We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tom McCaffrey. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tom below.
Alright, Tom thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
As a teenager. I wrote a poem about a friend who died tragically, and then a short story about another friend who died from a fall off a sky scraper. Writing started out as my way of processing tragedy at a young age. I saw how my writing about those events impacted other people, emotionally, and realized I might have something there. I wrote a few short stories and submitted them to magazines. That was back in the snail mail era, and I still have all of those rejection letters. Given those rejections, I realized I didn’t know what it took to become a professional writer. When I first went to university, there were no real creative writing classes, and while studying English Literature certainly showed me what was considered great writing, it didn’t actually teach me anything about writing. So I took some creative writing courses at The New School in Manhattan and met a professional writer named Lou Meyers. He had a number of stories and cartoons published in the New Yorker. He read one of my short stories and told me I was a writer and that all I needed to do was keep writing. He also taught me how to develop an ear for dialogue. We used to go sit in lower Manhattan diners and just eaves drop on conversations. Lou taught me more about writing in six months than other professors taught me in four years. But the most important thing was that it was Lou who made me believe I could be a writer. And that little kernel of belief stayed with me until, forty years later, I published my first novel.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a professional retread. I worked as an attorney in the entertainment field for almost four decades before finally sitting down and chasing my passion, which is creative writing. My first novel, The Wise Ass, was published in February of 2021. It has been a bestseller. https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B08V9GR7FZ/ref=cm_cr_unknown?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=four_star&reviewerType=all_reviews&sortBy=recent&pageNumber=1#reviews-filter-bar
Since that time, I have published three more novels which have evolved into The Claire Saga – An Alien Appeal, Kissing My Ass Goodbye and Finding Jimmy Moran. They have all been bestsellers as well.
The final book in The Claire Saga series – Where The Ley Lines Meet – will be published on April 16, 2024.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Now that I’ve completed the novel series, and they seem to be successful, my ultimate goal is to see The Claire Saga be made into a series of films, or a multi-season series on Netflix or Amazon or Apple. That is my LA journey. My next mission. But if I was going to look back, before I found success with my novels, I would say that there was always a part of me that wanted to know if I had the chops to be a writer. You see, there has to be that inner drive, that passion, that makes you willing to accept all of the rejection, the criticism, the failure, in order to prove to yourself that you can accomplish your goals. I think that is the challenge for every artist. So, if I was going to identify a mission, it was to prove to myself that I could succeed as a writer.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
When I was young, when I first thought I would be a writer, I wrote a one act play in college that won an award. It was produced a couple of times in small venues like the Village Gate and the American Actors Theatre in Manhattan. I really thought there was an opening to follow my dream, but then marriage and children came along. I had to be practical. I felt like needed a regular income. So, I pivoted and became a lawyer. During my legal professional life, I still managed to write a few screenplays that attracted both agents and producers. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve gotten the call – “Sit down., your life is about to change. Your script is going into production.” And then something always happened. I finally gave up. Just focused on my legal practice. Put away my dreams of ever being writer. Decades passed. But then in 2019, I met a magical mule named Claire, who reawakened my creative desires. One early morning, I sat down and began to write what became The Wise Ass. Three months later it was finished. It’s Good Fellas meets Wizard of Oz. In March 2020, I received an offer to publish TWA from the first publisher I submitted it to. I have since published three more in that series, making up for lost time. The point is that you never know when you’ll get that break or where it will come from. But if you give up, you are guaranteed never to succeed. So don’t quit. Chase your passion.
Contact Info:
- Website: TheWiseNovelist.com
- Instagram: Tom McCaffrey
- Facebook: Tom McCaffrey
- Linkedin: Tom McCaffrey
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Tom-McCaffrey/author/B08T9SKMDB?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
Image Credits
Tom McCaffrey