This issue features a story about the first word processor I used and gives updates on works in progress, including Christina's Portrait.

Relive the early days of the personal computer industry in the 1980s in Amiga. Laura must face a past she wants to forget to deal with problems in her present. AuthorsReading.com said, "Stern creates a protagonist who has the wherewithal to handle the personal, social, and technical problems of her era, portraying a woman of astonishing powers.”

Get your copy of Amiga at your favorite bookstore or on Kindle Unlimited. To purchase a signed copy and see the computer that inspired the novel, meet me at the Commodore LA Super Show, April 26–27, in Burbank, California. Speaking of that show...

To prepare for a presentation at the Commodore Los Angeles Super Show, I'm relearning the first word processor I ever used, PaperClip by Batteries Included. The image above shows the opening paragraphs of Amiga.

Before graphical word processors with fonts, we used codes to set margins, indents, and formatting. PaperClip used the checkmark character to indicate formatting commands. You enter it by pressing £, which was a standalone key on the Commodore 64 keyboard. I added all of the basic formatting on the top line:

lm10:rm80:ai+5:sp2

This set the left margin to 10 characters, the right margin to 80, automatically indented the first line of each paragraph 5 characters, and double-spaced the text. In other words, a perfect manuscript format. For special paragraph formatting, like centering, I used cn1 to turn on centering and cn0 to turn it off.

Although this seems primitive by modern standards, this was light-years ahead of using a typewriter. Fixing a typo didn't mean retyping an entire page. I could easily move sections of a document around. My term papers in college took a fraction of the time to write.

I also used PaperClip to write the first chapters of a novel for a creative writing class. It's called White Lies, and it's about a struggling real estate agent who got involved with dealing cocaine (as one did back in the 1980s).

Although it's fun to play with software I haven't used in 40 years, the true value is to see how technology evolved over time to the tools we depend on today.

You learn more about this and why history isn't the same as nostalgia in my latest blog post. And if you're in Southern California and want to meet me and experience these vintage computers for yourself, join me at the Commodore LA Super Show, April 26–27, at the VFW Hall in Burbank. Find all the information at the Commodore LA Super Show website.

As it often happens for us writers, life gets in the way of our writing. Over the past few months, I've been involved with something else I started doing in the 1980s, tax preparation. In college, I briefly worked as a bookkeeper for a CPA, and I volunteered at VITA. This program started at the college I graduated from, Cal State Northridge. I earned my bachelor's degree there 40 years ago next month.

Today, I do tax returns for my family. Between that and getting work done on our kitchen, Trevor and the Eight of Swords has been sitting on the back burner. 

Another project in a holding pattern is Christina's Portrait. I finished it in 2023, and I haven't been able to find a publishing home for it yet. This gives me the chance to talk about a part of every creative's experience, rejection.

Some of Christina's rejections stung. They were by publishers I really wanted to work with and agents I thought would be a perfect fit. But I've been in the game long enough to know what rejection really means. "No" actually means, "Not the right place, and not the right time."

I understand times are hard in the publishing business right now. Even small presses have to play it safe. They're cutting back on new releases and leaning into genres they know will sell. With book bans in place and government censorship looming, they may be reluctant to publish certain content. That's why it's important for us to support small presses, especially those that publish works by authors from targeted and vulnerable communities. 

There's self-publishing, but I see it as a strategy, not a fall-back. Some books are better self-published, like Mastering Table Topics. This is a niche subject that might not appeal to a publisher, but it has an audience I can reach out to. I can maintain creative control and get a bigger chunk of the sales. Mastering Table Topics is an evergreen best-seller for me, and I can update it in the future.

Self-publishing hasn't worked as well for me with fiction. I made a mistake self-publishing Doria when it could have benefitted from better editing, cover design, and marketing. Amiga did much better because I had Black Rose Writing behind it.

I'm not giving up on Christina's Portrait. I believe in this story, and it's one I've been wanting to tell for nearly 50 years. I believe it will find the right place at the right time. 

I have some author interviews coming soon, but there's room for more. If you are an author who wants to be interviewed, send me an email to admin@matthewarnoldstern.com with the following information:

• Your name.
• A brief bio (100 words or less).
• Your books.
• What you would like to talk about in your interview.

By supporting each other, we can all grow!

I hope you have enjoyed this newsletter. If you have any comments and suggestions, feel free to email me at admin@matthewarnoldstern.com. 

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I'll be in touch again next month with more news and content.