The Early Days
From 1988 until 1992, I wrote a bunch of short fiction and my first novel. Initially, I tried to break into the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy — attending conventions, partying with editors and publishers, joining writers groups, and generally immersing myself in that culture. Over the course of those four years I submitted hundreds of stories and queries to publishers and periodicals, and actually managed to get one story published. That earned me $75. I also received one or two handwritten rejections from editors, which was a nice change from an endless stream of form letters declining publication. I then tried my luck with submissions to literary journals for some of my non-genre stories, which was even less fruitful (no form letter rejections. . .just silence). Eventually, I had to accept that a literary career was not going to be a reliable means of supporting myself, and that perhaps I should take a break. Apart from poetry, journaling, and a handful of essays, I put my pen down for nearly a decade.
Below are links to some examples of those early efforts at fiction. I still have a few more story ideas I’d like to attempt — and perhaps this page can serve as a reminder that I should be devoted to the art and craft of storytelling itself, rather than worrying about getting published. :-)
