from 1989 to 1990, coupland lived in the mojave desert working on a handbook about the birth cohort that followed the baby boom. he received a $22,500 advance from st. martin's press to write the nonfiction handbook. instead, coupland wrote a novel, "". it was rejected in canada before being accepted by an american publishing house in 1991. reflecting on the writing of his debut novel years later, coupland said, "i remember spending my days almost dizzy with loneliness and feeling like i'd sold the family cow for three beans. i suppose it was this crippling loneliness that gave gen x its bite. i was trying to imagine a life for myself on paper that certainly wasn't happening in reality."