The Book Comes First

There are certain events in life that have a way of refocusing your attention on the things that really matter.

On Monday night Marisol (aka Dr. M) walked way from a crash that could have been fatal (see the short description below). She is still shaken emotionally, but physically she was nearly unscratched. Everyone who witnessed the crash and it's aftermath, think it was a miracle that she survived. I think so as well.

The accident has also forced me to take inventory of all of my projects, especially Verge of LA. Up until this point, John and I have been scrambling to do our weekly updates, so we've been forced to put the completion of "The Book" on the back burner. The book has always been what is most important to me about this project, but I was letting everything else move to the top of the list.

On Monday, everything changed. We are now going to make the completion of the book our top priority. Which also means we'll be making very few updates to the website for the next month or so.

We have also decided to release just one book a year. It will be an annual of the best stories from the site. This will allow me the time to focus on my other writing projects including a script and a stalled novel.

In the meantime, there are still several pieces on the site for you to read, or you can just wait for the book. I know I can 't wait to hold it in my hands.

***

Here is a brief post about the accident that I wrote Monday night on my personal blog called The Wild Card Line:

"Our Lucky Day"

As Marisol flipped through the air three times, time itself slowed down and she saw her life pass before her eyes as she said the Our Father prayer to herself.

The news reports said it was a "Major Injury Accident" on the 710, one of the worlds most dangerous freeways with all of the semi-trucks coming from the ports of L.A. and Long Beach.

When one of the firemen saw the damage to her overturned car and Marisol's nearly uninjured condition, he said "This is your lucky day, you should buy a lottery ticket."

On the ride home, Marisol said it was a miracle and maybe we should buy a lottery ticket, I said "We don't need to, we already won."

(Image shot with Marisol's camera phone. Click on image to enlarge.)