So I’ve been looking this blog over and it’s time that I renovated it. The problem is, it’s going to be a while. I’m in the middle of a new novel (more on that in a bit) and have a bunch – too many really – of other projects begging for my attention. But at least it’s on my radar now.

Meantime, let’s catch up, starting with the new book. The working title – the last few projects I’ve been hesitant to divulge what I think will be the actual title – is The UFO Novel. Appropriately enough, it’s about the effect that the crash of a UAP (the new parlance) has on a small town. Well, ostensibly that’s what it’s about. There’s a lot of human drama involved, and it’s probably closer to a literary novel than anything else. There, I said it. Did I jinx it?

I’ve been working on it since 2012. Though that’s a bit disingenuous. I rolled on it for a while, completing Part One and rolling into early Part Two when live intervened. My wife Connie had a catastrophic illness in late 2014, around the time that I stopped work on UFO to get Drawing Down the Moon ready for publication. Then it became really catastrophic, and I became her caregiver until she passed in May of 2021. And 2021 wasn’t just a bad year for her. I had two major health crises in the months after she left. Work continued on the book, just very – extremely – sporadically.

Somewhere in that six-year span of looking after Connie, another novel squeaked out of me, The Smart One, a comic crime novel wherein I wore my influences on my sleeve (see the dedication page). This book was an uninvited guest. A scene popped into my head. I wrote it up to file it away for later. A few days later another scene popped into my head that seemed to piggyback with the first. Then a third scene came and I realized I had a novel on my hands. Since I was juggling time with Connie, I mentally designed it so I could write a chapter in one sitting. I literally wrote the book in 58 days, although it was spread out over probably 90. You know. Weekends, holidays, doctor appointments. Either way, a personal record for me.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom with intermittent cloudy days during which I wrote. Connie and I had some good times. I stayed active in community theater when I wasn’t writing (too hard to divide creative energies and do both – I have frequently had to choose between a juicy role in a play or working on a book, never an easy thing). Did some travelling, and even got to knock an item off my bucket list – I was a featured extra in the film White Boy Rick, and even made the final cut. My uncredited, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment comes toward the film’s end, when, as a courtroom bailiff, I deliver the verdict to the judge. Shooting the scene was a long but fun day. Matthew McConaughey came within an inch of (accidentally) smacking me in the nose, and I got my Movie Geek moment when I literally brushed shoulders with Bruce Dern as he moved through the crowded set back to his mark.

So that’s the busy life of a writer who is not writing full time because life. Things are settling down into a groove now, and about four months ago I heard the siren cry of unfinished The UFO Novel and started sitting down in earnest to see if I could make some progress. And there’s been great progress. After wrestling with a couple of chapters, I’ve reached the point where the chain reaction is taking place, and the book is now writing itself in my head. I’ve been writing a chapter a week, celebrating the completion of each by posting a short excerpt on my Facebook writer’s page, where I also post observations and snark about writing life (maybe the reason this blog has been gathering dust as well).

Now to come full circle: the other day it occurred to me that I should be posting those excerpts here as well. Took a look at the old homestead and decided it needed work first. Then one of the characters in the novel decided to boost their cause with a hashtag, and I thought maybe I should have a place dedicated to that marker. You know, for the purposes of promotion and possible virality.

Thus was born #FindJessAndMike, It’s clean looking and will be free of the clutter that I’ve managed to gunk this place up with. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be posting all the excerpts I’ve put on Facebook so far, starting with Chapter 1, and once caught up will continue to do so as I finish subsequent chapters and, eventually, the novel.

I don’t know how long it will take to finish the writing. The book is a beast. I’ve been deleting scenes and cutting subplots as I go, and still it keeps growing. I’m certain it’s going to be my longest novel, easily blowing past my recent Author’s Intended Edition of Fermans Devals. I’m thinking it’ll be done by Spring of 2025. Then I’ll let it sit for a while, open it back up and edit it, and try to get into final draft mode by the end of that year. I don’t know if I’ll try and market it or just publish it myself. I’m leaning toward the latter. It’s faster and I get what I want out of it.

So there you have it. Where I’ve been and why this place has been such a ghost town. There are still some signs of life around here, but I’m going to have to do some weed whacking and painting to see if it resuscitates.

Meantime, see you around on the bookshelf and some other places.

Oh, and #FindJessAndMike.