After many months of starts and stops, frustrations and distractions, I decided a few months ago to leave Turkey and move to India to finish the book. I chose India because it is cheap and because there are many wondrous things to see when I wish to get away from writing for a few days. I have settled in an apartment overlooking a valley in Mcleod Ganj. I have everything I need here to hole up for a few months, and can easily satisfy my vices in the nearby travelers’ village if I need to.
Regarding the book: the plan has altered somewhat. I had originally planned to return to Istanbul after my travels last year and set all my material down within a few months. This did not work out. Upon returning to Istanbul I was broke and had to spend much of my time looking for work. After a month or so I landed an editorial job at The Oxford Business Group. I hated it, and it drained much of my energy, but I stuck with it for a few months to save up money. I attempted to work on the book in my free time, but became too distracted with life and with working on fiction stories. Thus, not much was done with regard to the book project.
But being unable to work on it provided me with months of contemplation about its structure. This thinking has led me to want to work my material into an alternative form, i.e. a novel. The chapters that I have already written in non-fiction for the book will be published individually. The first one to find its way through this outlet will be about visiting PKK camps in northern Iraq. This will be published this summer (2012) in issue 6 of Nowhere Magazine. Another small story about hitchhiking on the Black Sea coast called “Dear Jack Kerouac” will be published in the June edition of The Writer magazine.
As for those who donated money through Kickstarter: the rewards will be the same, only you’ll be receiving a fictional novel rather than a creative non-fiction travel book. Thank you for your patience with this.
Please direct any questions to my email.
