simon_morris

simon_morris: Since temporarily leaving Fan Story, I have had a new book published by e-Press, How to Get Off the Merry-Go-Round. It is presently a finalist in the EPIC Awards 2011, nonfiction division.

See a description on my home page at:

http://members.authorsguild.net/trachtenburg/

You really want to help? Buy it from Amazon.com at:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Off-Merry-Go-Round-Relationships/dp/1934258385/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272453458&sr=8-1

I am currently working on two new projects for future publication and once again, would love to have the sharp eyes of Fan Storians critique it as it progresses.

ABOUT

Location

Miami Beach, FL 33140

Born	6/8/39

Gender

Male

Member

Standard

Joined

July 2006

Interests

photography, reading, travel

simon_morris is a pen name used for writing works of fiction. He is a semi-retired psychotherapist who also authored two nonfiction books; one, a self-help book for abused women and the other, a textbook on addictions treatment for graduate students. He has also had published a number of professional journal articles and a three year collection of weekly essays on mental health, written for a local newspaper.

simon_morris has had a hidden desire to write fiction for many years and has dabbled with the form but not for publication. His excuse was, "Who has the time?" Now that he is semi-retired, he doesn't have that excuse any longer.

In his other world, as a psychotherapist, teacher and administrator, simon_morris had the good fortune to meet thousands of people whose experiences and personalities should translate well into characters whose depth and scope should make for interesting fiction writing.

Mr. simon_morris jokingly states that on any given day, he is likely to meet at least one psychopath, a prostitute, a junkie, a violated woman and a ticking time bomb ready to go postal...and that is counting just the staff of the hospital where he spent the latter years of his career! His clients are probably more interesting than that -- and far easier to work with."

He has a number of unpublished stories which he collectively titled, "Fools' Gold: Stories of Lovable Losers and Losable Lovers." It is from those stories which he will choose his first submissions for Fan Story.

In his personal life, he is married to a remedial reading teacher who has also been published in her field. He is the proud father and grandfather of a pair of touring rock musicians whose public personas led him to use a pseudynym in this forum. After all, who wants to claim a moment of recognition from a reflection of your granddaughter's fame?

In his spare time, Mr. simon_morris enjoys street photography -- especially through the window of a moving car -- reading, walking on beaches, travel and listening to his son's and granddaughter's CDs. He hates anything to do with gardening or lawn care and it is his dream, when he is fully retired, to move somewhere where there is only sand or cement -- with nary a crack in the cement for anything to grow.

One last "secret" which simon_morris chooses to share with you: The names Simon and Morris belonged to his grandfathers who died before he was born. This is his way of connecting with his own past and keeping it alive. He hopes that his long-dead grandfathers have a sense of humor about what will be shared under their imprimatur. He calculates that they will have to because what he writes has a dark side, sometimes very dark.

About me as a critiquer of the writing of others:

I love a well-written piece of prose. I react almost violently when I read a work that was obviously not edited for spelling, paragraphing or sentence construction. I feel that it is an imposition upon my time for someone to submit a piece that was scribbled in ten minutes and not edited. When I can focus on such issues as plotting, dialogue, storyline, continuity, foreshadowing, backstory and tension I am able to give the writer opinions that may have value if he or she chooses to use them. None of us ever writes a perfect story in the first draft and every published work is an amalgam of author, editor, and hopefully talented others who have been asked to critique the material in the process between the genesis of an idea through to the revelation of the written work to a paying audience.

My inclination in my own writing is to uphold the following proscription:

How do you know when a piece of writing is complete and ready for submission?

When you realize that you could go on editing it forever.

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