It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update here and I feel like it’s an appropriate and opportune time to bring you up to date on my latest developments. And by “you” I mean you wonderful readers who are still following this blog. Now, if you’ll indulge me for a few minutes, I’ll tell you what’s been on my mind and what’s been happening.

As you know, the country is about to say goodbye to a President who, whether we agree or disagree with his politics or his policies, we all have to agree is an honest, decent and caring man.  And in less than 48 hours, another man, in my humble opinion not as honest, decent or caring, will be sworn in to replace him.

I am worried for my country, my countrymen and countrywomen and for myself because all indications to this point are that things are going to change for the worse in the lives of ordinary (read: not super rich, straight and white) Americans. I have also been deeply troubled by the feeling that we have somehow ushered in a new era of coarseness and rancor in our civic lives and dialogue. It’s evident in the way that we and our leaders talk to and about each other in the news and online. At the same time, during the past year I fell into a creative black hole out of which nothing, not a single, useful, written word was able to escape. I don’t blame it all on the election campaign–as fraught as it was with sounds and images of impending chaos for the nation. I also have to give a lot of the credit to two separate periods of unemployment that happened to me, through no fault of my own, within six months of each other last year and which I had to manage through to land in my current, much more secure position. Knock wood. I guess I was too busy worrying about both the country’s and my economic futures to devote any mindshare to telling compelling and entertaining stories. 2016 was a bad year all the way around in my book (pun clearly intended).

But there’s a silver lining. I’ll explain.

Somehow, out of these intense feelings of disquiet, I found a voice again. I discovered that there were things that I wanted to say and I began to say them. I published a piece of very short fiction on a friend’s Medium publication devoted to romance and erotica and I also penned a few articles on the subject of politics and the election on another web publication devoted to current events. Not to imply that any of these scribblings were widely read or acclaimed, but they did get enough of a reaction from a few engaged readers to encourage me to write more of these types of pieces. It seems that worry and occasional despair stimulate my writing. Nice.

And since my juices have started flowing again, I am renewing progress on the book and have also started to develop a drama series pilot. God help me, I love television so much. Finally, as the proverbial cherry on top, at the insistence of a friend with a really good story to tell, I have agreed (at some point in the future, I’m not superhuman after all) to collaborate with her on a non-fiction, book-length account of a grisly multiple murder that took place in her hometown nearly thirty years ago and how she and the many other members of the community who were friends and acquaintances of both the victims and the perpetrator–who is alive and in prison for the rest of his natural life–are still coping with the aftermath decades later. For now we’re just doing research and formulating the approach to the story. I think it will be a while before I am ready to do the writing of it. It’s going to be a long and emotionally difficult project, so I want to make sure that I can devote the mental as well as physical energy that it deserves. It’s a fascinating story and one that I am looking forward to telling.

So there you have it, kind reader. That’s all for now. Till next time, I remain your devoted servant.