From The Author: 2 Years of Reverie Days

​Hello to everyone!
 
I thought it might be a good idea to write something considering that it’s now the two year anniversary of Reverie Days being online. As I have mentioned in the past, I have always been my own biggest critic of my writing and it was a difficult process even allowing myself to share most of it with others. Having this site and a place to get my work out there has been a very rewarding experience for me so far and hitting two years is a nice reminder that it’s been one thing in my life I’ve stuck with and continued in spite of myself. I have been writing off and on for most of my life, but this has given me a focus with it and allowed to me share what I’ve done with the few others who have been interested.
 
I wrote my first book as a way to “let it all go” in terms of the feelings I had let build up relating to my service during the war in Iraq. I wanted to “write what I know” and felt like I told the story that I wanted to tell with it, even if I was never completely happy with how it came out. The feedback that I’ve received from it has almost always been positive, which helped inspire me to continue writing and put all the other crazy ideas I have floating around on paper. Finishing the Mel’s Hole book was something that I felt needed to be done, not just for myself, but because there is basically no literature on the event. I wanted there to be some sort of serious take on the story for those who may be new to it and felt like I put together a nice little retelling with all of the information I’ve put together over the years.
 
One thing that I’ve always struggled with is productivity. A major part of that is the constant and daily struggle of managing my health. My brain is my own worst enemy and often decides to ruin both my creativity and many other things thanks to a fine balance of trying not to get a headache. I also have to try and manage the chemical imbalances that a brain injury causes in terms of moods and don’t always do a good job of that. One week I’ll be completely motivated and feeling wonderful and then the next I’ll have no desire to do anything productive. It’s not a fun thing to have to deal with, but I’ve never tried to use it as an excuse when it comes to my writing. I’ve been better about coming up with a process that works for me (which just came with the experience of writing more and more).
 
As far as this New Year goes, I’m going to continue to write the regular series that I’ve been working on and will once again try and do it more often. I have so many ideas and directions that I’d like to go with most of the stories and have been handcuffing myself creatively by just not giving the stories the time and love they deserve. I want to change that and plan on doing so this year. If it causes me to have to do more rewrites, that is worth the price of being more productive. I know there are not thousands of people waiting day to day on new updates for my work, but I do know there are a few regular readers that I appreciate dearly and would hate to see leave because of my lack of ability to produce regular and quality content.
 
With all of that said, my plans for the New Year include finishing what will be Book One of Four in the Paranormal Series. I had been going back and forth just what I wanted to do plan wise and decided to release separate books that all share a theme that are a part of a larger collection. So book one will be all ghost related stories, while the second will be Monster stories, and then Big Foot, and finally Mysteries. The first book, the ghost one, is very close to being finished and I’ll be able to move further with what I’d actually like to do with it. I’m considering trying to go the traditional publishing route with it, but we will see. If not, I will go the self-publishing way as I have in the past.

I'm also going to really focus on Little Girl Land and finish it finally. It's been a major neglected project from me for a few reasons, but I want to focus and finish it. I'd also like to kick off Of The Dim and finish as much of The Replicated Artifice as I can. And of course,  I'm going to still work on the other things also as much as I'm able.
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I write first and foremost because I enjoy building characters and stories, and love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with finishing a story. I’ve never been out to “get famous” or write a best seller. I just want to put out quality works that somebody somewhere enjoys reading. I sometimes struggle with feeling like I have, but I know that I can do a fine job and that I have something deeper inside me that I just need to let go of. I feel like once I find out what it is, even if it’s just getting my head under control, I’ll be able to finally push myself past all that self-doubt and will produce more that I think is worthy and more often.
 
I think I might try and do a regular sort of update like this and just talk about whatever thing I’ve got on my mind. I’m not sure anyone is really interested or not, but it might at least keep me writing which will rub off on my other work. I want to thank everyone who’s visited the site the past two years no matter what they read and how often they’ve returned. I appreciate the feedback and support from those who have offered it and hope to continue posting things that people want to read.

Thank you,
​Chris

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