Entry #2, The Fall

Scary movies are taking over streaming. Pumpkin spice is back on the menu. The Georgia Bulldogs are playing great football and the Atlanta Falcons look like someone's make-a-wish was to play quarterback this season. I don't care if the equinox says I have to wait a few more hours: it's fall season, baby!

My favorite season of the year, and not just because I am legally allowed to dress up as a zombie Norseman and scare children. Fall is a wonderful time for writing. The slightly bearable heat means I get to go on walks and enjoy some thinking, which always leads me to better ideas for my stories. Soon I'll be able to sprawl out on the couch in our indoor patio and read and procrastinate with the best of them. Reading and thinking. What a delightful time.

Speaking of delightful times, it looks like I'll have not one but TWO cabin trips lined up next month. The first will be to celebrate our first wedding anniversary up in the North Georgia mountains. The second is at a friend's place in Nashville, where I'll get to hang out with some of the smartest and most creative people this side of the Mississippi. I believe both trips will offer some significant quiet time and inspiration. Will I actually use that time and inspiration to my advantage? Only time (and this blog) will tell.

Not a whole lot to report on the writing front, a phrase I'm afraid I'll be writing far more frequently than I'd like. I did a few small but important tweaks to "The Wyrm Fighter," which is technically complete, though I don't think I've quite landed the ending just yet. Short stories are so difficult with their lack of real estate. Especially when their authors are both perfectionists and fatalists.

Tonight, I'll be editing a bit of BDK, not only to get the damned thing over with but also in hopes it'll spark something in me for "Wyrm." If that doesn't work, I might work on "The Swimmer" song. By the way, who is forty years old, has two thumbs, and will be playing shitty punk rock at his friend's practice space this Saturday? This guy!

One last thing: I realize I didn't post anything about what I'm currently reading in my first entry. Because I think reading is easily the most important thing a writer can do for themselves outside of writing, and since it often has such an influence over an author's style, themes, and perspective, I find it appropriate that I mention the books I am currently reading/have recently finished in all of my entries. Right now, I'm just a scant few dozen pages from the end of Summer Knight, the fourth book in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. Very intriguing world building, excellent cast of characters. Possibly my favorite book in the series so far. I'm also enjoying Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver's American analogue to David Copperfield. My first Kingsolver book, and I find her writing superb. Very lush descriptions, very well-crafted interiority. The pacing is slow, but what else can one do when paying homage to Dickens?

I guess that's it for now... and I am at this moment realizing I might need to come up with a better sign off. Stan Lee really had something when he landed on "Excelsior!" Hunter S. Thompson sometimes used "Selah," which I love for its profound mysticism (it pops up in the Christian bible a bunch but to this day no one really knows what it means). Maybe I can come up with something good before my next post. Anything to keep me from actually writing, amiright?

Well, until next time...

All best, always.

Gunnar

09/22/2026