Onto My Next Story…
IT’S BEEN JUST ONE WEEK since The House on Dunning Drive went live and as much as I enjoy writing, I tend to take a step back and just do nothing (writing related) for the next week. I’m usually up between 5-5:30 and within 15 minutes, I’m writing. But as previously stated, the week after a book goes live, I tend to do nothing…I may sleep in, goof off on the internet, maybe go into my art studio a little early…or whatever. I do this to just mentally prep myself for the next story/book, and I think that stopping and giving things a moment to just breathe, is how I recalibrate. It’s been that way for years, and it tends to work well for me.
So here we are, and for my next short story, things are going to take a different turn. The last few stories have been heavily race-based and this is on purpose. The reason for this is because racial issues seem to be a touchy subject these days, and people either tend to stay away from the subject or go completely overboard with it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with writing about the subject, as it is something that all of us are affected by (more than we should be). I was recently reading an article from Atlantic Black Star, a race-heavy narrative company (yes, I know, consider your source) about a podcaster named Bobbi Althoff, and how she handles celebrity interviews. The article talks about critics and how they want to cancel her with one critic from South Africa named MashotoKomane with 3,000 followers saying, ‘Idk how, but she’s racist.’ Yes, you read that right…I don’t know how, but she’s racist. This is news now, and this is the ‘overboard’ part I’m talking about; that someone is automatically racist based off of the color of their skin. I generally tend to stay away from articles like that because they’re intentionally divisive, and where there’s an extreme in one direction, there’s also a market for the oppression Olympics.
Anyway, I intentionally wrote the first few stories in this collection heavily centered on race because I often think we take it too seriously, and yes, I know for some people it is. It’s almost like we’re required to be overly sensitive or take things to the extremes on the opposite front. Nothing could be further from the truth. Should we stay away from sexually dominant stories just because of the Metoo movement? Not at all. That said, in this next story, I do stay within the theme of people’s lives interacting, but I move in a completely different direction. At the end of the book, The House on Dunning Drive does make an appearance…it’s brief, but it’s there.
The story is called Finger of the Gods and I’d like to have it out and published before the year is up. I’ve written three drafts, but I think I’m going to take my time and write out a fourth one. At first, I wanted to try and have one of these stories written and out every 45-60 days, but then I got to thinking, what are you rushing for? Take your time.
And so I will.
While I do have a deadline of wanting to have it by the end of the year, I’m in no rush. I will try to put things in the blog and promote it as I go along. Maybe the next time I blog, I’ll post a few hundred words just to get some feedback. Until next time, keep writing.