Suspense/Mystery author Richard Roach was born in 1931 in Galveston, Texas. Short stories of his have been published in Man’s Story 2, Happy 2007, Vol. 20 and Bibliophilos 2006, Vol. 42. His first novel, Scattered Leaves, hit the book stores on September 1, ’08, and his second novel, Scattered Money, will be published in 2009. You can visit his website at www.richarderoach.com.

Welcome to Beyond the Books, Richard. Can you tell us whether you are published for the first time or multi-published? Can you give us the title(s) of your book(s)?

SCATTERED LEAVES is my first published book (Multi-Media Publishing). However, numerous short stories of mine are in print.

What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why?

I wrote a western back in ’58 that was never published. Several of my friends read it and laughed. This hurt my feelings, to say the least, and I threw it into the trash. Of course, now I regret that because I’d love to see how I looked at things in my twenties.

For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you found a mainstream publisher?

Boy, that’s quite a question and I don’t have the exact answer. I finished the first draft of SCATTERED LEAVES ( that I didn’t toss) back in 1974. I sent it to New York to an agent I had talked with on the phone, (back then you could do that sort of thing), and a few weeks later he told me it wasn’t professionally written. This made me angry and I never contacted him again. The dollars were flooding in from my business at the time, and I put my writing on hold. After I retired, taking the hint from Erle Stanley Gardner, in 1985, I wrote a long (200,000 plus) war novel and decided the agent was right! I didn’t know how to write. I had the bug to write but no real desire to get it published. After I had finished four or five books I began the long process of trying to get one of the published. It took about four years of rejections and rewrites to get SCATTERED LEAVES published.

How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows?

After a few hundred rejects from publishers and literary agents I felt like midnight in hell but where there’s life there’s hope. I felt my main job was to write and thinking about new material soon jerked my mind back from the abyss.

When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them?

SCATTERED LEAVES was printed by Multi-Media Publishing and this was arranged by an angel called Sarah Schwersenska who had taken an interest in the final draft.

How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?

At first, I felt strange. When I got over the weird feeling, I began to worry about sales. I’ve not celebrated yet.

What was the first thing you did as for as promotion when you were published for the first time?

I wrote my editor and asked his advice. (I knew he was an expert in the field.) He suggested I contact Irene Watson. She took over and is handling the promotion.

If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?

There’s no doubt about it, you need an agent, one that actually calls on the publishers, to sell your work.

Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author?

Yes, Multi-Media has agreed to publish the second book in the series. SCATTERED MONEY will be printed in 2009. There is a third book in the series called, SCATTERED LIVES.

Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up?

I needed a New York agent. But, having said that…how do you get one? That’s the sixty-four dollar question.

What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?

Look at it this way: What if I had been depending on the money I made from writing for living expenses? I would have starved.

What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published?

I have completed another book entitled, PERVERSE JUDGMENT. At this time I’m trying to sell it.

If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be?

Tough question but all in all, I think I would have chosen to be born rich.

Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds?

It’s true, the good Lord or whomever runs things of this sort, decided to let me luck out and make a few million so…I can write and tell lies to my heart’s content. The world you create in writing is perfect, just as good or bad as you want it.

How do you see yourself in ten years?

Not to throw water on the fire, but in all likelihood, dead. It doesn’t make me sad, though, all you bums and sweet darlings that smell so well will have to take over and run the country. What a relief not to have to cure the ills of the good old USA , I will have stood my watch.

Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?

The only thing I can say is keep on keeping on. That’s the advice I give myself. I would like to say thank you! To all the brave souls that read this and to also say, I love you all… the long, the short, and those in-between. Your day will come, believe it!