It’s been about eight months now since I’ve posted an update
on The Forward Path. The goal I set in
January was to do one every month. And
that tells you everything you need to know about me and New Year’s resolutions.
So, where do things stand, one year and one month after
starting my writing career?
Well, I am now back at work on the Hercules revisited novel.
I posted one brief chunk of my rough draft under the name Let the Adventure Begin!, and then abruptly took a four-month hiatus from working on the book
over the summer. Our schedules since May just haven’t allowed me the time to continue writing for the blog and work
on the book. But I’ve resumed work on
it now that school’s back in session (more on that in a bit). You may remember I set a goal to have a rough
draft done by the end of this year, and that’s still my goal, so it’s time to
get cracking on that. Should I be
worried that my track record with goals is no better than my track record with
New Year’s resolutions?
The blog remains the overwhelming focus of my writing
output. This is as it should be, because
remember, the purpose of the blog is to force me to get used to the feeling of
writing publicly, and to create some accountability in the sense of continuing
to produce new writing, and writing to somewhat of a schedule (even if it is
completely of my own making). Plus, I am
starting to see patterns in what I choose to write about that have me thinking
that eventually some of the posts could be combined into a themed collection of
essays. In short, the blog is an
absolute key to my development as a writer, and I love doing it.
Statistically, as of August 28th, 2012,
thunderstrokes has seen 13,283 pageviews since it began in July of 2011. Thanks to everyone, my great friend Rick and
my sister Kari especially, but including any and all lurkers, who have taken
time to read my writing. I’ve said it
before, and I’ll say it again: as someone who has been plagued by self-doubt
about his abilities for most of his life, I can’t tell you how important, and
how gratifying it is, to know that you’re out there, and that roughly 1,000
times a month, somebody is clicking on a page of thunderstrokes (and hopefully
reading a little of it).