A Little Background

When I first tried to sit down and write a book. I had no idea what I was doing, what pen name to use or what project to do. I remember just sitting at a cubicle at the public library, staring at a blank page, completely lost. I heard of NaNoWriMo/National Novel Writing Month back in college and thought that might be a good way of getting started. I went to every write-in, was the first to show up and the last to leave, networking and absorbing like a sponge. If somebody mentioned a book on style or technique, I went and found it. If somebody mentioned a writing group, I went and checked it out.

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I began with smaller works like novellas, novelettes, short stories and poetry. I had finished two novellas, two novelettes, three short stories and about four hundred poems in secret when I set out to write my first novel, which was only intended as "practice."

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Due to the subject matter of WASHINGTON, it was not something I planned to publish. But as I wrote it, something magical sort of sparked on the page. The characters were alive and talking to each other, joking and arguing with each other. I was transported back to Blockbuster Video and to Tower Records, perusing the shelves like a teenager again. I was in the arcade, ditching class, hanging out at my friend's house, blowing into cartridge video games like a harmonica...

 

By early March 2020, I was all set to reach out to literary agents with my polished manuscript. By late March 2020, everything of course ground to a painful halt. I'm a healthcare worker and I was working in nursing homes then so it was especially rough. I timed it the best I could and took my best shot. I got a lot of positive and personalized responses, some close to accepting, but in the end it didn't happen. The story was a little too controversial and the market a little too uncertain.

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However, I couldn't let that magic I felt go.

 

So I hired a professional editor who has worked with some big authors like James Dashner (The Maze Runner), Gayle Forman (If I Stay) and Emily XR Pan (The Astonishing Color of After). I hired a professional cover design and interior formatting team who has done some work for Dean Koontz. I even did a small crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.

 

My first two books, a novel and a story collection, are available to 40000+ retailers, bookstores and libraries through Lightning Source, and on Amazon in over 170 countries.

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WASHINGTON recently became an award winner and bestseller, peaking at #1, #6 and #11 across three categories on Amazon.