It's not what you think.
Actually, it's not you. It's me. Specifically, I got a book contract, and that made posting hard. Then I got another one. That made it exceptionally difficult. Then school started (I teach at four schools) and that pretty much killed off any time I had to write posts here.
It's not that I'm not writing, you understand. I am--as always--doing National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo--where authors commit to writing 50,000 words, about two hundred or so paperback pages, in a month), and I'm about 20,000 words ahead of pace. Yes, you read that right. I'm going to win NaNo with two weeks to spare. I'll write something on the order of 80,000 words this month. I'm writing this while sitting at my desk at school, in the 45-minute free period I get every day. If I didn't, another week would go by before I could find a few minutes.
Life is wonderful, truly. I've never been happier, never had more productive work to do. I have finished the fifth draft of the non-fiction book I was contracted to write, and it should be in print sometime after Christmas. The other book, the pick-your-path adventure novel, which I am ghost-writing, will be first-drafted tomorrow, I think, or at the latest Friday. I will have produced the draft in 53 days. I could no more have done that three years ago--or even last year, come to think of it--than sprouted wings and flown away on the autumn breeze.
But I've gotten better. Steemit has been a part of that. I did writing challenges for Steemit, and especially one that I did myself, where I wrote 100 first pages of stories in 60 days. I honed my craft. I learned. I got better. I'm proud of the work I've put in in this space, and I fully intend that there will be more of it, probably a lot more. But first, there are people writing me checks to produce words for them. I feel honor-bound to take their money.
One day, I'll tell the story of how all this came about. I'm now able to support my family writing words, something I wouldn't have thought possible just a few short months ago. It's not rocket science, either, and although some of it is absolutely luck, a lot more of it is just hard work over a long time. That's a story that needs telling.
One day.
In the meantime, I'm still lurking here, and still a huge fan of the things Steemit can do. As the community grows--and especially as the marketplace for STEEM grows--there will be a day when we will all be very happy we invested our time here. I intend to be in on that party, with all my heart.
Keep writing.
~Cristof
