Novelist/playwright Gary Morgenstein is the author of four novels. In addition to Jesse’s Girl, a thriller about a widowed father’s search for his adopted teenage son who has run away from a drug treatment program to find his biological sister, his books include the romantic triangle Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, the political thriller Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and the baseball Rocky The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees. His prophetic play Ponzi Man performed to sell-out crowds at a recent New York Fringe Festival. His other full-length work, You Can’t Grow Tomatoes in the Bronx, is in development. He can be reached at www.facebook.com/people/Gary-Morgenstein/1011217889 or visit Gary at Red Room at http://redroom.com/member/garymorg.

Welcome to Beyond the Books, Gary. Can we start out by telling us whether you are published for the first time or are you multi-published?

Including Jesse’s Girl, I’ve published four novels: Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, Take Me Out to the Ballgame and The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees.

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

Oh boy, I haven’t thought of this one for a long time. When I was a senior in college at SUNY at Stony Brook, I wrote a sci-fi novel A Giant Step Back. It was about the discovery of precious indestructible metals on the Moon, which solves humanity’s mineral crisis – but comes at a possibly fearsome price. I came close at Doubleday but never published it.

For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?

St. Martin’s Press published my first novel Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Actually I was pretty lucky here and got accepted by the second agent, who sold it to the first house.

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

Rejection is so very painful because it goes straight to your heart and your soul. A writer opens himself up, in varying degrees, of self-honesty so more often than not, it’s difficult if not impossible to separate rejection of your work from rejection of you. “Oh, honey, it’s not about you, it’s about me.” Uh-huh, right. All you can do is not sulk (sure) or get depressed (course not) or wallow in self-pity (never). You just have to get off the canvas and keep writing and keep plugging. If you’re not like Rocky Balboa, you won’t make it as a writer.

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

St. Martin’s published my first book and I choose them because I was a first-time author and the editor took me out to lunch and I felt like a big shot.

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

I was so ecstatic that I was almost beyond the need to celebrate. I just sat there and enjoyed the feeling of enormous achievement. I was only 26 when it was sold, 27 when it was published.

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

Well I was sitting around waiting for The Tonight Show to call. Which they didn’t, lol. So I promoted myself and got an interview in the Long Island weekly section (now defunct) of the Sunday New York Times. I was living in Northport then, now I live in Brooklyn, the Center of the Known Universe.

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

Oh no, that worked since it was the only alternative other than vanity publishing. Now there are other options, such as Amazon and e-books, which is great for writers since it is all about getting out there and getting your work before the public.

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

I’ve now published a total of four novels. I think I’ve learned so much about myself and how to create characters and how to build a story. But the wonderful thing about writing is the learning and the growing never stops.

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? What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?

I think earlier in my career, I tried to write too quickly and that became problematic. I should’ve taken deep breaths more.

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

Reaching people with my words. When I get feedback about my new novel Jesse’s Girl, about a troubled father-son relationship, it really means an enormous amount. At the end of the day, it’s about touching people, perfect strangers, folks you will never meet. Talk about magic, huh?

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

You mean if I had talent to play center field for the New York Yankees? Otherwise, I would’ve liked to been a college history professor. History is a huge passion for me, especially the era of the 1930s and 1940s.

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

Combined the two. Maybe have written historical thrillers! Hmm, maybe it’s not too late

How do you see yourself in ten years?

Writing and enjoying life and waking up every morning with the hope for the best.

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

To never give up. Keep working at your craft. Someone once said, a novel is never finished, it is simply abandoned. Remember that one book is really an extension of the previous and that is what being a writer is all about, traveling along on the constant creativity, constant growth, constant search.