In 2002, I was having problems trying to start my own photography business. I was living in Los Angeles, by myself, just out of college, and I was starting to have those realizations that I might need to give it up before I went deep into debt.
It sucked.
To start filling my time and to make me feel like I was at home, I started posting on a San Francisco Giants website. And when they asked for people to contribute stories, I volunteered. I spent years spending more and more time writing for the website and its parent network, and eventually taking it over. Doing that sportswriting for the better part of ten years was a big part of what’s brought me to where I am now.
But one day really stood out.
One spring in 2008, that network made a big step, and published a print magazine to preview the season, just as you see a dozen such magazines every spring. I wrote and contributed the Giants’ section. And for the first time outside of school newspapers, I saw my name in print. That feeling when I opened those boxes and saw the magazines, even though I had only two pages, was the most memorable of my life.
I’m getting to have that moment again.
On September 30th, To Hell With Fate; or, The Best Valentine’s Gifts Come From Mini-Marts will be released in print!
EDIT: It’s not yet September 30th, and it *IS* in print now! Read here.
This is slightly less terrifying than doing my first public reading at LitQuake next month. Actually, a lot less terrifying.
So, if you haven’t found iPads or Kindles or other lesser digital readers up to snuff for reading your books, or you just enjoy the smell of a new book, now’s the time.
Untreed Reads is offering pre-orders on To Hell With Fate at 25% off the list price! So, if you enjoy a good paper book, or just want to read this one again, or just want to help out a young writer who promises to have a second book out sometime soon, go check it out!
