One of the many amazements of having your first novel published is getting reviews, by strangers, who enjoy and in some cases absolutely love, your book. I do not know the exact method that went into who requested and received ARCs (advance reader copies) of I WILL BE OKAY, since my publisher handled all of that, but I do know it was a big deal when Kirkus Reviews (one of the biggest--if not the biggest--book review sites) requested an e-copy when the quarantine hit and then had one of their reviewers actually review and enjoy my novel. I'm a 40-something year old man with an engineering degree and a successful career that has afforded me many pleasures in life, but the entirety of my life--from middle school through high school through college to my post-college career, I've wanted to be a "writer," and although I did always write, constantly, so I could legitimately call myself a "writer," what I really meant deep down in my heart, was that I might become a published author. Someday. And even after getting an agent and selling this novel to a publisher, it never really occurred to me that this would result in the book being out there, in the world, for anyone and everyone to read. And it never occurred to me that they might have opinions and I might not like them (which honestly hasn't really happened...yet...) or the opposite, that they might have found some little  joy from something that I wrote, literally over the entirety of the past decade, that someone I don't know or who didn't share a writing class with me, would actually give positive feedback and recommend to others that they should read it. It's been thoroughly amazing.

We've all spent a crapload of time inside over the past two months. Some of us sick, some of well, some of us going crazy, no, all of us I guess. And when we haven't been Zooming we've been watching stuff. Here is a list of some of that stuff. Yes I do not have the energy to write a better intro. I've been stuck inside for 8 weeks!

#10. Extraction (Netflix)
In different times I would probably talk about how the antagonist of the story has a much more fleshed out story than Chris Hemsworth's lead character. Or about why when things go south, he risks everything to try to save a boy we know very little about and he knows even less. But when you're in quarantine and a pretty big budget action film written by one of the Russo Brothers of Avengers fame and starring Thor himself comes on your screen, you focus on the positives - the well-choreographed and seemingly nonstop action scenes, the 10-minute "one-cut" sequence, the winning persona of Hemsworth and the surprise appearance of David Harbour from Stranger Things which not to spoil it but results in a pretty awesome fight sequence between him and Thor and... well just check it out. It's not a great film but it's good enough for quarantine.

So I most likely have it. 
It's Friday April 17th and I started feeling sick Monday April 6th. 
It's fairly rare that I've experienced an illness that's lasted 12 days and counting and showed little to no signs of improvement. In fact this week has been the worst (Monday & Tuesday especially - although last night was the first time I woke up hacking up several lungs at 2 am and couldn't stop coughing for hours).  I've also never had an illness that has resided almost exclusively in my upper chest/lungs and I've never felt such tightness/lack of breath before. So it seems like I have a viral infection like I've never had before and I live in the epicenter of America's worst outbreak in a city with the highest density in America and my boyfriend was also sick and my doctor (on two video calls) said "most likely" I have it, so I'm assuming I have it.

​But I haven't gotten tested.

On Tuesday, May 22, 2015 - almost five years ago - I went to see The Drowners at the Brooklyn Bowl. Back then, it was just an ordinary Tuesday night, two years after I'd moved to Hoboken, NJ, close enough and convenient enough to take the PATH to 14th Street and the L to Bedford Avenue and within minutes, I was at the venue. It was that convenience that drove me to move out of my "comfort zone" of central NJ suburbs into Hoboken, a city that offered the kind of fast-paced lifestyle I didn't quite know I craved until I got here and started living it, loving it, and never wanting to go back to suburban life again. As of May 1st this year, I will be entering my 8th year in Hoboken, after selling my home in South Brunswick, blowing all of my savings on an exorbitantly-priced apartment for two years, downsizing for a year, re-upsizing for 3 years and now back in a slightly-less beautiful still exorbitantly priced apartments in one of the buildings I used to live in and loving every minute of it. Until 2020.

But back to The Drowners.

A bit of quarantine news about I WILL BE OKAY (releasing June 30).  First, the advanced reader copies are in the hands of readers now (as several posted on Instagram) and I got my first review on Goodreads.  

So that happened.  It's a little bit ummm... awesome :) And also today I approved the Final Copy of the Book Cover (which is already all over my site so it's not that exciting but also the back cover, which I saw for the first time).  See below.  It's also a little bit ummm... awesome :)  And finally, we did the very last copy edits this week and it's about to be released to the distributor/printer (not sure the exact process) and will be out of my hands and out into the world in 3 (short) months.  Well they used to be short months but this week has felt like a year because you know, quarantine/ end of the world/ job-crushing recession.  But please pre-order my book thank you!  So much appreciated.