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Not acting my age

One added benefit of my recent mention in USA Today was the printing of my age, 38. Many of my friends and colleagues thought that this was a misprint, assuming that I was much closer to thirty than to forty. I had more than half a dozen people ask me about it, and all were…

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Storytelling on Twitter

For those of you on Twitter, you may be aware of the recent explosion of Twitter stories or novels, sometimes called Twisters, that people are now writing. They are essentially 140-character, self-contained stories, usually amounting to about three or four sentences. They remind me a lot of haikus, particularly in terms of the turn that…

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Experience counts

My good friend often said that no one can write a decent book before the age of forty. Life experience, he believes, is required to write well. I sold my book at the age of 37, three years under my friend’s presumed guideline. Sometimes I think I wrote it out of spite, just to prove…

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USA Today! Today!

An article appeared in USA Today by Carol Memmott on publishing in trade paperback instead of hardcover, and Something Missing was featured prominently in the piece. Very exciting! My initial instinct was to run out and purchase fifty copies of the paper, but oddly enough, I have experience with this kind of thing and thought…

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Wyatt of Rockport, Massachusetts

I spent the past week vacationing in Rockport, a seaside town on the north shore of Massachusetts. It’s a delightfully quaint and historic little town, its streets lined with tiny shops, each filled with tons of character and individuality. As we explored the town, dining in the restaurants and stopping in many of the shops,…

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Odd titles

As I attempt to settle on a title for my second novel, I am amused by the discovery that a prize is given out annually to the book with the oddest name. It’s known as The Diagram Prize, named for the information and graphics company where it was born. This year’s winner: The 2009-2014 World…

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Interruption

Conversation between a three-year-old and me: Three-year-old: Hi. What are you working on? Me:  An questionnaire for my publisher. Three-year-old:  Why? Me: So that my readers can know me better. Three-year-old: Oh. A second later… Three-year-old:  I’ve been working on the railroad all the long living day. I’ve been working on the railroad just to…

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A reader’s guide

Random House has posted a reader’s guide for Something Missing on their site, along with a summary of the book and a couple of blurbs from other authors. As the writer, reading the questions in the guide was fascinating. I’ve known the main character, Martin, for a few years now, and in writing the book,…

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A dangerous career

Last week I accompanied my wife to a Passover Seder at the home of some of her old friends. I didn’t know many people in attendance, but the host knew about the upcoming publication of Something Missing and introduced me as a writer, prompting much discussion about books, writing, and the publishing industry. At one…

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Not religious. Not spiritual.

The advanced review copies of Something Missing have begun to pop up on eBay (thank goodness for Google Alerts). Even though the ARC seal on the book clearly states that the review copy is not for sale, apparently not everyone agrees. Even so, the eBay seller indicates in their description of the book that: This…

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