avg_rating: 3.5
name: Michael          Murphy
about: Who am I? One of these days I need to decided what I want to be when I grow up. I am a middle-aged man, born in the far reaches of upstate New York - parts that give the word "rural" meaning. Now I live in Washington, DC. When one of those milestone birthdays hit me and scared the crap out of me, I realized there were more years behind me than there were in front of me. My mortality hit me like someone dropping a load of bricks on me. With that realization, I constructed a bucket list of things I absolutely had to do in the years (hopefully many) that I have left. Writing a book was one of them and was near the top. My biggest influences when growing up were my two grandmothers. Both were ferociously strong women who were widowed way too yo Who am I? One of these days I need to decided what I want to be when I grow up. I am a middle-aged man, born in the far reaches of upstate New York - parts that give the word "rural" meaning. Now I live in Washington, DC. When one of those milestone birthdays hit me and scared the crap out of me, I realized there were more years behind me than there were in front of me. My mortality hit me like someone dropping a load of bricks on me. With that realization, I constructed a bucket list of things I absolutely had to do in the years (hopefully many) that I have left. Writing a book was one of them and was near the top. My biggest influences when growing up were my two grandmothers. Both were ferociously strong women who were widowed way too young and had to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and try to put them back together again. And they did! They were incredible women and I adored them both.These women loved to read and to tell stories, so it just always seemed a natural thing for me to want to do the same. One Christmas when I had a break from work for a few days I had an idea - just a simple single flash of an idea. I sat down at my computer and typed out the one sentence idea. And then I thought for a moment. And then I started typing again - and like magic this story started to pour out of me. I was amazed, in awe, floored by what was happening. It was like the characters were coming to life and telling their story and I was just tagging along for the ride. I typed as fast as my fingers would fly across the keys (one of the 17 jobs I had while I was going to college was typist, so I'm a pretty fast typist). I couldn't wait to see what happened next. It was the most amazing experience I think I've ever had. Okay, maybe not THE most amazing, but it ranks right up there near the top.My boyfriend finally came to me a couple of days into this,sat down, looked so serious, and asked, "Are you mad at me?" I assured him that no, I was not mad; I had just been kidnapped by my two characters who refused to let me go. He sort of believed me. When I handed him a printout of the entire book he really believed me, although he wasn't all that thrilled about the book. What can I say, he is a biomedical scientist who primarily reads non-fiction. The fact that I got him to read any fiction was a huge step.I sent my finished book to Dreamspinner Press. Much to my shock and surprise they accepted it. Out of the hundreds of unsolicited manuscripts that they receive every year they only accept a tiny fraction from new, unknown authors - and I was part of that tiny fraction. When I got the news I was riding on the subway to work one morning. I screamed and hugged the man sitting next to me - I don't have a clue who he was and I'm sure I scared the crap out of him, even though I tried to explain why I was so happy. When I got to work, a co-worker joined me in doing a happy dance.Once I started writing the spirit of my departed grandmothers started taking over and story after story started to come out. Dreamspinner and Harmony Ink Press have published a total of eight books so far, with the next one due out in a few weeks. Three additional books are under contract, scheduled to appear in the months ahead.When I'm not writing, I'm editing and proofing, proofing and editing. When not doing that I work for a small organization in downtown DC located a few hundred yards from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. My work is primarily IT project management which can be thrilling and at other times drive me to distraction. All in all, I'd rather be writing. If people keep buying my books in the same way they have I might actually be able to consider that as an option. Oh, please! Oh, please! Oh, please! ...more