DFL Runner: Blog

I am, as always, grateful to jetson63 for his editing assistance. Enjoy!

For those who may be curious about the information at the end of Chapter 26, which is in queue and should be posted shortly:

https://www.firehouse.com/lodds/news/21070554/fallen-me-firefighter-died-saving-a-colleague-from-an-inferno

Like my main character in "The Inches Between Us," I am Polish-American. "Wesołego Alleluja" is a Polish Easter greeting, and translates to "Rejoice, He is risen!"

The approximate pronunciation of the first word is VESS-so-LAY-go. "Alleluja" is, of course, just a Slavicized spelling of "alleluia" and is pronounced the same.

I have just added Chapter 25 to the queue, albeit a week later than I had originally planned. My atonement is that Chapter 26 will be posted this Friday, April 22.

A dark and challenging event has transpired in Lisa's life, and the next couple of chapters are necessarily going to be a bit of a challenging read. Certainly they were challenging to write; this part of the story is derived from real events in my own life. In fact, I'll tell you now that an upcoming chapter will open with a trigger warning asking people to ensure they're in a good place mental health-wise before reading it.

That said, if you've stuck with me for this long, you know this is not and never was a stroke story. Please hold on; brighter days (and more pleasantly intimate moments) are ahead for our heroes.

May you all have a blessed Easter Sunday. Please enjoy the next chapter, and please offer feedback! I'm always happy to receive it, and will respond to it as I am able.

Thanks --
DFLR

My second cousin once removed (father's cousin's granddaughter) will never know her father, who was a firefighter most of his adult life. She was born several months after he unexpectedly succumbed to injuries he received on the job.

This story was not originally intended to see the light of day. I used it partly as a creative outlet and partly as a way of journaling for my counseling homework. This chapter and the two that will follow were written shortly after his passing, as a way for me to process it.

It felt good to finally post a new chapter after all this time. I hope you will enjoy it and that you will welcome me back into the small windows of time you spend reading the offerings on this site.

It's been a long 21 months that have passed since you last heard from me. I'm not going to bore you with all the details of my absence because, frankly, I don't think you want to hear them, nor do I particularly want to revisit some of them.

Here's what I think you want to hear instead: "The Inches Between Us" is preliminarily scheduled to have its next chapter posted on March 19, 2022.

The chapter is mostly written - it was drafted in 2020, in fact - but it was never actually submitted for editing. The awesome jetson63 has confirmed that he will return to the editor's chair on my behalf, and I expect to get it to him before the middle of this week. That will give me some time to dive back into the heads, hearts, and lives of these characters who have been making their voices heard, if only subtly mixed into the morass of an extended depressive episode, asking me to continue their story.

I can't - yet - make any promises about a posting schedule, but I do promise to finish the story. Maybe even start another one.

Looking forward to all of you rejoining me on the path John and Lisa are walking --

DFLR