This is number sixty-nine in the blog series, “My Life in Erotica.” I encourage you to join my Patreon community to support my writing.
I HAVE BEEN WRITING almost non-stop for the past ten+ years. In that time, I’ve averaged some 800,000 new words per year. Since 2013, I have published fifty-eight erotica novels and ten mainstream novels to join the three I had out prior to that time. Wow! Sixty-eight novels in eleven and a half years. And a variety of short stories and essays!
I have a new novel anticipated in August. But that marks a bit of a slow-down this year. I expect only three new novels to be released this year, rather than my average of six a year. If you are an old fan of the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew and read the massive number of volumes in those series, you know that several different authors wrote under those names over the years. Not so with me. I wrote and published sixty-eight novels under two different names, but the same author.
I’m only seventy-four years old and am not planning to retire anytime soon. But I might need a short vacation to recharge my batteries. Even God rested on the seventh day. So they say.
I believe I’ll take July to think and plan. I’m going to Alaska the last week of July and expect to breathe a lot of fresh sea air on the voyage. I want to see glaciers before they are gone. I want to visit the coastal towns. And I want to inhale inspiration.
I have to say that having heart problems back in 2019 changed my view of travel a bit. I found myself staying longer in one place and nearer to places where there was a good medical infrastructure if needed. Three years ago, I settled in Las Vegas for the winter and spent six, then eight, then nine months there before hitching up to wander for the summer.
This past December, I flew to Seattle for a two week visit over the holidays. I ended up staying four months as the cardiologist installed a pacemaker and followed up with a couple of procedures that would help it keep time.
And this summer, I left the trailer parked in Vegas and just took off driving northward in my truck for the summer, staying in cheap motels (which are nowhere near as cheap as I remembered), and eating cheap meals. I’ve worked my way from Las Vegas, through California, Reno, California, Oregon, and Washington. From here I’ll board a ship bound for Alaska. (That will make forty-seven states.) Then, in August, I’ll drive down the coast from the Olympic Peninsula, through Oregon, and down the coast of California, before cutting across from LA to Las Vegas. The redwoods, the beaches, the beauties.
By that time, I expect I’ll have an idea for the next great book, whether it is a Nathan Everett literary book or a Devon Layne erotic tale.
Lest you become concerned, I want to say that my new pacemaker is working flawlessly, I’m now on fewer drugs of less potency, and I’m feeling great. This is not my farewell message!
I expect to return to writing this fall, stronger, more inspired, and I admit, a little poorer than I am today. As is usual, I have twenty-something half-baked ideas in my files and I’m sure one or more of them will finally jump up and declare it’s time to finish baking.
In the meantime, I want to direct you to the stories I have still running at StoriesOnline (authors aroslav and Wayzgoose), and the library of stories I have available on my personal author sites for Devon Layne and Nathan Everett. I’ll be doing some cleanup on those sites and updating with current information. Stay tuned!
My life story continues to be about appreciating the journey without thought for the destination. At the same time, I support marginalized people of all sorts—whether it be old men, the disabled, the homeless, veterans with PTSD, immigrants, gender queer persons, women, children, the abused, those racially discriminated against, or those threatened by the loss of fundamental rights—which probably includes you.
Though I have long since woken up from my time under religious indoctrination, I still recognize the personal wisdom in the New Testament verse: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” The rights of all suffer when the rights of the few are diminished. We cannot ‘give’ rights to one person at the expense of others. We can only give them power to ignore our rights.
I have made it to the Pacific Northwest where the temperature is significantly lower than the 116 expected in Las Vegas this week. I just hope my trailer doesn’t melt while I’m gone. Next week, I’m sure I’ll come up with some new meanderings of my mind to share with you. Until then…