I promised myself back when Forever and Farewell was released in 2017 that I’d allow myself one passion project a year. For 2018, that was A Shot at Us, my little take on It’s a Wonderful Life (and yes, it did launch in 2019, but it was finished in 2018). For 2019, I had such a strong idea a couple weeks ago that I had to pursue it immediately. It’s the sort of story that grabs a writer’s mind and doesn’t want to let go.
That novel is going to be titled Fundamental Obsession. I right now I think of it as completing an odd trilogy of sorts together with Forever and Farewell and A Shot at Us. If Forever and Farewell is the heart, A Shot at Us the soul, then Fundamental Obsession largely deals with the mind. I don’t want to reveal too much yet, but the basic idea will be that a friend’s well-meaning obsession with an obscure game brings together and eventually tears apart his friendships and relationships. His death in a car accident brings together his ex-wife and his former best friends for the first time in years, and they learn to deal with their grief and self-loathing by rediscovering their friendship.
It is a bit different than those other two in that the romantic elements might not be as up front as Forever or A Shot. But I think readers who liked those novels will like this one. Or at least I certainly hope you do. In any case, writing it is a slow endeavor. It requires a different mindset than I’ve done before, and in that regard, finding each character’s voice has proven to be slow and challenging, but ultimately rewarding. Look for it sometime in the next few months, hopefully.
The Rankin Flats Observer 