The Publication of My First Book

On September 16, 2025, Unsolicited Press will release my memoir, Stolen: Love and Loss in the Time of Covid-19. It will mark the five and a half year anniversary of when I started writing my Pandemic Diaries—the blog that became my memoir. I have been trying to get a book published for more than a decade. In that time, I have written travel memoirs, essay collections, and several novels for adults and children. Finding representation, however, has been elusive. I have more rejection letters than there are days in a year and that doesn’t include all the queries that have simply been ignored, deleted, or ended up in the trash can. Therefore, I suppose there is an element of irony in the fact that the book I never set out to write is the first one to land a home with a publisher. 

I started writing the Pandemic Diaries the first day schools were closed for COVID. It was a Monday, and none of us were doing well. We were cramped in the condo in which we were living and the tight quarters made us irritable and grumpy. Add to that the challenge of having to teach and learn online as opposed to being in a classroom. It also didn’t help that all extracurricular activities were closed or cancelled. After just one day, I could already feel my sanity beginning to fray. To cope, I did what I do best when my emotions are wild and impossible to control. I started to write—a blog.  My words were never supposed to be serious. They were never supposed to result in anything important. And they certainly were never intended to turn into a book. But on Day 8, my dad got sick, and on Day 12, I took him to the hospital. 

My book is a pared down, slightly edited version of my blog. I kept the same format; I just cut away some of the redundancy. When the manuscript was initially accepted by Unsolicited Press, I thought the days of Donald Trump’s Presidency were in the past—where they belong. Unfortunately, he is back in office. In my book, I offer a scathing commentary on Trump’s handling of the Pandemic. Remember, it started out as a blog written like a journal, a day to day account of what it was like to live during COVID. I blame him and his lies for killing my father. If he had been honest, if he had been transparent, if he had not been a narcissistic a**hole, my father never would have left the country. And if he hadn’t gone on that cruise, he may very well still be alive.

Needless to say, Trump's reelection and his inauguration have been triggering. My emotions are once again unpredictable and extreme. The fact that on day one of his second term he withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization brought back all the pain, anger, and hatred I felt during the days my dad was dying in the hospital and the days following his death when my grief—compounded by my mom’s and my son’s grief—nearly suffocated me. The WHO may not be a perfect organization, but it is an international body that tracks disease. Without our membership, without our funding, who will monitor various diseases throughout the world? Who will keep the United States informed? Who will counter the lies spread by Donald Trump?

I am infuriated that Trump is once again President. My loathing of the man knows no bounds. But the timing of my book’s release is damn near ideal. Not only is Stolen: Love and Loss in the Time of Covid-19 a written memorial of my father, it is a protest against Donald Trump, a reminder of deaths he caused the first time he sat in the White House. It is a testament of what he did in 2020, but perhaps more importantly, it is a guide to what we can expect over the next four years. He will lie. He will abuse his power. He will cause death and devastation. 

On March 16, 2020, I did not set out to write a book. I certainly did not sit down with the intention of writing a political diatribe, but our intentions don’t always match the outcome. On September 16, 2025, my unintended book will enter a politically charged world, and I hope its content will resonate with you, my readers, on multiple levels. I look forward to the publication of my first book with both excitement and sorrow. It’s one of the biggest accomplishments of my life, but my father will not be here to celebrate with me. However, after more than a decade of persisting through rejection and disappointment, my dream of being a published author will be a reality. I know Dad would be proud.