Hello, friends.
We’re leaving May behind and swinging into June. Things have been a lot. Still, the end of the school year quickly approaches and I’m there for it. So. Much. So. Because if what I’ve witnessed is any indication, next year will be even worse.
But I’ll have my stories. Thank goodness that there’s always stories.
Welcome to the 175th installment of Gauthic Times, the newsletter about my writing, my life, and sliding into new projects. If you’re a reader who subscribes via Substack, my website, or Patreon, your encouragement helps motivate me. I’m not breaking any records but I’m thankful to have any audience.
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Another week with mostly thinking about writing rather than sitting down and writing. That said, I feel pretty prepared to move forward on a bunch of things, including a new book.
I did some work for a possible memoir to get my brain in gear. I think I’ll be attempting writing it because I think the place it comes from is kind of interesting.
I also did a lot of thinking about what I believe will be my next novel-length project, which I’ll refer to as Project: Nightmares. Today’s essay is a little about this.
Of course, I’m still shopping Project: Amusement Park around to agents, etc., and will be trying to work on and submit more stories, too. Summer vacation can’t come fast enough so that I can be a full-time writer for 10 weeks.
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I can feel it beginning. The sliding. It sounds ominous—and it might be—but not for me. Well, not totally for me. The sliding—or the Sliding, if you prefer—came to me recently as a noun but it’s a feeling I’ve had before. It’s also a pull—or the Pulling—that happens as the ideas mount up and I begin to slide toward writing a new book. It’s exhilarating. It’s scary. It’s a part of my life.
Since I finished Project: Amusement Park and wrote Four Moons, I’ve wondered what my next book would be. For months now I suspected it’d be one (or two) of three. One idea is a memoir that I’ve had in my head for 21+ years but I feel is the right time to write, since I turn 50 in 2027. The subject matter of the memoir particularly is appropriate for next year. Another idea is a fantasy/science fiction story I’ve had in my head in a very vague way for even longer. I’ve done some preliminary notes and such for it but need to do a little more reading, I think, before I’d be comfortable taking a journey in the genre. The other idea I’ve head I’ll call Project: Nightmares, a horror novel. I suspect you can guess what it’s about.
I believe my next big project will be Project: Nightmares.
At some point recently, the concept went from, It’d be nice to write a story about…. to I think this is what needs to happen…. One way that I know it’s nearly time to write it is because I’m obsessing over it. When my mind wanders, it tends to go to the concept. Characters have begun to slowly form, introducing themselves. More ideas have begun to cling to the basic concept. The worst part…I began doing some research.
I hate research. I’m generally too lazy to do much but also realize that I’ll always need to research things when I’m writing. The process of looking loosely into things has begun. That’s a big sign. Another is that I think I have the opening scene/paragraph.
I don’t outline my books or even really know much about them before writing them. I’ll have a concept that becomes an obsession but the story is bare bones at best, and usually not even that solid. It’s probably a wasteful way to write but it’s the way I’ve done it for most of my life and I love the discovery of the story.
To begin a book, I like to have an opening paragraph. If one presents itself to me, it does the job that—in theory—that it should to for readers, which is to hook me in and make me want to continue. As I write this, the opening came to me this morning.
I’ve felt the Sliding for the last week and it’s grown stronger and with the arrival of the opening, I now have the nervous-jittery feeling of anticipation, of knowing something really good could be coming. Of course, it could also be garbage. Like anything else, we never start off thinking things will go to hell but they could, but the excitement far outweighs the fear. It should since I just really want to know what happens. I really want this story to exist and I want to know what it is.
The Sliding has begun and soon, I will sit down and begin the next book. I hope I don’t fuck it up, but, really, when you’re telling yourself a story, can you really fuck it up?
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That’s this week’s newsletter. Thank you so much for subscribing, reading, and for your support. Be safe out there, friends.
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Gautham: Bill Gauthier.com 
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