I hope you enjoy this letter I wrote some years ago to my Facebook followers. I used to be on that site but canceled my page. If memory serves, this piece was posted between 2015 and 2017.Thank you for reading.
Dear Readers:
The time has come for me to post my customary letter and to extend heartfelt thanks. Thank you for following my journey and for supporting and encouraging me along the way. Over time I have posted, among other things, a variety of writings including story excerpts, essay passages, journalism, aphorisms, and in-depth promotions. Since I'm always experimenting with my craft, I never know what kind of samples to display. Although I’ve written two collections of dark stories and have had five of those stories adapted to film, I don’t think of myself exclusively as a dark-fiction author. Never have. I resist labels; they blur my creative vision, diminish my artistic drive, and impose limits on my forward progress. Nevertheless, you, dear friends and readers, have always made time for me, allowing my words into your lives, remaining open to whatever I have to offer, which has been wide-ranging indeed. I’m very much obliged for your time and attention, and always have been and always will be.
With the proliferation of social media, everyone has a number of methods that allow them to connect with other like-minded people. Artists occasionally tend to take that connection for granted. I’m most certainly not one of them. Such connections, in all their forms, can come and go—much like the fluctuating wind; much like a fickle bird, fluttering from tree to tree, seeking an ideal branch on which to land and nest. In other words, I don’t feel entitled to your support; it must be earned and sustained. Well aware of the choices you have to make as consumers, I see that authors of all kinds are vying for your attention, palms open, salivating. I’m a bit different from them. In my own little world, the only one I know how to function and maneuver in, I have to keep on creating and sharing my words, giving you a chance to let their meaning penetrate, to let you on your own come to a decision as to their quality and overall value. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, my experiments not only provide pleasure and entertainment but give you a great deal to think about. Doubtless there are times my words fail on that level—and on every level. All of my works, though, are honest attempts—morsels, whether edible or not—of what I'm working on at the time, indications of where my mind has been, where it is headed. It meanders, I know, and I’m glad, as I’m no fan of complacency. You have been tuning in for some time, ladies and gentlemen, and, as always, I appreciate your ongoing interest.
The writing life is one of unpredictability, one of various joys and letdowns, but one that, when taken seriously and practiced to one's utmost abilities, can enrich a life as nothing else can. Just knowing that somebody out there has, from time to time, been affected, or—dare I say, moved?—by my words is a substantial reward all its own.
When I started writing, back in 2007, I never imagined I'd get as far as I have. That’s the truth. I had no idea what I was doing (I haven’t stopped learning), but I kept going. I was more determined to sharpen my craft than to focus on sales alone. In my experience, learning doesn’t cease with publication—it intensifies. Sales, if they’re meant to happen, will come in good time. Anyway, I was simply having fun in the beginning, making contributions, staying the course, keeping a promise to myself never to give up, even when confronting challenges, setbacks, and frustration. Nowadays, when I think I’m putting on paper utter nonsense, I can’t curb my drive, I can’t quiet, or ignore, my inner voice—because I want to write, and I yearn to share and publish, and I hope to pique your curiosity as well as my own. Needless to say, the words must be written, though they once in a while, despite my best efforts, come across as in desperate need of surgery. In my case, I hope that happens less often than more often.
Though I'm far from being accomplished enough to call myself a top seller, I'm very pleased with my progress, with my ability to diversify; and I’m grateful for all the readers I've had as well as the new ones I look forward to earning. As I've said any number of times, and as I stated in one of my own recent aphorisms: "I may not always get the words right, but at least I get them down." That, since 2007, has been my thinking, my logic, my outlook. And you, my friends, have hitched a ride for the long haul, drinking in the steady breeze that is my words and sentences, regardless of their direction, purpose and vitality, and supporting even the flops. For that, for everything, I adore you—and I thank you. Thank you, also, to the multitude of writers, artists, and filmmakers, past and present, who have inspired me. Many thanks for listening, my friends, now and forever.
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