not yet...
I'm in ye mood to write--yet my mind is void of imaginary content, and I don't know where my pen wants to take me. It doesn't feel like writer's block, because if I had any actual ideas for stories I wou'd be working like a mad thing. One thing I usually do when I am confronted with this situation is try to write poetry, and I think I am going to give that a go once I return from driving Ghostboy to his work-place.
But my big aesthetic yen is to begin writing a new series of Sesqua Valley stories. The more I dwell on my creation, the more it seems an endless source of fictive possibilities. And, strangely, seeing that Twin Peaks has been revived also triggers a desire to revive my own valley. I began writing tales of Sesqua Valley in the 1970s, and it was strange and delightful when I watched a tv series that was inspir'd by the same source--North Bend in Washington State. As a kid I wou'd visit North Bend eery summer for two weeks, staying with my cousins, floating down the river on a tire tube, walking along the rail road tracks, and being hypnotized by the site of that amazing mountain.
My relatives actually climbed the mountain--something I never had ye chance to do. But I could sit and gaze on it for hours; and when I decided to write my own Lovecraftian tales, I knew I wanted to invent an eerie, sinister local--as Lovecraft had done when he invented Innsmouth and Dunwich--and base it on North Bend.
I cannot now remember when last I wrote a story about the valley. It is time to return. There is so much more I can investigate about this supernatural vale and its fantastic inhabitants. Ye time has come to make a serious effort.
Dear Wilum, thee prospect of a new set of Sesqua Velley tales is positively delicious. Perhaps you could base each new tale on a piece of your verse - even using some of your / family's experiences at North Bend? That place (thanks to Sesqua Valley and Twin Peaks) has always seemed quite mysterious and other-worldly. Many mountains and valleys do. Mount Shasta, California ; Bromo in Java ; Fuji-san in Japan. They are home to bears, snakes, spiders in both animal and human kingdoms. Predators all, then there are the rivers, forests of death where light never penetrates, caves belonging to no living human soul... I do so hope you get your writery mojo working. You have such Romantic qualities to your work that lifts the spirits e'en in the depths of darken'd vales and graveyards. Keep well, Sir, you are much en-couraged in our spirit. G. :-)=
ReplyDeleteAh Wilum, You do bring back fond memories for me...
ReplyDeleteAt the ripe old age of 16 in 1969, and into the early part of 1970, I first lived in a motel cabin near North Bend, and hunted and fished for part of my food, before taking up residence and employment in the Calhoun Hotel in Seattle, at 2nd. and Virginia, working as an Elevator Operator. And it was each morning in that hotel, that I was able to use my pass-key to gain access to the rooftop; where I could watch Mt. Rainier as the Sun rose each morning... You and I, must have crossed strange paths in those days; especially near the Pike Street Public Market, Ivar's, and Ye Olde Curiosity Shop too. I wish I could still remember the name of my favorite little pizza parlor/tea shop, where you and I might have rubbed elbows. The dining room always had current offbeat comedy recordings playing in it, and there was a fireplace dividing the room into two halves; this was also the somewhat Hippie joint that first turned me on to Jasmine tea... So now I await your next wonderful tales of Sesqua Valley, as I sit here near Disneyland, rather than in the Wonderland of Washington. I hope your poetry and dreams guide you to marvelous wonders in the Valley; and that you will share them with all of us! Yours in Lovecraftian Madness, Will