Well kids I can honestly say that I have missed you all and it's really fucking great to be back.
Yes, I said fuck in the first line of a post.
And the second. Would you look at that . Fuck, there's another one.
Hey, three for three. I'd call that a capital way to start things up again since I've been on a bit of a hiatus while I've been living out of cardboard boxes. The great thing about moving is that you realize exactly how much crap you've collected since the last time you did the get out of Dodge fandango. The crappy part is the sheer volume of that crap. Of course I couldn't even move out of a dorm room in college easily. I seem to remember several times that friends had to help me maneuver an oversize couch in and out of a Walker dorm elevator. Given that it's no small wonder that nearly twenty moves later I'm still nearly impossible to relocate easily. You may send my wife your condolences at your leisure. She's earned them.
So as I'm getting back in ye old grove for the umpteenth time, I decided to check the mailbox and see if there were any questions to be answered. There was one question out of the small pile of email that I wanted to reply to directly. The question was simple: where does a writer go to get inspiration? Well it's kind of like asking how does an Arab learn to speak Norse: to paraphrase Antonio Banderas in The 13th Warrior, "LISTEN." As writers we are supposed to be students of human nature, at least to an extent. Between the stories my friends and I have from over the years and what I hear or for chrissakes witness on a daily basis I have a veritable trove of misadventures from which to draw inspiration. Why misadventures you ask? Simple. No one wants to read boring shit we all do on a daily basis. Although, now that I mention it, I would love to figure out how to write an interesting story about a guy taking the browns to the bowl. Just for giggles of course. The point is that we all have really great stories. EVERY SINGLE PERSON you have ever met has some great story worth telling in some way or another.
On the actual writing front, I am finally back to work on Hurricane Carolina. I'm shooting for a completion date sometime in April with a mid-May launch date. For those of you that have asked, I will be posting a synopsis online sometime in the next week. Also, for those who were curious, it's looking to be similar in length to By Design, somewhere in the 400 page count or so. Finally, for those who need it, yes the book should be somewhere around two and a half inches thick and should nicely fix that wobbly table leg.
Well on those couple of notes kids I think it's officially time to turn in for the night and try again tomorrow. Be good because someone needs to and we'll talk again soon!
