Podcasts, Sequels, and Fellowships (of the Ring)
This morning I finished re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring for (I think) the 15th time! I'm back to reading Dracul for the first time, then I'll switch back to Two Towers and continue onwards with Middle Earth. I like doing things again. There are certain things inside me which I only realize I love after I've been exposed to them. Like seeds inside, they just wait for the right season, weather, and soil to grow and bloom.
I've been binging on podcasts lately, too. Mostly small-time ones from people back in Albuquerque, where I used to be from. I miss the people and the culture, I guess. But life has me firmly here in Hannibal right now. I miss things that never were (Haereth is the word for this - it's Welsh, and therefore unpronounceable to the rest of the non-welsh world...).
I'm also in the middle of writing something else intimately familiar to me: the Rienspel sequel. (Yes yes,
I am ACTUALLY writing it...). Already, I can hear the voice of self-doubt creeping up in my ears and my heart as I write. Being back in the Great Forest is nice. I wrote it as the place I wanted to be most. The place I can close my eyes and immediately return to. The book doesn't sell very well, to be honest. I think it's because it's big (over 300k words!), but I don't care. Give it a read and let me know what you think...
I guess I'm wondering if what I'm doing now is working. It's the only thing that I know how to do that makes me happy. So, it's what I'm trying to do. And while I wait for the literary gods in New York to pronounce my doom on my Nameless story this spring, I worry and write. (And I write and I worry). I worry about my own ability to make it. But, if there's one thing I've learned from listening to so many podcasts, it's that there's countless people just like me out there worry along the same lines. (If you're one of them too, HELLO!! YOU'RE NOT ALONE!) - And knowing that I'm not alone makes all the difference.
I think it's funny how for at least a solid decade, we all clamored for this thing called community, never knowing that very same organic community was the very thing we'd be needing culturally just a decade or so later. Interesting stuff. I wonder what it means. I wonder why I am given these desires and abilities in my heart which don't even pay the bills. I wonder why I can create community like it's going out of style while I have to scrape for spare change to buy a cup of coffee.
Before I digress, just know that whenever you support someone's dreams by encouraging them or buying their stuff, know that you're helping make material something which otherwise would not exist. Immaterial things take a lot of love and time to come into being. Anywhere from 9 months to 30+ years, in my experience. Yet, we are still here. Working and worrying and living.
Where else would we be?
What else would we possibly do?
Ok! So enough of all that! I have a couple of events and what not coming up:
The release of my short story, The Trombonist of Munst, Illustrated and Coloring Book editions went fairly well! They're now available online,,,, Illustrated Edition Coloring Book
If you haven't read all three of my current novels, why not pick up one or two? Or, if you already have, leave an Amazon review to prove you're a real person and that, as a real person, you actually read these pithy little word wanders I occasionally kick out.
Each sale and review and comment helps me make this happen. It doesn't exist without you.
(Thanks - you help me keep writing)
- Ryan
