Holden Beck joins the Koreablogosphere

My friend Joel Browning, who blogs at Inside the Deep Hole (or should that be "From Within the Deep Hole"? I saw just an "에," not an "에서"), pointed me to an interesting blog written by his friend Holden Beck: the blog of an "ex-patriot" writer in Korea. Holden is currently shopping his manuscript to agents in hopes of being published. His goal involves, as he puts it:

...having a heartfelt, eloquent conversation with Oprah on her show in front of a live, television audience of housewives, followed by an announcement that she has chosen to put my book on her book list, eventually making me millions. I’d like to also be on the New York Times bestseller list, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Then I’ll travel the world, posing as the bestselling author I am, pretending to write the novel I dream of writing, but never actually doing any writing. Just posing at some random roadside café in a scenic stone-cobbled village—any village will do, just so long as there is heavy tourist traffic—so that passersby can whisper to each other, “Was that Holden Beck, the famous writer?” What I’ll really be doing is nursing a fantastic hangover—I forgot to mention that I’ll be wearing sunglasses, something I have never been able to get away with—and hoping that another story will fall into my lap so that I can put off writing my novel again and make enough money to buy a small island in the Pacific where I can walk around half-naked and lie around all day. There’ll be a McDonald’s and a library. Some of the natives from the neighboring islands will be able to make good money working at my McDonald’s and library and my friends and family can join me if they are willing to live on a secluded island with only a McDonald’s and a library.

Holden's blog is still in its infancy; he's no stranger to blogging, but with this new blog, he's looking for feedback about his work. I assume that's what his blog is primarily about: his ms and his quest to get it to the right agent. For what it's worth,* I'd highly recommend Holden's blog, which already possesses much the same wit and interiority as the writings of my friend Dr. Steve. Pay him a visit. Keep him motivated and writing. He's got talent.

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*UPDATE, 4/12/10, 1:21AM: That came out wrong. It sounds as if I'm saying "for what his blog is worth," but what I was trying-- and failing-- to say was, "for whatever my opinion is worth." I'm no guru or pundit; people in the blogosphere don't hang on to my every word. But if my opinion holds any weight with you, Dear Reader, then please go visit Holden's blog.


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