Been a while since I've chimed in here. There are a lot of reasons for that including the fact most people simply don't take time to read blog posts these days. We are all too busy binge-watching, and skimming social media to truly sit down and read longer forms. Sadly this applies to books as well and yet I continue to write. Though since moving to California the siren song of screenwriting has begun whispering in my ear and little by little I am doing more of that.
Currently I am sitting in a Dunkin Donuts typing this as the powdered remains of a Bavarian Kreme decorates my beard. The beard is longer these days but also has a bit more of its own white adornment.
What else is new? Well my latest novel, THE GOOD FORTUNE OF BAD LUCK is out as of yesterday.
The novel is available in paperback or eBook.
I wrote the first words on this book more than twenty years ago so like most of my writing it has taken an arduous path to publication. It is a story if expectations versus realities and how we often initially think of something as bad luck that in the ends leads us to happiness. The characters are everyday people facing everyday problems and this is the heart of who I am as a writer. I strive to be somewhere between the Richard Russo's, Kent Haruf's, Anne Tyler's of the literary world, and the Jennifer Weiner's, Jodi Picoult's, Kristin Hannah's. Meaning I want some literacy sensibilities with strong emotional readability and everyday relevance that is easy to identify with.
This is what I work to achieve and I am not suggesting I've found the writing success of those talented authors but I am working to get there and I thank all of you who have been walking that journey with e for years now. If you are new here I thank you for that as well. Writing in a vacuum is tough but given how long it takes to create and publish a novel it does often feel like throwing words into the void.
THE GOOD FORTUNE OF BAD LUCK was born from my own superstitions and strong belief in luck. As I've aged I realize we mostly make our own luck, both good and bad.
I hope all of you have been on the good side of fortune these last few years, though even as I type I think how crazy the world has been for a while now. The politics, the virus, the growing divide among us. I don't know how to fix any of that but I think we all tend to forget our humanity when confronted with things we don't like or agree with. I struggle with this myself and have sadly lost friends I care about in these tumultuous times. They will tell you I cast them aside for political differences, but I disagree. I can debate politics, but I have no ZERO tolerance for racism, bigotry, or intolerance because these are not truly political issues in my mind but rather the difference between good and evil.
I will argue and debate the benefits of small government versus big government, taxation, and even personal freedoms, but not at the expense of human rights. But I digress, this isn't meant to be that kind of post. Simply freethinking as I type.
My belief is that fiction can help us better understand humanity. It exposes to people different than ourselves. It exposes us to other cultures and places. It exposes us to the emotions and motivations and makes it clear despite these differences we all have the same basic needs and wants and when we are reminded of that we are more compassionate and understanding and that is why reading is so important. Yes even when the story and characters are made up because while fiction is not the truth it is born from humanity, because no matter what you think of we writers (yeah we are a bit weird because we live in our heads so much of the time) we are indeed human.
This is my longwinded way of asking you to check out the story of Destiny and Dillon and their quest for Good Fortune amid Bad Luck. I hope you will find some heart to their story as well as some insight into your own thinking. The story has been with me for a long time and I am eager to share it with y'all.
