I recently wrote about the novel-length work I've been slogging through for the last year-and-a-half, The Letter From William Waiklin.

My wife had two points of criticism: she felt I had "given too much of the storyline away" and she didn't think my picture should appear on the back cover of the proposed artwork.

I scratched my forehead and gave her a confused look, both habits that bother her to no end. Why? Because they have each been linked separately to hair loss, I asked inside my head.

But I was genuinely unsure how other authors--and, in fact, whether authors themselves were the party responsible for the task--slapping together the short synopses on the backs of their books. I studied titles I had in my collection and found the examples to vary somewhat in how far they went to bait the reader into buying into the story.

Some synopses went the minimalistic route. Romances, in particular--not that I personally have a large selection of romances--seemed to give few details about the story. I'm guessing that is because the storylines share many similarities with other romances. The specifics tend not to be a buying factor. Again, I'm guessing, not being an expert.

Other titles' synopses went much further. I looked for a common reason why the authors (or whomever) found it necessary to put in so dangerously many details. Like my wife, weren't they afraid they'd be giving away the perfect storyline that they alone could have invented? And what reason would a reader have to purchase the book if the whole story was laid out for them?

Regarding the idea of another author lifting the storyline for their own purposes, I am not concerned. The fine specifics of how the story unfolds could really only be told by me. And I don't say that in a vain way. It's simply that I believe, as with painting or web design, both of which I've had a hand in, even if you set out to copy a work wholesale, the result will inevitably have marks, and not typically small marks, of the copier's style. You just can't hide it. In fiction, the opportunity for individual style avails itself at every moment. So for another author to "steal" my story, I believe, is an impossibility. Even if I were to sit down with him and give every twist and turn, each nuanced character trait I had spent months aligning to achieve the best story I could create, by the end of the test, I would have the book I am writing and he would have a different work. I believe I could defend myself as the original creator in the end.

Regarding giving away the farm to the reader, I decided that my synopses were not like a movie trailer, where not only do you get a more or less chronological run-through of the story, you get fed one visual take on the story. For me, this is the real reason a book synopses can afford to describe in more detail the essence of a story. So much is left to the reader's imagination.

As a reader reads, he is bringing to the experience everything he has seen in his life. The brown, antique table with scroll details that he sees is not the same table I envisioned when I keyed the passage. Again, the opportunity for a reader to bring his own flavor to the story avails itself in every line of the story.

So on both of the synopses-related counts, I've considered my wife's apprehensions and will leave it unchanged for the time being. 

Whether or not I should have placed my mug on the back cover, I am undecided. I've seen author pics on some books and not on others and I'm not sure if there are good reasons going one way or the other. Some attractive authors choose to leave themselves off, while some do not. The same holds true for the less fortunate authors. I'm guessing it's a matter of personal preference.

Whether or not I will leave my picture off the back cover is a matter of debate. Email me with your opinions on that matter as well, but I tend to trust the woman whom I've lived with, who has had to live with my mug beside her every day for the last nearly 19 years when she says don't go with the picture.

I am a web designer when I'm not authoring. That's sitting for long periods of time followed by sitting for long periods of time. That should equal fat and stiffness, poor eyesight and carpel-tunnel, right? Yes, it does. IF one doesn't take the necessary precautions to avoid that fate.

The point was made well by Isaac Asimov. I read--and I'm boldly paraphrasing, so don't bother correcting me--that he was asked what he would do if he were told he had only a short time to live. His answer was he would write faster.

So my point, in turn, is this: if you want more time to write, take care of yourself. Your health is too important to skimp on. If you're unhealthy, your mentality changes, and what, if not your psychological take on the world, affects your writing?

Furthermore, we authors strive to make every aspect of our writing environment as comfortable as possible. We settle on the best pen or laptop, find a desk that will serve our style, go to lengths to shut out the rest of the world. Why not pay that same amount of respect and attention to yourself, the most important piece of equipment in the process?

Who has the time, you ask? I'd argue that we all have the time.

If you're anything like me, you don't just write while you're writing, right? You write all the time. If you're really like me, you sleep poorly when you do sleep because you're pestering yourself about how your character is going to possibly show up in scene with the so-and-so and still not be discovered, or something like that. You plan and plot while you're in the car, at the grocery store, in the shower, in the middle of conversations (sorry, dear).

So if I'm always writing, then I'm not really losing any time by working exercise into my routine. I may be losing some opportunities to actually put words down, but I find I write better a] when I've mentally prepared for the upcoming scene and b] when I've literally gotten my juices flowing.

I have a membership to a fitness club in my area. I go there three, sometimes four times a week. I work my core muscles and I spend time on the elliptical machine since it's low-impact. I stretch and I look around, like most authors do all the time. That's where the stories are. And I think about writing in general, scenes specifically and I don't feel like I've wasted a moment or become less of an author.

Can I get a hell-yeah because hell, yeah.

The argument is pretty short actually. The famous quote from Richard Bach, and the one I've had posted on the wall next to me from the day I took up writing again after a 17 year hiatus--hope I didn't make you spit your coffee onto your monitors with that revelation--reads: "A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit."

So the argument may be based on semantics, but Bach doesn't question whether the writer is an author. He implies that an unpublished or unpracticed author is still an author. He's an amateur.

So, by all means, refer to yourself as an author. If you write with any level of seriousness, welcome to the business. It's not like your inclusion leaves less room for the rest of us.

And referring to yourself as an author, even if your level of confidence only allows you to say it in your head, is an important tool. Who can work, thinking of themselves as a pretender? I believe thinking of myself as an author is an important step in my ability to write every day. How else could I justify to myself, or my wife, or my children, or my dog, the long hours I accumulate over a week and over--what is it now?--a year-and-a-half? And still no finished book?

I have been tackling my first novel-length work for a little over a year now. Currently titled The Letter From William Waiklin, it is the story of a man who is delivered a letter addressed to him forty years before…twenty years before he was born. The letter is a warning from the past to not repeat the same mistakes which led the author of the letter, William Waiklin, to years of nightmarish and mystical isolation, trapped on the shoulder of time with his mind as his only freedom.

I'm in the last stages of the 2nd draft. if all goes as planned, the 300-page story will be ready for editorial review by mid-2008.

In all the literature I've read and no matter which of the dozens of published or otherwise serious, professional-minded writers I've spoken to, the consistent advice is consistent.

1. Write every day, no matter what, where or how many words. 95% of my days are writing days. I know that I had better have a whopper of a reason if I go a day without. I am proud to feel like a loser on the rare day I skip, even when that whopper of a reason rears its devilish head.
    
2. Similarly, it is wise, if not necessary, to join a fellowship of writers. Perfect clubs, writing partners or critique groups do not exist so you shouldn't spend time looking for that perfect situation. The point is to be around people who are serious about writing. Doing so refreshes my batteries and reminds me that no matter how hard a problem with whatever aspect of my writing may be at the time, there are others out there who face and conquer the same challenges every day. They help me if I need help and I help them.
    
3. As obvious as it sounds, don't forget you're telling a reader a story. If you're getting into writing to publish, you've stepped into the dark side. Gone are the days when you can write strictly to see the ink flow or the pixels light up with your genius. Now you are telling a story, so you are obliged to cut out the extreneous crap, move the story ahead, stay on task and reward the reader wtih everything you've promised him throughout the writing. It's a good idea to do a fair amount of reading when you first get started. By reading the reviews, you can find plenty of good books.
    
4. Shut up. Stop thinking. Stop making excuses. And write. No matter how much other advice you get, including 1-3 above, it all boils down to this.

If I've learned anything besides the rules above, it's that a dedicated writer must always keep engaged and open to learning. If one thinks he has mastered writing, he's probably only mastered the opinions of the people he chooses to keep around him.

Always learn.

Frances Feck Is A Freckle Collector is a young teen novella about Dottie Polk, a well-liked, kind, accepting middle school girl who is bothered to no end about her freckles. One day, after being teased about them by the school bully, Frances Feck, a mysterious new girl, appears to Dottie and offers her a freckleless life. When Frances disappears on a skiing trip, there's no one to help Dottie when the freckle jar breaks and the freckles rush out, anxious to find new homes. Madness abounds :-)

Downhill is a short story about entry and transference. The point-of-view in this experimental story travels from character to character until, in the end, the reader is left staring at the ceiling without a host.

In Two Years is a short story that follows our hero from his learning that he will be imprisoned for the murder of his wife...drumroll...in two years. Our hero dedicates himself to insuring that future will not come to pass. The twist at the end is worth the read.

Anniverse is an erotic novella about a woman frustrated. She arrives at a plan to allow herself a holiday of sorts. For one day each year, she allows herself to live as if she's not married. Anything goes, but she only has one day. It's a mad rush and the clock is ticking.

I am thomas mcauley, a fiction writer (and website designer) living in San Antonio, Texas with my wife and sons.

From the age of four, writing has been my natural calling. My mother still swoons over the 2 x 2 inch, 8-page book, The Little Water Buffalo, with it's clumsily stapled edges.

My father built a writing desk into the wall of my bedroom when I was a young teen. I spent hours in that nearly soundproof space writing (mostly poetry), drawing and planning my fantasy punk/eletro band.

After exiting the U. S. Marines and while attending college in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, I turned to journaling at the local pizza shop.

I would sit for hours with my free refills and plate after plate of cheese-garlic bread, writing poetry, observations, anything in my quest to find myself.

When I married in 1989, writing suddenly did not fit well into my life anymore. I sadly and somewhat bitterly put the pen down. In the summer of 2006, I dreamed the beginning seeds of the novel I am currently working on. I restarted writing as if I had never taken the more than seventeen years off.

I believe the time away from writing has given me a unique persepctive as an author. All of my writing experience before that summer in 2006 had come from the child in me. Now as a man I have been able to pursue my craft in a calm and clear-headed manner. I think of the seventeen-year gap as a painful but necessary parting between lovers. I had to become the man I am today in order to pursue writing in the way that is right for me.

Today, I write primarily on my HP using Word. I am testing out Power Writer, a promising program that keeps all aspects of the story--background, characters, outline, etc.--in one file. I'm sure I'll have more to say about it as more time passes.

I am highly distractable, so I wear sound-cancelling headphones. Because lyrics and changes in music compete for my attention, I play New Age amorphic sounds. I've found The "So" Chord with Hemisync from Monroe Products to be ideal.

I tend to write at my favorite coffee house, Cafeggio in Stone Oak, a community in the northeast of San Antonio. It's a little too bright, but it's the closest, freest WiFi and the coffee beats Starbucks for my money. (Oh, and the grils who work there are pretty easy on the eye too, but don't tell the wife.)

I have a space at home dedicated to writing, but it's too in the middle of traffic for anything but very early or very late writing sessions, so I'll need to give some thought to a better spot.