Back to blogging and writing

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, and that’s okay I suppose. I know many writers who update their blog two, three, even four times a week, and for the first two months after I started this one, I was determined to do the same.

Funny thing, though. I was reading author John Locke, one of the best-selling Kindle authors in the world, and he takes a different tact. He has a blog, but only updates it a few times a year. His belief is that he tries to write truly heartfelt, deep blogs that take a long time to assemble, edit and revise. He wants each blog to really show him, what’s inside, his personality, his beliefs, as a way for others to get to know him in a somewhat less superficial manner than would be possible through pieces he might hammer out every couple of days.

The reasoning behind his blog, behind most everything he does, is simply to build an audience to buy his books. Who could argue with his results? He’s the first self-published author to sell more than a million Kindle books.

So, the last blog I posted, the one about the basketball team I coach losing the state championship game, was one I decided to leave there for a while. I think it shows a little bit more about me, about who I am and who I’ve become over the past few years coaching this team.

I’ve also been quite busy wrapping up the basketball season. We had our final two weeks of practice after the state tournament, then we attended a national tournament in Lynchburg, Va. It’s a great experience—five games in three days—but it’s exhausting, I don’t sleep well away from home anyway, and add to that the fact that I spend half the nights there watching video I get of other teams we might play, and it is tiring.

But exhilarating.

Then comes the crash. Every basketball coach knows it. You’re playing basketball, practicing three times a week, traveling all over two states for games, going over defenses and offenses in your head during the daily commute to and from work, figuring out ways to motivate the team as the season-ending playoffs occur, and then…..it’s all gone.

The first year I coached it literally took a month for me to re-adjust to life without basketball. There was this big hole in my life – in addition to all the time involved, I also missed the players. Over the course of a seven-month season you grow really close to the players, to some of the parents. Then bam! It’s all over.

Since that first year I’ve been better prepared for the end, but it’s still hard that first week or two. We returned home from the tournament about a week ago, and now I’ve mostly re-adjusted my thinking, my emotions, and I’m ready to focus all of that energy and time back on the writing.

And this blog.

That means a treat for you who follow me, because on Wednesday I’ll have an interview with R.J. Cavender. He’s a writer and editor, the man who years ago started this little online entity called the Horror Library that pulled together a group of writing hopefuls into a critique group that has spawned a huge number of writing and publishing ventures, a dozen or so writers who have since garnered  hundreds of short story publishing credits, and a handful of writers who have gone on to publish novels and short story collections, including one best-selling author from the group.

After Thursday’s interview I’ll be back to a few random thoughts from me, some publishing news (I have a couple of novels coming out later this spring), and some more author interviews set for April and May

So, thanks for sticking with me through this little lull, and I hope to hear from you all.