The Obligatory Post About the New Year...

...or, My Work Here Is Done

The time has come to put this blog to bed. It's been a long time since I feel I had much to say, and with the New Year upon upon us, I've decided this is a good time to transition my blog into somnolence. Certainly I reserve the right to wake it back up again, but at this point I expect that to happen only if my writing career wakes up again as well.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, Lost Dog's publisher passed on the follow-up, and as of this writing so has everyone else. There are no prospects for that to change. What that means is difficult for me to assess. However, there are a few facts in evidence which indicate why things are going as they are. Lost Dog did not sell well. It didn't review all that well either, though there were one or two bright spots out there. Beyond that, Chasing Smoke, while a much better book if you ask me, isn't more of the same -- something the publishing world seems to crave. And, one thing I think I have to acknowledge is that, despite my own feelings about it, Chasing Smoke may simply not be very good. I'm not ready to admit that, but the thought does hover somewhere back over my shoulder.

My plans for the time being are to shift focus. During the last month or so, I've been working on a short story or two, and I have a couple more in the queue. I've never been much of a short story writer, but I'm discovering a new pleasure in the short form. I'm even submitting some stories I've recently finished.

I don't expect to be working on a new novel any time soon. That doesn't mean I'll never write another novel -- in fact, I'm sure I'll return to the long form sooner or later -- but my mind has been inside the world of Skin Kadash, Ruby Jane, and the others some of you may have met in Lost Dog for a long time. With no commercial viability for that world, I feel like my next novel needs to be very different. I've already set aside the third novel in the Lost Dog/Chasing Smoke milieu. My thought is that perhaps a focus on short stories will clear my palate, as it were. What will come next in the long fiction department, I have no idea, which I think is probably a good thing.

The other thing I need to do is get back to work. Real work. Paying work. For the last couple of years, I've let my day job take second place to writing. In the months before Lost Dog came out, I put an inordinate amount of energy into writing Chasing Smoke. I also put a lot of time into marketing, which included everything from travel to designing print items and to creating web sites for myself and the Killer Year. I cut short work hours to both write and to visit bookstores, and spent a lot of time and money traveling to conferences. And the simple fact is, all that set me back in a serious way. My income is way down over the last two years, my expenses way up, and I need to to something about it.

What that really means is that writing is moving back into the hobby column in my life. Work and other responsibilities are going to come first for the foreseeable future. I'm well aware of the timeworn adage that a successful writing career is built on determination, and I don't doubt it. For now, however, the focus of my determination needs to shift to keeping a roof over my head. That doesn't mean no writing, but it does mean much less writing. If Chasing Smoke had found a home and my career had a chance to build some momentum, I might feel differently. But, honestly, I have bills to pay.

I can't say this year hasn't been very disappointing. It opened with such hope: a book soon to be on bookstore shelves, a new, better novel waiting in the wings. As the year ends, my main feeling is one of relief that it's finally over at last. Still, there were bright spots, and I want to end this by acknowledging them.

To the members of the Killer Year, I want to say thank you for including me. This group features some amazing writers and some truly fine people. It was both humbling and uplifting to be a part of this endeavor. I encourage everyone to pick up the Killer Year anthology, and not because of my own contribution, but because of the others.

And to everyone who read Lost Dog, I offer thanks as well. I've deeply appreciated the messages I've received and greatly enjoyed chatting with folks. If the lights are going off here, my email address remains alive and well. I encourage anyone to drop me a line and say hello. It's been a pleasure to meet you all.

And finally, to those I had the opportunity to meet in person, whether at bookstores or at conferences, it was a joy. Whatever happens with my writing, at least I got to meet some wonderful people and make new friends. That I will always cherish.