K. Marvin Bruce

  I suspect some writers, perhaps many, are, like me, self doubters.   Imposter syndrome gone wild.   That’s why when someone says, “I’m interested,” we light up.   If you were rejected a lot in your youth it doesn’t make it any easier as an adult. For the second time my first good novel (I’ve written some not good ones) has found an interested publisher.   There’s a validation there.   A quiet joy that seldom comes from anything else. It looks like Interview with the Gorgon will be out in 2027, published by Parisian Phoenix Publishing.   This novel was under contract with Vagabondage in 2012.   The acquiring editor left before it hit production and the press decided to kill it.   But Medusa won’t die. In subsequent years I kept trying.   Many small presses.   I queried over 100 agents.   One responded that it was obviously a smart story and I was an intelligent writer, but it wasn’t for her.   Otherwise, crickets. In ord...

The mind of a writer is a restless place.  Trying my hardest, it’s difficult to shut it down.  I imagine other writers are the same.  Good writing, as I’ve heard, is clear thinking. On the other hand I have a Protestant work ethic that would make even Calvin blush.  If I’m given a task to do, I work assiduously until it is done.  Bosses often mistake this for efficiency. The problem is I’ve generally been employed below my ability level.  That’s not to say that there aren’t busy times at work—there are.  Some times I can’t finish what I need to, no matter how hard I work.  Other times, however, there’s nothing to do. Here’s my dilemma—should I write when there’s no work to do?  Well, that isn’t really a question.  Life is lamentably short; we have a few years and then we’re gone.  Too many of those years are claimed by work.  Much of it is busy-work. In my current employment I’ve been going weeks without ...