Author Archives: mcbruce56

Hurray and hurrah! Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine has accepted the short story “Minerva James and the Gods of Sleep and Death.” This is the 8th Minerva Short story to be published since her first appearance in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine in August 2019. Now, eight short stories in two years might not sound very impressiveContinue reading “Celebration”

Another journal rejected your story. Let it go. Another agent said “no thanks.” Let it go. Another potential girlfriend won’t answer your calls. Let it go. Another writer published a novel on the same idea you’ve been kicking around for years. Let it go. Another potential client decided to go with another attorney. Let itContinue reading “Let It Go”

You think your months and years writing the book have created a masterpiece. They haven’t. They’ve created a monster. You don’t know it at first. You think your book is a handsome, muscular charming gent who will woo the ladies and make the publishers vie for it. You think that the work you’ve put intoContinue reading “The Sixth Rewrite”

An old friend recently dropped by the new house in Barstow. “Don’t tell anyone I’ve been here,” she said. “And especially don’t put it in your blog.” You would be surprised how often I am told “Don’t put it in your blog.” It’s as if the entire world is on the Witness Protection plan andContinue reading “Leave Me Out of It”

Moving into the house in Barstow (whose nickname hasn’t come to me yet, so for now it’s just “the house”), one task took longer than all the others combined. Putting my books up. I have lots of them. I haven’t counted, but I’m sure it’s over 1000. I have a whole wall of books inContinue reading “Books. Books. Books.”

As that great philosopher David Bowie once observed, time can change me, but I can’t change time. So. Some news about my life and writing career. The most important news for your correspondent is that I moved into a house this weekend. A house, as in a structure I share with no one but myContinue reading “Ch-ch-ch-changes…”

So another anthology tells you that your story was great, they all loved it, but they have to pass. Boo hoo. So another agent rejects your novel because you’re not part of a “underrepresented group.” Wah. So you get so down you can’t write for three whole days. *sob* So you read a new mysteryContinue reading “Quit Whining”

The cover above is from an upcoming anthology I snuck into. It concerns dragons. Wonder if you can tell. My story, “The Beggar Prince,” is the third in my Dragon Wife series. The first story, “My Dragon Wife,” was published on a website which has since gone through changes and my story disappeared. I guessContinue reading “Crunchy With Chocolate”

I have been thinking more about the last blog, in which I complained that a writing group of which I am a member is having a pitch day to a major publisher which is “only” for “underrepresented” writers. “Underrepresented” meaning persons who are not “traditionally” the targets of publishers. (Technically, according to their definition, IContinue reading “Pendulum, Part II”

I am a part of a writer’s group which will remain nameless for this blog. Today I looked at their site and was delighted to see that a major book publisher was going to have a day in which members of this group could submit their book for digital publishing without an agent. Hooray! Oh,Continue reading “The Pendulum Swings Again”