What if you were ten years old and someone let it slip that you were going blind? What if after that, the subject was simply ignored? No conversations about the future, no preparation, no guidance. Nothing.
My book, tentatively titled, Brave the Night, is about a young man in rural Kentucky trying to find his way as the world fades from sight. In my youth, rock n roll and delinquency provided an outlet for teenage angst. Later, I used travel, social causes, and drugs for the purpose of escapism and avoidance. But inevitably, reality arrived one day, and after losing the most important things in my life, I decided reclamation was essential.
I became a mental health counselor, treating myself in route to a career I could maintain despite my failing vision. I began to explore, continuing my travels with a white cane in hand and looking inward for strength I had long ignored. My book is full of humor and intense emotion, characters and stories I process through the lens of a mental health professional. I evaluate the steps that led to my infected mind, and the consequences of that diseased state; then, use my white cane to find purpose and belonging in the dark.
Providing your e-mail address will get you three things:
- My eternal gratitude. You can’t sell it on Ebay, but it’s hopefully good karma for you.
- You will receive quarterly updates on the status of the book, complete with excerpts not seen elsewhere, general musings, and likely a link or two to some of the music or other creative projects I am currently involved in. Any message sent outside of that quarterly format will be solely for the purpose of disclosing earth shattering information. For instance, an asteroid strike which has literally shattered the Earth, publication news in literary journals, etc.
- Publishers and literary agents want to know that people care about your writing before they ever invest in an unknown author. Your e-mail address, as small a thing as it may be, indicates interest, and a sufficient number of e-mail addresses can spark interest from a publishing house or agent. If nothing else, e-mails also allow me a means to communicate with interested people should I choose to self publish the book. So please, if you have an interest in mental health, if you care about the subject of disability, about rock n roll or recreational drug use, about a farm boy turned international traveler, please share this with your friends and help me gather the e-mail addresses that may ultimately make this book possible. Thank you!