As of July 27, when I wrote the words, it’s the swallowing of violence that becomes victory, I completed 200 days\u2019 worth of stories this year.<\/p>\n
For anyone counting, that’s two hundred stories. That’s only one day off every month.<\/p>\n
Additionally, I’ve been writing a few essays (for example, the 55 Pounds Down essays you can find elsewhere on this site) and other stories and the occasional ill-informed poem. This weekend, I’m finishing what should be the final draft of DarkWalker II. I’m also working on a new photographic project (which I’ll keep secret for the moment). I’ve got a half dozen novels in the planning and gestation stages, another handful awaiting revisions (next, I believe, will be the either the novel set in Boston or the novel set in Sydney).<\/p>\n
In other words, I’ve been busy.<\/p>\n
But InkStains has become a mission. A daily thing. Almost a meditation. Some days, I have ideas I want to explore, thoughts that swirl in my head for hours (or even days) before I pick up the fountain pen. Other days, I have no preconceived notions of what I’ll write; I have only a blank page and some ink anxious to be spilled.<\/p>\n
I never doubted my commitment. Now, I believe, I have proof of it.<\/p>\n
Some stories are definitely stronger than others. But thematically, I think there’s an arc working through them. They’ve become something of an exploration of self, of who I am, how I see the world, and how I see the words. I’ve re-examined a few ideas or images along the way, I’ve returned to familiar territory, and I’ve launched in directions heretofore unexplored.<\/p>\n
When it’s over, when there are (I’m assuming) 353 InkStains stories(12 months, 12 days off)\u2013a collection of fiction, articles, and essays, traditional and experimental, fantasy and horror and meta and noir and science fiction and contemporary and memoir\u2013I think the end result will be, in fact, the most ambitious self-portrait I’ve ever created.<\/p>\n
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