Some readers of this blog have wondered where I have gone.  It seems I’ve gone missing…but, in actuality, I’m right here.

When one is a writer, he writes.  And I have been writing a lot, just not on this blog.  It’s a temporary absence because of some great writing news.

In the middle of September, Ravenswood Publishing awarded me a contract for the rights to my novel Scattering the Ashes.  This wonderful story will be published by Ravenswood on August 20, 2017.

This good news was followed a few weeks later by even more good news, Ravenswood also contracted me to publish a collection of my very best essays in a book to be titled, Impossible is an Illusion.  That book will actually precede the novel with its release on June 25, 2017.  

In order to gets my works to the wonderful editor Britta Eastburg Friesen as quickly as possible, I had had to forgo “blogging” and focus on the writings that will be published next year.  Primarily that has meant that I have working, diligently, on my novel.  The story that makes up Scattering the Ashes is wonderful, touching, heart-warming, and sentimental.  I have been working on this text for many years.  In that time I have gone through numerous drafts, revisions, and deep hard edits.  I have also grown as a writer.  All told, the book has been rewritten countless times.  The version I am sending to Britta is what I am calling my penultimate edit.  I am hoping that the work I have invested in this text over the last month and a half, have brought the manuscript to the point where it it is very close to being a finished product.

This writing (editing, revision, etc.) has consumed my free time.  I wake up extra early to invest a few hours in the process before I exercise or, most often, run.  (Yes, I’ll be running the New York City Marathon on November 6.)  

While Britta is working through the penultimate draft of Scattering the Ashes, I will be collecting the 52 essays that be included in Impossible is an Illusion.  My nest task will be to edit and revise those essays so that they, too, appear in their finest form.  

Of course, in addition to all this writing, I have an important job and a family.  I invest a lot of time in my family and hope that my writing endeavors don’t take too much time away from them.  I also love my job and invest many hours each day in helping the teachers, the students, and the community into making our special school the greatest place possible for children.

Because my posts here have been infrequent, it seems I have disappeared.  I haven’t.  I’m not missing.  I’m here.

I’m running.  I’m working.  I’m coaching.  I’m living.  I sharing my love with my family and friends.  And I’m writing.

and writing…

and writing…

(Stay tuned, coming shortly there will be a few essays coming to the blog.  These are a post titled Impossible is an Illusion, one that will summarize my experiences at the New York City Marathon, and a third titled The Gift of Hope.  They are coming, I promise!)