Time to feed the worms…

You’re not going to believe me but I’ll tell you anyway because it’s true. I finished the first draft of my new horror novel, Wormfood, today. I don’t know how I did it but it’s got to be some kind of record breaker!

Lori (once a devout reader on these here shores) used to always ask me to do that “Write a book in a month” competition that pops up every November or so but I would say, “Are you kidding? I can’t write a book in a month!” Well, it looks like I have.

I’ll take that martini, now!

So, what’s ahead?

Listen, I have plenty of books to work on selling for the rest of the decade so I can take a long break now. I earned it. I won’t, of course.

I applied for Cal State Fullerton last night – yep, paid my $55 and everything. I think my timing was good and I should get accepted. With classes starting in August, I should be busy with classes until I run out of things to try and sell.

This, of course, won’t stop me from trying to crank out one more book in the meantime.

The working title is Daughter of a One-Armed Man, and as I’ve mentioned it’ll be a parable and a fable. It’s the story of a guy living in a world going to hell and how he realizes the responsibility he holds in it. It’s about love. Love for a woman, love for a child, love for family, people, nation – love for a world. All are interconnected.

What if you heard that the every feline species would be dead within our lifetimes? It would probably piss you off, right? But the every species of frog is dying off and we don't care. What if 2/3 of humanity dropped dead in one lifetime? It would trouble you, wouldn't it? But 2/3 of all domestic honey bees have died off since 1950 and nobody knows why - and nobody cares. You may not understand why you should care about frogs but bees ensure that we have food. As Einstein said, when the bees die, so does man. Still don't care?

Would you want your loved one to suffer the hell of a world filled with poisons, global catastrophes brought on by climate change, values eradicated by senseless, endless war, and a starvation of meaning? Of course, not. And yet, we all live here and we all allow it. Every day, we ignore the world around us and think that by doing so we protect the ones we love. We have been lulled to sleep by our refusal to be held responsible. It’s time to wake up.

After all, I couldn’t follow up Climbing Maya with just a zombie book. Writing stories is no longer quite enough for me. Now that I’ve written something meaningful, I want some more of that.

So the worms can rest for a while. I’ll probably work on rewrites for Wormfood before the end of summer but I’m in no rush. Like I said, I’ve got plenty of other things to do.