Happy Trails

In the past year and a half, I've written 150 posts that have averaged about two pages each, or roughly 300 typed pages. I began Lazlo's Lament as an accidental blogger and then discovered I enjoyed the short writing exercises and keeping some of you entertained some of the time. Even the name was a bit of a whim because I didn't expect to still be at this 18 months later.

Writing Lazlo's Lament has been a joy and a challenge as I tried to entertain you all and, I suspect, entertain myself. It's also been a bit of a chore because at some point you come to realize that people are reading what passes for this modern-day mass communication, and you feel compelled to write good (or is it well?) As Sladed will attest, we vanity bloggers find that everything happening around us becomes a trigger for that all-illusive content and that this process becomes seductive and addictive, leaving too many brain cells tied up in this undertaking for our own good.

I suspect the blank sheet of paper that we stare at when we have a good idea carries the same feeling I used to get when I was feverishly writing my novel and wondering where my story was taking me next and how I would find the right mix of prose to make the journey worthwhile. At this moment, I don't know where my novel is, let alone where it's going. But I need to find out, and there is a big part of me that wonders where it would be now if I had invested those same 300 pages and edits into my novel.

For those who may have heard at one point or another, I have written more than 400 pages of my novel; some in great need of editing, some not half-bad. If you also know me, you are aware that I have a terrible history of completing things. From musical instruments to foreign languages to sports, I have started them all and mastered none. At 50-years-old, perhaps this is a good time to see if I can complete something I started and learn what it feels like to be satisfied when I have finished, even if it is only on my terms.

So, to completely bury the lead, I won't be posting to this site for a while as I take whatever energy has gone into writing this nonsense and put it toward completing something that has been a lifelong dream: a novel. Wish me luck and thank you for all your kind thoughts, your complaints, your reasoned debate and, hopefully, for a laugh or two. Be well.