For years people have been telling me, "You really ought to write a book."
And my response used to be, "I have written a book, I just haven't found anyone who wants to publish it."
But that changed last January when I was offered a contract by a small independent publishing house called Black Rose Writing,
And my response used to be, "I have written a book, I just haven't found anyone who wants to publish it."
But that changed last January when I was offered a contract by a small independent publishing house called Black Rose Writing,
...whose motto I really liked:
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” –Haruki Murakami
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” –Haruki Murakami
And so, after months of editing, editing and more editing, my first book, a novel entitled "Equal And Opposite Reactions" will have its official release next week, on June 15.
Here's the story line, as described on the back cover of the book:
Here's the story line, as described on the back cover of the book:
Though it is just now about to see the light of day as a novel, "Equal And Opposite Reactions" actually started out as a short story,
| ...published many moons ago in the July, 11, 1994 issue of First For Women. (Before I took up novel-writing and blogging I used to write short stories for magazines back in the day when magazines used to publish short stories... |  |
 | ...and still carried cigarette ads). |
Anyway, I was sometimes asked by people who read "He Looked Nothing Like Prince Charming" what happened next in the story. Well, of course I didn't know what happened next any more than anyone else did, but then I thought about it and after a while I figured out what happened next in the story, as well as what happened before.
And so I expanded the story, added more characters and wrote it into a play entitled "Equal And Opposite Reactions." As it turned out no one was interested in producing my play, however several of the directors I sent it to commented that they enjoyed reading it or that they liked the characters. One director mentioned that though he liked my play the sets involved and all the children's roles would make staging it too difficult.
And so I re-wrote "Equal And Opposite Reactions" into a novel. Which, wonder of wonders, will soon be a real live book.
I'm giving out a little sneak preview below - this is not a book for the kids, by the way - in case anybody's interested.
This is a scene between the main character, Sally and her boss, Joanne:
“Well, at least you waited until you were married to get pregnant,” Joanne had huffed when Sally tearfully broke the news that Darren was leaving her for a pregnant telephone receptionist. And Sally’d had to laugh through her tears at Joanne’s heavy-handed sympathy. Because Sally had in fact been married to Darren when she’d gotten pregnant. But just barely. She and Darren figured it happened on their wedding night, geez, how had they managed that? Of course, it was her first time using the pill, so maybe she did screw it up, as Darren had accused her. But she’d been twenty years old and the wedding night of their off-season weekend-special honeymoon at a cabin in the Pocono Mountains had been her first time ever, and was that such a crime, waiting ‘til your wedding night? After all, she was a Catholic girl from Little Flower High school. Well, Catholic on her mother’s side, Jewish on her father’s. But mostly Catholic. Not that her Jewish side had injected any more sexual liberation into her psyche than had her Catholic side. And once, in one of those dark moments when she was turning over and over in her mind the endless possibilities of why, how, why, how, why, how could Darren have left her, she scraped up the possibility that he left her because of some long-held resentment over her having been too stingy with the put-out years ago at the front end of the relationship.
“Oh, sure,” Joanne observed one day after joining Sally in the vending area where Sally was taking a crying break, “he’d of been a whole lot happier if you’d have slept with him and gotten knocked up before he married you, while he was still in college.” She took a sip of her Styrofoam-cup coffee. “Deep-six that one, Hon.”
“Well, then why did Darren leave me?” Sally sobbed.
“Um…how about because he’s a regular size-11 shit-heel?”
Joanne’s advice was somehow always a lot better than her mother’s.
Anyway, if anyone would happen to like to read more, "Equal And Opposite Reactions" is available now for preorder from Black Rose Writing at: http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions.
And: if you make your purchase prior to the publication date of June 15, 2017, they you may use the promo code: PREORDER2017 to receive a 10% discount.
After the release date "Equal And Opposite Reactions" will still be available direct from the publisher, at blackrosewriting.com/books, and also from Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobel.com. A week after publication it will also be available on Kindle.
And if my novel doesn't sell I figure I can at least put it on my resumé.
And so I expanded the story, added more characters and wrote it into a play entitled "Equal And Opposite Reactions." As it turned out no one was interested in producing my play, however several of the directors I sent it to commented that they enjoyed reading it or that they liked the characters. One director mentioned that though he liked my play the sets involved and all the children's roles would make staging it too difficult.
And so I re-wrote "Equal And Opposite Reactions" into a novel. Which, wonder of wonders, will soon be a real live book.
I'm giving out a little sneak preview below - this is not a book for the kids, by the way - in case anybody's interested.
This is a scene between the main character, Sally and her boss, Joanne:
“Well, at least you waited until you were married to get pregnant,” Joanne had huffed when Sally tearfully broke the news that Darren was leaving her for a pregnant telephone receptionist. And Sally’d had to laugh through her tears at Joanne’s heavy-handed sympathy. Because Sally had in fact been married to Darren when she’d gotten pregnant. But just barely. She and Darren figured it happened on their wedding night, geez, how had they managed that? Of course, it was her first time using the pill, so maybe she did screw it up, as Darren had accused her. But she’d been twenty years old and the wedding night of their off-season weekend-special honeymoon at a cabin in the Pocono Mountains had been her first time ever, and was that such a crime, waiting ‘til your wedding night? After all, she was a Catholic girl from Little Flower High school. Well, Catholic on her mother’s side, Jewish on her father’s. But mostly Catholic. Not that her Jewish side had injected any more sexual liberation into her psyche than had her Catholic side. And once, in one of those dark moments when she was turning over and over in her mind the endless possibilities of why, how, why, how, why, how could Darren have left her, she scraped up the possibility that he left her because of some long-held resentment over her having been too stingy with the put-out years ago at the front end of the relationship.
“Oh, sure,” Joanne observed one day after joining Sally in the vending area where Sally was taking a crying break, “he’d of been a whole lot happier if you’d have slept with him and gotten knocked up before he married you, while he was still in college.” She took a sip of her Styrofoam-cup coffee. “Deep-six that one, Hon.”
“Well, then why did Darren leave me?” Sally sobbed.
“Um…how about because he’s a regular size-11 shit-heel?”
Joanne’s advice was somehow always a lot better than her mother’s.
Anyway, if anyone would happen to like to read more, "Equal And Opposite Reactions" is available now for preorder from Black Rose Writing at: http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions.
And: if you make your purchase prior to the publication date of June 15, 2017, they you may use the promo code: PREORDER2017 to receive a 10% discount.
After the release date "Equal And Opposite Reactions" will still be available direct from the publisher, at blackrosewriting.com/books, and also from Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobel.com. A week after publication it will also be available on Kindle.
And if my novel doesn't sell I figure I can at least put it on my resumé.
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