So Room Four is now out on Amazon.  I have never been more excited to see a colorful little rectangle show up on my computer screen.  I thought it would come with a trumpet fanfare, maybe a fly over my house just now when I was outside watering the new pachysandra.  But no, just checked the computer and there it was.

Phew.  But now I have to really start on the next book.  There are four different ideas percolating and I have been waiting to see which one floats to the surface and wins.  Most logical would be to edit my second book (Room Four is my third.  The first is in a drawer never to see the light of day.  It's that bad.  The second is not as bad but now I know what work it needs.  A lot.  That's why I may just start fresh.  That's the way it goes.)

But first a celebratory cup of coffee. 

It's funny.  From working on an ambulance in Chicago to medical training, to time in the Army, to practicing now in Wisconsin I have been in well over a hundred hospitals.  Friends who have read ROOM FOUR and have worked with me in various places have said "Dr. Maglio is totally Dr. So-and-so" or "I KNOW you based True on Nurse So-and-so," and it's fun to hear the guesses.  They aren't based on anyone in particular but of course are inspired by many, many different people I've come across.
True is the uber-nurse.  Overworked and underappreciated.  Maglio...you mean doctors come across as know-it-alls?  And the interns: well, we've all been there.  I've tripped over my own feet more than once.  Once, I even needed stitches as a result.
Now, more importantly, will somebody please clean out the d%mn work fridge?

There was an elderly gentleman admitted to palliative care who actually did die on the ER bed.  I overheard the argument (not quite as heated as in the book) between the two docs about who had to fill out the paperwork and thought, hmm, what if bureaucracy was so bad it could literally hold up your SOUL?
The other side of Jerry is the patience and grace of so many tough old folks coping with the various indignities and discomforts of getting old and being sick....I wanted to show that but also give them a voice, give them permission to gripe about it.  So while Alan is more neurotic about his worries, Jerry has a wiser attitude of "F*#k it!" What if there is nothing good about this situation yet here we are, may as well have fun.  He's more wise than cynical.

Last night the neighborhood kids were all playing a game of lacrosse/football/wiffle ball into the basketball hoop before breaking off into a mad game of dragon tag.  "Don't run with that stick!" to the four year old.  "It's OK, it's not a stick.  It's a wand," was the reply.
Creativity is alive and well.
It's all around us.
Snooki is publishing her autobiography.  Think of all the marketing effort to keep certain stories in front of us.  The media may not tell us what to think but too often it tells us what to think about.
Visit your local library or independent book store.  Read a new author.  Inspiration is out there.

So I went the usual route first.  Write novel.  Send query letters to agents.  Get rejections.  Rewrite query letters.  Rework synopsis.  Get rejections.  Edit novel again.  Send more letters.  Don't get me wrong; it is a helpful process.  If you can't summarize your novel in a few paragraphs then there just might be some issues with plot, pacing, the whole concept....
But then I had a few agents want to read the whole manuscript.  And three of them all had the same feedback.  I'll paraphrase.
"I like it.  It's great.  It doesn't really fit into a genre.  I wouldn't know how to market this."
Hmmm.
Maybe I know how to market it.
At least, maybe it is more efficient to put my spare time into marketing my novel, blogging, writing the next novel (underway) than writing yet more query letters that have a high chance of getting rejected?
The same day I hit "upload" on my files to amazon I got an email back from an agent.  This was May of 2012.  It was a rejection letter on a query I had emailed in December of 2011.  Wow.  Good thing I didn't wait around holding my breath on that one.  I'd be as old as Jerry before this book saw the light of day.
I think I'm on the right track.