Writing Anniversary

Regular readers of this blog know that today marks the anniversary of my first sale as a professional writer. For those of you who haven't seen these posts in previous years, on December 27, 1976, I got a check in the mail from Ideal Publishing in New York, in the amount of $167.50, for all rights to a story I'd written for a confession magazine they published called INTIMATE STORY. More details and assorted nostalgic reminiscing about the early days of my career can be found in my December 27^th posts for the past ten years.

So, 38 years in this business and I'm still having fun and learning new things and feeling that old familiar thrill whenever I go into a store and see a book I've written on the shelves, whether my name is on it or not. I'll admit, though, it's starting to catch up to me a little. To paraphrase Chris LeDoux, it ain't the years, son, it's the millions of words. I don't plan to ever retire as long as I'm able to write, but I can see a time when I'll write less, anyway.

Until then, I have pages to do.

For now, a quick thanks to Livia—the one person most responsible for anything good I've ever done—and to all the editors and other authors who have helped make it possible for me to keep spinning yarns all these years.