Life has a funny habit of getting in the way; as if it were an old neighbour gradually perusing the aisles of your local supermarket, blocking you with their half-full trolley from proceeding to the milk… In my case it was no friendly neighbour. A dark cloud had been hanging over me since October of last year, but now, finally, it has moved on, leaving the edges of it to glow and sparkle in the Sun.
I had been absent from my own life; on auto-pilot if you will, casually allowing time to float over me as if I were watching it from behind a pane of semi-transparent glass. Hobbies I had once enjoyed became work, eating became a chore, music I loved became nails on a chalkboard. Then, like a jolt from an electric fence, I found myself in the cockpit once more with the master alarm coating everything in red and an ungodly, buzzing, beeping drowning out all other noise.
Now the beeping has ceased, the master alarm is off and the shudders in the controls are gone. I am me once again.
As for my writing; as much as it pained me to do so during those long nine months, I kept at it. Elke Wolf is nearing completion, but unfortunately that’s all I have to show for it. Well… not entirely. I’ve entered Ireland’s National Short Story Competition once again, but I’m afraid I can’t share that one with you, not unless it fails to make the cut (fingers crossed and all that). Otherwise it’s been an unusually quiet period, but suffice it to say I’m back; back in the saddle, gun in holster, hat tipped forward to block out the Sun and steed steadily striding forwards.
Expect to see posts galore from here on out; there’s plenty of work to be done,
AJ
AJ Carney 