John writes his first novel in almost ten years (2025)
story · status: told 2×, last update 2026 · last event: update (2026-03-31)
In January 2026 John said he was writing fiction again, his first novel in almost ten years, and wondered whether what he had to say would resonate with anyone.
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-06-03 | told | Since finishing Everything Is Tuberculosis John has been writing fiction; it may never come to anything and he will not promise it becomes a book, but the process has been thrilling. | My Lies 00:02:49 |
| 2026-01-20 | told | John is writing fiction again, his first novel in almost ten years, and wonders whether anything he has to say will resonate with or be useful to anyone. | Am I ... Good? 00:03:09 |
| 2026-02-13 | update | John says his work in progress is taking a long time to write: in early 2020 he read it aloud in semi-secret livestreams, when he was sad, depressed and alone like everyone else. | Project for Awesome 2026 Kickoff! 01:15:37 |
| 2026-02-15 | update | John says the last seven years of working on his novel taught him that writing, like art, is done for others but also for one's own clarity and fulfillment: it need not be read to be fulfilling. He used to think it was only for other people. | Project for Awesome 2026 part 5! 02:37:14 |
| 2026-03-31 | update | John has been trying to write this novel since 2017, with significant progress at points, but only in the last couple of years saw the path forward clearly. | I've Been Keeping a Secret… 00:02:55 |
What is said about it
5 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2026-02-13 · Project for Awesome 2026 Kickoff! — John says the novel he has not finished is about Hollywood, about two kids who are in a movie; he is trying to finish it and would like it published someday, though that is never certain. (hedged) — 02:57:23
- 2026-02-13 · Project for Awesome 2026 Kickoff! — John says the story of his that Sarah has been reading is the one he read aloud in semi-secret livestreams in the earliest days of COVID. — 06:51:04
- 2026-02-13 · Project for Awesome 2026 Kickoff! — John says he has not published a novel in nine years, though he has published other books, and would like to publish one at some point. (hedged) — 07:49:56
- 2026-02-15 · Project for Awesome 2026 part 5! — John says he has spent the last few months in "Cheyenne, Wyoming", his metaphor for working very hard on writing, and it has been incredibly fulfilling, whatever comes of it. — 02:36:45
- 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — John: For a long time John thought he would never publish another novel: he didn't know what his fiction was for or what he wanted it to do. — 00:02:55