Why the Lanai

In the land of fancy porches and dust

Why the Lanai 

I have been trying new things to stay inspired and keep the words flowing. Writing six to ten novels (95,000 to 100,000 words or 350 plus pages) per year is how I pay the bills. That sounds like a lot; Variant Publications puts all of my Homeworld Lost novels through several rounds of editing that include a professional editor, a professional proofreader, and eight to ten volunteer beta readers before we’re done.

This makes it possible for me to write fast, but it is still an enormous amount of work. 

Now that I am writing full-time, there shouldn’t be excuses for not getting my butt in the chair. The problem is focus, and I am getting stir-crazy, I think. 

So I bought a new laptop that will run Scrivener and headed out into the world like I used to. A mixture of coffee house sessions and parking lot binges resulted in some damn good word counts. 

Better yet, the stories felt better than they have for weeks. Had some nice breakthrough moments. 

On Thursday and Sunday mornings, I often go to the gym with my wife. When I woke up early, around 5 a.m. here, I decided to try out the back porch, then work out, then head out into the world. 

This plan is just crazy enough to work!

We had a lanai put in when we had this house built. (That’s what you do in Kansas. There is so much land and so many construction companies that when it’s time to move, you have the option to build what you want.) A lanai is a really wide sliding-glass door that opens in sections.

I slid back just enough to get outside, uncovered one section of the furniture, and plopped down. 

Time to type all the words. 

In the Beginning

Birds sang in the predawn darkness. A cool breeze welcomed me to the inner and outer realm of creativity, nicely breaking up the warmth and humidity I didn’t love. I put aside my plan to dive straight into my primary manuscript, Shining World: Homeworld Lost 10, and started to blog.

So far, so good. 

The first vehicle traffic began to roll out of the neighborhood, and I was worried. Busier streets and highways sound louder and louder as the clock ticks toward 6:30. Many of my urban stories talk about the sound of tires on asphalt in the middle of the night. That came from shift work and it’s a thing. 

Oooh! Bonus! It’s raining. Nothing like the sound of raindrops on the roof. And now maybe my grass will survive. (We live near what used to be a sandpit, so the water table is shallow as hell, giving me the option for sprinklers for the first time in my adult life. Very nice. The builder said, “You can dig a well with a fork in this neighborhood.”

There go the Canadian geese. This group forgot to stop and crap in my yard. Maybe they will be back. I live on a corner and am very popular with all animals that need to offload some organic material, pets included.

But I digress.

In the Very Near Future

There will soon be entirely too much wind, dirt, and noise to work on my fancy porch. Next to us, there are two lots under construction. One has crews working on the metal concrete forms, which involves hitting them with rubber mallets. Just imagine nine-foot-high hollow metal panels being banged together. Later, the concrete truck will come. This, as you might have guessed, is noisy as well. 

One lot farther south, they have completed the foundational concrete, including the basement, and are framing the interior—which also involves hammers.

I did this work one summer years ago. It’s hard work—and always in extreme heat or cold for some reason. I commend the workers for their diligent effort while reserving the right to bitch and moan about the noise and the mess. 

There will be school buses and my dog barking at neighborhood dogs. We live under the flight path for the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (formerly Mid Continent). Soon I will be reunited with the sound of jet engines. 

Smile and Wave

My timer just went off. I gave myself thirty minutes to collect and share my thoughts this morning. It may sound like I am complaining, but that isn’t it at all. This morning, at least, I am merely observing the world around me and seeing what comes out.

Wish me luck. It’s time to dive into science fiction and create amazing new worlds full of danger. 

If you haven’t checked out my latest Variant Publications release, please head to Amazon and search for Hero’s Return. The ebook and paperbacks should be up. The audiobooks run a month or two behind at the moment. 

So why did I step through the lanai doors to this mystical land of suburbia?

The answer is simple. Writing in the exact same chair everyday can be good, but it’s nice to mix things up.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stay safe!