Summer Thoughts

Summer's passing by quickly for once; the sun sets further down the horizon each day. Sometimes things turn around in life, although you cannot really predict when. The summer for me, normally, consists of day-in-and-day-our work, leaving little time for indulging in many of the splendid summer activities such as swimming, walking, biking, and so on.


However, this year I have made a change in my life. I have determined that there is no more time to waste on boondoggling. For instance, a regular routine of mine used to be go to work and then come home and write. Or think about writing. 


Now I have allotted all the time in the world for the aforementioned summer activities and then some. I have also allowed myself to be reinvented. There's always been a side of me which wanted to step out into the world, yet ridiculous double standards, societal pressures, and the like have prevented me from being who I am, or at least who I want to be.


With all that said, I want to provide a quick word for all of you out there who need that certain summer help: Open up and live. Don't have any summer buddies? Go out and make some. I know it seems as though there aren't many places to go or ways to introduce yourself to new friends (trust me, I live in central Indiana, I know). But go ahead and take a risk. Go anywhere. Have the courage to do anything you want to (besides mass-slaughter, shooting at street signs, etc.) Do whatever it is you want to do and things will pan out for you. Trust me. 


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A quick update about Excluded: 


The first draft is almost finished, although it is really the seventh draft of the story. I am close to sending it out to Wild Child as we speak. Well, as you read. The novel will run about 320 pages in length, or 70,000 words. Of course, this is a mere estimate, because by draft four we might have a 10-page story or a 1,000-page epic novel.