It's Johnny's Birthday....

and I promised my Blog Chain partners I'd share more quirks with them and discuss why I consider John Lennon my patron muse.

It all started a long time ago--1995, to be exact. I was working as a technical writer up in Madison, and as much as I love the city, being there couldn't make up for my dislike of my job and the separation from my then-boyfriend, Eugene. But that November, the Beatles Anthology aired on TV. I was just a casual fan at best, but I was interested enough to watch the first episode. At the end, the song "Free as a Bird" priemered. Although some diehard fans dislike this song, it stuck in my head, especially at work. I watched the rest of Anthology and soon found myself listening to more Beatles music and learning more about the group.

Early in 1996, I lost my technical writing job and had to move back home while I looked for work. My Beatles fascination kept me going through this time. At one point, while reading about the four-fold synergy of the group, I came up with the idea of having a quartet of magicians working together in a similar fashion. That was the beginning of Day of All Seasons, the first novel I finished and submitted to agents. I got a few requests for partials, but ultimately nothing came of it--not surprising, given the book was over 170,000 words. I would still like to pull that one out of the trunk someday and revise it. But in the meantime, I moved on to other stories, including some that had a direct link to the Beatles. And I've been writing ever since. So thanks, John, for helping me become a writer.

Speaking of writing, I submitted the (revised) first two sentences of Across Two Universes at Miss Snark's First Victim today. Reactions were mixed, though I got some useful feedback. Thanks to all of my reviewers! And if you found this blog through one of the comments I left, I hope my comment was useful.