The Road Ahead

I miss blogging.

For a long time I felt like I had things to say. All of it random, of course, about my life, our life, writing, teaching, reading, my son's autism, whatever was on my mind. And then, a curious thing happened. Well, several curious things happened. 

1. I started getting busier as a writer. I picked up a quarterly column with Lamplight Magazine - Horror 101 - examining the development and evolution of the horror genre. I picked up several submissions reader gigs, eventually leading to my gig as Reviews Editor for Cemetery Dance Publications, and then I picked up a column for Cemetery Dance Online, "Revelations."  Also, the pace of my fiction writing has picked up. More short story solicitations, and though no "deadlines" for longer works, a steady publisher willing to publish my work, so the motivation to get work done, get it out there has increased. So I'm way busier as a writer - earning some cash here and there - giving me less and less time for blogging.

2. I decided to spend more time with my family, less time in front of my laptop. For the most part, for many personal reasons, I've limited myself to writing an hour a day, in the morning, especially fiction. Occasionally I spend Sunday afternoons on my nonfiction work, but for the most part, that left little time for blogging also.

3. Quite frankly, I'd run out of things to say. Honestly, I wasn't sure I had anything left to talk about, and it felt like all my questions about writing were getting redundant. Who wants to read the same navel-gazing over and over?

4. Does anyone still read blogs anymore anyway? Seems like everyone is posting their missives on Facebook. It got to feeling like blogs had become obsolete. 

So.

Am I blogging again?

I'm not sure. Number 1, 2 and 4 are still issues. But number 3...

Well.

I've got questions, again. About my future as a writer. I've turned in my second short fiction collection to Crystal Lake, Things You Need, I'm finishing my first novel The Mighty Dead, and it'll probably go to CL, and maybe a limited edition hardcover publisher, if they still want it. Mystery Road is due out from Cemetery Dance, and there's a waiting novella quartet, Long Night in the Valley, which I'd also like to pitch to CD's ebook line, and then...

I dunno. I'm happy with how things have turned out, and if I never publish anywhere else, I'll be reasonably content. But I think I want more. Or at the very least, I want to try for more, if only to see if I'm capable of it.

And there's been a renewed focus on my faith the last two years. I wonder where THAT will take me, not only life-wise, but writing-wise. I'm not about to start writing Amish Romances any time soon, or Ted Dekker knock-offs...but how will this change me as a writer?

I dunno.

And I still have lots of questions, about myself, about writing. For example: I've hit a nice run in which my last four short stories have been solicited. I've nailed three of the four. The fourth I'm still waiting to hear back on. What if it ultimately isn't to the editor's tastes? Will I suck it up and keep moving? Will I take the rejection personally? Feel bad, retreat for awhile, lick my wounds, then pick myself up? Or will my newfound and admittedly fragile confidence implode? It's like, the more success I experience...the more questions I have.

SO. Maybe I'll blog once a week. Or maybe this post will fade into the distance, and I'll be too busy. All I know is I feel like I'm entering another transition phase in my "career," and I'm unsure where it will lead. Maybe I'll talk about it some, and if so,  you're welcome to listen in.