The Discovery Prize for Fiction, My Latest Interview, Upcoming Events, and More

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Welcome to the September 2025 edition of my newsletter. It’s been a few months since I’ve sent out a newsletter, but it’s not for lack of interest. I had an eventful summer and much of it was recovering from a bout with covid, then tending to my wife as she recovered from a serious injury. I was glad to care for my wife, but covid can go straight to hell (seriously, get vaccinated). Anyway, I wrote a lot of fiction this summer and my wife has been editing a novel manuscript that I finished back in May. I wrote a new novel manuscript later in the summer and I completed the first draft of it yesterday! I’m hoping to send both of these to my literary agent later this year, so he can hopefully find publishing homes for both of them.

A surprising thing that happened this past August was learning that my novel The Codger and the Sparrow won the Discovery Prize for Fiction in the Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards. I was shocked when they notified me, to say the least. Winning an award from a group of writers is a BIG honor for me. According to the Writers’ League of Texas, “the WLT introduced the Discovery Prize to recognize one outstanding book in each category published by independent presses, university presses, and/or self-published authors… for its fresh voice, inventive story, or some other element that made it stand out.” I’d like to thank the WLT for this prestigious award. I’m honored!

AI Intellectual Property Theft, Loss of Funding for the Arts, My Latest Book Starman After Midnight, and More

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Welcome to the May 2025 edition of my newsletter. What a wild past few months it’s been in the publishing and writer worlds. AI is still on the loose absorbing copyrighted works and spitting out gibberish including in a published summer reading list in a major city newspaper of books that don’t exist. A conventionally attractive white dude lands a two-book publishing deal for books he hasn’t written yet, simply because he’s kind of handsome and confesses in public that he likes to read; angry, hardworking authors are losing their minds. And to top it all off, the orange-goblin administration is tearing away funding from the arts through claw backs from NEH, NEA, and more. It’s common knowledge that all great societies have a flourishing art scene. What’s fueling this attempt to destroy creative culture in the U.S.? Greed and tax-cuts for the rich.

My Latest Book, An Excellent Author Interview from the Archives, Entertainment Recommendations, and More

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Photo by Scott Semegran

Welcome to the March 2025 edition of my newsletter. It’s been a great month so far! I published a new book on March 4th. I was a featured author at a book festival on March 8th. But as I’ve long known, I’m on the proverbial roller coaster in the life of an author. Whenever good things happen, silence and rejection is sure to follow. Sigh. But I guess that’s life as some say. Anyway, upward and onward to the newsletter.

Let’s start off by saying that my latest book Starman After Midnight came out on March 4th and I couldn'‘t be happier. I love its pocketbook-sized format and newsprint-style paper. It's received some lovely reviews which you can read on Booklist, BlueInk Review, Kirkus Reviews, Lone Star Literary Life, and so on. I had the best pre-order campaign of any of my books so far. It’s a humorous little book with some mystery and suspense, even a tad of magical realism. It takes place in a suburban neighborhood where two beer-drinking neighbors who couldn’t be more different discover a naked man on their security cameras walking around at night. They form a posse of neighbors to find out who this mysterious man is. I would love it if you bought a paperback or eBook.

I was a featured author at the Hill Country Literary Festival this past weekend in Bulverde, Texas at the Mammen Family Public Library. What a beautiful library and a fun event. I was on the “Paths to Publishing” panel with three other authors. Our moderator was Lori Mammen who asked great questions. I also read a couple of pages from my new novel Starman After Midnight. There were so many great authors featured there including May Cobb, Katie Gutierrez, Kimberly Garza, Lucy Griffith, Jenny Browne, and so many more. I sold some books and signed some books, plus got a sweet swag bag. A fantastic day overall!

Notes from the Writing Desk, An Excellent Author Interview, and More

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Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash

Welcome to the February 2025 edition of my newsletter and… Did you watch that Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl Half Time show? I’m sure you did and, if you didn’t—oh man, it was a doozy! Packed full of symbolism, it was one for the ages, surely to be studied and referenced for a long time to come. Without mentions of blunts, hoochie mamas, or bling as many may expect, it was a masterclass in Black history, U.S. political division, Lamar’s place in pop culture, and one of the most biting finales in a hip-hop beef EVER (sorry, Drake. Good luck coming back from this one). I really, really enjoyed it. There were the obligatory social media posts afterwards of “I didn’t get it” and that’s to be expected. Lamar is a next-level artist who can navigate between low and high brow, tell complicated stories, and drop bangers. Dude won a Pulitzer Prize for crying out loud (other popular musicians to do that = zero). Those of us in the business of telling stories recognized his mastery. He did it at the Super Bowl of all places. And the funny thing is, I don’t even like to watch football. I had to power through several minutes of some boring excuse for a sport to get to the good stuff. Anyway, up and onward to the newsletter.

Last month, I completed a first draft of a novel I started working on in July 2024. I’m keeping the title and description under wraps for now. It came out to 74,000 words in length, four thousand more than my target of 70k words. I felt really inspired writing this first draft. It brought me a lot of joy, which is something to celebrate in these troubled political times. Rather than inundate myself in national news, I curbed my desire to do just that and focused on writing this novel. It took a lot of discipline! It would have been easy to sink into the political-news rabbit hole and fume and seethe and grit my teeth, something I did a lot from 2016 – 2020 when our orange-baby overlord miraculously won the presidency the first time. But I was determined to focus on the joy of writing and I did just that.

Writer’s Wrapped 2024 and 2025 Goals, Latest Author Interview, and More

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Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash (and enhanced by Scott Semegran)

Welcome to the January 2025 Edition of my newsletter and the beginning of a new year. I don’t know about you, but for me, 2024 was a mixed bag. Some amazing things happened, but some terrible things happened as well. My beloved cat and social media star, Berri, passed away in May. Then our family dog, Victory, passed away the week before Christmas. So sad! And don’t get me started on the U.S. presidential election: the saddest thing of all in 2024. That orange felonious sexual-predatory insurrectionist for president? Yuck! We could have had JOY, someone with intelligence and common sense, and our first woman for president. Anyway, onward to the writer newsletter stuff.

As for my writer self, 2024 was a bang-up kick-ass year. So many fantastic things happened, some of which were bucket-list items. Here’s my 2024 in a nutshell.

2024 Writer's Wrapped:

Published my 9th book The Codger and the Sparrow on March 22nd. Paperback from TCU Press and audiobook from Vibrance Press.

Book launch event at BookPeople on March 28th in Austin, Texas hosted by author extraordinaire James Wade (what?!)

Book launch event at Nowhere Bookshop on March 30th in San Antonio, Texas hosted by fiction grandmaster Andrew Porter (what-what?!?!)

Prepped my 10th book Starman After Midnight for March 4, 2025 release (my tenth book? WTF?!)

Finished first draft of my 11th book (OMG!)

52k words into first draft of my 12th book (what’s happening??? I’m on a roll!)

Appeared on live TV (so weird LOL)

Featured author at Boerne Book Fest (awesome)

Featured author at Greater Austin Book Fest (awesome)

Interviewed on the Desideratum Podcast by Theresa Bakken along with the narrator of my audiobook for The Codger and the Sparrow: Brian P. Craig (a special episode)

Interviewed on the Simply Write podcast by Polly Campbell (also special)

Not a Political Post, My Favorite Books in 2024, Latest Author Interview, and More

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Welcome to the December 2024 edition of my newsletter and the beginning of the December holiday season! My family celebrates secular Christmas, a version that focuses on our family. For many including Linus on A Charlie Brown Christmas TV special, this holiday is also about the birth of Christ. But in America, we all know that Christmas is really about Santa Claus and a decorated tree and presents and candy and watching classic Christmas movies and drinking spiked eggnog and… y’all know the holiday drill. So whether you believe in Christ or believe in Santa (or BOTH!), this is the perfect time of year to argue about that, but also to enjoy treats and movies and stuff. Anyway, onward to the newsletter content / wordy part / my thoughts and ramblings!

One thing I promised myself NOT to write about after the 2024 U.S. election was politics. Even though for some fucked-up reason, America elected a sexual predator / felon / narcissist / moron who can barely string a cogent sentence together as our next president, I promised myself to move on and discuss other more important topics, preferably books or publishing or creative writing, all of which are much more interesting than an orange fascist man-baby regurgitating word-salad. So, as promised, this is NOT a political post. What are the books I liked best in 2024? Well, let me tell you.

Best classic book reread: Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck. Funny and empathetic, what a great read about the comradery of downtrodden friends. If you thought Steinbeck only wrote downers, then you’d be wrong. Steinbeck wrote several comedies. I know! Hard to believe, but it’s true. Start with this novel.

Being “Famous”, My Latest Author Interview, and More

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Welcome to the November 2024 edition of my newsletter and the beginning of the holiday season, my favorite time of the year to eat! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because I get to spend time with my family and stuff my face with my favorite holiday dishes and desserts. Turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy? It’s food coma time! Three kinds of pie for dessert? I’m dead. Anyway, onward to the newsletter stuff.

Recently, a coworker of mine (yes, I have a day job besides being a writer. You think writers earn a living wage? Ha ha ha ha ha ha nope). Sorry, I got sidetracked. A coworker of mine heard my name on NPR and asked me what it felt like to be famous. And I’m here to say that I’m decidedly NOT famous, not even close. In fact, I don’t have a desire to be famous at all—widely read maybe, but not famous in the I-know-your-face-from-somewhere famous like Stephen King or something. I like my anonymity, but I do enjoy talking to readers and sharing my love for books and literature. My coworker’s comment got me thinking because there’s a distorted perception of what constitutes success or fame when it comes to creative people, particularly writers, putting themselves out into the world.

For every book award I’ve received, there’s a dismal sales report right behind it. For every book festival or TV appearance I’ve made, there’s a book event with two people in attendance right behind it. Being a published writer is truly a mixed bag. There are some great and memorable things and equally humiliating and humbling things that have happened in my writing “career.” And for every Stephen King or Margaret Atwood mega-successful career, there are literally thousands who barely make a decent living. According to a report from the Authors Guild, the median income for all writers in 2023 was about $6,080, with full-time writers averaging around $20,300. That’s not good at all.

Dealing with Writer Envy, Upcoming Events, My Latest Author Interview, and More

Welcome to the October 2024 edition of my newsletter and the beginning of fall, my favorite season! Send me all the baked fruit pies and pumpkin spice, et al, that you have!! Now that this brutal summer in Texas is finally over, I can get outside and go for walks which will help me write more books. Subscribe to get the newsletter in your email inbox. Never miss an update. Subscribe today! Alright, onto the newsletter stuff.

One of the things that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is the envy that comes from seeing other writers post on social media about their successes and experiencing the jealousy that comes from feeling left out or rejected by several outlets in the literary establishment. It’s not a good feeling particularly in light of the struggle I went through to get to this point in my writing career. Having independently published eight books over 16 years, I’d hoped that finally releasing my ninth book through a traditional publisher would open doors that had been closed to authors like me who’d “self-published” their books. What I discovered was that not many new doors opened for me.

What did I hope would happen? Well, in the months leading up to my book’s publication in March 2024, I hired a publicist and I’d hoped that all the trade publications (or at least ONE) would review my book without me having to pay for a book review like I did as a self-published author. None did. I'd hoped that traditional media, particularly in Texas and in Austin—the city I've lived in for 35 years—would publish a profile about me or, at least, review my book. None did. I felt dejected because I'd finally released my ninth book on a traditional publisher and I was still discovering that the doors were closed for my new book.

So, when I'd see other authors and their similar books to mine receiving reviews in Publishers Weekly or Kirkus Reviews, I felt envious. When I'd see other Texas authors being profiled in Texas Monthly or Texas Highways or the Austin Chronicle, I felt jealous. Why wasn't my book getting that attention? Why wasn't I being featured at that time? I hate admitting that I felt this way, but I'm only human. I'm not perfect.

Welcome to the September 2024 edition of my newsletter. I’ve moved it back to Substack from Mailchimp, a platform I didn’t really enjoy using. So, here I am again on Substack. Hello! Subscribe to get the newsletter in your email inbox. Never miss an update. Subscribe today!

Not long ago, I read a great post on Jane Friedman’s website by author Denise Massar about her decision to self-publish her memoir after it died on submission. She had a dream of landing a “Big 5” book deal and she couldn’t fathom that her “manuscript would reach 50 editor inboxes and not find a publisher.” And I certainly understand her frustration. You would think out of 50 editors that at least one would offer her a deal. It just didn’t happen for a number of reasons.

She was dejected, but also couldn’t imagine self-publishing her memoir. It just seemed like the wrong path for her book. But what she didn’t realize at first was that there are so many paths to publication and self-publishing can be just as successful as a “Big 5” deal. With self-publishing, an author can learn about not only writing and editing a book, but designing and publishing a book. An author can work with a graphic designer to create a cover for an eBook as well as a print book. An author can learn how to create book layouts or work with a book designer. And an author can work with a distributor like Ingram and release their book through IngramSpark, Ingram’s self-publishing platform.