I’ve got three writing projects on the table. All are about halfway finished.
I’m writing my memoir titled My Life In the Sunshine. If I could stop laughing as I write, I would be a lot further ahead. The chuckling, however, is followed by a phew when I recount how many times I could have left this earth choosing to be physically confrontational, especially when the odds were against me.
And this was pre-army.
My journey had a lot of twists and turns. The good thing, however, is that I matured and learned. Where I would rankle at anything from micro-aggression to full-blown racism, now I just smile at the mental and spiritual weakness of people who want you to fail.
My book, Two Wolves, was supposed to be the sequel to my first book, Snake Walkers, a novel that won numerous awards, but I never got the surge, as I call it, to tackle and complete the story. So, now, ten years later, I’m ready.
My third project is the addition of a chapter to Something About Ann, a novella of the same name, and the eleven short stories that follow. This book is a follow up to the award-winning A Long Way Back about a squad of black soldiers who were dropped into Cambodia during the Vietnam war on an illegal mission and not expected to return.
The sergeant, Willie Stinson, is based on the real-life character of a tough orphan who became one of my best friends in my early teens. I wrote about our childhood in the short story The Last Time I Saw Willie, but in retrospect, I didn’t write a follow-up of his return to the States like the other characters in A Long Way Back. So, I decided to include an additional short story about him.
Yes, my plate is full, but I’m retired now, and the only activity that gets in the way of my writing is my addiction to golf. If I spent half as much energy studying this game as I do writing, I would be a lot further ahead.
Nonetheless, I’m enjoying the trip.
Hope to see you on the other end.
Peace