By 6:30 AM every weekday morning—two hours before his 9-5 job begins—Thomas Sweterlitsch and his laptop are situated in a Pittsburgh coffee shop. The Carnegie Mellon alumnus is there to write.
On this particular morning, though, he isn’t working on a story. Instead, he’s writing a fan letter to one of his favorite authors, Stewart O’Nan, a Pittsburgh native who has moved back to town. O’Nan is author of more than a dozen novels and has collaborated with Stephen King.
With his letter, Sweterlitsch encloses one of his short stories as a thank you to O’Nan for the inspiration. Then, he closes his laptop, tosses out his coffee cup, and walks to the Carnegie Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, which is less than a mile away. He’s worked there for 12 years.
Not long afterwards, Sweterlitsch receives a response from O’Nan in which he offers some advice: this story should be a novel.
So, in the early mornings for the next two years, Sweterlitsch expands the story, which takes place in the near future. Pittsburgh has been decimated by a terrorist attack. It’s nothing against the city. In fact, Sweterlitsch (DC’00, ’01) says he loves Pittsburgh, his hometown for nearly two decades. It’s where he met his wife, Sonja McKinstry Sweterlitsch (CMU’99) while both attended CMU. It’s a place he knows, which makes it an ideal setting for acting upon his childhood love of science fiction and horror.
Once Sweterlitsch’s story, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, is finished, O’Nan puts in a good word to his agency. O’Nan’s not alone in his admiration of the book. Renowned book publisher G.P. Putnam Sons wants to publish it and wants a follow-up story. There’s more good news. After a bidding war, Sony Pictures buys the film rights. Sweterlitsch has a “six-figure” payday and a new morning routine, as he’s now a full-time author.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow was released last summer, receiving excellent reviews, and it comes out in paperback this month.
—Michelle Bova (DC’07)
