July 23, 2008

Sometimes 'The End' is more of an exercise than anything else.  As such, The Liar's Marginis still in progress.  Ah well.  Good thing I like doing this...

July 2, 2008

There've been a slew of new interviews for me over at PsychJourney.com and I've started exploring truth in fiction with two authors about their debut novels.  Christina Meldrum spoke to me about her fantastic book, Madapple and Jessica Brody let us inside the world of 'fidelity inspectors' in her controversial, The Fidelity Files.

I've talked to Kate McLaughlin about Mommy I'm Still In Here, an intense, heartbreaking, and sometimes triumphant account of a family battling mental illness.  And Darcey Steinke let told me how she came to non-fiction with her memoir, Easter Everywhere.

Click here for these audio interviews and more!

June 15, 2008

I wrote the words ‘The’ and ‘End’ today. 

Of course, it’s not the end.  The Liar’s Margin will weather a couple of editorial passes and at least one more very important beta approval.

But I did it. 

I am not a one note tenor.

I am very, very pleased and soon to be very, very tipsy.

Cheers! 

May 11, 2008

I'm just back from The Atlanta Writers Club Conference and am adding them, and a few people I met to the contacts list.

A great time was had by all, except perhaps for the replacement band who didn't realize that playing to a hundred writers who only wished they'd be quiet wasn't going to be much fun.  We all spent most of the evening running away from them or rejoicing at the set breaks.  Gotta feel bad for them, as they worked hard.  But in all fairness, they were supposed to be a sedate jazz quartet.  And the lights were supposed to be on.  We were networking, not looking to play spin-the-bottle.

Many thanks to Marty Aftewicz, George Weinstein, Cheryl Mills, John Sheffield, and George Scott for making me feel so welcomed.  Hope to see you all again, soon!

April 19 , 2008

I've been invited to join AuthorScoop as a contributing editor. It's neat on more than one level, as I thought a news portal for writers was a fine project to begin with.  To have been endorsed by AuthorScoop's creator and editor, William Haskins, feels like a big deal.

Come take a peek! 

Mostly only writers will be able to appreciate this development, but I'm very, very excited to be able to say that I've managed today (March 23) to pin a title on my endless work-in-progress.  For me, it's a real milestone.  I feel like I've finally got this project by the scruff of the neck.  Which is pretty handy, considering I've pledged to pitch it at a conference in only a few weeks' time.

It's called, The Liar's Margin.

Wish me luck!

And such is the fiction-writing game.  As of March 2008, I have a couple of queries out (letters to make an agent or editor ask to see a manuscript) for my completed novel and a submission, to Alfred Hitchcock Magazine, pending for my short story, Heritage.

The big news for now is the launch of this site.  And for that, I'm going to need to issue some thanks, first of all, to my husband, Art, and to my friend, William Haskins, for believing that a nice cyber-home for my work was more than just a vanity project.  Starting out as writer can leave you stranded, repeatedly, on the ice floe of who-exactly-the-hell-do-you-think-you-are-?  That gets reinforced in all sorts of ways.  So it really means something when people whom you admire lend their encouragement.  The support of those I respect is the only paycheck I get for my efforts these days.  But they pay well, my brilliant friends and relatives.  I'm so lucky.

For the design of this site, I am doubly blessed to have a talented friend, who also happens to be my sister-in-law.  Kate Arredondo does freelance web design and can be contacted at kate.kreations@gmail.com for rates and consultation. 

Hardly last, and in addition to those loved and thanked above, I have to include my specific gratitude to a few people who make me think I can be a writer at all:  Graeme Cameron, my mentor/editor/flogger/ muse and friend; Rob McCreery, a brilliant poet and dear friend, as well as my very own Vegemite dealer; Marcella Stevenson, beta-reader extraordinaire and guru; Carmen Mason, the most hilarious and reliable sister I could ask for; Jeanne Miller-Mason, my hugely talented mother;  Nat Sherwood, my little sister; Jessica Coffey and Ursula Osterberg, the best friends I've ever had; and all the characters at AbsoluteWrite.com, for connecting me to the world I want, through people who never cease to amaze me.  And that's even sometimes a compliment.

To honor this occasion, I've just cracked a bottle of champagne over the hull of my brain, so I'll update this news feature as soon as there's anything to tell, or once I'm released from the hospital – whichever comes first.