IWSG: May 2017

Today is the first Wednesday of May, which makes it IWSG time. Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosts for putting this on each month. If you’d like to join us, you can sign up here.

May and September have always been full of meaning for me as a writer. I began this whole writing adventure on a warm September day, and saw that adventure reach it’s fulfillment a year and a half later in May, when my first novel was published. For that reason, I try to publish my very best, my very favorite pieces in the months of May and September. And this May is no different. Two days ago my email subscriber list received Haunted, first published as part of the anthology Parallels: Felix Was Here, in Ubook form. It will be released to the general public on Monday, May fifteenth. This story is very personal to me, and is probably the most important piece I’ve written, or will ever write. I finished it in less than a day, which is nothing short of miraculous. So why bring it up here, when we’re supposed to be discussing our insecurities? Because along with Haunted being my most important story, it was also the most difficult to let be published. It may be the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. It’s a laying of myself out there in a way I cannot take back. Frankly, it’s going to piss a lot people off. But that’s okay. I’ve made peace with that. It’s a story that needed to be written, and no matter how deep my own insecurities may be concerning that, it wasn’t a story about me. It was about him. It always has been. If you’re interested in reading it for yourself, check back here on the fifteenth, or go to setbooksfree.org on or after that day. But be warned, it will haunt you.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank Dancing Lemur Press/Freedom Fox Press for including Haunted in the anthology. It was a brave thing to have done.