Back in the Saddle

I can hear you asking, "Blog Daddy, have you been making good use of your time since abandoning your friends on facebook?" The answer is a prolific "yes." For the past several weeks I have been trying to figure out how to proceed with writing my novel. If you'll recall, I had written 90 pages or so and had a pretty good idea of the direction the story was heading. Somewhere along the line however, I realized that I was really forcing the story to come together. Instead of a labor of love, it just became plain old labor. And we all know I'm against labor of any kind.

After taking some time off from writing and facebooking, I had an epiphany. Actually, I just remembered something that I had forgotten over a year ago. I had planned on reworking some of my old blog posts and adding some new stories to create a collection of essays. I was inspired to do this by David Sedaris, who uses this same format in his books with great success. I came up with this plan back in September of '08, (as I could ascertain by reading through some old notes I had saved on my computer.) I think I even blogged about my plan, too. Anyway, during this time period Bethany and I travelled to China to get Truman and brought him home just before Thanksgiving. Then when my mom's health took a sharp, downward turn, we moved her into our house so we could take care of her. Then after she passed away, Blake and I flew out to California to scatter her ashes. Suddenly February came and went. Spring followed. Life began anew. Truman's many firsts. Fishing. Camping. Alex's summer vacation. Road trips. Baseball. Birthdays. School starting. Football. Bethany's new job. The wheel kept on turning.

I finally started compiling my book of essays this week. I have completed the first four stories and have a list of about 20 more ideas to add to the mix. By the time I finish, I hope to have produced a collection of funny, poignant, ridiculous, offensive, and true stories worthy of the reader's time. I think you'll find that it was worth the wait. Stay tuned... And thank you for believing in me.