Aspiring novelists take note: Writing this book was no picnic, Sinnott said.
Adventure and travel, life’s twists and turns, and later the humdrum of paying the bills would all work against him.
Earlier in his life, he worked in the corporate world, earning good money doing research and development for a fiber optics company. He quit the job for adventure.
He wandered and lived in Saudi Arabia and Japan and around the United States before settling in Lynnwood.
“If I had stayed with that (first job) instead of dancing to the beat of my own drum, I probably wouldn’t be in this apartment,” he said.
The apartment, just off a busy road lined with businesses, is a long way from the small-town life in 1960s Everett that he writes about in his book.
He left the trunk of his car unlatched once and found some of his neighbors divvying up his belongings. Inside, his apartment is clean but not fancy. From the front window, cars are visible zipping by. It’s what they can afford.
He pays the bills designing and drafting home remodels and other small building projects. The work is all right, he said. But he’d rather be writing.
His wife, Yuko, is nearly finished studying for a degree in mathematics and economics. They’re both looking forward to her getting a job, so they can worry less about paying the bills.
“She has a better chance of making a living than I do as a writer,” he said.
Still, he dreams about writing books like Dean Koontz, one of his favorite authors. Another of his literary heroes is Clive Cussler, a New York Times best-selling author who writes adventure-mystery novels.
Sinnott explains the kind of writing he’d like to do as a “mystery, intrigue, off-beat kind of a thing.”
His ambition to write has always been there. He went back to school to earn a master’s degree in English in 1993. His short stories and poems have been published in literary journals.
What has been missing in his literary career is time.
“The truth is, if you want to be a full-time writer, it’s got to be a full-time job,” he said.
He tries to write everyday, a task that can be draining when coupled with other responsibilities.
Like anything, writing comes more naturally to some people than others, he said. For him, writing is work.
“It takes solitude. You almost have to be a misanthrope,” he said.
When he writes, he turns off the television, radio and the phone. There can be no distractions.
It took him six months to write the book, which is 77 pages and 10 chapters long.
“But I didn’t know all the tricks,” he explained. He wasted time trying to edit as he wrote. Even with those initial edits, he would revise a dozen drafts.
Sinnott’s book won’t make him the next J.K. Rowling, and he knows it. He sees the novel as a starting point, his first foray into writing novels.
“I know this isn’t a million-dollar seller,” he said. “I don’t have any visions of grandeur.”
After drafts of his novel were rejected by a string of publishers, he used PublishAmerica, a company that uses Publish on Demand technology.
That means readers likely won’t find Sinnott’s book on display at the local Barnes and Noble, but it is available for purchase through any bookstore by order. PublishAmerica has been criticized for some of its practices. The publisher prints and distributes books at its expense, but marketing is left mainly to the author. That allows the company to sign on more authors than traditional publishing houses. It also means aspiring authors get little feedback from an editor or marketing help.
Sinnott doesn’t care. For the first time in his life he has received a small royalty check (about $30) and even better, a novel he penned is in print.
His next novel, a thriller aimed at adults, is in the works.
“There’s my name right on the cover,” he said, gesturing toward the front of his novel. “How cool can that be?”
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.
Getting in print
PublishAmerica’s Web site, www.publishamerica.com, a company that uses Publish on Demand technology, walks prospective authors through the process.
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