A Kilo in Belize

It’s 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 23, 2016, and I’m sitting on the beach in South Padre Island, listening to Pat Green’s “Wave on Wave” and enjoying a little family time on the last day of our annual vacation. Today officially kicks off a weeklong schedule of events that will culminate next Saturday with my—and my twin brother’s—33rd birthday. When I was kid, I used to imagine what my life would look like when I reached this age. The life I live today is a product of a childhood imagination I never quite outgrew, and each passing year is a new wave that has allowed me to wash ashore some amazing beaches, including my most recent trip to Belize.

The older I get, the more difficult it is to carve out enough time to cultivate the creativity necessary to write a fiction novel. For me, time has become as elusive as those imaginary “Pokémon Go” characters that people with far too much time on their hands seem to be chasing these days.

Author Ian Fleming knew the problem all too well. This is why the former British Naval Intelligence officer spent his winters in Jamaica, where he wrote each of his 14 novels featuring Agent 007 James Bond.

Concerning the writing process, Fleming once wrote, “My heart sinks when I contemplate the two or three hundred virgin sheets of foolscap I have to besmirch with more or less well-chosen words in order to produce a 60,000-word book. In my case one of the first essentials is to create a vacuum in my life which can only be satisfactorily filled by some form of creative work…”

Like Fleming, I have come to the realization that if I plan to continue my pursuits as a fiction writer, it’s essential that I take sabbaticals of my own each year. I’ll be the first to admit that I am a methodical writer, contrary to Fleming who could churn out page after page without looking back, never stopping to edit his work until “The bitch is dead…” as Bond says in the final line of Fleming’s first novel Casino Royal.

Fleming did not require much during his sojourns to Jamaica other than his gold-plated typewriter and a stiff martini—gin and vermouth in a 6:1 ratio to be exact—“shaken, not stirred.” As for me, I relied on my trusty laptop and either a Belikin beer or generous glass of red wine during my 26-day stint in Belize.

Kudos to those who can endure the mental rigors of writing without throwing back a few alcoholic beverages in the process. I certainly can’t, and neither could Fleming who, rumor has it, could down a bottle of gin in a single day.

I often read about the vices of certain authors, everything from alcoholism to drug addiction. The writing process can be a hard and lonely pill to swallow, which is why I was happy to have crossed paths with a certain Kilo in Belize…

Let me explain: Kilo is a white and tan pit bull and resident guard dog of the Toucan Lulu, the house where I stayed in Placencia. With a name like Kilo, I can’t help but imagine him as the enforcer for a notorious drug lord in his younger life. During my time in Placencia, however, the older, retired version of Kilo spent approximately 20 hours a day sleeping and the other four hours following me around town.

His personality was as laidback as most of the locals in Placencia; although, you wouldn’t know it by looking at tourists stricken with fear at the sight of a pit bull walking unleashed along the beach. Personally, I was never a fan of pit bulls until I met Kilo, but he singlehandedly changed my opinion of the breed.

He was a loyal companion, and in exchange for food and drink he provided welcome company without the distraction, allowing me to keep my wits during those stressful days when the writing didn’t go as planned. I miss having him around. He’s the only Kilo I ever considered smuggling back into the US. Since that wasn’t a viable option, I decided on a 23-year old bottle of Ron Zacapa rum as a consolation.

Unlike Fleming, I plan to savor the bottle in the coming weeks as I cast lines into the traditional publishing waters by writing query letters to literary agents. If one or more agents happen to bite, they will do so by requesting copies of my completed manuscript to review and, if a good fit, make an offer to represent me moving forward.

In the meantime, I have a meeting with my illustrator next week to recreate a map of the family territories that I sketched during my time in Belize, and I am also scheduled to begin the design work for a new website on September 1. I’ll then look to hire a formal editor and coordinate a final focus group reading later this fall.

Win, lose or draw, I am living out my childhood dreams and having a whole lot of fun in the process! Not many people I know can say that.

Follow me on Instagram at @Joshua_Maven or @HonchotheVan, on Twitter @MaventheRaven or Facebook at Facebook/TheLastImperial.

* Sources -  The Sydney Morning Herald - Aug. 30, 1964, Biography.com, New York Times - Nov. 6, 2008