My Writing Journey (continued)

After selling my first short story, I bridged into novel length material. I began my Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series, and in 2005 submitted the first novel in the series, Retirement Homes Are Murder, to a contest for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference. I didn’t reach the finals, but I received a lot of constructive feedback from the people who read my submission. I madly rewrote and by the time of the conference, I had a much improved manuscript. At the conference, I had an opportunity to pitch to two agents and two publishers. Deni Dietz of Five Star asked me to email her the manuscript. Two months later, I received a contract and Retirement Homes Are Murder was published in January of 2007.