A new short story coming out this fall

Got home from the Gambler 500 to find out my short story "When Is It Due" will be published by a literary review called Linden Avenue next month. Cool beans. This is my 18th short story to get published.

This was only my second time submitting to Linden Avenue, so that's pretty cool. The story was rejected by 29 other literary reviews before being selected by Linden Avenue.

Of course for legal stuff you'll have to wait for Linden Avenue to publish before it pops up on the website, but in the mean time, if you need a fix, check out my new short story collection, An Unsated Thirst. As always, thank you to everyone whose supported and helped me with my writing over the years.

An Unsated Thirst is out today

Hello reading fans. I'm proud to announce that today is the official release day for my first collection of short stories, An Unsated Thirst.

An Unsated Thirst is a collection of my first short stories, encompassing the beginning of this so called writing career. I'm excited to have it out there and I hope you all read and enjoy it.

As always, thank you to everyone who have supported my work through the years. I can't say how much it's been appreciated.

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Papaya is written, now on to the hard stuff

After 2 years, 4 months, and 26 days, I've finally finished writing my second full length novel. I got to say, it feels good to finally get it done. Now on to the endless rounds of editing and proofreading to tighten the loose screws, smooth the rough edges, and polish the parts that don't make a bit of sense.

Papaya started as a joke, which turned into a short story, which turned into a novella, which turned into a novel. From the moment I started writing it the end of the story just kept running farther out ahead, but at last I finally caught it.

You can check out the first chapter here (though its still being developed so you never know what might change). Here's to being one step closer to done so I can start on all the other ideas in my head.

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Attack published

Hello writing fans. My short story Attack is officially out in the Clackamas Literary Review and so is now officially on the website for your perusing pleasure (though some of you might recognize it as one I've let people read before).

Attack is a story about anxiety disorder. About one in five Americans suffer from some kind of anxiety disorder every year (some short term and some longer term), with only about a third actually seeking treatment. Sure, some of you might be saying, we all have anxiety from time to time. It's true we do, but for some people that anxiety can become a daily occurrence that lasts for months or even years, eventually degrading one's quality of life.

Our minds, though amazing things, basically boil down to chemicals and electrical impulses. Anxiety is basically a subconscious reaction to get us to avoid dangerous or unpleasant situations. However, just as your conscious brain can learn things, such as how to dribble a basketball, so can your subconscious brain. When people react badly to their anxiety, by panicking or avoiding things, the subconscious takes note and increases the flow of panic juices the next time around. Over time, if left untreated, the anxiety will start to feed on itself and a full anxiety disorder can develop. It's important to remember that such things can happen to anyone, though just as some people are born with blue eyes, some people can be born more susceptible to anxiety issues. The key to treatment is to not let the anxiety control one's life by recognizing that though we can't always control what our brains do, we can control how we react.

This story was one of the early one's that I wrote and will be included in my short story, collection An Unsated Thirst, which will be available at the end of July. Getting this story published was actually a stroke of luck. After receiving numerous rejections over the years I withdrew it so it could be included in the short story collection. However, I forgot to withdraw it from one, and it turned out that one wanted to publish it. There is an awful lot of luck involved in this business. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it.

Dan the Man published

Got a new short story up on the website. This story is called Dan The Man and was first published by Permafrost Magazine in their Winter 2018 issue. Permafrost is a publication up in Fairbanks, Alaska which really does some top notch work.

Dan The Man is a story about a UPS driver dealing with one of the less than stellar things that delivery package drivers have to deal with. It gets a little dark, so fair warning. Special thanks to Shawn Bartling who originally told me a story about his own experiences that were the basis of this story.

Prior to this story being accepted it was rejected 13 times, which all together isn't too shabby when it comes to sending these out into the wide wide world. I hope you enjoy it.

A new short story coming out this winter

The hits keep on rolling in this spring. When I got home from work I found an email from the Free State Review, a literary review based out of Maryland, saying that they wanted to publish my story "Spaghetti Sauce". This marks the 17th short story I've gotten accepted so far, and the 4th one this year. I don't want to jinx it, but 2018 is starting to look like a pretty good year.

This is a big one for me because I've been sending stories to the Free State Review for four years and each one has come back with comments and suggestions (which is pretty rare in this business of mostly form letters). For four years they've been telling me I'm almost there, and damn does it feel good to finally get there.

"Spaghetti Sauce" is a pretty short dark story full of reading between the lines. I wrote it back in January and only managed to get it out to eight reviews before it got snapped up (with only two of those having rejected it). For those of you who like to follow such things, that's pretty good compared to how most of them go. My record for rejections is 80, though I once did have one snapped up by the first review I sent it to, though that is more dumb luck than one can ever wish for.

Unfortunately, as with how things work now, you're going have to wait for Free State Review to publish Spaghetti Sauce before I can share it. I know, unfair, but they get first publishing rights. In the mean time, feel free to peruse the website for other things to read. Also, as always, thank you to everyone who has helped support me with this writing business. Especially those who ask me about my writing despite the fact that whenever they do the best I can manage is a vague stilted answer.

I have a Troll, looks like I've hit the big time

I've gotten my first ever troll (one that I don't even know) on a short story that was posted publicly on my Facebook page for all the world to see. For the first time in my life I truly feel like a real writer.

The original post was made on January 12 regarding a story I wrote called Picnic appearing in Tin House. Here is the jist:

"Shawn ... Really not sure how to say this ... BUT short of the most IDIOTIC MOTHER FUCKING STUPID person I have had the opportunity TO NEVER MEET, You, my useless child, ( because your statements remind me of a 3 yr old ) should maybe, (and I say it slowly because I'm not sure you can read fast) get rid of your beer fridge and GROW THE FUCK UP."

A new short story coming out this fall

Welp, that's one good way to end an afternoon. I got a phone call from the Red Rock Review, a literary review out of Las Vegas, saying that they wanted to publish a story of mine called "Poison." This makes sixteen short stories I've gotten published so far.

To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised to have this story published. I had never felt like it was one of my better stories, what with it being based off of a dream I once had, and as a result had given up on it after only 12 rejections, the last being in 2015. Well, for whatever reason I got a wild hair, dusted it off, and did a 13th submission this past February. So there you go. What a strange business.

I'm sure after all this talking about it at least some of you would like to read it. However, with my apologies, I'm afraid that it will have to wait until Red Rock publishes it since they have first publishing rights now. I know this is a little different than how I usually do things, but you're just going to have to be patient.

In the mean time, if you get desperate, you can find other stories to read at my website.

As always, thank you to every one who reads my stories, asks about my writing, and even throws the occasional complement my way. I'm not the best with showing my gratitude for such things, but please know it does mean a lot.

Sprucing up the website a bit

Hello fans of writing both good and bad. Less than a week in I've already done some sprucing up. First I've added some links to the homepage and the such to make it easier for mobile users to jump around without using the menu.

Also, for you Professor Errare fans I've migrated over all of my old posts into a new fancy schmancy blog form. Though don't worry, the Facebook page will continue sending on updates to let you know when new ones are available.

Here's to constantly trying to learn new things and all that crap.