Sheridan also gave me my first taste at editorial responses. A class paper with a limit of 200 words was asked for. My first draft came in around 400 words. Determined, I trimmed and trimmed and still came up with something like 250 words. Thinking I was an “artist” I ended the piece with a note saying as a writer, I felt the limitations were too strong and therefore decided to make an exception to the word count. I received the paper back with a B grade and a note explaining that as my “editor” he had to make an exception to my A grade paper and drop it to a B because I did not follow the assignment. Never again have I ever overridden an editor’s request.

We lost Jim last November, but his words will forever ring in my heart as I’m sure they do with many of his former students. I’m glad I took the time to tell him so on many occasions since graduating.

My second mentor in writing never even knew of her impact on my work for years. Back in the early nineties I went to a Florida writing convention, hoping to learn something from the speakers. I took a tape recorder, notebook and a pocket full of pens to make sure I didn’t miss anything important. During lunch a Harlequin Romance author named Jackie Weger sought me out. She’d noticed how serious I was taking every speaker and wanted to find out a little more about me. When I told her I wrote horror, she said I must meet her friend Billie Sue Mosiman, who would be there the next day. I had recently read an excerpt from Mosiman’s newest book in a magazine called the Horror Show, and had enjoyed it, so I was already familiar with the name. Weger also asked me to bring a sample of my work.

Needless to say, that night after the convention I bought both Weger’s newest release, FULL HOUSE and Mosiman’s newest, SLICE, hoping that the next day I really would get to chat with them and perhaps get my books signed. When I arrived in the morning I searched for Weger but she wasn’t in attendance. Disappointed, I sat down with my tape recorder and notepad and continued to absorb the information being given from the stage. When the lunch break came, to my surprise, Jackie Weger was waiting for me. She wasn’t staying long, she said, but had brought Mosiman to meet me.

I spent an hour talking shop with these two authors who not only treated me as an equal in the game, but took the time to actually read my work, make suggestions and offer some encouragement and praise. Weger admitted horror was not her thing, but thought I showed promise as an author and I needed to never quit. Mosiman agreed and added that she felt I had the makings of a great horror writer. When she passed back my manuscript she had circled portions of my work she especially liked. Before lunch was over Mosiman passed a contact to someone in the publishing business to me and gave me permission to use her name.

Thank God for my tape recorder as when I returned to the convention I barely heard a word. I was too busy thinking two professional authors had praised my work! As for the contact, I was still too rough around the edges, and I was rejected. But that hardly mattered to me. Two authors had told me to never quit, never give up, and I never did.

That next week I read both books thoroughly. After all Jim Sheridan had told me to read everything, and I had never read a romance novel. He was right. I learned from Weger’s book things I wouldn’t have if I only read horror. However, it was SLICE that really spoke to me. Mosiman, if you’ve never read her, has a way of stretching tension out that damn near cuts you. She can, as Sheridan once told me, strip an emotional nerve down to where you feel it.

I became a fan of Billie Sue Mosiman’s work (even giving her a plug in my novel GAMEMASTER.) I bought more of her books as time went on, but SLICE always remained a favorite of mine. In fact when once asked what five books I’d want on a deserted island I said the Bible for faith, SLICE because I still read it every two years and learn something new about my craft from doing so, and three of the fattest fiction novels I hadn’t read, because I didn’t know how long I’d be there. I’ve read SLICE every couple of years since that first day, until the cover has fallen off and I have to keep it in a plastic bag to prevent pages from being lost. (Sidebar: SLICE has been rereleased under the new title KILLING CARLA and is available on Amazon.com)

I recently found Billie Sue Mosiman on Facebook and told her what her work had meant for me over the years. We have since become friends. I admitted to her that through her work and the fact that she spent so much time with a fledgling author back then, that I considered her a mentor even though we hadn’t spoken for nearly 20 years.

Well, to cut to the chase here, Billie Sue Mosiman started reading my novel, DEADHEADS: EVOLUTION and dropped me a few lines. Among other things she said, “Frank, I’ve got some hurt ribs so I got out my Kindle and read more of DEADHEADS. I’ve only got 16% of it read according to my Kindle, but wanted to tell you that you are a terrific storyteller!! I am serious. I am a very, extremely VERY, particular reader. You are gifted, and you should be proud of yourself, and you should try to get more publicity for yourself as a writer, because people are going to LOVE your work. I knew from the beginning you could really write, but now I’m finding out you are going to be one of MY favorite authors.”

How cool was that? One of my favorite authors, someone who I considered a mentor, saying I was going to be one of their favorite authors? I just know that Jim, wherever he may be in the afterlife, is smiling as much as I am.