Last May, in honor of Chick-lit month I wrote a post titled Chick Lit: Can Men Write it? That post linked to an article that raved about the enormous success of such male romance writers as David Nicholls and Nicholas Sparks and also included three other male writers in this genre.Today, I’m happy to add Phil Fragasso to that list and feature him on the series How I Got Published.
Phil Fragasso sold his first article at the age of sixteen and has written continuously since then. After a career as a marketing executive, he left the corporate world a few years ago to focus on activities that were more fulfilling on a personal level and more contributory to the world around him. Today he focuses on writing and teaching. He’s often said “I live the American dream” and that is indeed how he feels. With a wonderful wife, two grown children, great friends and a couple of rambunctious Labrador retrievers, he stays very active and involved.
HOW I GOT PUBLISHED
I’ve often said that my tragic flaw is having too many interests. I’ve written in a wide variety of genres and my most recent books have been nonfiction. My first published book, however, was a YA novel and I love the characters I created to this day. During the years when my kids were young and my career was taking off, I put fiction-writing aside and focused on books and articles related to business. I decided to return to my original love — in the form of commercial fiction — and committed myself to fiction.
I have a literary agent who has sold my nonfiction books, but he handles very little fiction and declined to represent Still Counting. I tried to find another agent who specialized in fiction but couldn’t find any takers. Many of them said how much they liked the writing, but they declined primarily because I was an unknown in genre fiction. I loved the book and had decided to self-publish – but first tried some small independent publishers. That’s when Wild Rose Press and I discovered each other – and I couldn’t be happier. My next novel with Wild Rose, Going Both Ways, is being released on March 18, and I have two other novels in various stages of writing.
ABOUT STILL COUNTING
Adam Donatello and Nina Morales share an immediate and powerful attraction, and their future together seems assured. But love is difficult enough without adding complications – real or imagined – to the mix. Nina sees life as a thousand shades of gray, while Adam tends towards black-and-white. He wants to move fast; she needs time. Nina sees her past liaisons with women as immaterial to their relationship, while her disclosure drives Adam to a state of irrational jealousy. He doesn’t know how he could compete with a woman; and his suspicions – which Nina views as hypocritical – lead them both to make decisions they may live to regret.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Carol Balawyder 
This is such an interesting feature! Thanks, both. I really do enjoy learning how other people get published; it’s very helpful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Margot. Always a pleasure to see you here.What’s interesting is that the process of getting published is relatively the same regardless of genre.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for this, Carol. I always enjoy hearing how other artists/writers make their way in what we all know can be a minefield. Very interesting – Have a lovely weekend…janet. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Janet. Have a lovely weekend as well. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
An excellent feature Carol. Sure to be an encouragement to many
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Shey ! ❤
LikeLike
If I purchase the book, does it come with a cute Labrador? What a sweetheart!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love reading about writers and how they reached publication. Interesting fellow. Great guest post and nice to meet you, Phil Fraggaso.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I misspelled the author’s name! Can you imagine!! It is Phil Fragasso.
LikeLike
Could happen to anyone. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for sharing this. Happy weekend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like it when writers break the stereotypes about who can write what. 🙂 It’s refreshing. Thanks for the interesting piece.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome and thanks for being here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now, that sounds like a fun read! Kudos to Phil for writing in the ‘chick lit’ genre. I don’t like that term, to be honest. It seems to patronize a great fun style of writing and reading. We ALL want romance in our life!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The term chick lit certainly can be offensive. You might be interested in this post I wrote on this.
https://carolbalawyder.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3384&action=edit
And yes, we all want romance in our life. 🙂
Thanks for being here and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.
LikeLike
Carol, thank you for featuring me on your web site. And thanks to all who commented. Every writer has a million stories about the trials and tribulations of getting published — so kudos to Carol for sharing the word.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting. Thx, Carol. SR
Sent from my iPhone
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
Another wonderful interview Carol. It was refreshing to have a male perspective here too. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Everyone likes romance, I believe. My Dad cried while reading the Readers Condensed version of Erich Segal’s “Love Story.” I wrote a post about how he bought me the full, hardback edition. We all (2 brothers, Mom, Dad and I went to see the movie at the cinema. Carol, for some reason I like the term chick lit or for films, chick flick. I am sure women still say, “What a hunk,” or embrace action films which run on testosterone. Identifying gender for just one kind of movie would be “wrong,” so call them romantic comedies. Couples compromise by going to a certain style of film which is what makes relationships work. “If you see this, I’ll see that.” Even girlfriends choose different genres. There are only a few science fiction or fantasy films I “can take.” 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like These how I got published articles. I might ask for advice on that soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person