After years in the making, the first draft of my mystery novel, Snake River, is now complete. Weighing in at 37 chapters and 107,000 words, this is the story that I’ve always wanted to tell. After reading through the full manuscript I have to say it’s pretty damn good. Of course I realize there will be room for improvement, but overall the story is rock solid with some interesting characters, a unique setting, and a multifaceted narrative. It’s heavily inspired by The X-Files and Twin Peaks, and my writing influences include such giants as Chandler, Joyce, and Faulkner.

I started working on this book in 2021. During the early days of this project I was still working in the trades and obsessed with outdoor adventures, and progress on the manuscript fell off around the 28,000 words mark in 2022. My job at Tesla required me to get up at 5am, and for a while I was getting up at the disgustingly early hour of 4am to work on it becuase the practice of writing after work didn’t work for me. After getting up so early, working 6:30-4 building machines, and fighting through traffic to get home, I just didn’t have the mental energy to write anything at all. Doing it early in the morning was the way to go, but I couldn’t maintain the schedule and eventually fell off completely and the manuscript remained unfinished.

Then I went through an existential crisis last year when I was fired from not one, not two, but three jobs in a row. I had a decision to make. It was time for me to stop trying to be something that I’m not and embrace who I really am: a writer. So this year I sat down at my old laptop and started writing again.

I picked up where I left off and worked diligently on this project every single day and become bona fide obsessed with it, thinking endlessly about the story, setting, and characters. I was unemployed, so it seemed that now is the time to pour myself into this project with no restraints and no excuses becuase when else will I have this kind of time to work on it? Now I have a completed manuscript of what I think is a pretty fucking awesome story and I have never been so proud. This is what I was always meant to write.

In this process, I found that I really love writing novels. It was a huge amount of work, but I enjoyed it a lot and it felt more like play to me. Every day when I sat down to write, powerful emotions took me over and I became so invested in my characters and the story. Writing it filled me with a kind of boundless energy and confidence that I never found anywhere else. I’m good at this, and it’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I now treat writing novels as though it’s my job. Eventually, it will become my job for real.

With a completed manuscript, now begins the work of finding a literary agent. This week I sent out 4 query letters, but it will be 4-6 weeks until I hear back. In the meantime, I’ll continue sending out queries and polishing the manuscript. I also have some ideas for a second novel which will use the same main characters I created in this one. Snake River looks like it’s the first in a series of mystery novels with a sci-fi/supernatural twist. The future is bright!