Follow along while I discover this process.

As to how I work, I get to redefine that. I don't want to take three years to write a novel anymore. Fortunately, I think I have worked out a box of tools that will help me refine my process. That's next.

I know a few things I like. For example…

vikings
rock and roll
found family
astronomy and general space stuff
the elements of "worthiness", "virtue", "honor", and other embarrassing ephemera

Not necessarily all at once. But maybe.

I'm not starting from nowhere with those questions. Lucky. I get to rethink them, though. It's an opportunity.

I can say I think it's a cool story. That means I am nearly at a place where I get to work on the next story. That means I get to ask myself a few questions. Like what do I like? And how do I work?

Just not quite to a place where I can explain it in a few words. That's a test of its glory. Can the coolest part of it fit into a sentence or two? It will. I just haven't distilled that yet. I will.

I can't quite explain the story. But that's not because I don't understand it. Not anymore. That's key. I do understand it. New and good to say so. I understand it and I like it.

It means I am nearly not embarrassed to say I wrote a cool fucking book. Nearly. Not quite all the way. But nearly.

It's more an emotional decision than an intellectual one, for me.

Adulthood does happen to the worst of us.

Pink.

AI doesn't replace thinking, folks. It doesn't replace work or effort.

It just changes what you need to pay attention to.

So pay attention.

Its accomplice: careless review.

That means human error.

My worry was more being seen as not an alpha male by the dudes I mistakenly thought had maleness figured out.

These days, not so much.