Gavin Goode
by
David B. Seaburn
David B. Seaburn
Genre:
Literary Fiction
Literary Fiction

“I don’t know how, and I don’t know why, but I think I died today.”
So begins the complex and mysterious journey of Gavin Goode and his family. What happened to Gavin and why? What secrets will emerge along the way? Frankie, his wife and a dress store owner, feels guilty, but why? His son, Ryan, who owns an ice cream parlor, and daughter-in-law, Jenna, who is a bank manager, are expecting their first baby. How will this trauma affect them? And what of Rosemary, Frankie’s best friend? Or Ben Hillman and eleven year old, Christopher? How are they implicated in the events that unfold around Gavin’s misfortune?
This is a story of despair and hope, dreams and reality, uncertainty and faith, humor, secrecy, forgiveness and beginnings. As in his previous novels, David B. Seaburn demonstrates his in-depth understanding of the human experience and his storytelling mastery.

In 2010, David B. Seaburn retired after having been the director of a public school based free family counseling center.
Prior to that, David was an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center for almost twenty years. During his tenure there, David taught in a Family Medicine Residency Program, practiced Medical Family Therapy and was the Director of a Family Therapy Training Program.
In addition to this, David is a retired Presbyterian minister, having graduated from seminary (Boston University) in 1975. He served a church full-time from 1975-1981 before entering the mental health field permanently. David is married and has two adult daughters and two wonderful granddaughters.
David's educational background includes two master's degrees and a PhD. Most of his career was as an assistant professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. There he wrote two professional books and over 65 papers and book chapters.
In addition to long fiction, David writes personal essays, many of which have been published in the Psychotherapy Networker magazine.
David also writes a blog, "Going Out Not Knowing," for Psychology Today magazine.
When I start writing a new novel, I never know how it’s going to end. I trust that the impetus to move forward, usually a feeling that is difficult to articulate, will be enough to I get the journey started. Although I am going out not knowing exactly where I’m supposed to go, I am not going blind. I have well-developed character profiles and life circumstances in which to put them that will stimulate the kind of conflict that makes for good narrative.
In the process, I discover what the themes are that I am working with. This may seem counter-intuitive, but I often don’t know what I’m writing about until I start writing. The writing process is always one of discovery. And this purposeful not-knowing gives writing an energy and serendipity that is remarkably generative. I feel like I am not just the creator, but the created, changing through the writing process as much as my characters change.
It is exciting to know that for the next 14-18 months I will sit alone with these characters and wrestle with issues, dilemmas, and conundrums that are important to me, and, I hope, to the reader. The beginning phase is expansive as the characters develop and their options are wide. Somewhere past the midway mark, though, those options narrow, as it become clear that there are some thing the characters would do and some they would not. In a sense, the characters exert as much influence over the story as I do. The end of the story comes to me first as something intuitive, a feeling, a sense that I am on the final leg of the journey even though I may not yet have words for what it will be. Often it is in the last fifty pages that the end will take form and words will coalesce into final scenes, paragraphs and sentences.
Of course, that is not the end. Editing before publication may go on another year or more. The drafts get shorter, tighter and more to the point.
In terms of my writing routine, I don’t write every day, which is to say I don’t sit in front of my computer every day. But when I am working on a novel, I feel like I am always writing; that something is at work in my mind even when I am not trying to put it down in words. I often edit as I go, reworking sentences, paragraphs, scene choreography, even characters. I like to have a well-crafted chapter before I go on to the next, even though the whole thing may change later. I have an office downstairs where I am surrounded by books and quiet. In the summer, though, I prefer to write on our screened-in porch.
I rarely have writer’s block. I think this is because I have accepted that I not only don’t know, but I don’t have to know where I am going in order to write productively.
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I like the cover
ReplyDeleteThe cover art seems appropriate for the book. Good job.
ReplyDeleteThe cover design is awesome! It's unique and different... I like it. :)
ReplyDeleteI liked it too, CJ. Can't take any credit. The publisher came up with the idea. Matches the book well.
DeleteDave Seaburn
I can't wait to read this!!
ReplyDeleteGreat, Julie, I hope you enjoy it.
DeleteDave Seaburn
I really like the cover
ReplyDeleteBook description and cover look good!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Terri. I think you'd like it a lot.
DeleteDave Seaburn
I like the cover thanks
ReplyDeletetiramisu392 (at) yahoo.com
My question for the author is where do you get your ideas.
ReplyDeleteAs you might guess, I get this question often. Sometimes I get ideas from newspaper article or my past experiences as a therapist and as a minister. Most often they come to me independent of other sources. Since my work history has been related to families, marriage, relationships, that is the biggest source of my ideas. They just emerge from there.
DeleteThe cover is unique.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really interesting
ReplyDeleteI hope you like it Marisela.
DeleteDave Seaburn
Intriguing cover
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds really great.
ReplyDeleteThe cover is unique.
ReplyDeleteI like the cover.
ReplyDeletethe cover is amazing!
ReplyDeleteThe book cover is different, and the book sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Deb, I think you'd like the story.Dave Seaburn
DeleteGreat looking cover!
ReplyDeleteI love the cover. It’s a great piece of Modern Art.
ReplyDeletethis cover is intriguing
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and artistic cover.. best of luck and thank you...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michelle.
DeleteDave Seaburn
I like the cover, it is simple yet profound based on the story line.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Katie!
DeleteDave Seaburn
I like the cover. It reminds me of the cover art of some of the books I enjoyed from the 60's. (Good thing).
ReplyDeleteHadn't thought of that, but I think you're right.
DeleteDave Seaburn
Sounds great. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Ellen.
DeleteDave Seaburn
i love the cover its so intruging and suspenseful.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteDave Seaburn
I like the cover. It reminds me of a Picasso painting. Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I agree!
DeleteDave Seaburn
Eye-catching cover!
ReplyDeleteThank your for sharing your guest post. As an aspiring author, I really enjoy reading about my fellow author's work process. Your book sounds really unique and interesting. I'm looking forward to reading.
ReplyDeleteHi Bea: I'd love to hear more about your writing. My email is on my website www.davidbseaburn.com
DeleteI hope you enjoy the book.
Dave Seaburn
The book cover is very different. I like it!
ReplyDeleteSometimes you cry bloody and I think that's very appropriate at this time. Interesting and I liked the cover a lot.
ReplyDeleteThanks, it's based on a reference in the first chapter to Edvard Munch's painting, The Scream. You'd like the book, I'm sure.
DeleteDave Seaburn
The cover is kinda creepy.
ReplyDeleteThe cover is really cool, very original :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ana.
DeleteDave Seaburn
The cover is different and eye catching.
ReplyDeleteThe book cover looks very sinister.
ReplyDeleteCreepy cover!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about the cover.
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ReplyDeleteThe book looks like an interesting read!
Thanks! I hope you read it.
DeleteDave Seaburn
Cool cover
ReplyDeleteThe cover is interesting.
ReplyDeleteI really like the cover.
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ReplyDeleteWith that cover, who wouldn't wanna read it?!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!
DeleteDave Seaburn
Intriguing beginning for this story where you don't know where it's going exactly. I like filling in the blanks with imagining, yet it's up to the author to out things in front and let the rest stay in the background until needed.
ReplyDeleteThere are many secrets in this book. I think you'd enjoy it.
DeleteDave Seaburn
Cover of that book and booktour logo, looks really nice.
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued by the cover alone.
ReplyDeletethe cover is a trip and the story sound trippy two.
ReplyDelete