Work in Progress #26: Progress Report, November 2024

I’m sorry, I meant to have this up several days ago.  The last two weeks or so has made it really difficult to think about the stuff that I’m working on, or the stuff that I’ve done.  In no particular order of importance, the Yankees did not win the World Series, the Knicks are off to a rough start.  The Jets and Giants both suck.  And, well…

Let’s address the elephant in the room: the 2024 Presidential election happened, and it didn’t go the way 60-odd million people wanted, including myself and my family.  I’m not here to talk about the particulars of that today, but if the notion of my being liberal or having not voted for the guy who won inspires you to troll and laugh, thanks for stopping by and have a good day.  I’m down for substantive discussions divorced from the individuals involved, about why we think the way we think about the direction this country and world seem to be heading, but that’s not here and that’s not now.  I’ll have plenty to say about all that in the weeks and months to come.

And somehow, after all of that, I’m going to talk about writing projects.  It’s funny how trivial it all seems right now, but this is important in maintaining my own sense of perspective.  Things don’t go your way, but the sun comes up and the world still spins.  So, here we go.

-       I’m still working on the first pass of Empire Towers.  It’s been a slow process, but I’m hoping to catch fire this month.  I got some really solid feedback on the first draft, and it’s just a matter of implementing it throughout.  I’m looking forward to finishing it.  Additionally, it’s been more than a month since I finished the first draft of my short story, I Wanna Get Better.  That means it’s a good time to take a look at it and try to polish it up.

-       Sundown Town is a concept that’s been brewing for several months now, and it’s time to see if I can make it work.  The short story follows a mixed-race family from the East Coast traveling through a very strange small town in Washington while taking their twin children to college in Bellingham.  It’s meant to have a thriller slant to it, and I’m looking forward to digging into it.

-       I’m still working on the plot for my vigilante crime drama, Urban Decay.  It’s a sequel a previous project and picks up six months after the events of Urban Legend.  It’s also slow going, but that means I need to read (and clean up) Urban Legend to get back into the heads of the characters and their reactions to the events of the first story.

-       There are a few books I’m also looking to review this month, and I hope I can get to them all!

Anyway, the last several months have been a bit contentious, with so many things going on that are larger than the plans of an aspiring author.  Or so we would think.  The truth is that our goals and aspirations—be they artistic, careerist, family, or otherwise—are probably the most important thing we have going right now.  Goals and plans are optimistic in and of themselves.  They signal to you and to the world that you believe that tomorrow is coming and that it will be a tiny bit better from your efforts.  Hold on to that, because it’s something we are all going to need in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.  And while you’re at it, take a moment to put some of those plans out into the universe by commenting them here.

Cheers!