The Jersey Devil and COVID-19

A year ago, the product of a year’s hard work came to life and our second collection of utter speculation was born into the world. We released it with high hopes and anticipation. We had a killer release party scheduled for the following weekend. We were ready to go big, and really celebrate the hell out the Jersey Devil.

And of course you know what happened.

Before our Devil took flight the coronavirus knocked the wind out of sails.

We got so much support from readers and writers and our initial sales and reviews were such a comfort in those first days, but as the pandemic became a real thing, as we rescheduled our party once, twice, and then cancelled altogether, all of the contributors began to feel the drag of fear in the world and our accomplishment was pushed aside while we dealt with the looming fear that was so much more terrifying that our local cryptid.

The collection of utter speculation was conceived as and has remained a labor of love. It started as a personal challenge to ourselves, to find a subject four writers of different genres could create a story on, to push each other to write the best we could, to peel back the layers of the publication process and put our collaboration out into the world. After we lost our dear friend and grumpy cheerleader D. R. Kinter in early 2019, just shortly after the release of Roanoke, we weren’t sure we could do it again, but new members of our writing collective rallied us, brought new ideas and energy and Jersey Devil promised to be a whole new experience.

Maybe it’s something about March. I never did like that month.

It would be easy to get angry and feel cheated out of the fun our sophomore book promised to bring upon it’s full release, but the truth is, Covid-19 and 2020 took so much from so many, our writers included, getting hung up on a muted monster just isn’t in me.

And just because Jersey Devil didn’t launch his beautiful leather wings far into the sky, doesn’t mean he’s gone. He’s been prowling around the pine barrens for sure, probably enjoying the quiet.

So here we are a year later. I’m looking forward to the world opening up again someday in the future. The Writers Block has not been idle. We have another book in the works and it’s going to be the best one yet, with a new and fantastic author added to our mix. We’re dropping the March release. For real, Eff March. And we’re taking our time getting this one right, taking care of our mental and physical health.

We plan to re-release The Jersey Devil when our new book comes out, and this time we hope they will both fly high.

Or at least, we’ll get a killer party.

Happy Birthday, to our Jersey Boy (or girl, who knows?)

And Happy Anniversary to H. A. Callum, Susan Tulio, Melissa D. Sullivan, and River Eno