Dogs On Main Street

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So it isn't as widely anticipated as the new Springsteen album that drops on 01-14-14, but we are getting there.

And Springsteen has something to do with this book, of course.

The idea was a long time in the making and it was developed from the idea of sitting at a Bruce concert in 2012. At that point I'd been attending his shows for about 30 years and as I watched him in Buffalo in 2012 I thought of all the beautiful people who'd attended such shows with me through the years.

We had so many dreams back in '83 when we saw Bruce together at the Aud. He opened with Born in the USA. He played for just about 3 and a half hours. I remember being shocked at the display.

Just so much energy and passion.

When I attended the show in 2012 the cast was a little different, but I thought a lot about the crew that has stayed the same.

Great college buddies who still call once in awhile and the topic eventually gets around to 'What Bruce is up to.'

Wives added along the way and the love they soon develop for the legend of Bruce.

And it got me thinking.

What if...the characters who chased Bruce in the eighties got suddenly stuck where they were, but still believed that somehow they could still reach the Promised Land.

What if...they all got back together again and tried to make their world seem right.

What if...they relied on one another to find their way.

So...it wasn't much of a stretch to put five people in a big car and have them travel the Northeast in an effort to finally shake Bruce's hand so that he could validate their lives in some way.

I wanted it to be funny.

I'm pretty sure it got there.

I wanted to control the release.

I wanted my own artist to do the cover (a great choice, by the way!!!)

I needed it to have heart because chasing what Bruce puts out is all about heart and passion.

And hope and faith.

I think I got there too.

There's energy and passion in the story...and in the cover art.

Writing fiction is an absolute blast, by the way. Over the last ten years I've written about pain and loss and sickness and hospitals and more pain.

I had written about things that were completely out of my control.

I wanted some control back!

So I made up a whole world with a set of characters who still believed that they understand.

Like the howling dogs on Main Street.

There's a lot of my buddies in some of the characters. I stole a few jokes from Rosie and Fluffy and Pops and all of my brothers. I put a little of my wife in some of the thoughts about what one character would do if she got Bruce alone for a few minutes.

When I mentioned I had borrowed lines from Rosie he said:

"Stealing my material is your only redeeming factor as a writer."

I still don't have the solid release date for you.

Soon.

I'll be in control of the release. I liked signing every copy of the book. I liked not having people I don't know sell them from out under me.

That's the way of the writing and publishing world in 2014.

This year is about a little more of controlling the trip to The Promised Land.

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