Y’all,
If a lifetime of writing has taught me one thing: It’s not enough to simply write good. Ya gotta market and sell your craft too.
So, what better place to start than here, with a small number of people who know me better than online strangers?
I recently finished the first pass of my novel, working title A Perception of Time. It’s a grief novel that focuses on the passing of time (whatever that means at various monents).
There’s still so much work to be done, because it’s a mess in three parts:
- The manuscript itself.
- Scenes I haven’t fit into the novel yet.
- So many notes for revisions.
I can’t wait to share it, but the time ain’t here yet. I imagine I’ll spend 2026 on a second pass to prepare it for some beta readers.
But I’ll share the current version of the dedication so you know what’s coming down the pike:
To my father—
Sorry we let time get in the way.
And to my son—
May we do better.
…
And then the epigraph:
‘I was born into an abundance Of inherited sadness’
(From ‘Jacksonville Skyline’ by Whiskeytown)
…
It’s a deep fried absurdist tale with an unreliable narrator (because let’s face it, we’re all unreliable narrators. Our memories of events are as faulty as the people involved in said events).
I like to think it’s sophisticated without being pretentious, which is my official goal with everything I write.
The novel also ties into a collection of stories I’ve been working on for the last five years or so. But I realized I was working on a collection only a year or two ago. Life works out that way every once in a while. As a wise man once said: You think it ain’t be like that, but sometimes it do.
Who knows what will actually happen with the novel, but right now I’m leaning toward self publishing it as a free ebook in EPUB format. Hardly anyone makes real money from the books themselves—but books are great marketing. What better way to get myself out there? Maybe it could lead to a side gig in being a writing coach. (Forgive me for tooting my own horn, but you can’t rely on others to do it for you: I’m a damn good writer for the right kinda reader.)
Unless I soon die unexpectedly, the novel will see the light of day at some point. But how much time will pass—or what will be our perception of it?
I can’t comment on that.