Battles

The only constant is change. Embrace it.

Dateline November 14, 2021
Location: Punta Gorda, Florida

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You battle personal tendencies that run counter to what you desire, don’t you? Me too. I could have died last month in a personal battle with gravity. I didn’t. But after facing my mortality yet again, I now choose to wage a campaign against anything that deprives me and mine of spending time—that oh-so-precious commodity—on what I enjoy most: writing and publishing books. And I will spend less time on, well, other stuff! I beg your indulgence.

We all eat, drink, say, think, or do that which we know produces self-defeating results in our quest for mythical fulfillment. Of course we do the opposite as well—that which we believe supports our true wants and needs, which assumes we know what those are.  But right now, I’m facing an assault from the former. 

I’m struggling to avoid becoming one of those illusive characters that my readers remember only as a vague notion, perhaps with some interest, but only as a distant and irrelevant memory. At the same time, I’m spending time away from my second love—writing novels. My first love is, and always will be, my bride—now also my caregiver. 

Any convenient excuse to do nothing but work on my next book is close at hand these days. Falling off the twelve-foot-high roof of my RV onto unforgiving asphalt last month comes to mind. To be blunt, I’m fortunate to have survived that fall. I’ve read stories of folks who did not survive, or became permanently disabled. With a fractured right heel the worst of my own injuries, I’m off my feet for a few months, and that’s about it. 

So having faced my mortality once again a few weeks ago, at age 72, I rigorously interrogated myself the other day. Here are a few epiphanies that I discovered, and would like to share with you: 

• I love writing. No big surprise. So I’ll keep doing that. I’ve joined a small writing group with my friend, Judy Howard. We critique each other’s work. Delightful.
• To the business side of being an author, I’ve always been less than enthusiastic, like many authors I know. This includes timekeeping, bookkeeping, preparation and submission of quarterly taxes, ordering inventory (books, software), tracking income and expenses, itemizing deductions, and justifying to the hardworking folks at the IRS why this is so much more than a hobby, even though I’m not yet accumulating wealth from my books. Kay has kindly offered to help me from skidding off the rails on that baffling set of tracks. I thank God for Kay. 
• Personal marketing and sales? That I love. So that’s where I’ll now spend more time. I love selling my books face-to-face, getting to know readers and collecting their stories while sharing my own. I even enjoy handing out my business cards to anyone who will take one, knowing nine of ten will get tossed. You know how I know I love this part of my literary trip? Immediately after my accident on October 15th, despite the excruciating pain of a full-body trauma, I pitched my books to the EMT caring for me in the ambulance on the way to the emergency room after my accident. But by that point, the pain meds had kicked in. I was inspired. She was kind.

You should be asking here, “So what? Why should I care?” Well, maybe you don’t, so bear with me. As long as I’m confessing, I grow increasingly candid about my lukewarm (approaching tepid) attitude toward traveling in our motorhome much of the time; however, this has always been Kay’s dream, and that is why we’ll continue to play the role of itinerant vagabonds. Together. I will leverage those travels and stories from wonderful people we meet as opportunities to continue gathering inspiration for my writing. That’s my silver lining. Plus, I love being with Kay. So the inconvenience to me is worth what it costs, once I have the use of both legs again, that is, and I can lose knee scooter. 

Now, we come to the heat of the meat…

I’m offering this self-analysis and confession to you in this monthly newsletter that is now almost two weeks late. I missed my end-of-month (October) commitment to you. For that I apologize, and I throw myself upon the mercy of the court.

Another personal epiphany: calendared commitments are not something I relish. Life is too damn short and precarious and precious to commit to anything I am not totally committed to. My accident shone a bright light on that.

I’ve published these newsletters faithfully each month since early 2018, and they will continue to spew from my digital pen, but perhaps on not as rigid and relentless a schedule. So I’m declaring a hiatus from a monthly schedule in favor of one that “feels right” to this errant scribe, and hopefully, also acceptable to you, dear subscriber.  

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The good news (for me, anyway)? After surviving what could have been a fatal fall, I’m still around to finish the book I really wanted to write, and I believe you’ll want to read. I’ve teased you before that a new book called “Black Blizzard” is coming Winter 2021-2022 (eBook, paperback, and hardcover). The new news is that I now envision this book will be the first in a series sharing the tagline, “Lyon County Archives,” true to their historical bones. I am indeed close to publishing “Black Blizzard,” perhaps by the end of 2021, but again, I’m fending off self-imposed deadlines with tenacity. And as an independent publisher (UpLife Press), I have the luxury of defining my own schedule. Someone asked me to characterize this new novel in one sentence. This is what came to mind one morning at two AM:

“Rube Goldberg smashes the Grapes of Wrath with outlandish steampunk devices of dubious invention. That’s ‘Black Blizzard!'” – GK Jurrens

I now offer you the new book’s synopsis (you’re the first to see this version). As the back cover’s text, some suggested it should be shorter (you folks should only read the bold print). Others pleaded for this descriptive text to be longer (y’all can read it all). I’m hoping this version is just right:

How can a naïve but passionate group of small town and rural neighbors prevent the invasion, corruption and poisoning of their community by big-city mobsters?  To do so, they must overcome their differences while battling inner demons and navigating awkward affairs of the heart. 

Conflict, greed and patriotic zeal result in sacrifice, loyalty, and betrayal from within the most turbulent maelstrom of our nation’s history. Millions lose everything during the Great Depression. The Dust Bowl, mass migrations, unprecedented unemployment, and profound poverty pummel America without mercy.

This classic story—with unconventional twists—will grab your gut in unexpected ways. Witness an escalating series of misadventures on the ground and in the air as an unlikely handful of German and Irish immigrants, along with a young half-breed Indian, change America’s history during the summer of 1933. 

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What do you think? Let me know! For that, I thank you in advance. 

Here’s to the precious commodity we call life, enabled by the fickle master we call time, including all its idiosyncratic oddities and delicious moments yet to be captured and shared. It’s just all just so darned interesting, isn’t it?

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Happy Veteran’s Day to all who are serving or who have served!

With pen in hand… wherever… and until…

Gene

P.S. “Books are the carriers of civilization… They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.” – Barbara W. Tuchman (1912 – 1989)