Venice VIP Rewards

The sixth book in the Punks Universe, Venice VIP Rewards, is now live on Wattpad.  There's a link to the right. >>>>>>

VIP Rewards picks up exactly where Adventure In Anxiety ends. Tina is on a plane to California to finally fix the biggest mistake of her life, claim her man, and collect her Venice VIP Rewards. She's facing divorce, selling off her gallery business, starting a fashion brand, and a total upheaval in her life. 

Joe is entering a new phase in his career. His touring days are over. He's building new partnerships and a future as a part-time performer and full-time producer. With his legal battles behind him, Joe yearns for a simpler life, close to home. Life is never simple for Joe. In VIP, he will pull off his biggest coup of his career, changing his business and life.

VIP is 35 chapters. The first ten chapters are a mix of old material from Lit, the divorce period, and brand-new writing. Once you get into the teens, it's 100% new writing. Near the end, there are a few chapters of mixed material, the final scenes of the Lit Punks version, and the end of the 2025 rewrite. 

This book was 32 chapters, completed weeks ago. Then, while doing a final pass from the beginning, I began to feel the ending was not right. Every time I break off a book and start a new one, I look for a seam in the timeline. In the VIP case, Tina gets on that plane to change her life, an easy call.  It's not always so clear.

I must also decide which side-stories I will carry on to the other side of the break, and which to close out. After this book was complete, I added three more chapters to put an end to a long-running storyline that I had planned to carry into the next book. Once I wrote this new ending, I was very pleased with my decision.

--- FUTURE PUNKS ---

After VIP will come White Wedding. I make no guarantees or predictions when you'll see the next book. It's too soon to tell. I have a lot of work to do as my first drafts of WW chapters are a bit rough, and I must change them to include the new realities in Joe's life, like Jeanie living in LA, and the butterfly effect. After WW, I'm taking this project in a new direction, breaking the timeline and my chronological storytelling. 

While writing VIP in the mid to late chapters, it dawned on me that there had not been a sex scene for several chapters. For a long stretch, there was just the usual innuendo, teasing, and a few references to Joe and Tina fucking after a homecoming. 

I was tempted to drop a scene in the middle of that, then decided no. If I did not think to include an erotic scene during that stretch, maybe the story didn't need one. Maybe it never needs them. I don't want to force it, writing erotica that doesn't serve a purpose other than being naughty. This caused me a period of contemplation on where this story is going, future punks.

While I kept a good amount of erotica from Lit in this rewrite, I also removed many scenes. Back in 2022, I was writing for Lit, learning to write erotica. While reworking that version in 2025, I felt the number of sex scenes distracted from the story. I saved those scenes; some were redeployed elsewhere in VIP, and others may get rewritten for future use. 

My next challenge is to make stories about married life interesting. I am literally mining my own life as a husband, father, and partner. It's back to the write what you know mantra I used in the first chapters of ATYP. I know how difficult marriage and co-parenting can be. I can torture Joe with that shit.

On the other hand, I'll have to get creative, using Joe and Tina's history and hyper-sexual relationship to conjure sordid affairs. And of course, there's always anxiety and insecurity with this headcase couple. 

The Butterfly Effect

SPOILER ALERT: If you are not up to date with chapter 60 in AA, this blog contains spoilers.

If you have read chapter 60, there are ten chapters remaining in Adventures in Anxiety. I've been waiting for this important moment in the punk timeline to share these thoughts on my story. I don't know if readers like author's notes, because no one says one way or the other. 

I don't like cluttering my already 7k-long chapters with my commentary, and Wattpad does not have tools to support authors communicating with readers. So, my author notes are rare. This one had to be written.

New happenings written into the 2025 punk rewrite have a butterfly effect. Everything that comes after must be changed to fit Joe's new reality. I foreshadowed Jeanie's move to LA for 50+ chapters, with multiple scenes and conversations, her procrastination, and the drama with Jackie and Mom happening far away from Joe. He doubts that his sister will make the move. Then, it happens.

Sometimes, when we get what we want, there are unforeseen circumstances that follow. Joe has not lived with Jeanie since she was in grade school. There are things he does not know about his baby sister. Does anything ever go smoothly for Joe?

Once I dropped Jeanie into the Venice scene, Danny's fate was sealed. I did not plan on Romeo and Juliet. Back in the spring 2025 writing season, when I first used Joe's invitation to his sister to LAX as a way to get Jeanie back in LA, it just happened. While creating the scene of Joe introducing Jeanie to Danny at the LAX hangar, it hit me like a thunderbolt.

"Jeanie falls in love at first sight with Danny!"

I was so fucking happy. I did a shot of Jim and a hit of cannabis and went into a writing frenzy. The chapters you just read came flying out of my fingertips. These are the greatest moments in my writing hobby, when you're plodding along on a path that already exists in your mind. The story is there. I just haven't written it yet. Then, while putting the keystrokes down, an epiphany strikes that changes the trajectory of characters and sometimes the entire story.

Danny's role has been significantly upgraded, and now Jeanie lives in Los Angeles. Everything I have written that takes place late punks and in future punks must now reflect this new reality, the butterfly effect. That's a lot of work, because I have many chapters roughed out ahead. But... the creative opportunities of having his musical sister in his daily life are worth this new Jeanie in LA integration rewriting.

--- THE KRAUTS ---

In late AA chapters and through the next book, VIP Rewards, there's a significant amount of business writing. Joe retires from touring and asserts himself as the leader of his guerrilla operation. At the same time, Tina is selling a gallery and launching a fashion start-up. There are bi-coastal parallel business storylines.

Deiter and Klaus are two of my favorite 2025 rewrite characters. Joe hooking up with the Krauts will have far-reaching consequences. I had a few more epiphany moments in VIP writing. One of my favorites is Joe befriending a real-life media star who becomes an ally. As Joe's career evolves, he makes celebrity friends in the business. They say you should never meet your heroes. You may be disappointed.

The Krauts are big players in Joe's future, and Germany is the scene for the first military show as well as other future guerrilla adventures. In a June 20th blog post, I mentioned a moment of brilliance, a rare self-pat on the back. That epiphany moment was the Ramstein scenes and having Joe perform for the troops. It led to a weekend of manic writing. Armed Forces Entertainment is a future storyline to be exploited.

--- CHARACTER REHAB & DEHAB ---

I hope those who know the old Lit version can see how I used more scenes of Tina without Joe to give readers her New York perspective. The gallery scenes with T and Jenna, and the scenes in apartment 14F with her husband, are windows into her struggle. In this rewrite, one of my main goals, if not number one, was to elevate her to co-star status by writing more from her POV and having Tina's storylines intermingle with Joe's.

That's what's coming. I have learned that I enjoy writing from a woman's point of view. I don't know what that says about me, but I enjoy imagining how a woman might handle adversity, or how she might use her charms to get her way. Maybe I need a break from being inside Joe's man-brain. I believe it helps that I appreciate women's fashion, from the hair to the heels, and I can reasonably navigate female interests... with the help of Google.

My interest in exploring the female perspective opens doors Joe has no access to. He becomes a player in someone else's tale. Tina has secrets.

A big change from the Lit version to the 2025 tale is Jenna's breakup with Joe. This is a case of dehabilitation. Jenna Martin may be the best character in the AA chapters. In Lit Punks, there was a Jenna fan club, readers who wanted Joe to pick her over Tina. I felt I had to take the shine off Jenna just a little.

In the Lit story, she puts her dear John letter at the bottom of a box of pastry. Joe opens it on the plane. It's heartbreaking, but he's not angry in any way. By stuffing that letter into his backpack, where it goes unseen for days, I give Joe a reason to be offended. Because in his mind, he always makes things worse than they are. He connects Jenna and Cassie as bad breakups.

Don't worry about Jenna. She may have a sad outcome in the late 90s, but she'll be okay down the road. Her best friends never forget her. Jenna's story has not been told.

-- THE CHRONOLOGY TRAP ---

All 70 chapters of AA are uploaded and scheduled for publishing on Wattpad. The end comes on 9/20. So, if I croak next week, at least you'll get to the end of Anxiety. After that, the story continues on the punk timeline in VIP.

I believe one way I can break out of my recent writing slump is to break free of the chronological writing I have wedded myself to. Joe's journey is not just year to year. It is month to month, week to week, and in many cases, day to day. There are entire chapters that cover hours in his life, mere scenes, while other chapters traverse many miles and weeks.

I'm telling his tale from 1978 to 1998 chronologically. After that, I may employ the Punk Time Machine to leap forward in years to write future events that shatter the punk timeline, making anything possible. I have chapters written so far into the future, like old man Joe dealing with college-aged kids trapped at home during the pandemic, that I would never publish if I stayed with chronological writing. 

After VIP Rewards and White Wedding, I will break free of the chronology trap.

Doomsday Heart

It's been 50 days since I lost my mojo, and I cannot say I've found it, but last week I had a decent run, knocking out a few chapters.  For six weeks, I had bouts of writing; I might write a chapter over a few nights, and then not write for three days. I had one great weekend when a fresh idea sparked two chapters, then I didn't write for five days. My writing output is far off my usual pace. This is not necessarily a terrible thing. Obviously, my brain told me to take a break.

When I'm writing manically, and I do when inspiration strikes, I can write two chapters in a weekend, 12k words, and then clean it up later. I do a half chapter on a weeknight, easily. I average four chapters per week when I'm at my most productive; that's roughly 24k words per week.

For me, this is the time of year to write. When it's 116' in Phoenix, we hibernate. People in snow country hibernate in winter. In the Sonoran Desert, you don't go out if you don't have to during the summer. Last night we had a haboob, a massive wall of dust like in Mad Max: Fury Road. Stay indoors! Summer is usually when I write the most, not this year.

At the moment, Wattpad is on chapter 55 of 70 in Adventures in Anxiety.  At four chapters per week, AA will wrap up in late September, a vital moment in Joe and Tina's dysfunctional romance. The good news is, the next book is nearly finished, first draft writing. Even with this writing slump, I've managed to move the ball forward, but there's still editing and polishing to be done.

Lit Punks ended in February of 1998, chapter 37. When the next book, VIP Rewards, reaches 1998, it will be chapter 100. That's how much new writing was added to the old punk timeline. Overall, that endpoint is chapter 208 in the Punk Universe.

I have learned many things in my writing journey. I've stated that I can put out decent first draft writing, fully formed ideas, and scenes just rolling off my fingers. The conversation of my characters is in my head, and I can't type it fast enough. That said, I know some of the first draft writing I do feels good when I type it, but does not age well when I go back and read it days, or even hours, later.

Maybe my first draft writing isn't as good as it feels in the moment. Maybe slowing down is a good idea, intentional or not. 

--- MORTALITY ---

Last week, after having a productive several days, I thought I'd keep that going through the weekend. Late Friday night, I got sidelined by bad news. My baby brother died of a heart attack at age 50. This is a hard loss and another reminder of the garbage genes we have. My dad passed at 52, one heart attack. Mom died at 76, one heart attack. A cousin died at 47, one heart attack. Now my brother is gone far too soon.

I have a doomsday heart. My mortality has been stalking me for years. When I turned 50, I was convinced that my number was coming up soon. I went through a period of dread, not daily anxiety, but just an underlying sense that any day could be my last. On the day I turned 53, a birthday my father never saw, I went out and celebrated my birthday for the first time in many years.

Now, at 64, I feel like I'm playing with the house's money. I take a pile of meds every day, eat healthy, and exercise... but not enough. Maybe I can hold off the Grim Reaper, but like my doctor said a few years back, "It's not a matter of if ... it's a matter of when you'll have a heart attack, unless something else gets you first."

My brother is a heavy loss, and the doom of mortality that haunted me years ago is back. If one day the chapters stop coming and there are no replies to emails, you'll know why.

ARTIFICIAL INCOMPETENCE

I mentioned in a previous blog that I lost my writing mojo. I'm still in that funk, not writing very much. I usually write every day, but not anymore. I had a few days where I knocked out half a chapter here and there. Then it passed, and I didn't write for a week. This slump started more than a month ago.

Fortunately, Adventures in Anxiety is complete except for my doing one last pass on each chapter with ProWritingAid in Google Docs, cutting and pasting to Wattpad, and doing another spell and grammar check in the Wattpad editor because PWA is garbage in Google Docs. The last check before publishing will still catch a dozen minor issues missed in Docs.

I don't schedule a date and publish until that PWA report is clean. This is not easy because artificial intelligence is horrible at nuance, slang, and unconventional word usage. It endlessly attempts to make your writing cold and robotic. It flags perfectly fine writing all the time, causing you to stop and check what the issue is. 

These unnecessary stoppages happen dozens of times every pass I take, even after I've told PWA to ignore that slang or colloquialism. The AI does not learn what you've approved in previous checks and keeps flagging it over and over. 

ProWritingAid is not the reason I lost my mojo, but when I try to write, hoping to work my way out of this slump, PWA frustrates me so much that I abort the mission. Using PWA is contributing to my lack of motivation. I am constantly annoyed, and when this is not fun, I bail out.

When I don't have the urge to write, I go into management mode, checking and fixing upcoming chapters for publishing. It's not writing, it's editing, but it keeps my head in the project. Then something awful happened this week.

I opened Chapter 39 on Wattpad. When I published it last week, it had a clean PWA report with zero errors. I wanted to make a minor change to a scene. When ProWritingAid turned on, it flagged dozens of grammar issues. I scrolled down. What the fuck? There were no errors in this chapter, and now PWA is lighting me up.

I'm a man of words. I cannot express how disheartening this discovery was. When I opened the Stray Cat chapter you just read on Tuesday, dozens of errors were flagged. I felt it in my chest. I'm working so hard, checking and double-checking, and now this?

How can ProWritingAid give a clean report to a document one day, save it, and then fill it with its stupid red and blue lines a week later? I spent two days checking old chapters. Each was riddled with red flags, 30, 40, or 50+ errors.

I know PWA is terrible on Google Docs, especially long documents like my 7k chapters. Still, AI is supposed to be learning and updating, right? That's what they're selling us, continuous improvement.

I'm going to list just a few bugs PWA has, like confused words. It will flag a word, telling you it's incorrect, and suggest the correct word. You accept the change. It then flags the new word and offers you the word you first wrote. What the fuck? Another stoppage to deal with a PWA bug.

The AI flags a comma, tells you to delete it, and when you do, it suggests a comma. What the fuck?  It flags periods, question marks, and quotation marks, telling you to add that punctuation precisely where you already placed it. PWA has serious bugs in not detecting the punctuation you place at the ends of sentences.

This is the worst bug. PWA suggests a change. You accept it. That change requires adding a word or punctuation. It adds the needed item, but not a space, so the words are mashed together. It flags that error, but DO NOT accept the change. It will mangle that sentence, rearranging letters that you must now correct manually.

I deleted ProWritingAid and installed Grammarly. I never liked Grammarly, so I switched to PWA in February. However, I also never paid for Grammarly. I used the free version. Yesterday I subscribed. I'm paying for it and rechecking EVERY DAMN CHAPTER. 

I Lost My Mojo

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not read Adventures in Anxiety, chapter 28, Dream Come True, this blog contains spoilers.

Before I go there, I lost my mojo. I have written nothing significant in nearly three weeks. I'm going over the AA chapters as I schedule them, finding slight errors, and cleaning up the odd mistakes that AI spellcheckers miss. A few readers have flagged minor issues. It's usually a 'wrong word' problem, not a misspelling.

Signing versus singing was one. Swear versus sweat another, as well as brake and broke. The AI misses them and other things. I'm checking my imperfect work with imperfect technology. AI is supposed to be learning. It's flunking badly.

Right after my last blog post, I stopped writing. I think the seven-month rewrite wore me down and I was sick of Joe's fucking drama. You ain't seen nothing yet. I took a break and did some research for a future Sunset Private Eyes case. Other than that, I maintain my STTS publishing schedule and polish upcoming chapters. I feel like a janitor, fixing and cleaning.

---- DREAM COME TRUE ----

Joe's chance encounter with Barbara Nichols was written two years ago. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go there. It felt like a bad trope. I'm not against tropes, my writing has many, but when it's an obviously cliched plot line, you must do it well. 

Of course, I wanted Joe and Dr. Nichols to have an intimate dream come true hook up, but where in the timeline should I put this emotional experience? When I first wrote the Wickenden Pub scene, Joe had just returned from South America. Later, as I played with this idea, I decided 26 was too young. I wanted Joe to be a more accomplished man. Once I pushed it back to him in his thirties, I just needed the perfect time in his life.

Joe's dark side and don't give a fuck attitude at this time, needed an opposing presence in his life to keep him from going full dark. Also, Joe doesn't have a close enough friend he can truly trust and confide in. He needs that now, and who better than Dr Nichols could provide that?

I mixed the physical sex with the deep emotional connection, their history, and a dose of nostalgia. I think I did okay. I leaned on the sexy talk over the erotic narrative. I prefer pillow talk over sex scenes and try to balance that.

I wonder if I'm jumping the shark with the number of women in Joe's life. I pump the brakes on his love life a few times. Then there are these periods of hedonistic debauchery and emotional manipulation that make me cringe a tiny bit. I'll pump the brakes again. There will always be women in Joe's orbit, and most will slip away.

Barbara and Joe's relationship will blossom and be one more bag of emotions and logistics Joe must manage in his bi-coastal love life. He will think and scheme and do what he must to get what he wants.

This is the most new writing I've done in weeks. I've been playing a lot more guitar. I'm also a shitty harmonica player. I think my partner would like me to go back to writing. I'm hoping this sparks a rally.

The Never Ending Story

Very few read these blog posts that aren't linked to an email blast. I'm not sure why I write them except for the fact I enjoy writing about writing.

As I move forward in the punk timeline, rewrting and adding new material, this thing is getting longer, and longer. I mentioned previously that I have 100 unpublished chapters. That was a low-ball estimate. It's no longer accurate.

I'm having so much fun creating new characters, fresh adventures, and new anxiety for Joe. I'm adding chapters. I originally said Adventures In Anxiety would land near 60 chapters. Now it's at 70.

How much new writing has been added? Chapter 70 in Anxiety is at the same point in the timeline that chapter 30 was in Lit Punks. This is no longer a 50/50 book of old and new. It's near 60/40 and each chapter moves that number in favor of new material. When you factor in the tens of thousands of words I've cut from Lit Punks, this is not the same story. 

I'm proud of this rewrite. I'm most pleased that I've found the ability to slash and burn. It is so hard for me to delete writing I like. I'm now taking pleasure in trashing old scenes and chapters and replacing them with better writing. 

I've tagged Adventures In Anxiety, the never-ending story, because I never have a shortage of ideas for Joe. It's really a tag for all my punk writing. I wrote a scene three weeks ago, chapter 59, that I was so thrilled with it sent me on another tangent, adding an entire chapter of material spread over a four parts. This is how my story becomes insanely long.

--- BUSINESS WRITING ---

In reading and re-reading the old Lit Punks, so many errors and poor decisions suddenly appeared obvious to me. There was too much of the same. For a considerable stretch, there was one storyline, the affair, and it went on too long. This is where bringing the Venice characters to the fore and introducing new Theroux family stories helps AA. I have also expanded on the business writing.

What will Joe do after his music career is over? The song is not over. He will always be in music. As Joe's world touring days come to a close, he must reinvent himself for the next phase of his life. Making Guerilla Records a stronger company by recruiting new talent and finding creative ways to grow his company is a big part of the later chapters.

I have birthed new musician characters and bands for Joe to help reach the top, or as far as they can go. Joe forms a two new business partnerships that will provide him with exciting opportunities and the resources to achieve his goals. An old nemesis will resurface.

--- THE NEXT BOOK ---

I added a new wrinkle late in AA that will carry forward into the next book that I actually told a friend was a brilliant idea. I rarely pat myself on the back that hard. It seems whenever I need material to add drama, conflict, or romance, I can conjure new indignities or love interests to keep the story moving. 

When Adventures In Anxiety reaches the final chapter, it will be chapter #178 in the punk universe timeline. I'm currently working on #13 in the next book, #191 overall. That book will blow past the 200 chapter mark... and I have so much more.

There will be remnants of Lit Punks writing early in the next book. This week, I reached a milestone, the end of the old story. The 2025 rewrite is complete. It took seven months. What I'm writing today is 100% new. I have used all the old material I deemed suitable. While the outcome is basically the same, I have dramatically changed how Joe and Tina get there. 

The number of sex scenes late in Lit Punks was excessive. I've eliminated a handful, but also saved some, like the Glory Hole, that no longer fit in AA but will find a home in a future book. I really like that sexy side story that leaves Joe guessing, 'Did she really do that or is T messing with me?'

At the rate of four published chapters per week, Adventures in Anxiety will finish in September. I might sneak in an occasional Friday bonus chapter to move things along. After AA, it's 80% new writing. By chapter 12, it's 100%.

--- FIRST DRAFT WRITING ---

Writing is a painstakingly slow process. So much of this new material is near-first-draft writing. I'm astonished by how much better I am at producing solid scenes on my first attempt. I did not say finished. I still polish them, correct and make minor changes.

I always say the first draft of a story is never the best version, and I believe this. These new chapters are as close to a first draft as you'll ever see.

If I keep writing this, I'll just keep rambling. I should stop.

Adventures In Anxiety

Adventures In Anxiety, the next book in Joe's never-ending story is now running on Wattpad. There's a link somewhere over there. >>>>>

AA directly follows The Venice Scene in a nearly seemless transition. There are scenes from the old Venice series that now exist in AA. Because my punk writing is mostly chronological, it's sometimes difficult to decide where to end one book and begin the next. It's rarely a clean break and is usually more of a transition. 

The opening scene in Postcards is the same as the closing scene of ATYP NYC. In Venice, the last scene is the band flying to Europe. Adventures In Axiety opens with City of Angels in London. I try to find an important event in the punk timeline to end or start a book. In AA, Joe's reunions with his U.K. and New York people, and his seeing Tina for the first time in seven years, made this call easy. The next seam in the timeline is also a clear beginning of a new book.

My Mental Health Intermission blog post on 5/14 no one read has information on the upcoming chapters I will not repeat here. I have other shit to say.

I have always had a problem slashing scenes and chapters. This lack of discipline leads to my crazy, long punk tales. I write it and if I like it, that scene stays. In this book, I slashed and burned many thousands of words from the Lit version of Punks, including entire chapters. 

This did not result in a shorter story, as I've replaced all that content with new writing that far exceeds the old. Also, my cutting a dozen stupidly long chapters in half resulted in more chapters. I am now working with a soft ceiling of 8000 words per chapter. I've touched that ceiling only three times. 7k is a long chapter.

This book will be in the neighborhood of sixty long chapters. I'm currently working on #45. For the first time in years, I'm publishing early chapters as I work on the later parts. For this reason, I will not publish one chapter per day. I'm thinking of going with the TITSS schedule; Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday. 

Adventures has entire chapters dedicated to Joe reuniting with old friends and fellow travelers from previous books. Because CoA is touring the world, I could revisit my Postcards style of writing ... Joe in a foreign land, absorbing culture. Maybe he meets someone special.

Adventures is an extension of The Venice Scene. In the 2021 Lit series; Annie, Carlo, the Venice girls, and the cranks at the Surfside were barely mentioned. Joe's sisters did not have a single scene in Punks. That story was about a twisted bi-coastal extra-marital affair. The twisted affair exists within AA, mixed with his family drama back home and his community in Venice, all brand new writing. 

Punks lacked a soul. It was all salacious for Literotica purposes. Adding the many facets of Joe, his music, his friends, family, and community fixes that soulless issue. 

Joe's China problem was part of the Venice story. That now extends into AA with a better outcome. Joe did not have a cat in Punks. That alone makes AA a better story. This book includes Midnight Motown, the Punk Christmas Card, and many more new adventures in romance and anxiety for Joe.

---- XXX ---- 

A funny thing happened during my rewrite. I went into 2025 with the notion I would scale back the erotic content. I think I once wrote; The original story was R-rated. I then made it X-rated for Literotica,. Now I'm dialing it back to R.

That did not happen. 

As I moved through this project, I found some sex scenes were important to the story, like Joe's boner error with the crazy coke girl, Lisa. That gross misfortune had a major effect on Joe's psyche. Once I decided to keep that trashy episode, the rest of the adult content looked tame in comparison.

In AA, the story depends on the emotional manipulation, sexual head games, and depravity. This is not Joe and Tina's finest behavior. It was fun writing about lovers torturing one another from afar, using sex and emotions as weapons. I could not change that aspect of the story. I like it as it is. I dirty their reputations and the remove any notion that Joe Theroux and Tina Costello are normal.

So, Joe's story moving forward is no less salacious. I did, however, make XXX changes. Some of the erotic scenes were so long I cringed. How many times can you write the word cock before you think, 'This is fucking stupid?' I found that number and kept writing cock. I dramatically chopped sex scenes I found less important to the story with others remaining close to what they were with a rewrite.

Another reason I'm maintaining the X rating is where I'd like to take this story in the future. Joe and Tina, managing a bi-coastal relationship, will present challenges. I want to leave all options available. The sexual head games won't stop. Most chapters will be R-rated. Some will get naughty. That's been my M.O. for a long time.

---- WHY IS THERE A WOMAN ON THE BOOK COVER? ----

Maybe because there are far more female characters than male in Joe's life. Some of the best characters I create are his brief love interests. Joe's anxiety is centered on his relationships with women. Also, it might draw more Wattpad eyes.

Joe's happiness teeters on the edge. His sensitivity and insecurity have a direct impact on his romantic partners. He causes them anxiety, as if it's contagious. Everyone Joe befriends must someday deal with his demons. In AA, his romantic past and his present demons affect all the women in his life.

---- NO END IN SIGHT ----

Few O.G. punk readers have rejoined Joe's story on Wattpad. I get it. I've only published rewrites of the story you read on Literotica. If you're waiting for the right spot to jump back in, this is a good time to check it out. I won't mislead you. Joe ends up in the same place. The writing and new material is far better as the last four years of writing have taught me a lot.

In the opening line, I referred to this as Joe's never-ending story. I suspect I'll be writing punk tales until the day I croak. There is no end in sight. I have dozens of future chapters in the works, some complete, others half baked, that provide me with a roadmap. When I get a fresh idea for a future event, I break off what I'm doing and begin writing, so I have that idea filed away for when I need it.

If you choose to jump back into Joe's story, please give me a follow on Wattpad. I don't charge a penny for the work I do. Those follows and the star ratings are the only sign I have that anyone is reading. So far, it's not very encouraging. I could use the lift.

I write for hours upon hours. It takes a second to hit FOLLOW or the STAR. C'mon, throw me a bone.

I worked my ass off on this 2025 rewrite, but especially this book. I'm a better writer today than I was when I wrote Punks in 2021. And, having just rewritten 108 chapters before Joe and Tina reconnected, I had a wealth of call back and fresh references to work with. I did some fun, crazy shit. I hope I didn't jump the shark.