2022 is nearing an end and 2023 is just around the corner. With a change in the calendar comes a change in our lives. I am no exception.
Over the last few weeks, my social media footprint has dwindled drastically. I don’t find myself spending hours checking Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, so I may have missed some birthdays and holiday greetings. My apologies. I have also limited the amount of news I have been taking in. I’m not watching endless hours of news coverage while writing. In fact, I can’t think of the last time I saw a news program-certainly not since I returned from Pennsylvania about three weeks ago. I have found that liberating and certainly has reduced my stress levels.
But I have also realized that I could put that time into other more positive things in my life, specifically my family and my writing. To an point, it has been cathartic and has freed up my mind from a productive standpoint. Coupled with my new turntable, I have been binging records I have not played in nearly 25 years. Currently digging my way through my almost complete Poco collection. That too has sparked my creativity in ways I didn’t think possible (more on that shortly).
I don’t see this changing much as we enter the New Year. With the exception of posting some pictures, both family ones and ones from events I attend, sharing Con announcements and updates regarding my forthcoming books, I don’t expect to be spending the time I once did on social media. I also don’t expect many of you will see me “around and about” in 2023 (there are some obvious exceptions), although I intend on reaching out to old friends I have not seen in a while and making more time with them. Although I do still have obligations to attend to, I am becoming much more at ease being in my element: in my home, at the computer with dogs keeping me company, burning lots of incense, doing household chores, doing a lot more cooking, especially from the new cookbooks that were under the tree, and looking at my life in a new way.
I’m not completely walking away from the platforms, as I still need to promote my works and share the links to my monthly comic blogs. I am just treading a few giant steps back and turning my focus inwards in an effort to make me a better me. With a great annual physical under my belt, I see myself being around for a while, even as I realize my time being as active as I once was is slowly coming to an end. Time may be on our side but it does not wait for anyone and soon my body will catch up with my true age, even if my brain refuses to let it.
So…onto the writing.
With ELECTRIC FAME and WILDEST DREAMS out there, I need to move on. Neither book is selling as well as I hoped but I kind of expected that. A new author, without the support of a major company pushing him, will continue to languish in the realm of being unknown for some time. I would like to move many more copies, but also understand that I am writing in a niche market with limited distribution and promotion available. Just to have been able to do it and, hopefully, encourage others to do the same is good enough for me. At this point in my life, I never expected to get rich from my writing, no matter what I had hoped for when I was in my Twenties. I just wanted to make certain they didn’t end up in a pile of unpublished works that gets thrown out following my death. That was important to me: another item on my resume and another line entry in my eventual obituary.
My game plan had been to release YULETIDE by June of 2023 with the ELECTRIC FAME sequel following in December. That timetable may change. In the past few weeks, I have spent much of my time rewriting and modifying K.G. Palmer’s 1,479. K.G., along with 1,479 are referenced during one particular scene in ELECTRIC FAME and I figured it was time to dig deep into my archives of unpublished works and actually revise, embellish and, in some cases, actually REWRITE a proper fictional autobiography, considering that the groundwork had been laid out in the first book. So, that is what I have done.
K.G.’s story goes like this. Fresh out of college, this 21-year-old published his detailed, often vivid, accounting of his college years: an unflinching, intense, raw, and sometimes highly provocative look at his college life, from the classes he took, the jobs he maintained, the things that occupied his free time, and the women he dated. Filled with surprisingly candid comments about everyone and almost everything he encountered, he laid out stories that most would not, naming names and pointing fingers at the people in his life. Most critics and many readers said he had gone too far, often crossing the line between good and bad taste. He put his life, the good, the bad and the just plain nasty, on the page for all to read.
To his surprise, the book became a nationwide success that influenced an entire generation that often compared it to CATCHER IN THE RYE and ON THE ROAD. Overnight, he was a media star and somewhat of a literary sensation. After a failed off-Broadway play, with money in his pocket, he faded out of the public eye. But, in 2022, a new generation sought out the long out of print book. So, “over 40 years after it was first published”, it came “back in print in a new, expanded edition”, including his novella length sequel to the original book, along with a new introduction and closing chapter that brings readers up to date to where his life is in 2022.
I have long wanted to publish K.G.’s story, going back to the days when I first began ELECTRIC FAME, as I felt it was a nice tie-in and gave me the chance to create a character-driven story far different than any I had attempted to write about before. It truly is more unique than any of my other works, currently in print or forthcoming. K.G. is a very dogmatic young man who speaks his mind, sometimes challenges authority and, quite frankly, some of his comments and his exploits are truly raw and sometimes decidedly raunchy. He has no problem embracing much of what he learned or felt in high school and letting those emotions loose during his college years. He is a teenager struggling to find his place in the world and sometimes that means going a bit over the line. Well….WAY over the line that usually defines good taste.
1,479 is truly a sometimes harsh memento of what life for K.G. and many of America’s teens was like in the late Seventies and early Eighties. K.G. and his friends, along with many of the actions and attitudes, are distilled from the personalities of so many people I have encountered over the course of a lifetime. Filled with references to pop culture of the time (who remembers roller disco?), musings on upcoming trends (who wants to PAY for television? NO ONE, our protagonist says), and the constant search for compatible companionship, no matter the cost, it is absolutely NOT a book for everyone, that I can promise. I cannot stress that enough! While it is an interesting companion piece to the novel that brought him to life, even briefly in the pages of ELECTRIC FAME, I can promise you it will make some laugh, bring back memories to others and will certainly offend others. There is a reason I have asked the publisher to list it as being 18+.It often pushes the realms of good taste. But I remind folks that legendary author Anne Rice did the same with her Sleeping Beauty novels and Roald Dahl did with SWITCH BITCH. Even Mark Twain stepped over the line with 1601.
My greatest fear, and currently the only thing holding me back from finalizing publishing, is that my friends, most of whom bought my previous books, will read 1,479 and immediately, because of the contents of the book, end our friendships and I can watch future book sales of my other works disappear immediately. I sincerely hope that is not the case. As I said, K.G. is an amalgam of people I have encountered in my life. 1,479 was my attempt at writing a book that was greatly influenced from some of the classic coming of age films I have seen, from SLUMBER PARTY 57 (Debra Winger’s first film) and COOLEY HIGH to PORKY’S and DAZED AND CONFUSED. It is a fictional autobiography by a fictional author. It has allowed me to step into experimental territory and craft a book that, although not for everyone, has allowed me to move those mental author muscles in a different and distinctive way. It’s not the ‘Great American Novel’ that will be talked about for generations, believe me.
What I am quite proud of is my cover design that I think typifies K.G.’s life in many ways. As a friend of mine told me, it has “retro vibes” and that was what I was shooting for. The fact that Amazon had a royalty free image that I felt fit the theme perfectly helped a heck of a lot. Final design just screamed ‘sleazy Seventies paperback. And that too was what I was looking for.
Once 1,479 is published, I will go back to other works. With YULETIDE completed, along with the ELECTRIC FAME sequel, both of which I will be working on to finalize for eventual publication, it’s back to ELECTRIC FAME’s final chapter, currently at about the half way point. My goal is to have that ready for publication sometime in 2024. Beyond that, there are two other works in the back of my mind. They are not quite ready to be turned into outlines, but I have some ideas and story logistics to work out. Neither is connected to ELECTRIC FAME or any of the other titles connected to it: they are free standing tales-one of which has a sort of Sci-Fi vibe to it. Also on the back burner, although much closer to the outline stage than the other two, is a novelization of K.G.’s failed stage play about the ultimate college road trip. A week ago, it wasn’t even a seed in my brain. But after having finished work with 1,479, the idea began to take shape and I think I can make it a fun, funny tale. And again, it will be a big step outside the comfort zone for me.
One thing I have gone back to, as I had when originally working on ELECTRIC FAME and YULETIDE, is to have a notebook with me at all times, especially on the road trips, either by car, train or plane, which take me out of the comfort of home and put me to work on other projects, which I still plan to be involved with. The things that come to you at night, when trying to decompress from the day or days, can often be enlightening.
My ultimate goal is to have potentially nine books in print by the time I turn 65 or 66. Towering self-imposed goals for sure and, who knows: I may find myself burned out after finishing ‘the final chapter’, as it is a sometimes meandering emotional roller coaster for myself and my characters. Remember: I often find myself sometimes emotionally attached to my fictional characters. When I finished the concluding chapter to 1,479, with an ending that felt right in many ways, I grew a little melancholy while also filled with satisfaction that my protagonist had finally found what he had been looking for for so long.
Long and short of all of this: I will be up to my neck in the creative process for a while to come. Between these novels, I still read other fictional influences, some of whom get referenced in my writings, along with a big bunch of comics, leading me to continue to write a monthly blog: mostly on time every month for the past eleven years-nearly 150 pieces during that time. Couple that with my movie fixation-thanks to Santa for filling my tree with another obscenely hefty stack, my model work and my other areas of interest, and I will be busy; maybe busier than normal. I may miss a phone call or a text message. I may miss a video call. I may miss a FB message. I’m not blowing you off, but when I get to writing, I sometimes never even notice my phone: it just becomes another thing sitting among my work space.
As a friend, and many authors I personally know or have read about, writing is a daily job, just like any other. Be it a page, a chapter, or even just notes on what is to come, it is something that must be done EVERY SINGLE DAY. At the moment, it is my passion and my obsession, with me often lying in bed at night and thinking about future storylines and dialogue. It is just my thing right now and occupies much of my thoughts. Good or bad, it’s just another thing in my life that provides fuel for the fire within.
Thanks for listening and understanding. Hope to see some of you in person in 2023; maybe even at an open air market or a book signing. Who knows.
Lastly, some folks reached out to me about getting copies of the first two books and having them personalized. I should have those in the next two weeks and will reach out to those who reached out to me.
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