OK, I’ve gotten complaints that I went radio-silent for two weeks. (I was warned, they reminded me, that frequency is more important than length in blogging.) So I will confess the reason, because it’s so in keeping with the “Novelsongs” project.

You see, I’m finishing a book. Yeah, a novel.

I’m almost embarrassed to admit it. Once upon a time, it was interesting and impressive that an artist worked in multiple forms. And I’m lucky that, over the years, I got the “Renaissance Man” comment more than the “scattered and unfocused” perjorative. But nowadays, with the onslaught of messages each of us is inundated with, it almost seems rude: people desperately want to understand who you are and what you do, and it’s harder for them to do that when you won’t stay in your box.

But I’m finishing the final rewrite for my book agent, and I had to disappear to do it … right in the middle of my VERONICA song. Don’t worry, though, I should finish the song by the Talking Stick gig in June.

And yes, I have written another book, an experimental novel, and no, it was not published. Actually, one chapter was published by Carole Maso in The Kenyon Review many years back. If you are so inclined you can look it up.

And yes, I promise to tell you what the book is about, but no, not until I’m done with the new songs; if I start to explain a book, I won’t be able to think about a song.

And yes, working on the novel has affected the way the VERONICA song is coming out. That I’ll tell you about soon.