I'm going away from FlynnFiles for a while to complete work on my forthcoming book. Posting will be sporadic until sometime after the new year, when time becomes more cooperative. Instead of a few posts a day, readers will be getting a few posts a week (in addition to the football pool and worth repeating, which will appear mid-week). I encourage you to continue to visit the site, and comment. I also encourage you to lower your expectations. Stay with me and I'll reward with some excellent material in the new year.

My deadline approaches. Concentrating exclusively on the book becomes necessary. Doing otherwise would be cheating my readers, both of the book and the blog. It would also be cheating myself: books pay, blogs don't.

I've done away with quite a few distractions on the road to writing my third book. Fifteen months ago, I did away with my job. That delivered hours and hours of free time. It had the annoying side effect, however, of denying me a bi-monthly paycheck. I miss the money. I don't miss the wasted time.

I did away with home for a while. The idea of writing in a foreign country where I couldn't converse with people, understand what was being said on television, and sleep in a comfortable bed proved so appealing that I spent several weeks in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Austria during the coldest part of the winter. Much was accomplished over good beer and better architecture.

Four months ago, I did away with cable television. Since my TV has no antenna, I did away with all television (save VCR tapes and DVDs) when I did away with cable television. I don't miss it. I'm not a TV snob. In fact, the TV I did watch when I could watch was the "bottomest" of the bottom of the barrell: reality television, fighting, music videos, etc. The way I look at it: if you want television to be like reading a book, you shouldn't be watching television in the first place. Just read a book. But in turning on the TV one agrees to turn off one's brain. Even brains need rest, so I don't object to television on stupidity grounds. I object to it, at least right now, on time wasting grounds. I need to focus on one task. The more distractions eliminated, the easier accomplishing that task becomes.

At around the same time I killed my television, I did away with the Internet. Yes, you read that correctly. I am a blogger without Internet access. Wi-Fi signals tend to invade the space around the laptop, and libraries offer many free services. When people ask me about book writing, they often bring up the Internet, and suggest how much easier it must make writing a book. It doesn't, at least for me. The Internet is a distraction. In a few ways, the Internet makes life easier. Databases such as JSTOR and Nexis allow for instant retrieval of articles on any given subject. Obtaining a specific book, too, is greatly simplified through Amazon. But I am just not disciplined enough to stop there. I surf over to ESPN.com. I read up on an obscure Doctor Who episode. I need to know what was the bestselling Clash album. I wish I could limit my time online to the things I need. But I'm human, not computer.

I even did away with normal grooming habits. On Wednesday, I got my second haircut since August '05. Until ten days ago, I sported a beard. I assure you: it was more Grizzly Adams than A.J. McLean. I've treated showers much like the Wicked Witch of the West. Either haircuts, shaving, and showering seemed like unproductive activities, or not doing them fooled me into thinking that I was really being productive.

The Christmas season is a good time for a hiatus. Even the most devout readers are distracted. I am too, with the holidays and with my project. Additionally--and this may just be me--but the news has been pretty boring as of late. I can't create a full house with the cards the news gods have dealt me. I certainly can't do this with my mind on another matter.

That other matter is a book on the American Left that Crown Forum will publish. As the release date approaches--look for a Spring '08 drop--I'll get more specific. The book is wider in scope than my previous offerings. It's more than double the size of Why the Left Hates America. Along with a longer book will come shorter chapters. I'm thinking 23 or so chapters; 17 are complete. Almost all of the writing, and most of the research, is done. The book is more thematic than the previous two. Though it's non-fiction, its characters are, well, characters. There are definitely some threads that run throughout. Above all, the topic is ambitious, almost brash.

It's been a blast. Research has taken me on numerous trips to the Library of Congress and Syracuse University's Bird Library, as well as a visit to the University of Virginia. I will be trekking off to the University of Michigan and New York University in February. Not everything is online; somethings never will be. Site research, in which writers make pilgrimages to depositories of private papers, therefore, will never go out of style. I've also conducted a number of interviews, though too few by my count. Writing has taken me to more exciting locales: Prague, Krakow, Salzburg, and points beyond. My European trip of January really stands as a turning point for me on this project. So much done in so little time in such pleasant surroundings. Less glamorous, though still personally exhiairating, have been my acquisitions at used bookstores. From Powell's in Portland, Oregon, to Second Story Books in Bethesda, Maryland, to the Lyrical Ballad Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, New York, to Henry Pordes Books on Charing Cross Road in London, to Shakespeare and Sons in Prague, I have had the pleasure of purchasing many obscure, out-of-print books at bargain-basement prices in locales spanning a third of the globe.

So this is the love that takes me away from FlynnFiles. Alas, we must, for a few weeks at least, not see each other so much. It's not your fault. It's me. I need more space. You have my permission to see other blogs. I won't consider it cheating. I just can't give you what you need right now. Stop by for a few booty calls. But, for now at least, we need to stop going steady. We can still be friends, right?

The NYU library is amazing. And if you like used book shops, you have to go here when you're in New York.

Dan

Great luck with the book!! I look forward to reading it.

For what its worth, while I don't agree with everything you write, I agree with most of what you write. Whether I agree with you or not I have found your books and your blog very thought provoking. I'm sure the book will be no different. I look forward to reading it.

Have a very merry Christmans and I look forward to when you return to a more regular blog posting schedule.

Good look with the book Dan, look forward to reading it.

Merry Christmas.

Godspeed.

Dan, Best of luck finishing the book!

Best of luck finishing the book. I can't wait to buy a few copies.

For this, we should all receive free autographed copies! Right?

I'm verklempt. Now we have to talk among ourselves.

Best of luck with the book and have a great holiday hiatus.

Dan, have a merry Christmas and good luck on your writing. Please use some of your free time on your personal grooming (one must do something often to call it a habit). Remember, just because your barber died, that doesn't mean you can't get another haircut!

Best of luck, I look forward to reading the book when your done.

Merry Christmas Dan. I look forward to it. Has that bump on your head that caused you to pick the Bucs gotten smaller? Taken the pressure off?LOL Be well...

Merry Christmas, Dan. Can't wait to read the new book.

Hi Dan,

Sorry to hear you won't be blogging as much. But hey, I can't wait for your book to come out. I loved your first two and I can't wait for the 3rd.

Always,

Frank

AMF