I’ve hit a bit of an inspirational lull lately. I’m not traveling this month, so there goes that platform for commentary. I’m fresh out of outrage for the political shenanigans in the US. Politicians gonna be assholes, nothing new there. Guns and gun violence continue unabated – what else can one say that hasn’t been said? My ongoing struggles with digital photography and Fujifilm cameras are hard to document – I can provide a lot of out-of-focus pictures, but who wants to see that? And I’m not involved in any technical/consulting projects at present, just the part-time Board work.

I think I’m at one of those “what’s next?” turning points in life. I know what I want to spend my time on – get back to creative writing, novel writing. But I got soooo stuck trying to finish the first book, there’s a reluctance (fear?) to dive back in. Where and how to start?

I’m toying with the idea of setting the first book aside and starting a new project. Once I’m in the writing flow again, I can resurrect Lost Hope (an unintentionally ironic title at this point) and finish it. Some ideas for a new project include:

• Something about gravity – the last unknown force in physics; the thing that keeps us tethered to Earth. If we solve the mystery of gravity, how does that change the world?
• Something about consciousness. Does consciousness define reality? What does it mean to be a conscious observer in this universe?
• A world where the human birth rate plummets rapidly and we can’t replace those who die. Human population goes from 8 billion to 100 million in four generations. Can we maintain a technological civilization, or do we fall back into an 1850s-style life? And what else happens to the world?
• A second book in the Lost Hope lunar setting where the protagonist has become the Moon’s first/only PI with a mystery or two to solve. Dispense with all the backstory and origin story stuff that has me stymied in the first book. So move on to book two before finishing book one – a weirdly attractive idea.

Those are just a few ideas rattling around in the head. It’s time to get busy and bring one of them to life.