I really, really wanted to release another book this year. I had a full manuscript ready, and every time I started to edit it I thought it needed more added to it. A new story here, an updated essay there, a few more poems in between sections... It’s over 600 pages long with no end in sight now, and I don’t want to rush it. I really want to get it right. You see that picture above? That is 28 years of journals, full of my writing and pictures, so many memories of so many pieces of my life.

A life of lives.

And these journals don’t include all that has directly been written on my computer over the past 15 years, a hard drive full of musings, stories, and half-written thoughts. I’m not even sure if I want to publish all of them, but even then I have enough content for several books.

What I really would love to accomplish is a collection of work that attracts people’s interest because they love my voice, relate to certain stories, and also depicts a real image of a time in history. I have been lucky to have lived through many special and unique experiences, landing in some places at the right time quite randomly, and these experiences are part of a cultural tapestry that has its place in the past but no longer really in our present.

So this is where I need your valuable input. I’ve come up with a few surveys that will help guide me in the right direction and would love to hear what you think! There are 4 questions below and I would love to see your answers!

Here is a description of the options I have right now:

1). Just put all my favorite stories and essays from the past 20 odd years into a 200/300 page book and release it like that.

The issue: I wouldn’t even know where to start. This is basically what I have been doing and I can’t find a good starting point and cut off point!

2). Release a trilogy: childhood, teens/early 20’s and late 20’s/early 30’s. This allows me to make the latter all NYC, because 11 years of living there has left me with so many stories to share.

The issue: would people really want to buy three books? And if so how long should I wait in between each one?

Your input is really very valuable to me. I am going to spend most of January focusing on this and I think I just need a little push to force myself to have a long term plan for all of this! Thank you so much, I really appreciate the time you have taken to read this and vote on my polls!