Why No Christmas Eve Ghost Story This Year?

Well, it's clearly time for me to communicate. :)

I have numerous favorite authors, and one of them drives me nuts, though it is always a delight when I realize he's had a new book published, because then I can order it and have those hours or days when I can savor a new Richard Bach story. Today, I decided to check up on his Facebook page and see how he was doing, what he was up to. I never see anything from him in my newsfeed, so I always have to think about it and look him up. Last time we, the fans, got any sort of an update, he had been in a plane crash, he was recovering, he had just finished a new book and was working on a sequel to Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Well, turns out his Facebook page is gone! Just like his old Web site, one day it just up and disappeared! Why do I love Richard Bach? Because he's brilliant, and he writes from the soul about my soul and your soul, effortlessly putting into words what so many people are struggling to articulate about their own experience of being. Why does Richard Bach drive me nuts? Because he's terrible at the Internet! lol Today, I learned that I have missed not one, but two Richard Bach titles in the past year or so. Last year's Thank Your Wicked Parents had never even been mentioned when he had a Facebook page, and his biggest fan site hasn't been updated since 2005. It's hard to get news on this guy!

Then I realized how bad I've been myself about communicating over the past few months. It's been a doozy of a year, ranking third in the top three worst years of my-life-so-far, but it's definitely time for me to communicate.

So, why no Christmas Eve ghost story this year? The fact is, I meant to post on this weeks and weeks ago. The story I was working on was a tightrope walk, to say the least. It was a satirical tale about a mass shooting. Too soon? I came to the conclusion that it was. The thing is, if I'm writing a piece of dark comedy about a mass shooting, when so many such tragedies have been making headlines over the past few years, I need to be sure that my message is clear. I need to be absolutely clear about what I'm saying with this story and what I'm not saying. So, after much internal deliberation, I decided to let it cook for a while longer. I may get back to this story, or I may never get it ironed out to my liking. I know I wanted to make a tradition out of putting out a new ghost story every Christmas Eve, but I think tradition should never force a story. Nothing should ever force a story. When the story is ready, it will come into the world. Maybe the stories we are compelled to tell will cooperate with the deadlines we set for them, maybe they won't. Stories are funny like that. They're living things, in a way, and some of them are afraid of their own shadows, while others are so eager to take the stage that they can hardly wait for the curtain to lift. Some are a mixture of the two. This one, I think, was a mixture.

I learned last week that another of my favorite authors, Charles Dickens, used to write a Christmas story every year, and he came to call the burdensome tradition his "great stone." I felt validated in this knowledge, as I had already come to the conclusion that tradition should never force a story out before it's really ready to shine.

In the future, lets say, I shall release a Christmas Eve ghost story, if I have one. I would love to have one every year, but it will all depend on the little darlings' willingness to come forth and take the stage.

As for the reading, I wasn't able to find a good venue until the Sunday before Christmas! Bad news for this year, but good news for next. :) I was planning to do "Scarecrow" for the reading. We'll see if that's still my plan next year. I also think I might move the date up to the 21st, rather than the 24th, so that more people will be able to be in attendance who want to be.

Aside from all of that, I have been working on a number of projects that I hope to have more news to share about very, very soon. In the name of not being "terrible at the Internet," I'm planning to embrace YouTube head first next year, and a few of the things I'm doing will be happening there. I really can't wait to tell you more!

And now, back to work...

And yes, I totally ordered those new Richard Bach books the minute I found out they existed! ;) Thank goodness for getting an Amazon.com gift card for Christmas this year!

Peace!