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A Writer With A Life

Let's just admit this up front: I can be an envious person. I am envious of people who can retire. I am envious of people who can retire and never have to work again. I am envious of people with glossy hair. I am envious of people who don't feel the need to count calories yet can eat massive quantities of chocolate. Should I go on?

No. But one thing I am not envious of, and have come to terms with, is that I will probably never be a person who just writes for a living. There is a rare breed, the people who have hit it big and the hustlers who make it happen. I would love to be able... Read More...

Begging for Blurbs

It's a classic Catch 22. Your publisher wants known authors to read and blurb your book, but you don't know any. After all, if you knew a lot of them, you might have been able to use connections and get published before. What to do, what to do! This was the part, so far, that I have liked the least.At any rate, the blurbs came back this week, three of them. And they were outstanding. I guess in the back of my mind I still expect people to say something like...Well...this wasn't that great...Or, What drivel!  I know I believe in Geography, but does anyone else? These three... Read More...

Dedication

So the other week I was asked to write a dedication for the Geography of Water. And get blurbs. The dedication was pretty easy--but it is a secret, you will know in November! The blurbs were to the authors who said they would read the book, and all but one agreed. I was disappointed when the person said that they couldn't, but I had to honor it. It's no big loss anyway, since the two writers who said they would are Alaska writers which makes more sense. It's definitely hard to get blurbs until you actually know well-known writers. We have all seen blurbs by people who are obviously just... Read More...

The work behind the scenes

Things with THE GEOGRAPHY OF WATER are progressing! I was assigned a nice copy editor who pointed out things I never knew before, despite being an English major. Like this: "towards" is the British way of saying it; apparently here it is "toward". As in. I made little progress TOWARD finishing the memoir. Also, the preferred spelling is "ax" not "axe." I'm grateful there are people who love to copy edit. I am not one of them!

I also got to see the "text layout" of the book. They ask my opinion which is very sweet. My reaction is usually, What?! I'm just glad you are publishing the... Read More...

Oh, The Struggle!

I have stories in my head. I am to the dreaded middle of my kayak/divorce/Alaska memoir and still in the dreaming phase of my novel. Yet it's been hard to stay focused. Why? Well, it's summer. Here it is short and sweet, and I don't want to be inside. I do enough of that for work, and at the end of a ten hour workday, the last thing I want to do is sit and type. Yet the clock is ticking. I want to write more; at the very least these books want to come out. It's a familiar battle.

I'd probably do better to live again in a desolate and rainy climate, though my fitness would suffer.... Read More...

Agent

Through a lucky set of circumstances I was referred to an agent and signed a contract with her a month ago. I will say more later as things develop. Right now it's like being on a first date. Do I sit by the phone? What's going to happen? In my real job I need to get things done. I work in billable hours, so there is no time to be wasted. On conference calls, I often mute the speaker and type away on another project. If a co-worker wants to chat, disaster! I am finding that the publishing world, at least as an author, does not work like that. I can't just snap my fingers and sell a book. I... Read More...

Geography of Water is Available for Pre-Order!

https://www.alaska.edu/uapress/browse/search/index.xml

I just HAD to go in and add it to my cart to see that yes, someday (in this case October) that there will indeed be a book!

I know October is a long way away. A lifetime! So much can happen! We have a whole summer to enjoy! But if you want to pre-order be my guest! Life is uncertain! Eat cookies! Say yes to that date! Apologize to those you have wronged! Be nice to Alaska Airlines customer service! Pre-order books!

I have other, big news, but will... Read More...

Dear Someone I Used To Know

When you write, you are out there in the world without a net. Though you can carefully edit out all the stupid/terrifying/misguided things you did in your past, there are people who know them and know you. They can show up, reminding you of a certain time in your life, taking you back to the sound of waves on a beach or the vanilla smell of a ponderosa forest dusty with sunlight.

I got one of those letters today, from one of the people I left behind as I traveled the country as an accidental gypsy. This person wants to be anonymous and though I have some thoughts about who it may be... Read More...

Book Cover!

Here is what the Press sent me as their cover concept. I like it! It isn't the first one I picked, because initially there was a distracting graphic that I didn't care for. But this is intriguing and I think it really captures the feel of the book. It makes it much more real to see a cover. This is definitely something I would pick up in a book store. What do you think?

As a reminder you can contact me through the contact tab not here.

 

Reading My Life

This week I was honored to be one of the featured readers at the Fishtrap Fireside series (check out Fishtrap at fishtrap.org). It's always a little unnerving to stand up in front of people you don't know--and even worse, sometimes people you do know--and read something intensely personal. I really should write more fiction, probably, but it's the memoir that seems to grab people, so that is what I read. I read an essay called Beautiful in Nevada, which in slightly different form, received a place in the High Desert Journal nonfiction contest in 2011. It's about a man named Bill with a... Read More...

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