Are you there god, it’s me Betsy? I have big news: I finally finished War & Peace!! It took a full year of chipping away, plus the last three weeks in a more concentrated effort, but the fucker is under my belt and I can now happily go to my grave. Was it worth it? Yes. Top five books I’ve ever read. The sweep and intimacy of it will never leave me completely. Sentences I had to copy out for their beauty and precision. Now, I’m going to read four or five very short books.
How have you all been? If you’re out there, I’d love to know how the writing is coming along. I hope to check in a couple of times a week with reports of my first novel, which was sold to Grove Publishers! I want to capture all the agony in real time as I expose myself (not in the Louis CK mold) yet again to that particular pain of holding out all your hope in sentences and paragraphs that won’t set you free, AKA the publishing process. I’m very grateful to have sold my first novel, don’t get me wrong, but that doesn’t mean I can’t exercise my god-given right as a writer to moan about it every step of the way.
In other news, I’ve attempted to join the whack-a-mole community of book lovers on TikTok known as Booktok. You can find me @betsylerner if you’re curious. But do check out Booktok – it’s the wild west where you can find lots of passionate readers, book recommendations, everything from the sublime to the ridiculous, plus lots of people dancing.
Hope to hear from you. Love, Betsy
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Betsy Lerner 
Trying to finish my children’s book that no agent will rep and my first full-length poetry book, “Words with Friends,” which, I don’t know. Whatever. I’m whatever.
Not writing these days, just making silly TikToks for dogs on death row. Just followed you! 🙂 Congratulations on your novel, not just being sold but muthafuckinfinished!!
thanks for following. tik tok!?!
Lol I know. Never did I ever think I’d be on there. Every time I go on there to “manage my account”, it’s like being trapped at an LAX terminal under construction.
Congratulations, Betsy! And wow, Tiktok – *shudders*
shudders? more like limps. But thank you! Long time!
Hi Betsy,
I’ve missed you. Congrats and mazel tov!
Been sending out all my stuff: short stories, novel excerpts, plays. All to a torrent of rejections. Sending a play to Yale script contest. Free submissions so there will be 8 million, but c’est la vie. Free submissions are what I live for!
Am trying out a new novel writing group by zoom hoping to get feedback. I need to expand my current novel by 2 (not the one you commented on my query).
I love your posts, the only ones I participate in and enjoy so much.
Thank you,
Gail
Congrats on War and Peace! I’m reading his Confession now, which has sort of been my mood lately. Which translation of War and Peace do you recommend?
Anthony Briggs.
Penguin classic edition.
Paperback with deckle edge and french flaps.
Never cracked. Gorgeous edition and the best translation, I’m told. I absolutely loved it.
Thanks! That’s the translation I was hoping you’d say. (I didn’t want to get dizzy from looking down at the footnotes every time someone spoke French.)
I have a copy I picked up at a yard sale years ago, translated in 1949 by Princess Alexandra Kropotkin, but never got around to reading it. And I’m glad I didn’t – it turns out it’s abridged by 500 pages (ack!), and she turned some of the dialogue into narrative or gave it to other characters (eek!).
Congratulations!
When will your book be published?
Title?
Book tour?
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Congrats, Betsy! Can’t wait to read the novel when it’s out.
I am back to a solid disciplined schedule on mine and it feels good.
Congratulations, Betsy. What a surprise to see your name in my email. Thanks for spreading good news
I’m so relieved that you are back. Your emails made me laugh out loud. I was worried you were ill. Congratulations on the book deal! And on reading War and Peace. My writing is happening somewhere else, I am maybe 1/3 through a first draft of a novel. I’m hoping when work gets less busy I will open the files and see the draft is 90% done. Delusion keeps me thinking positive.
Delusion is the #1 tool in a writer’s took kit.
I’m so relieved that you are back. Your emails made me laugh out loud. I was worried you were ill. Congratulations on the book deal! And on reading War and Peace. My writing is happening somewhere else, I am maybe 1/3 through a first draft of a novel. I’m hoping when work gets less busy I will open the files and see the draft is 90% done. Delusion keeps me thinking positive. Thank you for asking.
Congrats on all fronts. I just finished a major rewrite on my memoir and actually sent out a query yesterday. If you knew me you’d realize what a BFD that is. Welcome back, I’ve missed you.
Oh, I realize. Congrats!
I read War and Peace a while back. God came down and hung a medal around my neck. Got the cover of my novel approved. Booktok. Now that’s an idea. Sigh. I hate all that shit. I tried to simplify and listen to Anna Karenina on Audible. I’d the same idea about Infinite Jest. Neither of them worked for technical reasons of my own incompetence. Reading is what I do, so no big deal. I guess life got simpler. No War and Peace.
Hi, Betsy. Good to see you again. Yes, I am among your Legion of Loyal Lurkers, checking every day to see if you were coming back.
As I said in response to your FB post, I, too, am on the W&P trail, and about time, too. If Natasha were a real person I do not think I would like her overmuch, except in so far as I could get her into bed and make a clean getaway. But I’m too old for that nonsense.
Writing. Yes, I still write. Most of the details I will spare you, but I did start a new book a few weeks back. I wasn’t looking for it, as I was working on another, but it came to me that I should write a book about what it’s like to live with MS. No, that’s not Manuscript. So I write.
I don’t know that I’ll Booktok. I have enough distractions already.
Congrats on the novel. I look forward to seeing it.
Good to see you.
Excited for you! Selling a novel and living to tell the tale! I’m using a lot of exclamation marks because it’s awesome to hear from you and it added sparkle to my summer! You not only bring great news but also the push that might get me on Ticktock. Are you a Barbie?!
Geez. I don’t know if I want to say it, that I want to “try” W&P. It’s like when you declare you’re going to write a book. (like I did 40+ years ago) And like when I declared I was going to run a marathon. (check and check again, 2004 and 2006 respectively) But, W&P? That’s a BIG commitment. And I’m already reading other stuff that’s not from my own personal library, as in books for blurbs.
But. Best of all??? You sold a novel. I’m freaking out. Congratulations!!!🥳
I saw this post the minute the email arrived. And I had a strong urgent thought, a great bursting need to say what filled my fat head. But I waited until everyone else was done, as I sometimes do, so folks don’t see what I’ve said.
The strong urge I had — more like a compulsion — was to tell you, Betsy, that your father would be very proud. That’s all. If it seems like some throwaway line, you’re seeing it wrong. It’s as true a truth as I can tell you. He would be so very proud. Enjoy this latest chapter in your Very Big Life. Wonderful.
Hey, harry. Good to see you.