SECRETS, LIES, AND TRASH was my first novel with working-class protagonist, Russell Waverly. The character of Russell was inspired by my then four-year-old son's fascination with the garbage truck. Whenever he would hear the truck from the time he could walk, he would sprint to the window and watch. When he was a pre-schooler, one of the sanitation workers would let him throw small bags into the truck which he of course loved. Eventually, he grew out of this and the younger one never really had the love of trucks that his big brother did. However, his acute interest in the garbage truck and our town's nearby recycling center gave me a wonderful character and an intriguing storyline as well as the opportunity to set a novel in our hometown.
Russell was a lot of fun to write and he and the other cast of characters I created embarked on a new mystery to solve in my second favorite New Jersey hot spot, Cape May. It is called WAVES OF DECEIT. I was about half way through it when I took a self-imposed hiatus from writing which was mostly out of frustration with the publishing process.
My first two novels were published by PublishAmerica which ended up being like self-publishing except I did not have to put up any money for the publishing costs. Naively, I thought that I could market the print on demand books myself. Sadly, I never had that thing you do moment. (My favorite part in the tom Hanks movie, THAT THING YOU DO, is when the group hears their record for the first time on the radio and the excitement that ensues.) I suppose that is what I was looking for. The thrill of seeing my book on the shelf in a bookstore.
Unfortunately, it never happened. The books are available online and I did sell a few copies. I even managed to have them featured in the "New Jersey Ink" section of the Newark Star Ledger which used to be a column that focused on NJ authors. Due to budget cutbacks it is not a part of the paper any longer. However, my two little mysteries got some positive press. I even did a book signing at my Alma Mater Douglass College/Rutgers University because of the write up as well as an additional review in their alumni magazine.
I decided with SECRETS, LIES, AND TRASH that I wanted a more traditional publisher. I had also learned my lesson and when I got a couple of bites, I did research instead of jumping in head first. One bite was from a Southern based publisher who was in the process of being sued several times over for fraud. I said, "No, thank you" and got quite a nasty response in return. The second was from a publisher who wanted to publish it, but wanted help subsidizing the costs. A no-no I had read about many times over in my research. In the end, I sat on it and shelved it. After the birth of my daughter, I decided to dust it off, give it yet another revision, and start submitting it.
It is currently being reviewed by Bang Publishing which is a British based publisher who said they were looking for novels with series potential which is what I had in mind when I created Russell and friends. Their website said six to eight weeks and it is almost eight weeks. My fingers are crossed and hopefully they will see the potential, but if not. I'll keep submitting until I do. I keep reminding myself that THE FIRM was rejected a bunch of times and look at John Grisham now. I don't need to see my book on the New York Times Best Sellers list though it would be nice. I just want to see it on a bookshelf in an actual store! Everyone should have that thing you do moment, at least once in their lives.
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