A New Novel? A New Novel!

Jesus Christ CEO

I’m definitely writing another novel.

I’m going to keep exercising these writing muscles. My first novel, Booze Cruise, was very close to a memoir. The term I heard used regarding Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises was “roman à clef” and I guess that’s what it was. I based the story on an actual trip that my friend Steve and I took, and I ramped up the drama at the end. Basically I wrote what actually happened on our hitchhiking adventure but then asked myself, “What if we made different decisions at the end of our journey?” and descended into pure fiction for the conclusion.

My next novel, Festival, drew from a lot of actual events in my life, and in the lives of stand up comedians I know and have known but I fictionalized a lot more. Several characters are composites of multiple people, and I also have fun just making shit up, or combining things that happened. I had a lot of fun with this.

I like the process of sharing a story a chapter at a time here on Substack, but Festival didn’t seem well suited to this. It had too many different characters each on their own path, and I feel like having to wait a week between chapter made it hard to follow. I’ve gotten less and less feedback on it as it’s progressed and as I come to the end, sharing it here hasn’t been as satisfying an experience as it was with the first novel.

I’m starting Jesus Christ CEO, and I think I am going to share it here for a few reasons. One, having a deadline really works for me. Two, it’s a simpler and more straightforward story centered around one character, Lauren, and a handful of secondary characters who we witness through Lauren’s experiences and interactions with them. Three, maybe you’ll like this one more. I have been a comedian for a quarter century, and I know, some jokes/stories the audience likes more than others, regardless of my feelings about them. I really love Festival, and I hope to find a publisher and an audience for it. But just because it didn’t take off the way I hoped it would her on Substack doesn’t mean my next one won’t, or the one after that.

So, watch for Jesus Christ CEO to start up in the coming weeks. Its’ a wild ride about art, and truth, and capitalism, and Jesus and zen, oh and fish. There’s actually quite a bit in here about the tropical fish hobby. Dig.

And hey, I freakin’ love hearing from you. Writers historically have written in solitude, maybe they have a friend or two, or a spouse who reads as they go. I write like a do comedy, putting it out there for immediate feedback and that feedback is my fuel. It keeps me going. So comment, DM me, hit “Like”, let me know you’re there, reading. THANKS.

Oh, and extra special thanks to those of you who are Paid Subscribers. I made a decision to follow the NPR model and just make all of my content free, trusting that those who could kick in will kick in. On this too, I’m open to your feedback. MWAH!