Seven and a half years between blog entries? Is that some kind of a record?
Thanks to all who took the time to write. I am doing very well. In this case, "very well" is a synonym for "busy in real time", which indicates why there has been no new material from me for so long.
One question I've been asked quite often - do I intend to make Lightning in a Bottle available on Bookapy, or other commercial sites? The short answer is no.
Here's why - first of all, there's a few age-related issues in the story. Pat and Diana were seventeen during their relationship during Pat's senior year in high school. Plus, there's that scene where Pat fends off the advances of his sister's fifteen-year-old friend. These issues, by themselves, could perhaps be dealt with, but it would take a substantial rewrite.
The bigger problem is my extensive use of copyrighted song lyrics. In a couple of critical moments in the story, I interweaved song lyrics with the narrative, and I simply don't want to change that. It would impact the story in a negative way. In particular, I'm talking about the "Suddenly" and "And So It Goes" scenes.
So, bottom line, LiaB will remain a free story, available only on this site.
An Unwanted Alias - a story which does not have these issues - might be a candidate to turn up on Bookapy at some point. It's also a candidate for Finestories, in edited form - it wouldn't take too much editing to bring it within parameters.
Also, a few words about Song of Adelita. I've sat down on a couple of occasions and tried to pick up the story. It isn't coming. That story originated from a much different part of my life, so many years ago, and I'm finding I can't get myself into the state of mind required to continue the tale.
Going back to Lightning in a Bottle - I may do a minor clean-up type edit at some point. There's a few instances, especially late in the story, where I repeat earlier dialogue and narrative, and I'd like to fix that.
As always, I have a few ideas for stories bouncing around in my head. We'll see if any of them actually make it out for public consumption.