My Thousand-Mile Journey

Ever since I was about fourteen and learned I could write a little bit, I always said that I wanted to write a book “someday.” When you’re fourteen, “someday” could mean when you’re twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, or even on your deathbed. It’s something that you log away in the back of your mind as you concentrate on other things like graduating high school, getting laid, finding out who you are in college, finding out who you REALLY are when you reach the work force, getting married, having kids, getting divorced, getting married again, and getting your life back on track. All of a sudden, age twenty was twenty years ago, age thirty came and went while you were trying to pick the right bathroom tiles (or divorce attorneys, depending on your situation), and age forty was staring at you with folded arms and a disapproving look and reminding you that “someday” was still waiting for you, but with much more immediacy than when you were fourteen. I didn’t know if I was ready, but I knew it was time to try. Thus began my thousand-mile journey.

A Fade-out, But Not a Fade-away. I’m Back.

Oh, you didn’t think this was over, did you? On pause? On hiatus? On sabbatical? Sure. But if a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, as is the theme of this blog, there are many, many steps, mis-steps, detours, and even breaks along the way. But the journey hasn’t stopped. I was super excited when I finished writing my first novel. It took me about a year and a half in between work, life, and other things, to finish the first draft, but I got there. Then came revisions, beta readers, and re-writes, and then I…

No News Isn’t Always Good News

I’ve been quiet on here recently, I know. I wish I could say it was because I’ve landed an agent and I’ve been working hard behind the scenes to hammer out a contract, negotiate a deal with a publisher, and prepare my manuscript for publication in 2023 or beyond. I wish I could say that. What I can say is I have been deep in the query trenches for about four months now, trying to get eyes on what I believe is a good story, and interest has been nil. To date, I’ve received 25 rejections and another 7 non-responses…

Revision: Writing’s Evil, Ugly (but necessary) Stepsister

A journey of a thousand miles may begin with a single step, but all steps are not equal. I was ecstatic last summer when I finished my book. And by “finished my book” I meant “wrote ‘The End’ on my first draft.” I thought, Now that the hard part is over, all I have to do is read it, revise it, then release it to the world. I should’ve believed all the experienced writers out there who said writing the first draft is actually the easy part. In fact, they said (I’m using the proverbial “they”), it’s the fun part.…

Walking alone is still walking

My journey has been a silent but determined one since the last time I posted here. I can assure you, my faithful two readers, that I am back – and that I did not forget about you. But once I started working full-time again at the end of the summer, my available creative time took a nosedive, so I had to be very selective about how I spent it. Thus, to the backburner went my website and newsletter. I’m pretty excited about the progress I’ve made on my debut novel over the past six months. After a first draft I…

Sometimes Life Gets In the Way

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to update this. It’s not because I haven’t had anything to say. It’s not because of an ongoing battle with, like, writers block or plantar fasciitis or something. And it’s not because I’ve lost interest in this. Quite the opposite, in fact—writing is all I ever think about when I’m not doing something else. The problem is, I’m ALWAYS doing something else. That’s right, my worst fear has come true: Life has gotten in the way. Goddamn it. I started working on my novel a few months before COVID was a…

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