So it goes...

Yesterday I received my edit copy of my forthcoming book, Cretin Boy, from Burning Bulb Publishing . This is the copy that sets the formatting and allows me to check things out for any final edits. Like the first two memoirs, this is a little surreal, but something I am getting used to with each new book. I must add that the coolest part of all of it is seeing my name at the top of every other page.  I done wrote a book, Ma! There was a time not long ago (10 years or so) that the thought of publishing one book was not even in my sights. Now, three books in, I guess I can say I've arrived. I always refer to my "sub-atomic micro fame," which is all it is, but it is still extremely gratifying and I am just glad to be at this point on my writing journey. One subject that came up from my publisher was the idea of an audio book. The publisher gave me a contact to see if I could get a quote. I contacted the guy and he gave me a quote at around $1800. That amount is actually quit...

Over the weekend I got news that my manuscript, Cretin Boy, was accepted for publication by Burning Bulb Pulishing. If you're on Facebook, you already know this, but for those not, well, now you know. This will be my third published memoir since I began this whole writing thing 10 years ago. Getting a book published is an amazing feeling and it never grows old. I am so excited by the prospect of this book about my high school experience becoming real! Like my other books, it's been in the works for years, in this case, about 3 years. When you put that much work into something, there is nothing better than to see it validated by a willing publisher. And as weird as it may sound, I have always thought that until I have 3 full length books, I'm still not legit. I know that is warped, untrue and self-defeating, but it's a number I had in my mind. I also have 5 poetry books, but I always look at those as a bonus to my success as a nonfiction writer. It's these 220+ page ...

My memoir in progress (MIP) is coming along well. I'm just over 70,000 words into it andI've got the chapters roughed out. Now the hard part of slogging through edits comes into play. Tenatively titled, Cretin Boy, it is about my teenage years in an all-male, Catholic, military (JROTC) school in the late '70s. The book is not solely about the school, but also about all that comes with being a teenager and all the changes that life brings. One of those changes of course is a kid's introduction to the working life. Once you hit 15 back then, you were expected to start looking for a part-time job. It was in part to keep you off the street but also a way of teaching you work ethic and helping take the load off of Mom and Dad's need to supplement your income (or lack of it). In the book I talk about my first job at Tu-Way Car Wash on Cleveland and Randolph in St. Paul, Minnesota. I was a freshman in high school and my brother Tom worked there and got me the job. I ...