In writing, as in life, some things do not go according to plan.

A while ago, I had planned to dive back into this blog with gusto. I was going to write stories, essays… all manner of insightful and beautiful things. And then I promptly did not touch the blog for nearly a year. I claim working two jobs and getting my MFA as my excuse. (There’s always an excuse, isn’t there?)

So here goes another attempt, and I am determined to see this one be more successful. As part of jump-starting this whole blogging thing once again, I’ve also revitalized the content included here. It’s been an opportunity to shift focus away from sharing half-worked fiction and bad poetry. (Looking back over the oldest posts on this site, I’m ashamed of some of what I wrote. But isn’t that the way of it?)

If anyone returning to this site is looking for my science fiction serial story Charybdis 7, fear not, the project has not been abandoned. I simply want to give it the time it deserves and cannot make that commitment right now. I plan to return to the series in the future in order to make it into the best version of the story that I can.

Otherwise, my fiction focus is increasingly moving toward more formal publications, and that is where I plan to spend a significant portion of my efforts. This gives me the chance to instead use this blog as a place to stop and reflect on my own writing life and the things that I am learning about myself and the art of crafting stories.

As you may already have seen, I also plan to use this site as a platform for sharing book reviews. So, if that’s a thing you might be interested in, then stay tuned – they’re coming.

But what about me? What have I been doing lately? Well, I’m glad you asked. Most of my time right now is devoted to revising my creative thesis for my MFA program. This thesis is the opening section of my fantasy novel (which has been in novel purgatory for years now as I work on becoming a good enough writer to actually write the thing successfully).

It’s been an intriguing process as I continue to get feedback on this novel and find that there are more and more things to be revised that I had never even noticed before. Funny how that works isn’t it?

But with each revision, each semester of school that passes, I feel myself improving as a writer – a fact which gives me hope about this whole endeavor. Of course, there are still days of crippling self-doubt, but that’s par for the course.

I’ll wind this up for now. My main purpose here is to say (once again) that I’m back and excited for the future. Thanks for hanging around this site and reading what I have to say. There’s more to come.

Cheers.