Of Eagle & Cuckoo; And The Dangers of Experimentation

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Do I think writers should experiment?

Yes I do – even though it increases the likelihood of failure. Fortunately failure is often how we learn. And it can be both painful and humiliating – especially for an artist who performs in public. Worse yet when you perform in public and leave behind a permanent record – which is what writers do. Mind you, between the prevalence of multimedia recording tools today, and social media, there are few human activities which aren’t in danger of being recorded and communicated for posterity. Now there’s a chilling thought.

Oh to be Shakespeare, and have enough sense to use your early failures to start the morning fire with. Who wants to be reminded of one’s early literary efforts!

Which reminds me: I once used to live near Anne Hathaway’s cottage. Visited it too. I was about six at the time and sat in the rumble seat of my mother’s boyfriend’s red sports car. Very exciting. He was a professional criminal of great charm and eventually retired to Spain and respectability. So, now I think of it, did my mother. But, she had remarried by then and become a countess.

I’m thinking about experimentation because my plan is to advance Eagle & Cuckoo on two tracks. On the one hand, E&C will be the focus of books. On the other hand, they will feature in short blogs making pithy observations about the U.S. economy and the American way of life in general.

But I’m not used to writing short pieces. Very true, and I have a suspicion that it’s harder to write short than long, but that’s where experimentation comes in. And if I make a fool of myself, so be it.

But I live in hopes E&C won’t let me down.

Ah, but how short is short?

I’ll let you know when I know. Perhaps 250 words.