Writing, because I have to

I’m pretty excited—well, about as excited as Big-J ever gets. My second novel is being released on September 1^st. I am very happy with book II. It is the next evolution of my abilities as a fiction writer. It is like heroin hitting the brain of a junkie who’s been dry for days.

I write better than Snoopy

I have a short story that will be released in an anthology on the exact same day. Sadly, because of all the rotten things I say here, I cannot say which novel or anthology. I realized to vent all these toxic things were to be rid of them. Now you know the truth to why I do this blog. At one time I believed it was possible to get to the bottom of this deep well of unpleasant feelings so I could begin writing about kittens and cute little bunny rabbits. It didn’t turn out that way and I’ve accepted this is where I exercise with my demons. It may look like a lot of jumping-jacks and running in place, but my demons are getting stronger. Put simply, I write these things because I have to.

Actually, the truth hurts a lot more than being punched in the face.

When I write crazy/mean stuff about rotten Las Vegas, it is skeleton work for a story or a character that hasn’t been written yet. Today’s poison is tomorrow’s tonic. I wonder if when I get to the ‘Beaver State’ I’ll become nicer. When I lived in Dallas I was still cynical, but never quite this mean. The saying is, “No matter where you go, there you are,” but is this me? Does environment have an effect on my personality? We shall see.

“Who was that masked man?”

I expect some interesting posts coming up on the Shortbus. I have Part Two of Exit Strategy formulated and it just requires a brave adventure to the Strip for a few pictures. It’ll be the last thing I’ll write before disassembling my desktop. By this time next week, C-Jane and I will be homeless. It is only for a week, but that by itself has got to be worth a post or two. C-Jane will participate in a Karate Belt Test in San Diego during our period of exile. I hope to do lots of crappy photo-shopping merged with a healthy dose of creative bullshitting.

Don’t worry about Samson the Cat. He will not be homeless with us. C-Jane’s parents will give shelter to the Sam Cat. Then he’ll get together with us for our road trip to Oregon. Expect at least one Sam post before the end of September.

Always Evolving

I’ve always liked my anonymity, but now things are changing. As a fiction writer, I have a short story published and a novel, but on September 1^st, another fiction story is appearing in an anthology and on the very same day, my second novel is going to be released. I just received a nice review from a respectable critic about my first novel.

I’d still like to be a little quiet about who I am. I do write crazy stuff from time to time on the Shortbus, and I’d like for that to continue, so… I’ll never say who I am, but I just might leave a random Link for those of you who come here often. This way, Google searches for my non-Big-J name will not link to this site, and we can keep on talking smack about whatever we want.

That is a pretty damn cool idea, eh?

This way, I can happily let you meet new authors here on the Shortbus. Some of them might even be super-talented, who knows? All the time, I’ll be able to remain the Shortbus-wookie.

I’m going to post an interview with horror author Greg Chapman soon. I have the interview, I just want this message to get out to everyone first.