Above is a piece of art from my new NFT collection Small Gods of Time Travel. The image was generated by artificial intelligence from the words 'trading information for a new identity,' which is the 6th chapter of the book connected to the collection. The imagery the AI came up with is reminiscent of a shadowy figure gathering an armload of stuff together. The NFT can be found here on objkt for 5xtz.
When I published my first sci fi novel, it felt like a great accomplishment. I'd written books before, but Rainbow Lullaby was my first serious attempt at fiction. After giving dozens of copies away at a rainbow gathering in Wisconsin, I quickly moved on to my next project, The Ostermann Method, which ended up being a much better story.
Small Gods of Time Travel was more ambitious than any of the 7 novels that came before it. Completing this work left me feeling accomplished, but also uncertain about the future. Normally, I would've put the work out and quickly went on to the next thing. But I'm finding that difficult to do that with this book, perhaps because people are actually beginning to read it.
As a writer, I tend not to be self conscious. I'd like to think I shed that tendency in my twenties. The stuff I write for my news job and the crypto space is read by thousands of people and I never worry about it. Yet I find myself second guessing everything I write now that the new book is out.
The objective I've been working towards is 10 novels in 5 years, and I'm firmly on track to meet this objective. Actually, I'm ahead of schedule, with a few stories in the works that are already over halfway done. But I'm not yet inspired to complete any of them. Objectively, they're not as entertaining as Small Gods of Time Travel. But the deeper truth is that they don't feel as meaningful.
Being a writer isn't financially rewarding. Nor is it more socially rewarding than any other productive occupation. But clearly communicating important ideas feels inherently meaningful to me. That meaningfulness is where writing is rewarding, so when I'm not feeling it, my motivation falters.
In some ways, the release of this latest novel is like publishing my first one all over again. I want to market the crap out of it, but can't really afford to give away tons of copies at this year's rainbow gathering. I feel like it might change my life, but can't quite picture how.
As with my first novel, which was also my first Kindle publication, Small Gods of Time Travel is being published in an unfamiliar medium. Its initial release as a web book interlinked with an NFT collection is totally new, and I don't know what to expect from it. I'm totally satisfied with the look and feel of the web book, which inclines me to write the next one with the requirements of this medium in mind. But if it flops, I'll go back to writing for Kindle and paperbacks.
Read my novels:
