My book “Hitting the Water” is finished. I can’t believe I’m even saying it. After writing the stories, editing, revising, and re-editing, it took all my strength to finally let it go. With all the nit picking of phrases, words, re-naming characters (to protect the innocent), and fine tuning the introduction and verbage of each entry, it’s a relief to see it through.  The stories are mediations, dreamy vinettes about life and death. It was a book that I needed to get out in order to move on.  Now, it’s done. Time to lighten up.

So, what will be the next project?  Ahhh….(as I rub my hands together with delight)….I’m going into the world of satirical SciFi.  Think Douglas Adams and Terry Gilliam. Think “Brazil”, “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” or “Metropolis”. The vibe of the old Police album “Ghost in the Machine” is humming in my brain – providing the tone for this new work I began months ago before putting it aside to work on “Hitting Water”.

I’m  fascinated with the book “The Writer’s Journey: Mythological Structure for Writers” by Christopher Vogler. Joseph Campbell also covered this ground in “The Hero Has 1000 Faces”. Both books provide a fascinating pattern of archetypes that sew together the flow of a solid story. You feel the thread in one form or another in every movie you’ve ever seen. Grand stories like “The Wizard of Oz”, “The Hobbit”, “Harry Potter”, “Hitchhiker’s” or “Lord of the Rings” are built on this architecture.  For the first time ever, I’ll be using the blueprints provided in these books to develop a story that takes place in a futurist world.

This will be an uphill climb. But I love this feeling of being uncomfortable and pushing myself to do something new.