It's Been A While

I couldn’t bear to keep writing on here until I had something substantial to show for it. I’m not sure when my last post was. I think I took down a couple of my “updates” because they were too depressing. Later on, I’d get people here and there saying, “Oh, I enjoyed your life updates.” Really? Had no idea.

After almost two years after releasing Van Life on here, I’m finally getting around to finishing it. It’s been a burden. I couldn’t get into it with all the other shit I was dealing with in my life. Then in the beginning of April I made myself sit down and work on it. I had writer’s block. I usually never get writer’s block. But I was very stuck with Van Life. The first day back working on it sucked. Couldn’t really get anything out, which was strange because much of what had already been written before just flowed.

It wasn’t until I decided I can’t write any more of this story until I figure out exactly how it ends that I was able to get it going again. I had a vague idea of the ending, but it wasn’t hitting the mark. And it wasn’t helping me figure out the details between where we left them last (at the Grand Canyon), and where I had pictured them ending up.

For me, sometimes it takes not writing to figure out the story. I listened to music (a huge motivator for all of my writing, as most of you know) to figure out the end. Mostly Royksopp’s Profound Mysteries series. I took a day with the music. Then I had it.

So now I’d say I’m about 3/4 through the third act of Van Life. It’s turned from a short story into an actual novel. I’ll be posting the remaining chapters on here soon—once I feel like I’m in a place where I won’t keep you guys hanging again.

I don’t think I will be doing another serial novel or story unless I have the entire thing written out first. Like I had with Synth Noir. Which, let’s be honest, probably isn’t going to happen. Not to be a Debbie downer.

But it’s been a real bummer knowing I’m keeping my readers hanging mid story. I’m just not the writer that churns out pages every week. I need time. I need to think things through. Synth Noir took me 12 freakin’ years to finish. I don’t plan on my future novels taking that long. In fact I have about 4 or 5 in my head itching to get out.

However, as of right now, I plan on getting them out in the traditional way. Meaning ebooks and paperbacks vs sharing chapter by chapter. Unless by some miracle, I’m able to make a full time income writing fiction and have the time to focus on it all day, every day. But let’s be real. That would take a miracle in Southern California. Hey, sometimes they happen.