After the Workshop: A Novel

Life is hard for a literary wunderkind after a decade of writer's block in this "ribald deconstruction . . . of an industry in love with its own absurdities" (Kirkus Reviews). You graduate from the Iowa Writers' Workshop with a short story published in The New Yorker and subsequently Best American Short Stories. You stay in town and work on your novel. And work on your novel. Until, finally, twelve years have passed . . . and you are working as a media escort for author tours and your unfinished novel sits in a box under your bed. Now your girlfriend has left you. Your car is missing a muffler. Your neighbor is walking around naked because his hands are bandaged and he can't unzip his pants. You are at the whims of a slew of increasingly unhinged writers, and when one of them disappears, an insane New York publicist begins stalking you. This is the life of Jack Hercules Sheahan, a character well understood by author John McNally. McNally is also a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop as well as a former media escort, and these misadventures are brought to life by his very own. Recalling the wry humor of novels by Nick Hornby and Michael Chabon, After the Workshop tells the satirical story of a writer who confronts the demons from his past while escorting those of his present.

About the Author :
John McNally is the author of three novels, After the Workshop, America's Report Card, and The Book of Ralph; and two story collections, Ghosts of Chicago and Troublemakers. His first memoir was published in 2017- The Boy Who Really, Really Wanted to Have Sex- The Memoir of a Fat Kid. He adapted his novel The Book of Ralph into the YA novel, Lord of the Ralphs. He is also author The Promise of Failure- One Writer's Perspective on Not Succeeding; Vivid and Continuous- Essays and Exercises for Writing Fiction; and The Creative Writer's Survival Guide- Advice from an Unrepentant Novelist. A native of Chicago's southwest side, he is at present Writer in Residence and Professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is also a member of the core faculty in the low-residency MFA program at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. He divides his time between Louisiana and North Carolina.

Review :
Praise for After the Workshop "A swift, wicked, and very funny book about what writers do when they're not writing. They're gossiping, scheming, pining, teaching, going on book tours, and—in the case of McNally's blocked and shopworn hero, Jack—babysitting more famous writers on tour and trying to think of a reason to live. The pace is brisk, the prose is buoyant, the vision clear and sharp, and the outcome unexpectedly moving. A fine novel." —Kevin Canty, author of Where the Money Went "John McNally skewers so many sacred cows of the writing and publishing world in After the Workshop that he may need to hire a bodyguard. But beyond the biting humor and literary Schadenfreude is a novel about how hard it is to meet your own great expectations, which McNally renders with humanity and charm and his own trademark dark wit." —Tod Goldberg, author of Other Resort Cities "John McNally is a ridiculously funny writer and this is satirical fiction at its very finest—not only does After the Workshop shred the eye–rolling vanities of our day, but it takes care, in the meantime, to smile kindly on what's good in the world, too." —Patrick Somerville, author of The Cradle "After the Workshop is a rollicking, hilarious lampooning of the book business, from the most pretentious literary poses to ridiculous purchasing and marketing procedures. John McNally is a master of satire and wit, but what makes this novel most satisfying is that he is also a superb storyteller and the story of Jack Hercules Sheahan, a classic underdog with whom the reader feels an immediate kinship, is one not to be missed." —Jill McCorkle, author of Going Away Shoes