having a long quiet time in isolation from the world is a great thing.\u00a0 Wouldn’t want to stay from Kate and the dogs and the house like this too often, but it seems to be effective.\u00a0 I might do it again.\u00a0 Maybe when I’m finished and need to start revising.\u00a0 Maybe then.<\/p>\n
Oh, yeah.\u00a0 Then there’s the fact that both Hassler and Holm are dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imbolc\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New (Bloodroot) Moon My table at lunch had more monks.\u00a0 Word had got around that I was working on a novel. Brother Benet listed other writers who came from time to time to write, “John Hassler used to come here frequently, especially for his first 6 novels.” Brother Sebastian, stone and wood sculptor and … Continue reading The Writer’s Table<\/span>