The Next Big Idea…and What if it’s Not Coming…?

Hello again, there…while Kao is busying herself once more with either finding the right spot on the couch or with the remnants of her food dish, I’ll sneak on here to give you some updates.

There has been a few things to come about, and I’ll try and get those lined up enough for me to spew them out.

As you may have heard, a new book is coming: yes, the book, “Legend of the Black Swan” will hopefully soon be published by Sunbury Press Books. It will be my seventh release on the Brown Posey Press imprint, and eighth overall. That’s pretty amazing to me; that my work has improved, and the future releases reflect that.

The new cover is looking quite fine; my friend Megan (see that underline, click on the link) is doing something really neat with this one. I await Gabby, my editor to see what she thinks of this one. I do not know when we’ll have it, but we’re working on it.

In the meantime, I’m planning my appearances for the coming year, trying to find some new places to visit, to appear, and to promote these things. All the while, the storm around me is keeping me occupied, and busy.

There are the podcasts (see what I did there?), which I produce but also host, and I have new ones coming. The toughest thing for the podcast is not to read the book, but to get my questions lined up. I don’t necessarily have a list I’ll work from, they are more just guidelines to help me along, and based on what the guest(s) say(s), then we go from there.

I’ve spent time preparing for the future releases, but I don’t stop writing. This year, I completed a new manuscript, but I must admit, I do not like it as much as I hoped I would. An obscure idea became a story, but there’s more that needs to go in.

Believe me, anything published, has undergone numerous rewrites, edits, fixes and additional material pluses and extractions. It’s the term paper, the thesis, the dissertation that is NEVER 100% ready, but finally at the deadline, you turn in the very best you have, and hope it’s enough.

That said, there is this other “new” idea that has been rattling around in my head for about a year. This is not new, but there’s a lot I’ve imagined, mapped out, figured, but “why” is this one elusive?

Does it not make sense?

Have I done this before?

Maybe…I am still unsure, but I want to get to work on it…yet…when the edits for “Legend” come, then my focus must go there.

The big idea…for some of us, we have one, a dream, a thought, a possibility, and it just sits there. We never let it out, never work on it, never pursue it, because of our own self-doubt and because we believe what we tell ourselves, and what others tell us.

You’ve know it—we’re not good enough, smart enough, clever enough, talented enough, enough, enough. But instead of “can’t” we must again, think of what we “can” and “will” do.

I tell you this, why?

Okay, on Saturday, I’d finished work, did a few writing-type things, but was unable to go on. Something tugged at me, and said, “Watch me again…you might just find what that last manuscript is about, and what this new one could be about.”

That turned out to be “From Up on Poppy Hill.” The Great Miyazaki gave us another of many wonderful stories, with that gorgeous animation, the music, the soundtrack, and the characters. The debate will go on about which of Studio Ghibli’s works are the best, and I do not want to be involved in the fight. There is no fight.

I’ve not seen all of them, only a couple really. “Whispers of the Heart” is a lovely story, and “When Marnie Was There” remains one of the finest (despite my inability to watch it again), and so many others…why does “Poppy Hill” get me?

I think, because of the period of time, of change, where the characters are changing, the world is changing around them, and yet the past is also a consideration because of its value. The loss, of family, friends and what people do in times of need comes through so often here. The life of youth that revolves around school, and work, but the insane club atmosphere of the Latin Quarter building.

One such building is in “Legend,” but a bit less ostentatious. These things have meaning, and always shall. There is so much in a simple story, it grows, jumps out at you, and doesn’t need fanciful figures, gods, mythical creatures to tell it. Those do have their places, of course, but sometimes the human story is the best one.

I would like to think those are the stories I’m best at telling.

It’s okay to look back, because in our history there are things to remember, to learn, but also to keep in perspective. Never live there, however, never live there. I think that’s what that story was about, the need to leave the past behind, and yet, so much remains there.

I am looking forward, always forward, because I have little time left to think backwards. Look back, yes, but don’t live there.

Anyway, “From Up on Poppy Hill” really stands out for simple beauty. I need to see “The Wind Rises,” and I think that’ll be the next one I get. That one calls…as do so many things.

I hope to still be with you to see how some of these stories are perceived. I see so few reactions in reviews to my writing, but based on those, I hope I’ve done alright so far.

More to do, more to carry on with. The Big Idea will come when it’s time, and you can nudge that one forward as well.

Peace, Out.