I will not be writing fiction or much of anything else for the
foreseeable future.

I know withdrawing from writing fiction at this time won’t make much of a difference in the scheme of things. My small group of readers haven’t read anything new from me for almost a year already. The last time I posted to this blog was in April. There are millions of fantastic books and short stories out there to keep everyone entertained forever. I have no illusions that anything new I might produce would be missed.

I’m not boycotting the writing world as some kind of call to
action, nor do I think declaring an end to my fiction writing will result in
some kind of change that will impact how people think. Between the pandemic and
the arguments over masks, the lives lost and the massive economic hardships
millions are facing, my imaginary characters, their lives, their issues …  well, who gives a shit? Certainly not me.

Every single day I've felt guilt and insecurities because I
can't do more than stare at the empty page. I wish I could fill it with my fear,
frustration and the extreme anxiety that washes over me every time I consider
what will happen to my country, to the world, if the same thing happens in
November 2020 that happened in November 2016. If the politics aren’t enough, watching
George Floyd die and the callous indifference on Chauvin’s face broke me. I
didn’t think I could take one more story of police brutality and the wrongful
deaths of innocents at the hands of people who simply didn’t care. Then there
was Breonna Taylor and Elijah McClain and Venessa Guillen, a sister in arms
whose murder inexcusably went unsolved for so long even when the killer was the
most obvious person imaginable. If her murder had been a novel, readers would
have excoriated the author for making the solution to the puzzle so damn
obvious.

Why is it so hard for Americans to wear a damn mask? How could
parents support a president who demands they send their children into virus
riddled infection chambers? How do we allow news organizations to spread propaganda
against Black Lives Matter as if this civil rights group is some sort of
terrorist organization? How is it okay for the party of POTUS to put a mentally
ill rapper on the ballot in a scheme to draw votes from his opponent? How do we
allow our neighbors or, more importantly, our employees to scream the N word and
call the police on people simply for walking down the street? How does anyone
make excuses for people who stand on their front lawn and point weapons at
people exercising their first amendment rights? Did that cop really think it
made things better to help a 16 year-old girl sit up, after he made her and her
sisters lay face down on the ground and put handcuffs on them? And even after
people from around the world have expressed their anger, shock and horror over our
handling of this pandemic, and indeed, ban Americans from visiting most
countries around the world because of it, how can the architect of this
disaster claim we are the envy of the world? Worse, how can his followers think
this is all okay?

The horrific destruction left in the wake of the explosion in that Beirut warehouse seems almost representative of the collective pressure we are all facing. I’ve had enough.

Every single day my frustration and feelings of helplessness
have grown in the face of all of this madness.  At the same time my guilt over not being able
to put words on a page multiplied exponentially. The horrific destruction left
in the wake of the explosion in that Beirut warehouse seems almost representative
of the collective pressure we are all facing. I’ve had enough.

I wish I could control the fear so many millions feel over their
need for that extra $600 congress can’t come to an agreement on. I wish I could
control the guilt some cops may be wrestling with as they start to understand the
realities of the systematic racism they have unknowingly supported. I wish I
could control the risk to health so many teachers will face. I wish I could control
the gut-wrenching feelings low income, hardworking parents must be facing who know
their children won’t get the homeschooling they need. I wish I could have
control over how much further behind those low income kids will become. I wish
I could control the hatred in the hearts of so many who become incensed,
outraged and violent over a simple demand that no lives matter until Black, Brown
and Native lives matter.     

I know that many people share my frustration and feelings of helplessness in the face of all of this. By saying I'm not going to write anymore, I'm finally taking control of the one stone of guilt I can lift off my shoulders. Unlike COVID or federal troops on the streets or those who refuse to wear masks or the lunatic in the White House and all of the evil monsters who support him, this one thing, the guilt I feel over my inability to write, I can control. So I will.