I'm wondering...

Could it be that I was foolish to believe I could write a simple story about an elderly man who refuses to back down in the face of unjust charges, thus leading to his death, and make it have any meaning? I really wonder.

A Place of Safety is my strongest attempt at a straightforward novel, and that is strung along the core of an historical event. That is what kept it on track, really. Any time I tried to run off in one direction or Brendan went in another that didn't work, it all came back to making certain we were honest about the times and his world.

Bobby Carapisi is along the same lines. It's got non-con mm sex in it, which makes my inner core happy, but it treats the situations of Eric, Bobby, and Allan as honestly as possible. And all I'm saying in it is that even someone who's committed evil is capable of being understood. Sort of.

The Vanishing of Owen Taylor is a murder mystery so that allows a lot of detail to be added so the revelation is not too obvious. The Lyons' Den is based on an Earl Derr Biggers novel, which gave me room to play. And The Alice '65 is just a fun little rom-com of a story without any deep meaning.

I mean, all of my stories have something to say about how broken America's system of justice is, so me making another novel with nothing but that as its reason to be is repetitious. And MQM just wasn't playing along.

And what good would it do as a character study? I can't see that in it unless it's illuminating other aspects of what's going on.

So today I did no writing whatsoever. Sorted boxes of old paperwork. Stayed offline till dinnertime. And let the world just wash on by, for a while.

Helps my mental and emotional health, at least.