The Cover Up Novel Part Seventeen

Drake also re-read the novels of Ken Kesey who became a sixties counterculture icon through his portrayal in Tom Wolfe's, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test book. The more that Drake wrote the more he realized that he had difficulty with vivid description, imagery and symbolism. To help counteract this perceived literary deficit Drake began to read poetry.

Drake had always found poetry hard to understand. In the past he would often become frustrated while trying to make sense of a difficult poem. He would then either find some literary critic's interpretation of the poem or if he could not, he would often give up on the poem the all together. With Drake's new intention of becoming a serious writer, he decided to take a different approach to poetry. He would now read each line of poetry very carefully and would slowly begin to digest it in small pieces. Drake now tried to visualize what the imagery was trying to express. In short, Drake taught himself a new way of reading poetry.

A few months ago Drake noticed a poster on a bulletin board in the hostel section of The House of Hope. The poster contained information about an informal writer's group that was sponsoring workshops for aspiring writers.

These sessions were held at a local community center not far from The House of Hope. Drake knew that he was at the point in his writing where he could use some outside help and encouragement. He also liked the fact that this writer's group met on a Friday evening from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM as he did not have to work that day.

The very next Friday Drake arrived at his first meeting of the informal writer's group. He had been anxious about the meeting all afternoon as he really didn't know what to expect from this group. Drake knew that it was very likely that, at some point, he would have to present samples of his writing to the group. He found this thought to be very intimidating as he really didn't know if his literary efforts were really any good. This year Drake had worked on a play dealing with The Roswell Incident of 1947. Drake's play was a humorous take on the alien flying saucer crash that was alleged to have taken place in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. He also started work on a novella shortly after he completed his play. The novella was a total change of pace from Drake's play. This was not that surprising as Drake was interested in a wide variety of topics. His novella was a coming of age story that could now be considered to be historical fiction as thematically it was about being a teenager in the nineteen-sixties. Drake found writing to be therapeutic for him. The Roswell Play helped Drake release stress and pressure through humor, while the sixties novel forced Drake to work through some issues that have plagued him since he was a teenager.