How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (not the name of my second ...

They tell you to find a niche and stick with it. My "problem" is that I have 5 or 6 niches that fit me and when I combine 3 or 4 of them I feel excited and when I focus on one of them I feel bored.

Well that's just too bad for you. I like talking about language learning and cultural differences. I also like talking about Taoist philosophy, non-dualism and other woo woo, I like music and video games, I like writing fiction and blogging and trolling, and I do not want to manage 10 accounts.

They tell you to be consistent, but I got way too much going on to be consistent with everything, so too bad for me. I may not get the reach I could have if I focused entirely on one thing, but making my whole creative process fun for me is the reason why I do any of this. If I wanted money I would have tried to get a high-paying job and if I wanted fame I would have done pop cover songs upside down or something.

I was a little discouraged at the fact that my last post didn't receive any real comments, but then again, I wasn't expecting much...it's probably one of the hardest-to-relate-to posts I've ever written (and I've also been pretty inactive recently). I can think of a 3 or 4 people at Hive who I know can relate to it, that's about it.

I just hope it didn't scare anyone away because I like you and I would love it if you don't think I'm crazy :-P

But you know.... from the standardized, old school perspective, I AM crazy, so, yeah. It's really all up to you.

Anyway.

Today I worked on chapter of my 3rd novella, the second to last chapter in fact. Almost done. It is the most challenging chapter I've ever had to work on because it is so far outside of my own personal experience and outside of almost anyone I know's personal experience. It's also an incredibly dark and disturbing topic, being discussed through three very different characters who have three very different approaches to life. I have no idea how I myself would react to such a situation so it's hard to imagine how my characters would.

Still I felt this topic was necessary for the protagonists development and so I have to go through with it and write about this very unpleasant topic. The story demands it, and when the story demands it, you do what it says because it knows better than you do and better than I do!

The best I could do was research a bit on how people deal with certain kinds of trauma, corruption in particular organizations, and how those organizations are run.

To be honest, I'm wondering when I'm going to get some more feedback on my writing. There were 3 people who said they loved it and even gave me details about why they did, but they are probably the strangest people I know. 1 friend said he had no idea what was going on, but he's also a bit strange in a different way. I want to know what the less insane people I interact with think of my writing. I can't figure out why I don't get more feedback, but I know it's one of 4 possibilities:

1 The writing style is hard to follow

because it's written in the same style that I think in...HORIZONTALLY, many thoughts and observations weaving together constantly (this is why I chose to turn this one story into a novella series, I think it's very intense storytelling to read for prolonged periods).

2 They can't relate to the content

Same as my last post. Too dark? Too psychedelic? Too far from their lives? Outside of what they can accept?

3 No one actually read it

(cause who reads books in 2022?) other than 4-5 friends.

4 They don't want to tell me that they hate it

(it's ok, I won't be upset).

Well, either way, I'll keep writing and trying to improve my craft on my own terms, but I'd sure appreciate some kind of feedback to know how my writing hits (or fails to hit) people. And I'd also really love some 5-star reviews on Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Goodreads etc. etc. WINK WINK! ;-)

Confession of the Damaged 1.2 is already finished, I'm just waiting for a tiny detail on the artwork (displayed below). Confessions 1.3 is nearly complete as well but will probably be released about 4-6 months after 1.2 (so....summer).

For now you can find Confessions of the Damaged 1.1 at any of the sites listed at this URL, and 1.2 is coming in February, for certain.

I'm absolutely in love with it, but then again, I'm Wacky Doodle Dandy, as we've already established ;-)

Love you if you read this post, love you if you didn't.

Here's the artwork for Confessions 1.2, I think I probably shared it already: