ManicDDaily

Thinking of PI–Whoops!

I taking a trip to India at the beginning of next month!   I am going to meet up with one of my daughters who has been having a very intense time working with a wonderful women’s labor collective there.  (More on that another post.)

Yes, it is exciting.  Yes, I feel incredibly blessed (i) to be able to make the trip, (ii) to have such daughters.

The trip will (inevitably) be an adventure, but is also intended as a break for both my daughter and me.  We will travel a little but not be truly touring.  I am hoping, in other words, to have some writing time.

My quandary – what to write.

I have a few old manuscripts of novels bopping around.  These are things I constantly put off truly finalizing on the grounds that I need concentrated time.

(But I will traveling in India, as in – concentrated time?  It is also a place where I just might want to look at something besides a computer screen.)

It will also be April – National Poetry Month–which I have used, in the past, as a goad to post a poem a day.

But there are these old manuscripts.  That I have wanted to finish for a very long time.

One is a fantasy novel that has an Indian-like backdrop – sometimes called “Butterfly,” sometimes “I For An Eye.”   It deals with issues of appearance, magic, empathy, forgiveness of self and others.  I have spent  years, off and on, writing and re-writing it.  It sometimes feels like a sick pet riding around on my back – something I have either to cure or put to a final “sleep”–something, in other words, that I need to address before getting involved with another pet.

But the fact is, I’ve cheated.  I have gotten involved with other pets – i.e. manuscripts.  And one of these–one that I’ve also thought of working on in India–is tentatively called “Outsider Art” and deals with things like self-image, the making and classification of art,  love, kidnapping, families, possibly country music, possibly HIV.  It  is in an extremely rough state with large chunks that haven’t been written, others that haven’t been typed (might even be lost at this point).

Then there’s the whole question of whether I should try to blog from India.  I can imagine blogging from India as being rather fun.  But the trip could also be a useful break from blogging. (And what about finishing those manuscripts!!!!)

I know it is a rather silly quandary.  There are people (including myself sometimes) grappling with true problems.

Still, it is a decision that has been difficult for me, at least, and one I think would be useful to make in advance. If, for no other reason, than to think through what kinds of electronic devices I should cart around with me.

I would appreciate any ideas, suggestions, absolution.  (I say, absolution, as I have a feeling the manuscripts will definitely lose out to the immediacy of everything else.  Agh.)

Still, I thank you.

P.S. – this is my post for PI day – 3.14 – the conundrum (to me) of what makes a circle round.  I feel like my not working on the manuscripts is almost as inevitable as PI.  Or, is it?