Afterward

Dear readers,

It’s been nearly three and a half years since I decided to jump into this “serialized collection of short stories” that has very clearly become a novel by now. Maybe two or three.

Publishing creative works online like this pushed me out of my comfort zone for sure. Up until now, I’ve played my cards close to my chest, keeping those first publication rights in my pocket for that day when a manuscript made it past the slush pile at a real publishing house. But damn were my pockets getting full.

I always used to dream about running my finger down the spines of the fantasy novels at my local bookstore and stopping on my name, about public readings or signing the title page of a stranger’s copy of my book. A part of me still does. But when I started this project, I was at a point in my life where I needed to share something, anything, with someone besides my computer hard drive and the void, prestige and profit be damned. The stories here may not be perfect, and I may not be famous at the end of it, but I like to think I provided a few minutes of reflection or escapism or fun to people I never would have met otherwise, and at the end of the day, that’s what this is about.

Some of you have been here since the beginning, and I’d like to express my absolute appreciation for you. It’s always a comfort and an inspiration to see your like notifications on my posts. And for those of you just joining in, I’m excited to have you here. There won’t be many more posts on this blog–it was made to tell Vincent’s story, and now I’ve done just that. However, there are a ton of stories (dare I call them chapters?) to catch up on in the archives, and I heartily encourage you to follow me on Patreon and Facebook, where I’ll be posting updates on “Crawling the Edge: The Coastrunner Chronicles” and other writing projects for the foreseeable future.

Thank you so much for sharing this ride with me. Let’s keep in touch!