Happy New Year!

As of today, my beta readers have only one month left. On February 1st, it comes back to me marked up, challenged, questioned, and sharpened.

That’s the handoff point.

From there, it’s straight to the editing table. Tightening. Cutting. Refining. Making sure the story reads the way it actually lived, not the way nostalgia wants to remember it.

Nine short months from now, Living the Scene will be released into the public.

That sentence still lands heavy.

This book has existed in parallel with my life for years. It grew in late nights, early mornings, and moments where rest lost out to memory. Flyers, radio shows, basements and back rooms, friendships, fallouts, and the culture that held it all together long enough to matter.

For a long time, this was private work. Something I carried quietly, unsure if it would ever leave the hard drive.

Now it’s on a clock.

Beta readers are doing real labor right now. Not cheering. Reading critically. Flagging what works, what doesn’t, what needs clarity, and what needs to go. That feedback is the bridge between “this mattered to me” and “this is ready for everyone else.”

Editing comes next. Less romantic. More surgical. Necessary.

2026 is the year Living the Scene gets released.

Not because it’s perfect. It isn’t. But because it’s honest. It documents a scene, a time, and a way of living that only survives if someone decides to preserve it.

I decided to do the work.

If you were part of the scene, even for a moment, this book is for you.
If you’ve supported this project quietly or loudly, thank you.

The clock is ticking.
And for the first time, that feels exciting instead of terrifying.