"DECEMBER BOYS" STATUS REPORT

It has been quite some time since I have posted any material regarding this fifth story from Tales From Memorial Union and while I do have another section ready to go, I wanted to take some time to give all of you an update...especially as I am certain that you have been waiting for it with bated breath (ha ha).

As I have expressed to you in the introduction to this story, "December Boys" has grown into something that I had never anticipated. Regardless of the simplicity of its actual story--two friends undergoing heartbreak spend a frigid February Friday night together as they go to see "Say Anything..." on campus but end up even more heartbroken as the night continues due to the close presence of their still raw romantic memories--writing it has revealed a larger purpose in order for the whole thing to make more emotional sense to me. I guess what I am trying to say is that within memories lie a myriad of other memories and within each moment, anything can cause an emotional trigger to send one spiraling through those memories...even the unwanted ones.

So far, I have "published" most of what has already been written and typed--close to 100 pages and certainly nothing that I had initially intended when I first had the idea for the story in mind. Some of it is highly autobiographical (most notably, quite a lot of the material that centers itself around my alter-ego Craig Hughes), some of it is not or not explicitly so (the material with Rhett Brazelton is much more invented), but all of it, I am trying to make as honest as possible and reminiscent of what my college experience was actually like.

There has already been a fair amount of time jumping within the short stories that house the larger "December Boys," so if there has been a tad of confusion, especially as it is being released piece meal, this is all you really need to know...

WINTER SEQUENCES-(set in the story's PRESENT--circa February 1990)
"PARALLEL LINES: THE BALLAD OF CRAIG AND STEPHANIE-PART ONE" (1987-1988)
"A PILGRIMAGE ON A TIMELESS NIGHT" (Spring--early April 1989)

Very soon, the story will shift for a lengthy spell for us to spend time exclusively with Rhett during the Summer/Autumn of 1989 as he takes a Summer Session Fundamentals In Ethics Philosophy course, the place where he meets and falls for Amethyst Lessing. This section, I have been steadily writing since January 2015 in my Moleskine notebook as well as a new notebook my Co-Teachers gave to me on my birthday this year. I try my best to write during our classroom's daily rest periods (a time in which I am struggling to keep my eyes open as well) and I am happy that I am just plugging away, going and going, just allowing myself to write whatever I wish, knowing that I can edit or change later.

Once I post the next section to this site, I have some typing to do so I will even have something to share with you at all. But, please know that I hope that you are enjoying this story and that you'll stay with me as it continues to arrive here and there. I honestly do not know how long this journey will take for "December Boys" to reach its completion. But I do know how it will end--the ending has been in my head for YEARS!

It just may take me some time to get there.

Stay tuned...