Some of this may be repetitive. I can’t remember what I’ve shared before with my on again off again posts I’ve done for awhile, so I’m going to give the quick and dirty here. So here we go…

Writing

One of the primary reasons, if not the primary reason, I left this blog after ten years was to focus on fictional writing. I’ve done it. I am now an author of two novels. The first one is titled A Body in a Bathhouse. The second one is A Body on the Hill. Sales and reviews have been good on both of them so I’m very pleased. I can’t make enough income off both of them to live off of, but they have been a great supplement to increase standard of living.

I’m working on a third one right now, but it’s not going as well. There’s nothing wrong with the story. In fact, I’m excited about it and think it’s going to be a lot of fun. The problem is production. It took over a year between the first book in my series before the second book came out. The reason? Depression. It’s still kicking my ass from time to time. Better, I guess, but not gone away. It’s been even harder with this third book. The working title is A Body, a Bear, and a Blade. I thought for sure I’d get this one out faster, and it was going well in the beginning, but then the depression hit again. This year has been much worse than last year. The depression has been tough, so I’m nowhere near as far into it as I’d like to be. I’m impressed with the folks who are able to get two or four books out a year. I’d love to be one of them, but for now I’ll have to live with my limitations. In fact, I think one of my last posts was Limitations Suck or something like that. I’ll keep plugging on as best as I can. I love it too much to abandon it.

Those three books are part of my Mitch O’Reilly Mystery Series. There’s a new series that I’ve been dying to get into that will follow a gay detective in the 1920s, but I think it’s important to stick with what I’ve got for now. I picture the Mitch series to go for five novels. At least those are what I have in my mind. If people continue to love Mitch, and me too, I’ll probably keep going forever, but that’s a we’ll see. My wish is that I could put one Mitch book out a year, and one from the new series out a year. I’ll have to wait until I get more balanced and productive before that happens.

Gay Mystery Podcast

Almost one year ago, I got a bug up my butt and decided I wanted to start a podcast. I don’t believe enough people are aware of the gay mystery genre and my goal was/is to get the word out. The idea came to me one day and it was something I was going to mull over a bit, but my bipolar brain got the best of me and the next week I announced it was coming. In the show I interview an LGBTQ mystery/suspense/thriller author each week. When I got the idea and announced it, I had no interviews lined up. I just said it was coming.

Fortunately, it’s turned out okay…more than okay, I love it. I have great guests each week. It was hard in the beginning, but my interviewing skills have turned more into conversation skills and I’m pleased. Surprisingly, my depression hasn’t gotten in the way. Out of 50 episodes, there was only one I had to postpone because I was too down to do it. Most days I can do it and do well, but I’ll be exhausted and spend the rest of the afternoon and evening recouping from all the energy I’ve put out. Right now I have guests booked through December, so I guess I’ll still be going at it.

Brain Tumor

I hesitate to bring this up, but I shared about it before when I was freaked out and feel the need to give an update. As you may recall, it’s benign, but is located in a really bad spot. It’s at the base of the back of my neck, stuck right smack dab in the middle of where my nerves come up from my spine. Because it’s benign and surgery would be pretty risky, my neurosurgeon decided to let it be. I just have to go in for an MRI every year to make sure it’s not growing. Well, it grew a little bit over the pat year, but he still doesn’t think it’s anything to worry about. He doubts it’s likely surgery will ever be necessary, but I still have to go back. My next MRI is scheduled for this November. Unlike the post where I brought it up, I’m not freaking out about it anymore.

Becoming an Expat

I think the last time I brought up that Maurice and I may leave the country, we were debating between Ecuador and Uruguay. After much research we decided if we go that it will be Uruguay. Ecuador is a bit too unstable and third world for us. In a later post I’ll share why Uruguay will be our choice, but I’ve got too much to cover already.

We’re both pretty dead set that if Trump wins again that we will leave sometime next year. It’s not just the fear of him as president that concerns us (which it does) but also what it says about our fellow citizens. Do we want to live in a country like this anymore? That remains to be seen. Plus, being a black man, Maurice would like to know that if he goes for a walk that he’ll make it home alive.

I’m pretty dead set that I want to go regardless of how the election turns out. I love the sense of adventure. Maurice…well, he’s not so sure. He still has his heart set on building a tiny house on wheels and finding a good place to settle here in the states. I guess this is a stay tuned.

Psychological Care

I changed my insurance last year and am thrilled that I did. It’s so much better in every way except one…there are very limited options for psychiatrists and the one I have is an absolute quack. If I tell her I’ve been sad she immediately wants to change my meds. If I tell her I’ve been a bit manic or anxious, she wants to change my meds. I tried to get through to her that I’ve gone through this whole finding the right med game ten years ago, but she gets easily confused. My primary care physician has been open that she’d be happy to work with me regarding my meds. I’m going to make sure I don’t change insurance again this year before I drop my pdoc. Until then, I’m smart enough to tell her everything is fine so she won’t totally disrupt my life.

Weight Loss

I think this is the final thing I need to catch ya’ll up to date on. If not, we’ll get to the rest of the shit later. After a lifetime of living the yoyo, I finally had gastric bypass surgery. Hell yes, I’m glad I did. Since my surgeon put me on a special diet, I’ve lost about 85 pounds. 55 of that has been since the surgery. It’s weird to eat just a few things off my plate and be full, but I’ve gotten used to it. I’m anxious to see how it all works out in the end.

Conclusion

Overall, life is good. The reason I brought this blog back to life is to help with my writing. I figure if I start each day getting my creative juices going that I’ll be able to carry it over to my fiction writing. That’s my goal. We’ll see what happens. I’m optimistic.

I was going to keep this post between all of us that have been following me through the years, but who knows, maybe I’ll go ahead and make this the first post I share with the world via Facebook. Why not give everyone a taste of what’s been going on, huh? We’ll see.

For now, we’ll see what I have going on each week and if I have enough to tell you about. I think I will.

It’s Good To Be Back!