Try & Error

I tried to push myself this year, to become a better writer, to write more stories, increase my range, and probably get some new readers over time. Make up for the words I didn’t write last year.

Well, that failed spectacularly. Life finds a way — mostly to set me back, thwart my goals and open my eyes to reality. Now, with a corrected perspective, my conclusion is not to stop striving; rather to do so in a more relaxed pace.

Increasing pressure on myself did naught but lead to frustration because my discipline and creativity crumbled when they were wedged between day job, family life and my brain’s need for downtime.

All that said, you might already guess how my projects went. 👀 Well, I gonna tell you anyway.

Projects

Short story collection(s)

This is on ice for the next two months, and was for the last. Will revisit this in October.

Develop new writing routines

Yep, here we are starting from scratch. The weekly story is not working, and the moment I staggered my writing discipline for those took a tumble down into the abyss.

Rewriting my novel

I am still mulling over ideas even when I don’t write, and I probably have to come to terms with it that my novel might be not a novel but an extensive thought experiment of what should be the base for the real novel. But not yet.

A blink from the past

Right now I am writing a short story called “Shattering Reflections”, and it will be kind of a sequel to “Troubling Reflections”, but 20 years or so later. That one was the first Author Avenger prompt story I wrote in 2023. Which I still like and count as one of my better works. Fancy a read? Please tell me what you think about it.

Troubling Reflections

Promotions

Figuring it out

This is a book bundle one of our Author Avengers participates in, and it would be great if you consider snatching it in the next three days to drive that bundle over the goal!

Offerings for Ordinary Gods by Ali Trotta

Listen, my copy is due tomorrow, and I very much hope delivery is not fucking this up for me, because I am sitting on coals waiting for this. Ali opened my heart for this kind of poetry, watered that dried out tree in my chest. To cut things short - order this, read it, often. (links to many shops on the page)

Yes, she is THAT good. And I will sing more praise after getting my hands on this book.

Fizz & Bang

Persisting has become a major aspect of quite every part of our lives, hasn’t it? I am aware that I am living a good, less troubled life than a lot of people, but persisting against and alongside the horrors that slowly fill up our world, taint every breath we take, drip their poison into our ears with every piece of news we hear… it’s getting to me. I can’t damn anyone who closes their ears and their eyes to the world, and keeps persisting in the small circle of their family, their friends. To stand seemingly powerless against a reality shaped more and more by those corrupted by wealth and a hunger for power, driven by delusions of creating the machine god… it’s hard. When others call out and say we have to do something, anything — it seems they ask us to shoulder the sky, all by ourselves! And who would not shrink back from such a futile task?

But listen. No, really now, listen to me: You hold the sky up already! The bit above your shoulders, all the way up to the stars. You carry that. You carried it all your life, held it from tumbling down without even thinking about it. Don’t shrink back from it now. We just have to remember to stand close together, so we can share the weight.

We can lend each other a bit of our strength, cheer each other on, and resist the loneliness they try to impose on us. You are not alone. Not even in the darkest hour, when it seems the horrors are everywhere. We are in this together, no matter how deep the shadows grow or how dreading the clouds pile up. You are not the only one perceiving the horrors; you are not alone in your disgust of what the prophets of greed try to achieve; you are not alone in craving humanity to be more… human.

I am right there, just behind the veil of the night, shouldering my piece of the sky, persisting. So are others. Legions of them. Hold on a bit longer. Persist, day after day. We got this. We can outlast the darkness. We will shine again; we will be human despite their best efforts to make everyone dependent on their machine god.

There is this old German rap song from 1999 by Fanta 4, which had those dreamy, weird lyrics, mixed in pop culture references and a spiritual touch. Once more it proves to me that its message is timeless. It touches me, reminds me as well as 27 years ago that no matter how deep I sink into my rabbit holes of fear — I am not alone. Even in persisting alongside the horrors, we are not alone.

Of course the song is better in the Klingon original, but listen to the German version and feel the vibe, and here is my translation of the last lines:

That boy stands on the brink with empty hands

Without fear in his eyes, with his back to the wall

And then he calls upon all superheroes, all the great masters,

All the highlanders, all warriors, all kindred spirits,

All the super-freaks and chosen ones

And he calls upon me

And has millions of legions standing with him

So, if you feel that the world wears you down, and that you are standing on the brink, looking into the abyss — close your eyes, call upon us. We can shoulder that sky.

You have millions of legions standing with you.

It’s wild out there, be excellent to each other.

Best regards,

Morris

P.S.: Would love to read your opinion/feedback/what you want to know more about? Thx & bye!