Timothy Johnson

Tag: Update

  • The ‘Holy Crap, It’s 2026!’ Update

    Well hello there. It’s been a while. I hope you’ve been well. 

    This is just a quick note to let you know I still exist and am trying to do this fiction writing thing but that it’s been very difficult recently.

    I’ve thought for a long time about writing and posting something like this, but I haven’t quite been able to find a comfortable place to be in with regard to how forward and open I would be, partially because I don’t know how forward and open anyone really wants me to be.

    I’m a sensitive and emotional guy who loves to give hugs and wants everyone (including you) to know that he loves them, but I usually let others dictate how intimate we get because I understand boundaries and social norms. That troubles me, though, when my nature is to just open my veins and gush all over the place but I know that’s weird. I’m very likely neurodivergent and undiagnosed, but alas, I’m doing it again right now, aren’t I?

    The bottom line is 2025 was really difficult for me, personally and professionally. Professional woes became personal ones. Personal difficulties affected professional performance. And down the spiral we go. I imagine you understand, and if you don’t, take the win. Depression sucks.

    “I still exist” is about the best I’ve got for you today. No publications are forthcoming. It’s been a long road of rejections. I have a bunch of works in progress, but my writing has been seized up for an embarrassingly long time. I know I can’t create when my head isn’t screwed on properly and my heart isn’t full, and not creating feeds my depression. Spirals. 

    I remain exceedingly passionate about what I do, and when I revisit my wins, I am proud. I still think I have something valuable to offer the world, even if the world continues to insist I do not. I know. Woe is me. 

    Given the turn of the calendar year, I am making a more concerted effort to get more stuff out there, but the indifference of the world weighs heavily. I’m going to post something soon about generative AI, and because I endeavor to post useful stuff, I am working on what will probably be a series of blogs to help you cope with this nightmare age of disinformation. It feels like that will just get ignored because it won’t be a 30-second video on TikTok or whatever, but that just ain’t me. I’m a writer, and I look like one. Nobody wants me on camera.

    Anyway, Churchill urged the Greatest Generation to keep going through hell* so they could defeat fascism incarnate as well as the very idea of it, even if it would ironically resurface less than a century later across an ocean in the “land of the free,” so I’ll keep going, too, because stories do that, don’t they? Inspire and illuminate us when we need it? That is my deepest hope and greatest ambition.

    Much love. More soon.

    *Yes, I know Churchill didn’t actually say that, but I still like the sentiment, and this is my place, so I do what I want.

  • If She Floats…

    A small row boat floats on calm water with a colorful sunset in the background
    Photo by Nuno Obey

    Please indulge me in some personal blogging.

    A friend once told me writing a book is like building a boat, and sometimes, you just have to put it on water and see if it floats.

    I’m reflecting on that today. For almost four years, I’ve been working on a boat, and I know every wooden plank, every nut and bolt, every ounce of sealant, every length of canvas. I’ve plugged every hole, smoothed every edge, finished every surface. I’ve obsessed over the details that will never matter in its sea-worthiness, that no one will ever care about, but I will. I’ve neglected my relationships, my career, my well-being. I’ve learned and grown through my dedication to the craft alongside others who were similarly consumed by the idea that they had to make something because there was a voice within them screaming that this thing, this vessel, has to exist. I’ve watched other ships set sail and wept with joy for their buoyancy, and I’ve hoped that one day, the tide might come in, raise my ship from its stand, and carry her out to sea where she just might mingle with all of the others.

    My next novel, currently titled American Spirits, is going out to agents now, and if this one sinks, I’ll at least know I did everything I could so that she might sail on the glittering calm waters and ride the swelling waves.

    But, oh, if she floats…

    Traditional publishing is an intricate apparatus, some processes resembling a Rube Goldberg machine, others reminiscent of a grotesque Clive Barker nightmare, chains and hooks, but alas the gatekeepers are there and serve many purposes. I could digress into a discussion of the values of traditional, indie, and self publishing, but my aim with this one is deliberate. Spend four years on anything, and no one should suggest you’re being frivolous.

    Anyway, it’s likely to be a long time before I hear any news regarding an interested agent and then an interested publishing company, if ever. Even if this book gets to that stage, traditional publishing companies have a very long pipeline, so I’m expecting years before knowing if this one floats or sinks. It seems strange to ask anyone to stay tuned because I’m likely to be quiet for a while yet.

    In the meantime, there are other stories to tell. I’ll be around. Keep in touch.

  • Holiday 2019 Update

    My first semester in an MFA program has come to an end. I wrote a lot and liked some of it. I read a lot and liked some of that, too. I tutored a bunch of students and think I even helped some of them. I did some work in selections and layout for a literary magazine. I found every writer in this program is brilliant, and I think some of them even like me.

    It’s been good, is what I’m saying.

    Creatively, I came to George Mason University wanting to push myself into trying new things, and not only do I feel I accomplished that, but I think the teachers and other writers helped open doors I wouldn’t have been able to open on my own. The first semester was difficult but a success, and even though I’m off for winter break now (a prospect that still seems bizarre to me), I’m eager to keep pushing forward.

    But first, happy holidays, everyone! I hope your celebrations are merry.

  • Short Story to Gamut

    gBlockLogo

    A couple weeks ago, in my summer update, I wrote about how 2016 hadn’t really panned out the way I’d hoped. It hasn’t been a bad year at all. In fact, production-wise, I feel like I’ve written some of the best fiction of my life. And while I haven’t had much to announce this year, some of that production is paying off.

    I’m thrilled to announce Gamut, a new literary magazine, has accepted a short story of mine. I can’t stress the previous sentence’s verb enough.

    An acceptance from any market is a great thing. It’s acknowledgement for hard work and dedication, not to mention passion for a piece. It says you did something right, but more than that, it says someone else believes in the story as much as you do. And now the story has an avenue to reach other readers.

    But contributing to Gamut is a whole different accomplishment. Not only is Gamut an amazing project (and I’ll get to that in a moment) that is the brainchild of some people I hold in high regard, but it’s also a professional market.

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  • Summer 2016 Update

    At the beginning of this year, I teased some big things. I learned a lesson in teasers: It’s not a good idea unless the things you’re teasing are definite. Many of my hopes for 2016 haven’t quite panned out. I finished my second novel, but I’ve struggled to find a home for it. I’ve also finished some solid short stories, but it’s been a mix of rejection and taking a long time to hear back.

    I get it. I’m shooting for the stars, and it takes a long time for even light to travel through interstellar space.

    However, in the face of a disappointing 2016 (seriously, has anyone had a good 2016?), one of those things I teased (something big regarding Carrier) is definitely happening.

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    That’s an interior proof. But wait, wasn’t Carrier already published? Yes.

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  • The ‘Holy-Crap-We’re-A-Month-Into-2016-Already’ Update

    Commodus reads my stuff.
    Commodus reads my stuff. And he is impatient.

    It’s a bit ironic, but I don’t think it’s atypical that a writer falls off of his blog writing activity, so I don’t feel too bad about neglecting you. Still, I do feel bad. Like, pretty bad. On a scale of 1 to bad, I give myself a C – in feelings.

    Just so we’re clear about that.

    So how have you been? I’ve been well. Unfortunately, the reason I’ve been so silent is I’m in between projects right now. That doesn’t mean 2016 will be as uneventful as 2015. On the contrary.

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  • Just an Update

    I know what you’ve been thinking. You’ve been wondering what happened to me over the last few months. It’s pretty understandable. I haven’t called in a while, and for that, I apologize.

    I’ve been running silent (which provides me a nice interstitial segue to a review to Craig DiLouie’s Crash Dive that I just posted; come on back afterward) these last few months. I’ve been writing and reading and watching and waiting, biding my time for the moment to strike.

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