Mark McClelland studied Computer Science and Creative Writing at the University of Michigan’s Residential College, where he won a Hopwood Award for poetry. After graduating in 1994, he focused almost exclusively on his software career for twenty years before shifting a bigger chunk of his time to writing. He writes in search of truths that defy simple, direct expression, and publishes to share his discoveries with others.
Mark lives in Chicago with his wife, Nancy, and two cats. Outside of coding and writing, he enjoys traveling, reading, studying foreign languages, drawing, and boating. He published a novella, Curse of the Healing Kiss, in December of 2019, and is hard at work on his next book.
You can learn more about Mark’s other writing at stuffbymark.com. He also blogs about poetry, Android development, boat maintenance, and whatever else seems worth sharing at poetengineer.postach.io.
For more information, and a more personal angle, check out his author interviews:
- 2013-5-15 – Radio interview and call-in program on Wisconsin Public Radio with host John Munson (44:16)
- 2013-3-29 – Radio interview on Good Mornings! with Chris Oaks, WFIN-AM
- 2013-3-7 – Author spotlight on SpecFicPick
- 2013-2-25 – With the awesome Jayme Beddingfield
- 2013-2-19 – On Chrystal Price’s Marvelocity Style blog
To contact Mark, send email to markdmcclelland at gmail. Or via Mastodon. Use hashtag #uploadthenovel to reference Upload.
Mark, I also live in Logan Square (30 years) and after retiring from suburban municipal management have written two novels. I’m a little confused as to how to proceed in trying to get them published. I talked to Theresa at City Lit Books and she suggested you have experience. Would you be willing to spend a little time and share your insights? I’ve looked at Lulu, Amazon, lists of agents, and a bunch of ‘pay me and I’ll print your book’ places. Some offer cheap services and other will cost a bit. I’d like to jump the correct way the first time out.
Could I buy you a cup of coffee?
Rob Nelis
Rob, your timing is remarkable, as I just got home from a trip to Kalamazoo, where I gave a talk on my experiences self-publishing. I would love to hear about your novels, your publishing goals, and your thoughts on the options you’ve seen so far.
Email me to arrange a time and place: markdmcclelland at gmail.