Some Thoughts On My Current Writing Life

The Prefontaine book is out and I’ve employed my usual marketing methods to promote it. (Please consider making a purchase of this unique book,) I sense these methods have grown antiquated but I simply don’t have the wherewithal to try new ones. Perhaps some new ideas will emerge next spring when I make a second promotional push. I’ve got a book with national scope, almost unprecedented for me, but I struggle to see how to get it to a larger audience outside of my regional readership. I looked into hiring a digital advertising firm to push it via social media channels, but the cost was ridiculous and I’d be doing most of the work anyway.

I continue to write my Substack newsletter about the crisis of homelessness and this blog. Next year, I may bring out a book about my early morning walks with Elmer the husky and our encounters with the homeless. Writing about homelessness continues to dominate my creative mind, but it won’t be that way forever. One day, I stopped writing about rain and knew I didn’t have another Christmas tale in me. The low-rent RV park life was vivid inspiration for many essays and stories but that existence is over. I used to write a lot about teaching. That’s certainly all over except perhaps, the novel about teaching set in the 90s that I’ve written about 10,000 words on.

What new subject awaits me? How will it find me? Is it something I can try and imagine now? Probably not.

One potential subject I am very immersed in, my Dad’s life in assisted living, at this point doesn’t interest me in the least as a writer. Perhaps it never will.

I miss writing about beaches, the ocean and driftwood forts. But there was heyday for that and it’s over as well.

I continue to work with some fantastic clients helping them publish their books. I enjoy this work very much and would like to expand it.

I wrote a poem the other day, about the Hunter’s Moon and it occurred to me that perhaps I should collect my poems from the past 25 years into some sort of book. I have never considered myself a poet but I’ve written a few that I like and sense they have original qualities to them. We shall see.

I still want to start a little coastal newspaper or magazine one day in a news-starved town. I believe I have a business model that could sustain a monthly, perhaps even make a few bucks. I know a lot of free lancers who could help me.

Speaking of writing, a former friend sent me an obviously AI generated/enhanced letter asking for financial support even though this person certainly has the ability to support herself. AI writing is easy to spot at this point in its evolution. It produces a sheen to the words and is riddled with cliches and banalities. If you want my help, write me your original thoughts! Along those lines, a current friend wrote me a heartfelt email asking for financial support to help her escape a terrible domestic situation. No AI in this communication. I was glad to help out.