Gravenhurst is where I wander today
It has been a busy summer so far and I have great expectations that August will be less so, and afford slightly more time for writing and retreating into the woodlands around us. We have spent quite a number of hours on the road already this summer and frankly I'd like to avoid hitting the highway at all, with the seasonal thrust on sanctuary of heavy traffic and that crazy urban dynamic that foists the city upon ruraldom. It would be great to just sit out on this deck overlooking The Bog and spend most of the day penning poetic about such wonderous events as morning dew and midsummer sun, deep shadows and gentle ferns, trickling creeks and foraging squirrels. What a glorious change of pace from racing around the region in that dog-eat-dog hustle of business.
I am slipping however, into a deeper resolve these days that business must not overtake sensible proportion, and already this summer I have read more books than I have sold in my online business. I've sold twice as much art however, which makes me contented.....as a collector/dealer I have always been reluctant to sell off my books but I seem to be able to part with paintings as the cycle of business. So I vowed to read more and sit out on this deck of ours and consume some of the great literature and biographies I have recently uncovered, especially titles that usually, by now, would have been sold-off and more secured out on the old book hustings.
A friend asked me one day that as an old book seller, whether I read in proportion to what I sold annually. When the old book business is good, obviously it would be impossible to keep pace. I do end a month however, feeling good financially that so many books have been shipped off world wide..... yet occasionally feeling a pang of disappointment that I let so many important ones get out of my hands before having the chance to consume content. This is the first summer that I've insisted on driving less and reading more, and the ones I have finished cover to cover, I have also now put up for sale online. I do feel better about passing on a "read" book, than one I haven't had time to consume,.....but of course as a businessman, I have no choice but to perpetuate sales activity where possible. And this usually means I will part with a gem just to keep the bankers at a distance.
I haven't been able to contribute to this blog much this summer season due to this almost intolerable work situation. As costs go up, so necessitates our hustle to find more old books as such, at hopefully better prices. Gas alone has curtailed some of our driving around but funny thing......I'm almost glad of it today, as I have far more opportunity to sit back here in this beautiful woodland at Birch Hollow, and read, and read, and read.
Contact with some well known Canadian writers this summer as well, has inspired me to put pen to paper, keyboard to screen myself, and so far it has been a pleasing experience to consume good literature, and attempt the same myself.....how badly I desire to be as good an author as those who have penned my summer reading list. What pure joy to read back a personal writing attempt and feel that the work has been inspired and improved by those with great acclaim as authors. While so many are struggling with high gas costs and surviving the obstacles of a changing economy, I feel rather fortunate in many ways, to have been forced by the same economy to retreat to this old inventory, this humble abode, this great vantage point, and the pen once again. One needs self discovery now and then for that evasive sense of order giving a regimen to what, in the modern context, is a jumble of emotions, an absurd disorder of silly tasks, and obsessive behaviour, versus the one tried and tested formula for success.....a calm hiatus in the midst of storm.
Ghost stories coming soon
For the past three months I have been working on a collection of stories about "Ghosts and Hauntings I've Known," and in all there will be about twenty or so major pieces. It's scheduled to appear early this autumn season and there will be a link via this blog-site.