My writing career has been in the making for five decades. I used to fill notebooks with stories. Those stories became books, and those books became finished manuscripts ready for publication. At least thirteen final-draft manuscripts. Two professionally edited, ready-to-go novels.
October is all about getting ready. My publishing career is coming into view. I am organizing all my manuscripts. The metaphorical plane is fueled, the engine is running, and I’m the pilot completing the preflight check.
I am going on a writing retreat in northern Wisconsin in mid-October. It will be followed by the Wisconsin Writers Association Fall Conference, held in Manitowoc on October 23rd and 24th this year.
Terri, my wife, and Samantha, my daughter, are joining me at the cabin for a week of planning. They will be ground control to my Major Tom. They will go through each project and help me formulate the schedule for the production and release of each upcoming novel. It is not an easy task. There are thirteen final manuscripts to choose from. Some are ready to go; a few more are at the author-polished stage. That means they have been edited, undergone thematic rewrites, and then re-edited. The manuscripts are as good as I can get them.
Keeping It Together While Falling Apart: my medical mystery memoir will be the first to taxi down the runway and launch early next year. Though I am still looking for a small press to pick up the memoir—I have a few leads. Either way, the book will come out, or the campaign gets it ready for self-publishing.
My diagnosis came late, at age 61. The falling apart started early. Multiple tendon injuries in high school couldn’t keep me down. When asked, “Can you play through it?” the answer—always—yes. Until it wasn’t.
Over four decades, I underwent almost three dozen surgeries and countless procedures. Doctors knew something was wrong, but the siloed medical system wasn’t designed to find the answer. Over the decades, I continued to fall apart. My life shrank, and I became less.
In writing the story, I learned not just about my rare diagnosis but some important things about the medical system, recovery, and what it is like to lose one’s identity. I eventually discovered the name of my rare disorder; I also rediscovered who I could be, and my life has grown larger as a result.
My first novel, Dying to Play the Game: My Life as a Dead Player Character, is scheduled for release in fall 2027 under my self-publishing imprint, Infinite Genius Publishing.
You can help bring my work to publication by contributing to my memoir’s GoFundMe campaign. The project is halfway to the minimum needed to cover professional editing fees. You will also have the opportunity to buy my published works starting next year.
Subscribe to my author website for updates on book releases, and enjoy my Substack writing for free by clicking this link.
The flight plan is taking shape, and we are almost ready to take off. The wide-open horizon stretches before me. But without you as the wind beneath my wings, none of this would be possible. I appreciate all your support.
