Describing in my previous blog how I’d retreated to the relative safety of another personal journey for my latest novel got me questioning whether it was the correct strategy or simply the case of taking an easy way out?
The whole idea I’d been propagating to my readers over the last several months about the ability to change one’s mindset by attempting something new and challenging, obviously had obviously fallen on deaf ears as far as I was concerned.
Admittedly, the move into a creative pursuit from the business world, fifteen years previously, was somewhat of a journey into the unknown at the time and then the transition from playwright to novelist wasn’t without a good few bumps in the road.
The trouble was that when I settled upon the theme of my books, which can be summarised as being about the human condition, the possibilities seemed endless. In short, I had become a little too comfortable with the niche I’d created; understandable if I’d had bestsellers on my hands but forced to adopt a more realistic expectation, I could hardly use that as an excuse in my defence.
On reflection, there was nothing to be lost in proceeding with Jake Delaney, the smooth undercover detective, who aligned himself more with Raymond Chandler’s Philp Marlowe than the dishevelled Peter Columbo.
And as Norman, the other project in development and with whom I’m finding more similarities than would be expected of the most likely alter ego, discovered, there’s always a possibility of a silver lining when you least expect one.
The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is what many writers at some stage of their career fall into the trap of thinking keeps them going, until it eventually dawns on them, as it did on me, that it’s actually the process itself and with it, hopefully, a more accomplished piece of work.
John Steinberg ©2021
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