Believe it or not, I'm still here.
Believe it or not, I'm hoping to release my fifth novel this year.
Both of those might seem surprising to you, considering the fact that I haven't released a novel for three years or written a blog for three months, but that should tell you something about me. (You can't get rid of me!)
Some of the blogs I wrote last year dealt with writer's block (I admit that I had to go reread some of them because it had been so long), which really explains why I haven't written blogs or a novel. Behind the writer's block, there's another story.
And I choose not to tell it.
By now, you should know that I don't do things just because "everyone does it." I still have a flip phone. I don't have Netflix. I haven't invested in Bitcoin. Call me slow, call me old-fashioned, call me whatever you want. I'm fine with that. But one of the things I absolutely don't do is put my whole life out in front of the world. (Yes, I realize that this blog does NOT reach the whole world, but you get the idea.)
There are several reasons for this. Probably the biggest is that I grew up in a time without social media, where people kept things to themselves because they had no choice. But I think that along the way, I realized the value of that. When I met someone, I could get to know that person by talking to them, not reading something online. We could have a real conversation and learn about each other that way.
Another big reason is family privacy. I could bare my soul here and cry words about what happened to me, but I don't think it's fair to them.
Also, I've always liked to have a slight air of mystery. Once you know everything about me, I'm kind of boring. But if you don't know everything about me, you can always imagine there's something interesting in there that you just haven't been allowed to know yet.
So this leads me to keep a part of my life private. The events I mentioned had been going on for a few years and they came to an abrupt, painful end last year. It was a family event, one that brought us closer together while it tore our insides apart, and now we're rebuilding.
While this was happening, I just couldn't work up any enthusiasm for my novel. A bunch of fictional characters seemed unimportant next to real people in pain and trouble.
I'm starting to recover (it took a while) and aspects of my life are starting to return to almost-normal. Once I was able to do that, I took another look at the novel. It has some themes that come uncomfortably close to what happened to us (all of which were written well before the actual events happened), so that made it both difficult and important for me. Also, I thought that since I'd taken the trouble to write the novel, it made sense to release it.
I've started to format it. A reader has given me feedback. A second reader will look at it soon. I'm in contact with an artist about the cover art.
Amazingly enough, after all that time, this might actually happen.
I apologize for my long absence. If you've moved on, I can't blame you.
If not, thanks for your patience! I'll try to bring you updates when I can and see if I can't get a new title on Amazon sometime this year.
Have a good year and thanks for reading!
(By the way, blue is my favorite color.)
