A lot things changed for me the day a doctor told me I was moments away from going blind or having a stroke. I’m fucking 35 years old. That news shook me to my core. I’m a young man. I’ve barely hit my stride as a fully functioning adult. I have so much left to do in this world. But life doesn’t wait for us, and neither does death.
If I’d have keeled over and died from a stroke instead of getting a few weird warning signs that gave me time to correct my health and get out of danger, my literary and film estates would have been left in limbo. I have no kids, none of my siblings or parents have any real idea of what I do or how to go about keeping my books and movies available to the public after my death.
I know I’m not alone in this regard. Many of my young peers have no contingency plan for keeping their estates managed after their deaths. They don’t ever think about dying. Dying is for old people. We’re too busy busting our asses writing these books and banging these wonderful and beautiful women and taking our freakshows on the road to put these books into the hands of the fans, right?
Except death doesn’t give a fuck how hot our lovers are, or how talented we are. Cancer, car accidents, weird diseases, these things happen to people of all ages. The only thing that makes us any different is that our stories are important to others and it’s our responsibility to keep our messages out there beyond our mortal years. That’s why we do this in the first place, right? To speak to humanity long after we’re dead? To gain some sort of immortality?
That doesn’t happen if our rights get lost, buried, forgotten.
Brian Keene is managing his best friend’s literary estate. J.F. Gonzalez was a young man when cancer took him. He was lucky enough to have another author as his best friend, and his books will continue to be sold so that his family can be taken care of. But not all of us have that kind of system in place. When I faced mortality this past month and the very real possibility that I would not see another year, I put a plan in place. I created a will based on the template that can be found at Neil Gaiman’s website.
There is now a committee in place that will handle my literary affairs in the event of my death. People close to me whom I trust will keep my legacy alive after my death. I encourage each and every one of my writer brothers and sisters to do the same, so that your immortal voice is not silenced with your fleshy one.
Death won’t wait till we’re old to claim all of us.
About two weeks ago, I noticed a strange bending at the sides of my vision. I saw an eye doctor who asked me what my blood pressure was. I told him I hadn’t checked my blood pressure in ten years. He checked it. 198/131. He told me that the bending in my vision was most likely caused by the fact that I’d been living with stroke level hypertension for god only knows how long. He said the pressure of the spinal fluid in my brain against my optic nerves was causing them to swell and distort my vision. He said I was going to die if I didn’t go to the emergency room the second I left his office.