Official Website of author T.J. Vargo

As a student in the Northeast Ohio MFA program, I've had the special privilege of listenting to some great authors talk about their writing process. Sam Lipsyte, Dan Chaon, Salvatore Scibona, and Jess Walter are my favorites over this past year because they each helped me improve my writing. How did they do that, you ask? Well, after reading my work, Dan Chaon gave me a few authors to read that opened my eyes to a couple things. Salvatore Scibona taught me the importance of sentence structure. Jess Walter read the first few chapters of Tombs, had some very nice things to say and provided excellent constructive criticism. And Sam Lipsyte talked about music he listened to while writing, which made his writing seem so much more approachable. When I read a great novel I often feel as if the author is some kind of god, so far above us puny humans. Hearing Sam talk about blasting obscure bands while writing grounded him and gave me some insight into his creative process. I recently finished writing my first crime novel and music was a big part of the process. The story runs so hot and cold that I sometimes needed something to kickstart my mind into the attitude, violence, romance, danger and ache for something better that fills the heads of the characters. Here's a few bands and songs that got me in the mood:
Attitude/Violence/Danger - Rage Against the Machine (Guerilla Radio, Renegades of Funk, Sleep Now In the Fire) , Cage the Elephant (Ain't No Rest for the Wicked), Toadies (Possum Kingdom), Jim Carroll Band (People Who Died), ACDC (If You Want Blood), Collective Soul (Precious Declaration)
Romance - Sufjan Stevens (To Be Alone With You, Dress Looks Nice On You), Sun Kil Moon (Heron Blue, Half Moon Bay), Goo Goo Dolls (Black Baloon), Death Cab For Cutie (I Will Possess Your Heart), Lifehouse (From Where You Are)
Ache For Something Better - Ben Harper (Ground On Down), Ben Harper and Jack Johnson (With My Own Two Hands), Creed (One Last Breath)
 

We put up our Christmas tree last Sunday, seven days before Christmas. A lot of people put their tree up early, but we've always put ours up close to the actual day. In fact, seven days before Christmas is probably the earliest we've ever had one up. It all goes back to when my wife and I had three kids and zero money. We lived in Northern Virginia back then, and Christmas trees were expensive. Something like $60 or $70 bucks if I remember correctly. That was money better spent on food, the mortgage or heat, so being a storyteller, when my kids asked why we didn't have a Christmas tree like everyone else, I told them Santa brought the tree when he brought the presents. Having half a brain, my kids followed up with, "But why did Santa give everyone else a tree already?"Not to be outfoxed, I said, "Oh, those trees aren't from Santa. He only brings trees to good boys and girls." Well, the kids liked hearing that. So, on Christmas Eve, after the kids were sleeping, usually around nine or ten o'clock, I would go out to get a tree. The best thing about this was all the Christmas tree lots were closed, which meant everything was free, even if the remaining trees were missing limbs and dropping needles if you looked at them cross-eyed. The worst thing was I always thought I was one step away from a police cruiser pulling up and slapping cuffs on me. But it always worked out. So I'd haul a tree home like some kind of half-assed cat burglar and then me and my wife would decorate it and wrap presents until late into the night. Sleep was in short supply those nights as the kids always woke up early, poking me in the forehead while they whispered, "Dad, get up. Santa came." I have to tell you, nothing felt better than walking down the stairs and seeing that tree on Christmas morning all twinkling with lights and ornaments. For that first moment, it did look like something that only Santa himself could've brought. My kids are all grown now and money isn't as tight, so I don't raid Christmas tree lots anymore, but I got a kick out of setting up the tree on Christmas Eve while it lasted. And looking back on it, I'm not sure who liked those trees more, me or my kids. But if you made me guess, I'd say it was a tie.

Can't believe I'm doing this - like i don't have enough to do - but I created this website for my fiction writing and to epublish some of my novels. I'll tell you what, converting a manuscript into an ebook is not for the faint of heart, but somehow I plowed through. Now I'm waiting on confirmation that my novel Low Man will be accepted into the various distribution channels. After I see how that works I'll epublish some of my other novels, but I'm gonna take this one step at a time so I don't screw it up. It's actually kind of exciting - I'm a publisher, woo hoo. I probably would have never considered this route, but after I saw that crime writer Barry Eisler was going the epublishing route I thought, "What the hell - I'll give it a shot." 
I loved Barry's crime series on the assasin John Rain and I respect him as a writer, so for him to choose epublishing over a traditional publisher really made me take notice of this epublishing revolution. And now I'm part of it. I'll keep you informed how things are going as I move along, but feel free to drop me a line if you're so inclined.