While the priority is finishing The Great Good Place II, some wonderful things have been happening with the next book, too. A biography of Valerie Eliot might seem a completely different subject, and in substance it is. But in essence there’s a lot to connect them. In both books, I’m noodling at questions about what constitutes the good life, especially in terms of our relationships. Third places are for regular but not intimate relationships–but so steady and solid that in times of trouble they may provide the succour we tend to think will come from family or close friends. Why do people sometimes turn to a bartender when really low? It’s a cliche, of course, and today’s bartenders are probably not shoulders to cry on, but there was something there that I’m going to touch on. And Valerie’s life brings up lots of questions about the choices women make in a quest for love and for a sense of identity and purpose.
The developments are not just in the writing I’ve been doing at the suggestion of my agent, but in conversations (in person and by email) but people who are full up with advice, stories, experience, and some really great questions. I can see that the new book will be much more social experience than I realized.