Reality Check

I need to get a real job. That was the upshot of meeting with my agent in New York City.

I've done really well as a writer. I am way ahead of the curve. I have a legendary agent, sold my first book to Bloomsbury, and I've completed lots of other manuscripts. I did all of this faster than most, but I still need to get a real job.

The reality is that my first book will not be published until next February and my next books won't be published until well after that. The big money - if it's to be had - won't come for a while.

I don't want to leave my office by the marina, but it looks like I will. I don't want to change the writing routine, but it looks like it's going to happen. I can do it. I just don't want to.

So, I'm working on the resume. I will figure out a way to spin the last couple of years. I will call it "The Sabbatical", which it was. Kind of like the time I took off from college to play pro soccer. I had to get it out of my system - prove to myself that I could do it. Well, I did.

I won't stop writing. I'll just have to do it in my spare time, which is how most do it.

The upside to all of this is that the job will likely take me back overseas - hopefully to Latin America. I will again experience the life and adventures I love, and I will replenish the fodder for new stories and books. The downside is that I will leave the office by the marina and upset the family apple cart...again.

It's been good. It'll be good again.

Pace and Action

Those are two of the words my editor at Bloomsbury used the other day in her assessment of Avery McShane and the Silver Spurs, which we are in the final stages of editing. The next step is the more detailed editing and proofreading. That's where they look at and fix everything: the grammar, syntax, crossing each t and dotting each i.

Here are some snippets from that same email:

"...think it reads very well. I do think you have such a good, natural voice that boys will lap up!"


"...I do think it is reading so fluently and with such pace and action! Really (literally!) barnstorming."

Barnstorming because the protagonist actually blows up a barn.

I trust her opinion. I have started to come out of my shell a bit more lately - attending book readings and writers groups - and she's right. There are not a whole lot of easy read books for middle readers of the male persuasion. There is a noticeable gap between the more involved novels (such as the Harry Potter series) and the very simple reads (such as comic books). There are some out there, like Holes, but not many.

I can't wait to find out how the book (and the series) resonates with boys and, hopefully, with girls and other age groups too. It's pretty exciting.

She also said that I'll be seeing some cover art in the next month or so. I can't wait.

But I have no choice.