Authors Electric

   I saw no way out at the end of Part 1. I was kidding myself to pretend that I sat on the fence with a glimmer of hope that I wasn't toast as a writer. I'd run low on time and still lower on luck. And there I was with a gimp knee and an unfinished new novel I'd abandoned for too long. For half a year I'd tried in vain to find the stuff to get back to it. But I couldn't imagine a way out from under the weight of the odds stacked against me near the end of my Seventies Show. For two weeks I plotted my goodbye. By the day I grew more mindful of foolish decisions and choices--professional and personal--that sidelined a writing career that began with so much promise in 1988 (four books with two major publishers, an international award). Stubbornly, and against all advice, I persisted in writing short novels (don't call them novellas!) because I loved the challenge of mastering the short form, though no agent would even look at these works. By the time I felt ready ...