• The Story Behind the Book

    Just Another Week in Suburbia: The Publishing Journey ~ Part 1

    The publishing journey is about the stupidest fucking journey you could ever aspire to take. It’s like asking somebody to kick you in the crotch, thanking them for it, grinning inanely, and then asking somebody else to treat you the same. When I was younger, more inexperienced, and stupider, I held an unflappable belief I’d be published. I think most authors at a similar stage in their careers feel similarly. It’s just a matter of time. This is naivete talking. Or we can go back to that stupidity thing. Then I got older and learned more about writing, and that my writing at that stage was shit. Not hopeless. Not…

  • One Terrific Lie

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    I have only the vaguest recollection of my first submission – a (long) short story to some magazine (I can’t remember which exactly) way back in the late 1980s. The story was an action story. I remember the story specifically. I still have it (and wrote two sequels, as well as a prequel before prequels were fashionable). One day, I’d like to do something with it although, in retrospect, it’s probably better suited to a screenplay. The magazine was one of those women’s periodicals, like Woman’s Day – although I don’t think it was that particular one. It was one that did publish short stories, though. I wouldn’t have just…