i used to say that my style was bold and simple, like hemingway, and that this was due to my many years in esl. in fact, thirty years of esl taught me to avoid tortured sentences, or complex cultural references, or turns of phrase that many people wouldn't get. so yes, it was pretty accessible.

on this blog, i didn't make demands on myself. i decided i'd write it for me, write it to keep writing, write it to have a real record of my mind's wanderings from day to day. now this blog has survived and even thrived, for many years, but it's mostly because i write so much and so actively that it hits all the google hot-buttons and a lot of people visit just to see what's going on. it's not like that many strangers actually care about my day-to-day ramblings.

but in the process of writing prolifically, i let myself make tortured sentences, sentences with too many commas, for example. like this one i just did. that's making a demand on the reader, and a lot of readers will simply give up rather than tolerate writing that is to rambly or too full of commas.

now when i write books i like to think i'm still in my esl mode. but i've given up esl for a few years now, and it's possible i'm not. if i'm letting myself add a few commas, and clauses, and make rambly sentences, then i've gone over a cliff, so to speak. i need to rein myself in.

my sister read my newest book, puritan leveretts, and said "too many commas!" that's a sign that i've gone over the cliff. it's also a sign that my sister is not afraid to tell the truth, or tell me what she really thinks. my wife is the same way. she'll say, "any time your attention is drawn to the construction of the sentence itself, it's a distraction. and it's a very frustrating distraction." those might not have been her exact words, but it's pretty close.

meanwhile, waiting for kids at the school today, i tried to write down both my marketing projects and my unfinished creative works. in the unfinished creative side, i have eight things unfinished. and this is frustrating, because, since my sister's comment, i've been kind of stuck in the mud. mostly, i'm stuck because i know she's right. i went back to a short story that i wrote, maybe a year and a half ago, and there they were - too many commas. but it's not just the commas. it's the tortured way that the sentence breaks grammar rules in favor of a kind of stream-of-consciousness connecting of rambling phrases. this is not what i intend. i have to do some serious copy editing here.

now here's another thing: i am my own copy editor. i really don't use many other people. my brothers and sisters are all interested in these leverett books, because it's who we are, and they are all as into language as i am, but they know i'm sensitive, and there's only so much they'll say. i really need to submit my writing to a more critical crowd, just so i can get raked before i go off the track so much.

on the marketing side, i put down all the books, kindle and paperback rating, on a single sheet. everything is over a million, which means i can't call myself a "best-selling author." i can't even call myself a "selling author," as sometimes i go days without a sale of any kind. and i've started checking the ratings obsessively, just in case something gets added while i'm writing something like this. check at 7, check at 7 30, guess what, not much change there. but sometimes there is, and then i get incredibly happy. some people are reading my books. by and large i think they find them wanting.

so, it would be better to do a good clean job on my eight projects, and write off whatever faults i have shown in the past, as history. too many commas, yes, i went through a stage of too many commas. but you have to read the stories themselves, and notice their range of topics, and their sublime underlying genius (ho ho ho). what i'm saying is, as my sister says, if i can write straight sentences again, i'll win the nobel prize. no reason i can't. i've just been a little sidelined.

on the marketing side i've taken to publishing pop art. and i'm getting it on several venues, twitter, facebook and instagram for starters. and i'm also trying to get a little tighter with myself, so i publish only originals, especially in the service of promoting. one should not borrow others' work, if one is using it for one's own purposes. i don't think anyone is coming after me for cloud quaker photos, but i'm making those only-original as well. fortunately i don't have to have a great cell phone to pull this off. they are, after all, all pop. and i'll share quite a few of them here - why not? they are wild. nobody else does stuff like this. i'm having fun. if i have fun, maybe people will see that, and assume that my stories have fun too. i'm not sure they all have fun. but good pop art will make you think. enjoy!