Life of Pol

"McShane's fictional examination of one man's choice - whether to continue a life terrorizing others or to destroy himself - addresses issues of choice in the nonfictional world. Perhaps informed by his days working in a funeral parlor, McShane clearly understands the many emotions surrounding death and impending death. I don't want to put words in the author's mouth, but I must state that he has written a chillingly accurate account of the thought processes involved in such life-death choices as suicide (assisted and otherwise), abortion, and, yes, even murder. It is this gift for depicting horrible thoughts with such realism that sets McShane apart from other authors in this genre. He has taken a common storyline - that of the werewolf - and added angles most authors are afraid to explore. If you're looking for a story that will make you reflect on your own beliefs, and if you're not afraid of what you might find, then you will be delighte...

Yikes, what a day!  Today was one of those days when I really wanted to just throw in the towel and not give a crap about being so close to retirement.  Unfortunately it was because of a few random customers who were in a bad mood or just naturally crazy.  Either way, they spewed their bad vibes all over me and those vibes stuck like glue for the rest of the day.  I am about to have a glass (or three) of wine.  I decided to do my blog entry beforehand as to protect you from a lot of al aoiaisjnd ljlj hi!-that. But you know, Steve and I are strong believers that everything happens for a reason.  And today, even though it was crap on Pol's head day, I came out on top.  As I fumed all the way home at lunch to let the baby out, I had an epiphany.  I suddenly realized that I have the sequel to Blue Moon that I have never published just sitting on the perpetual shelf collecting fairy dust.  I realized I could easily prepare it and release...

Well, Christmas is over.  The end of the year is just about upon  us.  I guess it's been an okay year.  We're still alive, still healthy, still have jobs, and still have each other.  But I am looking forward to 2012 like you wouldn't believe! What's been going on with me for the past few days?  Well, since most of you who are reading this are my Face book friends or Twitter followers, you probably know what I've been up to.  I ended up going with Steve to Amarillo to visit his parents.  I'm glad I did, too. Aside from being with Steve on Christmas, we had a nice drive up there (the drive back was a horrific traffic cluster fuck, so I won't even get into that).  Buster did really well on the drive.  It was his first long car ride and we were a little worried.  But he just lay in the back of the Jeep on his bed and didn't complain once.  And when we got to Steve's folks' house, he was the poster child for the world's most w...

I have spent the last few weeks going over Luthor and making edits and doing yet another polish.  As a writer, every time you read your work you see something that would read a bit better if a few words were changed or a sentence was moved from the beginning to the end of a paragraph.  Over the years I have done this countless times to Luthor .  But this is the last time and it feels great.  Now it will go to the editor next week and that will be that.  And now that my job is done (until I get it back from the editor), I can finally relax. Tomorrow starts our Christmas vacation.  Originally Steve and I were not going to be able to spend the Christmas holiday together because he was going to Amarillo to see his parents and I was going to stay home with the baby.  But as it ends up, we're all going.  This will be Buster's first long car ride.  I think he'll be fine (Please don't get sick in Steve's new Jeep). As for me, well, A...

I realized that a lot of you (most of you) who are reading this now are not that familiar with who I am.  It has only been within the last month or so that I've started reinventing myself with a new sense of vigor.  Since I'm about to start a brand new chapter in my life, with all of you along for the ride, it seems only fitting to give you a bit of back story of what really gives me strength.  Of course you could go back and scroll through the past entries-broken and scattered as they are-but since this is a new chapter-let's start new . . . I won't bore you with my childhood (trust me, it's not worth repeating).  Let's just jump to the important part.  That would have started the day Steve walked into my life about twenty years ago.  There was an instant attraction between us, and a bond that seems to be made of some indestructible material.  We were best friends for a year and spent ev...

It's strange, this life thing.  In 1996, Steve got me a seven-week-old golden retriever puppy.  I had just finished my first novel and knew right away that I wanted to name my new puppy after the title character-Luthor. For more than eight years Luthor brought us joy and filled our lives with so much happiness we couldn't believe. Then things started to change . . . In 2001, 9/11 happened.  In 2003, the war in Iraq began.  Then, shortly after, our lives changed forever when Luthor was diagnosed with cancer.  He went through Chemotherapy with no bad side effects and thought he would be just fine.  But that was not the case.  Luthor began to do what they called "walk the walls".  He would need to lean against walls in order to walk straight.  We immediately took him to the doctor and they did a CAT scan.  We were called and told that the cancer was not gone, in fact, it had spread to Luthor's brain, and there was nothing they could...

Yes, it's me again.  And yes, I have faltered from posting for months on end again.  But as the title of the blog states, it's the ups and downs of a writer.  You have days when you feel that your career is about to make a complete 180, and then it all slips right through your fingers.  There have been so many times when I simply wanted to give the whole thing up, forget the writing, forgetting getting that big break.  But being a writer, I can't.  It's in my blood.  And, as I've mentioned in earlier posts, I need to be successful for Steve. Okay, let's get caught up. I've completed the first two installments of my young adult series.  (Sorry, I still won't say anything more about them in fear of having the idea stolen.)  I've sent out tons of letters to agents and publishers but I get the same response: "We love the idea, but it's simply not right for us at this time."  In other words, fuck off.  But I know that one day that...