So the publisher said "No". Very kindly, very politely, but "No". He also said, "I still like the courtroom scenes, but I’m still not overwhelmed by the rest."

I'm trying to figure out how I'm reacting. I'm still quite overwhelmed by how much time and energy this publisher afforded me and my book and I continue to be grateful for that. I can wish for a different outcome. I can feel disappointed to have come this far only to fail once again to reach my goal. But I can't complain that I wasn't given a fair chance by this publisher.

I can also understand why he would say "no" and yet still not take it as an assault on my skills and talents as a writer. Call it ego but I believe my book is well-written enough to be published. I just don't think the publisher felt the subject matter would sell. I've understood for a long time that a very well written book is not going to succeed if it doesn't offer a "sexy" plot, subject, or hook that will make readers want to buy it.

The Silent Goodbye doesn't seem to have those things. It's a good story. It's well told. But it doesn't stand out. It's a fairly homey novel about a small-time lawyer who finds himself in big-time trouble.

So it would seem that The Silent Goodbye isn't going to be published any time soon. And I'm left wondering where to turn next. I had been working on the next Phillip Gold mystery novel, The Final Curtain, and I might just keep going with that. I'd do so, however, not with the belief that this new novel stands a better chance of being published (it's too much in the same vein, the same flavour as The Silent Goodbye for me to believe that) but on the basis that I'm enjoying writing it, it's fairly well along and I think my nieces would still enjoy seeing their idea turned into a full-length (though unpublished) novel.

I'm toying with some other ideas as well, at this point. The one thing I'm not doing is considering giving up writing. I had feared, after sending the revised version of The Silent Goodbye to the publisher, that my reaction to a possible rejection might be such deep disappointment that I would discard my netbook and move on to some other pasttime. But I'm having no such reaction now.

Okay, I may die without ever having a novel published. Fine. But I draw too much enjoyment from the act of writing to give it up entirely.

Tags: Novels, Mystery, Phillip Gold, publishing, Writing, The Silent Goodbye

I am somewhat old-fashioned in that I continue to buy movies on DVD (and, recently, on Blu-Ray) rather than rent, rip or download them from the internet. I like nothing better than to sit in our den and look at the wall of movies and TV shows I've accumulated, trying to decide what I want to watch.

Since I recently upgraded my player to a Blu-Ray Disc player, I've been keeping my eyes open for "special" movies that would look extra great in high definition. I'm not about the replace all of my DVD movies and TV shows with the Blu-Ray versions but I do have a short list of movies (like Star Trek, Harry Potter, Star Wars) that I would like to find on high-def discs (as long as the price is right). So far, I have only three Blu-Rays: HP 1, 5 and 6, each of which I found for $10.

So when I saw a Blu-Ray copy of Will Smith's recent I Am Legend, a movie I have wanted to see since it first came out, for just $12.99, I was sorely tempted. Then I saw, in a nearby bin, a Warner Brothers "Action" movie tin containing four movies on DVD for the same price and reconsidered. The tin offered not only I Am Legend but also V is for Vendetta, The Departed, and 300, all for that same $12.99 price.

So I walked away. Too hard a decision to make at that time. I convinced myself that I couldn't possibly spend thirteen bucks for one movie on Blu-Ray when I could get that same movie, plus three others, on DVD for the same price. I then convinced myself that I couldn't buy the four DVDs in the collectors tin because I was worried that the four discs inside wouldn't have their own covers and cases, so they'd be impossible to file in my well-organized DVD collection.

For the past week, however, I kept thinking about that tin. I should have bought it, I thought. My brother has told me that V is a great movie and I have heard nothing but good things about Scorcese's The Departed. The only stinker in the tin was 300 and even that movie couldn't be so terrible. And I could get empty DVD cases, print the covers from the internet and solve the filing problem that way.

But wait, I argued with myself, if you have to do all that, you're just going to drive the price up so high that the Blu Ray wouldn't be such a bad buy.

I was back at the same store today. Both the Blu Ray and the collectors tin were still there and still $12.99. So I took the plunge. I bought the tin. And when I got home, I am delighted to report I found all four discs inside in their own super-thin plastic cases with complete full-colour covers. No filing problem at all. And the tin itself is actually kinda cool, so I can put it to other uses as well.

I'm really pleased. I can't wait to watch at least three of them. I'm just wondering if I should go back and check out the other Warner Brothers collector tins ("Drama" and maybe "Comedy") that I didn't look at during my first two shopping trips.

Tags: I Am Legend, Will Smith, Blu-Ray, V is For Vendetta, Natalie Portman, The Departed, Jack Nicholson, 300, Warner Brothers

With The Silent Goodbye now off in the world, I'm able to focus again on The Final Curtain, my next Phillip Gold novel. As you might recall, I started writing this new book last fall after I had set aside the completed second draft of TSG for a cooling off period before doing final revisions.

The first step is to review what I've already written of the new book. And, to my surprise, it's close to 12,000 words. I had not realised I had already written so much.

So far, so good, I think. This novel begins in the courtroom, with Kevin Dallanger in the witness box and Phillip Gold, his lawyer and our hero, completely frustrated. It's a good scene, from what I can see: it seems to crackle with tension and energy.

Like TSG, this novel will have two complementary plots: a courtroom drama and an action/mystery story. I've been told that my courtroom scenes are especially strong and I want to continue to play to that strength, while still keeping some elements of the mystery in there as well.

The challenge I have set for myself, however, is that the courtroom plot for this new book is to be drawn from an earlier, unpublished novel I wrote several years ago under the title, All That Glisters. And, in that iteration, it wasn't a courtroom drama at all; it was a plain old mystery novel. That means I have to take a story that is already so vividly alive for me in one format and transpose it into a completely different format.

I think it will work, if I'm careful and creative and not too afraid to change a story of which I'm already very fond. I'm certainly pleased with that first courtroom scene: it's just a matter of making sure the rest of the story vibrates with the same energy.

The second plot, the action plot, will tell the tale of the murder of a young movie star, which occurs just when the Dallanger trial swings into high gear. Gold gets involved because an old school chum of his, Liam MacKenzie, turns out to be the prime suspect in the murder. So, once again, Gold will be balancing the exhausting drama of a pitched courtroom battle with a physically taxing, continually dangerous effort to deal with events as they unfold in the outside world.

I think it's a really good sign that, even as The Silent Goodbye wafts out there in the world of hopes and dreams, I'm still excited to move on to the next project. And the next project, it seems, will be even more challenging and more complex than the last.

Tags: Writing, Novels, Mystery, Phillip Gold, publishing