Someday This Will Make a Heck of a Author-Bio

How many of you out there ask yourself…”What’s the deal with DL? He’s been around the blogosphere forever and he still hasn’t landed an agent or even attempted the self-publishing route. Maybe he doesn’t have what it really takes?”

Raise your hand if you thought that…come on...I got mine up. I wondered this for a long time until last year when a small piece of legitimacy and respectability came my way in the form of a short story accepted for publication in an anthology series entitled An Honest Lie. I can’t tell you how much that little accomplishment rejuvenated me. It was like Popeye downing a can of Spinach! "I yam what I yam and tha's all what I yam… a-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah!" I doubled my querying efforts for my mystery/thriller book, pitched it to an agent at a writer’s conference and landed a couple of full-requests. Then I tried my hand writing in the YA genre and was very pleased with my first draft (and so was my CP). My theme for last year was making it uncomfortable in my comfort zone…and it was starting to payoff.

Then the train de-railed on December 21st and everything changed. Those of you who’ve followed my journey know the details, and I’ll not rehash them here, but suffice it to say that 2013 has been a year of setbacks. Writing has pretty much ground to a halt, so has querying, the writers conferences have come and gone with at least one empty seat, and basically most of my forward momentum has turned into suspended animation. I keep semi-active here on the blog, taking part in A-Z…a couple blogfests…WRiTE CLUB, but even here I’m really just treading water. I’m not getting around to other blogs near as much as I’d like to and most of my post are filled with so much angst they come off sounding like a bad episode of Dawson’s Creek. The one thing I was holding onto was the fact that soon I’d see a piece of my writing in print.

That was until the proverbial rug was pulled out from under me last week when I learned that An Honest Lie had gone belly up! I never knew that ground zero could feel so cold. Maybe that’s because I didn’t just end up there, I felt like I was buried six feet under it.

But this is not me boo-hoo’ing again. No, what your reading is me doing what this blog was originally created to do…chronicling my writing journey…good, bad, or indifferent. All of this…the past eight months…is simply another chapter in my story. The medical issues are almost behind us and I’m poised to take up that pursuit once again. Though I haven’t been able to write, I’ve been reading A LOT and doing what I can to prepare for the moment when my mind will be at ease and I can focus on the dream. That time is almost here. My wife’s final treatment is today, which means in a few weeks our family will be on its way back to normalcy. There are still a couple of hurdles ahead, but they are speed bumps compared to the Mount Ranier's she's already climbed. I'm so proud of how she's handled everything thrown at her! But now that my family is safe again, I’ll be turning that cap around on my head real soon.

So, for those of you that have been asking the question I led off with…here’s my answer. If you’ve had faith in me up to this point…hold onto it a while longer. If you’ve always had your doubts…I suggest you put them aside. If you have no opinion either way, but are looking for a horse to back…put your money on me. Although I’ll still have to contend with finding time to write and be creative while holding down a full-time job, past that the only thing holding me back will be finger cramps.

Besides, someday this will all make a dynamite author-bio…don’t you think?

Don’t forget, Bout 4 and Bout 5 of WRiTE CLUB is still accepting votes.  :)