Let me begin by saying that I always find it incredibly pretentious and annoying when writers talk about their work. But people have asked about the structure of the book and some of the choices I made. So, with that in mind, allow me to be pretentious and annoying. Again.

"The Comfort in Being Sad" is about love. Isn't everything? The story centers around one man's relationship with three women. One of the women, Claire, is perfect for him, but Michael isn't in love with her. Another woman, Justine, loves him, and he loves her, but neither is in love with the other. However, Michael is in love with Melanie, a young woman who is entirely wrong for him and completely incapable of returning his love. While any of the relationships could work, all three are doomed. Such is life.

Since love is disorienting, I wanted to avoid a typical narrative, opting instead to mirror the emotional upheaval with a disjointed, even confused telling of the story. This obviously places tremendous importance on the chapter order. When piecing together the individual chapters for this entry, I decided to switch around three of them. See, this book was actually written back in 2001-02 and then stashed away until it saw the light of day on 70 proof. During the past few years, I kind of forgot to go back and make the intended changes to the chapter order until I had already started running them on the site. Once again, whiskey, you're the devil.

Basically, I just wanted to shuffle the sections involving Justine, so chapters two, six, and fourteen were adjusted. The point behind the moves was to add another subtle layer to the storytelling. Now, Justine's chapters run backwards, from the most recent to the earliest. The sections involving Claire, the seemingly perfect girl, run smoothly from start to finish, proceeding in a linear fashion. Melanie's chapters are all over the map, jumping back and forth through time and often employing different voices. It was all part of the original plan, so it feels good to finally have them in the order I envisioned.

At the moment, I'm working on more Honest John Churchfield mysteries, although I have two other novels on tap, both philosophical examinations of reality, life, and existence. Good times, good times.

Oh, and there's a chance 70 proof could begin publishing books soon, so keep watching the site for further details.

Thank you.