I collected enough rejection letters for Princess of Amathar during these years that I could have wallpapered my room with them. Eventually I set the book aside and didn’t think about writing anything as long as a book again.

I rediscovered poetry and began writing quite a bit and posting it online. I also wrote quite a bit of sci-fi flash fiction and shared it with friends online (some involving a robot girlfriend). I also wrote a play, set in the world I had created for my kids’ Dungeons and Dragons game (the world that would eventually be home to Eaglethorpe Buxton), called The Ideal Magic. It was performed by the Brown JHS Thespian Club, but alas, the only tape of the performance was taped over (by my wife).