UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO related
Ten years of publishing… TODAY!
I am celebrating my tenth anniversary in publishing today! On July 14, 2009, I published my first novel, Something Missing, with Broadway Books, a division of Doubleday, thus making a seemingly impossible dream come true. I can still remember walking into the now-defunct Borders Books and seeing my book on the shelf for the first…
Read MoreGreat first sentences (and an analysis of the first sentences of my own novels)
I have no definitive favorite first line of a novel, though I am partial to the first line of Slaughterhouse Five: “All this happened, more or less.” Also, Fahrenheit 451: “It was a pleasure to burn.” Of all my books, I like the first sentence of Chicken Shack, my unpublished novel that will hopefully see…
Read MoreBest graduation cap ever
I’m admittedly biased, but still…
Read MoreToday I feel like a real author – which doesn’t happen often – and not for any reason that you might imagine.
I’m not sure if other authors feel this way, but most days, I don’t feel like a real author. Its ridiculous but true. I’ve published three novels – two with Doubleday and one with St. Martin’s Press – and I have a fourth publishing in September. My last book was translated into more than 25…
Read MoreI won’t be reading my novel to my children. For a damn good reason.
My son asked me to read my novel, Unexpectedly, Milo, to him. “Too long,” I told him. “No pictures. Let’s find something else.” It also has an awkward and explicit sex scene in it (which I didn’t bother to mention), so I think he’ll be reading that one on his own some day.
Read MoreThe moment for which every author longs, experienced by my wife.
My wife was checking out books at the library when a woman stepped up beside her and handed Unexpectedly, Milo to the adjacent librarian. “That’s my husband’s book,” Elysha said. “What?” the woman asked. “What?” the librarian asked. “That’s my husband’s book,” she repeated. “He wrote it.” “He did?” the woman said. “He did?” the…
Read MoreI have 15 jobs. So you probably require my services in one way or another.
As the New Year approaches and the endless possibilities of the coming year loom on the horizon, I always like to take a moment and reset my current occupational status, in the event that you or someone you know will require my services in 2015. While occupations like teacher and writer seem like fairly obvious…
Read More“Where do you get your ideas?” is an understandable but impossible-to-answer question for authors. But “Nuns at Scout camp” will be one of my answers someday.
I’m often asked where I get my ideas for books, which is an understandable but impossible question to answer. There is no well of ideas. There is no secret formula. There is no one answer to that question, as much as fledgling writers seem to want there to be. Simply put, I hear something. I…
Read MoreSecond-hand Milo
Once you publish a book, you never know where it will go. A friend found a copy of my second novel, Unexpectedly, Milo, in a second hand store last week. I can’t help but wonder about it’s journey from bookstore to secondhand store. Where was it originally bought? How was it chosen? Did a kindly…
Read MoreIMDB, baby.
There is nothing wrong with taking pride in one’s accomplishments. I am proud of my fifteen year teaching career, which includes a Teacher of the Year honor. I am proud of my publishing career, which includes three novels that have been published in more than 25 countries worldwide. I’m proud of the way that we…
Read More