By MONTE DUTTON

It’s been a while since I’ve let you know what I’m doing.

That’s because it’s been a long time since I’ve known what I was doing.

I’m getting closer. The biggest reason for my professional slowdown is the sale of my property, which remains in a government and regulatory holdup. Theoretically, I’ll have money. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually had much. When I do have money again, I have much to pay off.

Once upon a time, I thought all this would be done in the winter. It probably would be done now had I not spent the entire month of January in hospitals, thus forcing me to learn to walk again. I kept my local-sports website active and renewed most of the ads.

Wellpilgrim.com was “Blue, Green, Purple & Red” (Presbyterian, Laurens, Furman and Clinton) and is now “Nightrider’s Lament,” named for a favorite song of mine. I’m not covering Laurens County and Furman University comprehensively anymore, but I will write features, mainly about the Paladins and Red Devils, when the mood strikes.

Recently, I’ve spent lots of time considering what comes next – where I’ll live, how I’ll live, etc. – but there’s really no need to do anything except research until I’ve got money to spend.

I’m probably moving to western North Carolina. I’ll live in a small cabin, a “tiny house,” or even a camper van or teardrop trailer. I’m seriously downsizing, and I’ve got 40 years worth of accumulated junk of which to rid myself.

I am consumed with fear that either I won’t live to see it or the current national administration will screw up the economy so much that the sale of my property will fall through. One of my songs:

Bills to pay / Tears to cry / Days and nights to sit and wonder why …

I’ve been shopping places – Saluda, Brevard, Black Mountain, Flat Rock, Mars Hill – but there’s no reason to go further without the funds to do so.

Wherever I move, I want to become active in local writing and music communities. I’ve been working for several years on a novel called The Graduate Transfer that, in general, is a satirical look at the changes in college athletics, specifically football.

It’s hard to write satire because everyday life has become satire. It’s hard to write a farce because life has become farcical.

I’ve already tried in vain to find an agent or publisher for The Graduate Transfer, so I decided to go back and rewrite it again. I’m chipping away but doubt I’ll really concentrate on finishing it again until I move.

I’ve been reading a lot, reviewing the books I read, watching sports and old movies, and trying to make enough money to get by.

My life is full of either/ors. If I live in a cabin or a tiny house, I can sell my old pickup. If I live in a van or a trailer, I’ll need the extra truck. I won’t have to get rid of as much – books, music, framed photos, plaques and trophies – if I live in a domicile that doesn’t move.

On the other hand, if I live in something that moves, particularly one equipped with solar panels, I could drive to a ballgame and spend the night in the parking lot before I return to the home base.

What has sustained me in this miserable time is the help of friends who called and visited when I was in the hospital, continue to check on me and help me out when they can. I do not intend to leave their favors unrepaid.

When my newspaper job was discontinued in 2013, it was my idea to give readers the coverage they lost when the print media went into irrevocable decline.

By the time I embarked on this crusade, the train had already left the station. Most people get their information now from what they see and hear, not what they read. It is my belief that the world is getting dumber and dumber as a result. Lots of readers love what I do, but there aren’t enough of them to make a living.

My reasons for relocating are complicated and personal, but they are justified. It’s always going to be wistful because I don’t there are many who love Clinton, S.C., more than I do.

Today would have been my mother’s 85^th birthday, and when she died, on May 28, 2020, the family died with her. I don’t have much desire to go into it. I need a fresh start and hope I’ve got time for one more.

I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for your help and understanding.

Many of my books, fiction and non-fiction alike, are available at Amazon. The Latter Days is a baseball novel about an old scout’s discovery of a bright, young prospect.

Cowboys Come Home is set at the end of World War II, when two Texans return home to find much has changed there while they were away fighting for their country.