What the Future Brings

I don't often look down the road or plan well in the future. It's not my thing. I like to take life as it comes to me.

(I'm not talking about retirement savings: I'm not that foolish. I've planned ahead.)

I love writing in my blog. It's been fun, it keeps me writing, keeps me snapping photos, but it also keeps me away from something that I don't want to put off any longer.

I need to think ahead, to start making plans, and the future of The Brown Knowser is part of those plans.

I published my novel, Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary, more than three years ago. When I wrote it, I always planned for a sequel (actually, that's not entirely true: when I first started writing it, I intended to write one story that spanned over two years, but when I realized that doing so would make for a very long book, I decided to split it into two parts).

I need to work on the second part.

I did start writing the sequel, Gyeosunim (the Korean word for professor), and have posted about nine chapters of the rough draft since April of 2012.

I haven't posted anything since March of 2014, and since then, I have only written snapshots of the story, nothing that can be tied into cohesive narrative.

This procrastination has to stop. I have actually had people, who have read Songsaengnim, ask me when the sequel will be published. For them, I've had no answer.

And I still have no definitive answer, except to say this: I have plans, and those plans come at a cost.

The Brown Knowser.

Since January 2, of this year, I have tried to publish a post every Monday to Friday. I would spend anywhere from an hour to three hours on a post, not including time to edit photos, from Sunday to Thursday evenings. That works out to an average of 10 hours each week.

When I was writing my novel, I spent an average of two or three hours each week; sometimes, less time.

I really want to continue my blog, but I think it's high time that I finished my novel. And so, I've made plans to do that.

Starting January 1, 2016, I will spend the hours that I took to work on The Brown Knowser to finish Gyeosunim. I will write at least two or three hours a night, from Sunday to Thursday, to get this book written. As I complete each chapter, I will post the rough draft on that blog.

I'm not ending The Brown Knowser. Rather, I'm shelving it. That's not to say that I won't post anything. I may continue Wordless Wednesdays or Photo Fridays. Or something. But I won't devote a lot of time to this blog. Not until the novel is done.

The sooner I finish the novel, the sooner I'll return to The Brown Knowser. If you've ever wanted to write a guest blog post, I would welcome them. That way, you, my dear readers, would be able to keep the blog going.

I already know that the last blog post of 2015 will bring my favourite photos of the year. I've been doing that since I started this blog, and, based on viewership, you like it. But after that, there will be crickets.

And from there, who knows what the future will bring?