The Coldwater Diaries

Whether you’re new to this site or one of the very few people out there who actually followed the world of The Coldwater Diaries let me tell you this particular project has gone through many changes since its conception in late 2007 to now. (For those of you that are just joining us) The intention has always been the same: to tell a fluid, organic,on-the-fly tale of young people living in Los Angeles in blog-form. An online novel (if you will) designed not only to tell a story in a fresh new way, but to also trick what has become a generation of YouTubes and Facebooks and Tweets – basically rendering print media obsolete – into actually reading once again.

In the beginning I planned on telling the story of The Coldwater Diaries every day. One chapter at a time. One day at a time. No real direction in sight save for a general idea of where the story was to go. Written until one day the story found its end.

This of course, given my lifestyle’s changing from erratic and insane to normal to out-of-control and back to reformed and so forth, made the idea of writing an online novel day by day nothing more than a semi-good idea impossible (for the writer in question) to follow through.

There are many reasons for this yet for the sake of time I’ll wrap it all up by simply saying –

Despite having a story and unique idea in which to tell it, I as both writer and human, simply wasn’t ready to unveil the story day by day…

I still had a bit of living to do.

Again for the sake of time I’ll spare you all the up’s and down’s encountered while writing this project and simply tell you this: although The Coldwater Diarieshadn’t been told day by day as intended – every last bit of it was still written in the way I had wanted it to be from day one… Spontaneous, without edit, presented as blogs written by my severely flawed characters (based on myself and the many folk I’ve encountered in my six years in Los Angeles).

I’d say as a writer I went through about four separate spurts of writing what now stands as The Coldwater Diaries.During each spurt I wrote without braking within a week’s time. In the case of my first eight chapters – written in the fall of ’07 – I spent maybe a little under a week cranking out lines while at the same time blowing lines of blow in a high-rise in Brentwood.

Then life got in the way and I took some time off…

And then another spurt came about – cut off short by an unexpected trip back to my hometown of Chicago where I faced charges of theft and DUI’s and other debacles from my past.

Once back in LA after having served my stint, I returned to the world of Coldwater ready again to give the wholeonline novel a go once again. This lead to a series of more chapters written through a set of different eyes under the warm embrace of a far more stable lifestyle – where in the end of which I had completed and published what I considered to be the First Volume of The Coldwater Diaries.

The original First Volume was offered for free on the site (with an option to buy a print version for the sicko’s out there) and from there I promised weekly updates of what was to be Volume Two – allowing readers to tune in (if you will) to a story unfolding organically much like a television program.

Of course however, that oh familiar tune I tend to sing far too often ‘Life Got in the Way’ filled the airwaves again and the promise of a Second Volume told online went unfilled.

And with that another lay-off…

An extremely long lay-off for those of you that have actually been checking the site.

But unlike the lay-offs that preceded the one in question – eventually leading me to this moment – I hadn’t taken all that much time off the writing. With my life in yet another place, all of my writing was done in private leaving all internet projects stagnate.

But again, this isn’t to say I wasn’t working.

Eventually I entered another spurt of writing – re-entering the world of Coldwater yet again – intending to writeVolume Two.

What started as Volume Two to be quickly turned into something else… after a few chapters written in the course of an hour or so, it was clear to me as the writer that a new direction was needed. After getting over a hump of two relatively hard chapters to write – being as I had no clue where I was going – a significant change had taken place leaving me stuck in a trance-like-state of blind creativity I had no control over. It was as if the world of Coldwater and all the flawed-characters within took hold of me – resulting in written ejaculations of depravity, sadness, betrayal, and all that dirt that makes fictional characters so much fun…

…And what began as an idea of how to tell a story I wanted to tell turned into a clear story I needed to tell. As not only had I reached an indescribable point of understanding regarding the structure of the story along with all her character’s arcs locked and loaded… but I had come to terms with a truth that (corny as it may be) set me free…

Where in the past I had beaten myself up for not writing my story – certain my problem was simply an inability to sit down and type away – I realized (no matter how much I may have thought to the contrary in the past) I was simply not ready to tell the story…

And with that, the term life got in the way went from excuse to reason…

Seeing how not only the writing has changed from the first chapter to where I am now, I clearly found a different writer. An evolving writer. And although it had taken a few turns and hadn’t quite went the way I wanted, I realized certain life changes were necessary in understanding and executing my work.

That said, I bring you to where we are now (and I promise I’ll make this fast).

For starters, the original Volume One currently on the site is obsolete (if you will). Where in writing Volume Two I found what I had first passed off as a first-act of this Tale incomplete – resulting in my revamping the existing Volume One by inserting a number of chapters written for Volume Two.

Basically after having written Volume Two in a little over a week fueled by a combination Adderall, too much free-time, and a shit-ton of Vitamin Water, I was left with over 100,000 words of a story nearing it’s end – and above all – a clear idea of how to execute the story in the way I planned on telling it almost two years ago.

As it stands right now, both Volumes 1 & 2 are complete. I’ll be re-releasing the now Updated Volume One which just as before will be available for free as a PDF on this site with the option to purchase a print version (although I really don’t want you to).

Volume Two on the other hand – despite being finished – will be (as promised) posted chapter by chapter every few days on the site – with an option to purchase a Print Version of Volume Two available as well for those of you who just can’t wait for the chapter-by-chapter routine.

Again, my biggest regret about this whole project was not being able to post it every day… write it day by day (and so forth). But the reality is, despite my not posting and whatnot, both Volumes were written in the style I had intended… where inside almost two years, I only spent a total of just under a month actually writing the story.

Bringing me now to the fun part and final aspect of the new Coldwater Diaries…

With both Volumes 1 & 2 available to readers – as I post the already completed chapters of Volume Two on the site, I will be also writing the concluding Third Volume on the site concurrently – live, on-the-fly, and (hold me to this please) at a rate of at least three chapters a week. Along with this, although I have a very strong outline concerning howThe Coldwater Diarieswill end – it hasn’t been written yet.

For the Third Volume section, readers will have the opportunity to offer plot suggestions I may or may not take. Furthermore, I understand we all have our own LA Stories much like those found here – and I’d like to hear them. Apart from telling a written story online, I had always planned to incorportate certain interactive elements to the whole deal. For starters there’s a number of Short Scripts I’m now in position to shoot and post on the site – acting as side stories to further the experience of The Coldwater Diaries. In conjunction with that, as a reader I’d like to hear your story… if I can use it, I’ll in some way implement it as I wrap up The Coldwater Diaries live on the site.

Again however, I have a clear outline of where I’m going… but I thought the same thing two years ago.

So here I am now, after many different attempts, finally confident in making this whole thing a reality.

This little note you’re reading is meant to inform simply as possible some of the complex changes I have made and where the project will go from here. Within a few days the Updated Volume One will be available as a PDF along with its printed counterpart. Also expect a few chapters of Volume Two posted along with an option to buy the completed version in print form.

It’ll take a few more days to work out some of the kinks but within a week or so all should be running full swing and The Coldwater Diaries Final Act will begin to unfold live on the site.

Although you all haven’t been able to see it, I’ve been hard at work preparing all of this. I’m excited to finally get it all going and eventually… two years and many lives later, put this beast to sleep.

Thank you for reading and sorry for the lay-off. My current fan-base is nothing to write home about numbers-wise but I do appreciate all of you and I’m back… with material well worth the wait.

For those of you new to this, just pick up from Volume One and work your way through.

For now I’ll leave you all with wishes of a good night and I’ll see you soon with what has become a Coldwater DiariesI can at last be proud of… and tell the way it’s meant to be told…

Because once you get around all the LA-shit and the depraved characters and all the chaos, you’ll find the character’s ofColdwater share something in common with all of us…

They’re living life.

Sure the theme is for all the young people flocking to Los Angeles in pursuit of a dream only to find a nightmare… but once you scratch away the scum crusted over the surface. We’re all no different from the Character’s of this insane world I’ve created.

So read up on Volumes 1 & 2 – which started out as my story – and join me as I wrap it all up live online and together we’ll finish our story…

Together.

There’s a lot in store so check back soon. Until then—

Stay frigid you maniacs,

Geoffrey A. Citron

Los Angeles, September 2009