A Look Back: Stagedoor

My first book, barely more than a quick novella, Stage-Door meant the world to me at the time, odd how little I've looked back on it since declaring it done and sending it out the door.  After leaving New York, and temporarily swearing that I did not want to write at all and was done with such foolishness, this condition lasting almost an entire three months after moving across the country to Denver, I had let myself get mired in first my brief spat of denial, and then an obsession working and reworking the same first half of a novel for more than two years.  Even after realizing that I was hopelessly stuck I kept being drawn back into the same trap.  Even after distracting myself with work on the comic series Diamondback I still couldn't break out of my silly rut.
That was when I started remembering old friends and fun adventures from the theater, from high school to Off-Broadway gigs, the insanity, love affairs, melodrama, stress, and just plain bizarre fun.  Mix that potent cocktail of sweet and mildly insane memories with rereading Homer and the plot to what turned out to be my first book fell together in an afternoon of scribbling.  Two months later, working around both a day job and writing for comics, and Stagedoor was done.  I'll admit, I've improved in my work since then, if I hadn't I'd be ashamed, and it's perhaps more goofy and direct than the projects I've focused on since, but maybe I'll return to satire one of these days, few things are as exhilarating and challenging to write.  Stage-Door will always have a special place in my heart, after the way that story poured out of me I haven't stopped working, and haven't stopped enjoying the work either.  For those who might want to check out what all this blathering is about, here's a link to the book on Amazon, and if you have some theater stories in your past you might see a bit of yourself in those pages.  Theatricality, a drink, a good friend, and ancient Greek poetry, doesn't that sound like one of the really good parties?