I haven’t written anything on this page in quite some time, and while I’d like to say it’s because of the mass of pages building up on my hard drive, that’s just not so. I’ve been quite ill for the last couple of months and being able to produce any worthwhile writing at the end of the day has been quite a task. I’ve been getting it done mostly every day, but my output has decreased and I question the quality of what does make it onto the glowing screen each night. In any case, I’ve been feeling better day by day and I’m hoping to get back to the 1000 word/day output that I’d been achieving previously.
The WIP remains in limbo at the moment. I’ve taken an extended break from that particular piece of work to try and get a few more short stories out there. Again, with the illness taking its toll, I haven’t exactly been burning up the keyboard but I’m at the finish line on about four solid stories at the moment.
Speaking of short stories, I’ll be reading a couple of mine Saturday, Sept. 22 at the Big Orange Book Festival on the campus of Chapman University as a part of the 10 at the Top programming. I read at 10am and then again at 2pm at two separate locations during the festival. It should be an interesting time trying to keep the attention of distracted and sweating book lovers with my short stories as they scurry from one spot to another on their way to see the big name authors. I’ll do my best to hold the attention of the ones interested and try not to yell profanities at the ones who aren’t.
I’m currently reading an Advanced Reader Copy of Ratlines by the great Stuart Neville. I’m about half way through and the story is really beginning to pick up pace. It takes place in Ireland in 1963 and follows the investigation into the killing of former Nazis who were granted asylum after WWII. It’s well written and the plot is compelling, but I’m not feeling a connection to his protagonist, Albert Ryan at this point. He’s just not quite as fully drawn or interesting as his antagonist, an ex-Nazi commando named Otto Skorzeny, who is stealing the show thus far. Neville’s writing is solid as always and I’m hoping to know more about the Ryan character by the time I finish the story. Stuart Neville remains one of my favorite crime writers and I recommend his Belfast Trilogy to anyone who reads crime fiction. Next on the reading pile is Jo Nesbo‘s latest, The Phantom.
I’m going to try and post on this page a few times a month. We’ll see what happens.
