Is this thing (still) on?

Oh hey! From all reportable metrics and information, this is probably just me here. Typing onto a very blank page. A very very blank page.

But since this is such an intimate setting here on the internet, all quiet and anonymous if someone has stumbled on to this page (I like to imagine you’re enjoying a hot cup of tea, deeply breathing in a scented candle just past dusk as you read this), I have a confession to make.

I’ve committed a cardinal sin of writing. I stopped.

There’s a great scene in The 40-Year-Old Virgin when Steve Carrell’s character earnestly asks a doctor teaching a sex ed class “Is it true that if you don’t use it, you lose it?” Laughter follows. It’s a nice bonding moment for him and his girlfriend’s daughter.

Which would be great. If that wasn’t a completely legitimate and accurate question for the craft of writing. And it would be even better if that scene hasn’t been playing in my head every time I open my computer to draft the sequel to VIGILANT. And, suffice to say, it would be best if that question didn’t have the obvious answer of “Yes, Will. It is true that if you don’t write you lose your ability to write.”

I finished the first draft of VIGILANT seven years ago. I spent the rest of that time fine tuning and learning how to edit a long-form narrative piece on the go. In doing so, I completely forgot to practice by writing short stories or poetry or anything along those lines. A true cardinal sin.

And because it’s just you and me here, I feel safe to say that I’m absolutely terrified. The HUDSON SAGA story is not complete with just VIGILANT. I have to keep going. Eventually the excuses will run out and it will be just me and another blank page. Not even you will be there to keep me comfort.

It’s not writer’s block. It’s writer’s anxiety. Writer’s discomfort.

I guess that’s what I need to get this story out though. A level of discomfort so high that I can’t live with it just bouncing around my head. Enough people telling me, “I loved your book - when is the next one coming out?”

Thank you for letting me ramble without consequence or intimidation. I promise I’m working on the next entry. Maybe I’ll even be smart enough to start planning the third. Who knows. No promises. That would probably make things too easy. All I know is that the cast of characters are begging to get out of my head. I can’t blame them. I don’t like being stuck in there with them either. I guess it’s time to start writing and let all those deviants out.

But until then.

Stay vigilant.