First Line — At This Point in My Life

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This is the opening line of my stand alone novel, At This Point in My Life.

While going through this First Line series, it seems to me that I don’t open with dialogue very often. Which is a little strange, since I feel like dialogue is one of my strengths and descriptive narrative one of my weaknesses. So you think I’d play to my strengths more often. But the data would suggest otherwise.

Anyway, I like this as an opener. You know write away that someone is about to retire. And in the conversation that follows, you learn a lot about Jack ‘Mac’ MacCrae by how he interacts with the detective who asks him this question and others, including his sometime partner, Detective Angie Scialfa.

So while it isn’t an opening line that knocks your socks off or anything, it works.

B+

You?

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Most of my books have either started life as part of a series, or evolved into being part of a series. As of this writing, only 9 of my 26 published novels are stand alone. Not all of those necessarily qualify, either. For instance, Some Degree of Murder may stand alone but it is set in my River City universe. Same with Chisolm’s Debt. The Last Horseman will have a sequel (Some Kind of Hell), probably by 2020. At Their Own Game will, too. Plus, one of my WIPs now, In The Cut, is set in the same universe as At Their Own Game.

So if we’re talking true standalone, the list is short:  All That Counts, An Unlikely Phoenix (though many have demanded a sequel), The Trade Off, my two books with Lawrence Kelter (The Last Collar and Fallen City) and At This Point in my Life.  Six of twenty-six.

Truth be told, I’m not entirely certain I won’t visit Mac again, or perhaps write one from Angie’s POV in which Mac has a small role. It could happen. But for now, the book remains on the very short list of Zafiro stand alones.

If you’re wondering about the title, yes, it is also the title of a Tracy Chapman song, and it where I got the title. There’s no real resemblance between the song and this book, but the title fit Mac and what he is going through perfectly. And before any wiseguy says something about stealing or copyright infringement, do some googling. You’ll find that a) this is a common phrase, and b) you can’t copyright titles, anyway.

Lastly, although Mac retires from Spokane PD, his adventures take him the fictional town of Cousins, in central Oregon. I now reside in central Oregon, in Redmond, near Bend, Madras…and Sisters.
Source: All The Madness In My Soul

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