Podcast

I’ve wanted to podcast my first novel for a couple years. I’ve wanted to do a bi-weekly podcast for The Juggling Writer since I started the blog almost a year ago.

My first novel, called Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors, is a humorous coming-of-age story about a family traveling cross country in a possessed station wagon. Check out the podcast here.

I’m still knocking around ideas for the The Juggling Writer podcast, but it’s something I’d really like to do.

I just found myself unemployed [again] after working for a month following a 7-month bout with unemployment
.

Hopefully this time around with no job won’t last more than a week or two, but while I’m looking for work, I may as well put the time to good use and start figuring out how to get the best sound for podcasts.

A New Year

Chatting with friends and watching the news, it seems many people are glad to see 2009 go.

I spent the first half of the year dealing with a health issue that’s bothered me since 2004. I watched the calendar approach May 26 (when I turned 40) and spent too much timeĀ  thinking about the writing I hadn’t done. I was laid off the week before Christmas.

I could say I’m glad to see 2009 go…but I’d be lying
.

I made a lot of progress with the health issue in 2009. In looking back at the writing I hadn’t done, I realized how much I have done in the 20 years I’ve been writing seriously. I turned 40 on the top of Enchanted Rock with my wife at my side on a perfect morning. While I was laid off from a job I liked, I see the opportunity before me. I spent hours and hours over miles and miles of walks and runs chatting with my wife about our dreams. I saw friends I hadn’t seen in years, and got iced in at my mom’s apartment on Christmas Eve. I made great progress of my third novel — enough progress that I’ll have it done in a couple months.

2009 was definitely not without its rough spots, but it would be a shame to not look at the good things that happened, too.

As I look back on the good and bad of the past year, I look forward to 2010 even more than I usually look forward to a new year.

I can see why many people didn’t like 2009, but I’m betting if they really looked at it, they’d see a lot of good things that prepared them for the year of possibilities ahead!