This last weekend I made a fast trip to Portland to say goodbye to a friend who passed away last month. I could’ve made excuses due to time/distance/inconvenience. But I didn’t. In fact, when I was informed of memorial, I booked the bus ride down as soon I double checked my schedule. Honestly, I would’ve canceled any plans to attend. Sometimes, you just owe it to someone not to miss a gathering. There were a few tears and people were sad, but for the majority of it, we talked about Brian and how much he meant to us. It reminded me that we do need to keep connected to people and never take for granted that tomorrow is going to be around.
By
coincidence, I turned 50 recently and its forced a shift in perspective. Brain
was a year younger than myself and I thought very healthy. It seems that he
wasn’t and perhaps a bit too stubborn & self-reliant. There’s a saying
about speaking no ill of the dead and my comments aren’t a criticism of how he
lived his life. That was his call and I [and no one else for that matter] have a
right to judge. We live how we live and there shouldn’t be many regrets. Take
that chance. Take that risk. Ask the person out. Write that novel. Skydive. Walk
outside your comfort zone. Live like there might not be a tomorrow. Cause there
might not be.
So,
the good that came out of this, is that I finished my novel and have kicked it
out the door to beta readers. One has already given me feedback and the it
seems that the plot is good. A few holes, it’s in a dire need of a copy edit,
and I forgot to purge the mention of a character, but I chalk it all up as a
positive. I have a page of notes and expect feedback from two others over the
next few weeks. That project goes forward and I’ve already been making notes on
shifting POV, adding POV and adding details. One person disappears off the face
of the earth, there’s a question about Theo’s crew, and a suggestion that my
ending invalidates a few events and victories that happened. The beta reader
did suggest a change, so I’m going to work on that next while getting my short
stories in shape. Now if I can get it complete synopsis and the first ten pages
in shape, I might be able to make a submission deadline.
Out
of the five short stories that are currently in process; one is complete and
ready for beta while the other three are in various states of finish. Rotating
the projects works for getting words in on a daily basis along with a sense of
moving forward. The were-Gronk story is the weakest at the moment, while the
Stars and not-Cthulthu-cyberpunk moves along briskly. My
Beauty/Beast/Cinderella cyberpunk story is a third done and holds some good
promise in terms of being fun. The Grimm Cybertales [not that type of cyber]
needs a few more Grimm/fairytale concepts to flesh out, but I’ve hit all the
big ones so far.
This
month is starting out slow in terms of words to paper. Got a goal to keep and
these stories aren’t going to finish themselves.
RIP.
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