Six Years of Christmas

Having a full time job has made me into one of those people who just can't do it all. This blog has suffered most. I've worked hard on it for years and appreciate every single one of my readers, so my New Year's Resolution will have something to do with establishing a regular schedule here again.

Looking back on the year at this holiday time has brought to mind all the travels (and accompanying emotional ups and downs) my husband and I have done since we met. And so, enjoy photos that represent Christmas through the past six years.

2008

We had been living together in Massachusetts for half a year when Christmas 2008 rolled around, and it was a small apartment and so had only a tiny potted Christmas tree at home. But we had love, and my husband was determined to fulfill a promise he'd made sooner rather than later, so we also had Mickey! At Disneyworld! An unbelievable Christmas.

2009

Christmas 2009 was bare-bones. We had moved to Pennsylvania only days before. But at least we had love, and Saxophone Santa (still our favorite holiday toy). See Saxophone Santa in action here and with a friend here.

2010

The following year, we had placed our stuff in storage and moved in with my gracious sister-in-law in Arizona the previous month. It was the beginning of an explosively creative period in all aspects of my life, but I wasn't aware at the time. Holiday 2010 is represented by fake snow for the wondering Arizonans at the Winterhaven lights display.

2011

By 2011, we had moved to our own apartment in Arizona and both had interesting jobs, and I was writing like crazy. But we hadn't been able to get our stuff out of storage, so at home, we decorated a tree with candy canes and a beautiful compass rose ornament I received from an author who had already become a good friend. This year, we had even more fun at the Winterhaven display because we found this gorgeous Christmas rhino!

2012

We moved from Arizona to Georgia in 2012, but didn't make it to Christmas there. Instead, we went from the boiling pot of water that was summer in Georgia to the icebox winter of Illinois. This was the Christmas my husband realized that I own four giant tubs worth of Christmas decorations, enough to decorate our tree several times over. My mom got me started when I was a kid, and you can't throw away memories like that. I accomplished the amazing feat of finishing my first novel, Seven Noble Knights, in November 2012, and it's commemorated with the cake and the thumb drive, and the new ornament.

2013

Christmas 2013 was probably the most surprising of all, as my husband and I had been living in a hotel in North Carolina since May. We never expected to stay there for so many months, and yet again, our stuff was in storage. We got a little tinsel tree and set it on top of the dehumidifier I insisted on earlier in the year. Those North Carolina summers might be even wetter than the one in Georgia!

2014

And that brings us to this year! In the photo, our tree with a lot, but not all, of the ornaments from the four tubs, stands out in front of a medieval Christmas banner I picked up at a museum in New York City and stacks and piles of other memories. Note the Fight for Rhinos sustainably sourced wooden ornament, front and center.

Finally, this photo was taken on Thanksgiving Day, but the bare trees, the church tower, and roofs covered in snow scream Christmas.

Coming soon: a guest post from outstanding author Kristin Gleeson!

Happy Holidays!

Magical is Here in Softcover and Kindle!

Even earlier than anticipated, Magical: An Anthology of Fantasy, Fairy Tales, and Other Magical Fiction for Adults is ready to be read and enjoyed. Bring some magic to your holidays or to the reader in your life. 

This is a collection of 31 stories from writers around the globe. Whether retelling classics like "Little Red Riding Hood" or inventing new tales of goblins, dragons, witches, or singing frogs, these stories will take adults back to the innocent enjoyment of a well-told tale. 

And the cover is gorgeous, too!

I tell about the inspiration for my contribution here. I'd like to thank the hotel for the creativity it permitted me. I'd also like to send my gratitude to the Eckleburg Workshop in Magical Realism.

At this early date, Magical is available here and here (with other venues sure to come soon). The best thing about buying your own copy (aside from getting 31 mind-bending tales of the highest quality) is that 10% of the proceeds from this link go toward Tim's Team, cystic fibrosis research and awareness! You can check off your holiday charitable donation while indulging your brain (no calories!). 

UPDATE: The Kindle edition is now available here! Cheaper and more portable!

Coming Soon: Magic!

Image by Keller at Deviant Art 

Just in time for Christmas, I'm pleased to say that a story of mine will appear in Magical: An Anthology of Fantasy, Fairy Tales, and Other Magical Fiction for Adults. It's shaping up to be quite an impressive anthology. Anyone who's into magical realism is sure to find something to love! Three of the stories are featured as prize winners! I can hardly wait to read them.

My contribution, titled "The Residents of the Inn," is a playful take on the Arachne myth. It was inspired by the eight months my husband and I lived in a hotel in North Carolina last year and a little spider who persisted in making a web in the corner behind the door. We never saw any insects fall into it because every day, it got cleaned away. By the end of the day, it would be back again. I admired the sticktoitiveness.

Because we lived in the hotel for so long, we got to know some of the staff, and a certain one of them inspired the main character in the story. My husband and I make fictionalized appearances, too. Be sure to check us out when the anthology is available.

I'll debut the cover and provide links as soon as I can. Thanks for sharing my excitement!

The Flowering and Wilting of Writing Groups

Some of the best ladies in the world, my critique group.

We left our saga in Arizona, an epic place, to be sure. I was involved with that critique group in person the entire year and a half we were in Arizona and made it through about half of the first draft of Seven Noble Knights. The worst thing about leaving Arizona was the possibility that I would no longer be involved in the group. Luckily, these are some of the kindest, most generous people in the universe, and I've been allowed to Skype in every month since I left despite a key clause in our bylaws that specifies this as an in-person group.

Skype at its best can really give you a sense of personality. They added an in-person member when I departed, and I'm amazed to think I've never actually been in the same state with her, much less the same room. Based on that cyber-support, I finished Seven Noble Knights. What I most remember about living in Atlanta is writing the last chapter of Part I and the next several chapters getting away from me in length and complexity. Should I devote so much space to the migrating sheep? Which details of all the research I've done really develop the characters?

I tried to get into writers groups in Atlanta (the South is so wordy, it seems everyone writes!), but was daunted by two thoughts: Would I have to start over the critiquing of the entire novel? And I knew in my heart I was not in the right place and we would be leaving soon, so there was little point in investing as much effort as is necessary to find a group that really works.

The unnamed town where we lived in Illinois was a cultural wasteland that required a car to get anywhere, so the Arizona ladies were my only lifeline to the outside world. My most vivid memory of Illinois is scribbling the last few lines of Seven Noble Knights by hand because they wouldn't come while I stared at the screen. Oh, and completing it before the Mayan Apocalypse.

Then came North Carolina. You'll forgive me if I never felt settled in there, since we never lived anywhere but a hotel. I thought it might be the right place for us, and tried out a couple of critique groups, but while some of the writing was really enjoyable for me, barely one or two people ever seemed to understand what I was trying to do, whether it was historical or contemporary. Several months in, I saved myself the frustration by no longer attending. I had Skype to fall back on!

The reason I'm thinking about all this is that I'm now in a place I don't intend to leave within a year, so my best way to put down roots is to find a critique group. I have time to find one that works! I'm shopping around, but have already become a regular at one that meets every week.

Meanwhile, the writer the Arizona group added when I left has herself left, throwing all five of us into surprise and grief. She made her exit saying that the group wasn't giving her the regular discipline she needed. Not everyone has been able to submit writing on a regular basis, while she has been churning out the pages in an admirable fashion. I thought for a moment that this might mark the end of the Arizona group, and I was terribly sad, because it's become about much more than writing. It's a group of friends who all like to write and who support each other through many of the other things life throws at us.

Luckily, the remaining members agreed with that part. I'm still in transition, and deciding how to use all the wonderful local resources in order not to feel alone in this writing thing. But at least I haven't lost my best gals. Further critique groups may come and go, but Low Writers are forever.

Brag Space: I Edited The Kiss

It's not often I feel the need to shout about the wonderful projects I've helped to make even more wonderful since becoming an editor, but this is one of those times. On Sunday, February 16, Scott E. Blumenthal had a spectacular reading at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina (a great store in the last place I lived), enrapturing a large crowd with his sparkling personality and his jaw-dropping book.

Photo via Scott Birnbaum

I accepted The Kiss for publication, edited it, edited it again, and made all the changes required by copyedits. I also dealt with a million little necessary details before and after publication. In short, I had a small hand in bringing The Kiss to fruition, and I'd like that to go on the record.

Photo via Scott Birnbaum

I'm really proud of The Kiss. Thank you. That is all.

Fried Chicken

My husband and I love living in New England, have been trying to get back here ever since we left, and are over the moon with joy now that we're here. In spite of all that, North Carolina was a nice place to live (in a hotel room). Although I never had a good hair day there, I do have pangs of nostalgia for the last place we lived.

For one, some parts of the hotel felt like home. On the morning we left, the staff explained that they would give themselves some time before they rented out the room where we stayed for nearly eight months to avoid the feeling that something was terribly wrong when someone else was in "our room." They also got to know my husband's morning coffee habits so well that they gave him a bagful of his favorite creamer and chocolate as a parting gift. I thought that was really touching. My husband made sure to treat everyone there well from the beginning, but I maintained my shy standoffishness even through all their southern openness and charm.

The immediate difference I've noticed has been our eating habits. In North Carolina, it was possible for me to go weeks with chicken as my only protein. Fried chicken has always been my favorite food (aside from chocolate, which is not food so much as life force), so perhaps you can imagine the bliss of living in a place where all anyone ever eats is fried chicken or pork barbecue. Every restaurant does it differently, and yet every place does it right. How can that be? Even the chain restaurants gave consistently virtuosic performances, with my favorites being Smithfield's (they show you that KFC clearly uses too much black pepper), Zaxby's, and O'Charley's. Any time one of them wants to franchise in New England, I will give them a southern welcome.

The Carolina Writers' Networking Luncheon

On Sunday, my husband and I drove for two and half hours to a spot in North Carolina that only took my Loose Leaves colleague Jan an hour and half to get to from South Carolina (why does that happen every time?). There, we met a large percentage of active writers and editors in the Carolinas at the Carolina Writers' Networking Luncheon, which was put on by editor and author of Don't Sabotage Your Submission, Chris Roerdon.

Here's the always necessary book table. The Boxcar Grill didn't anticipate so many wonderful offerings, and many authors sat with their books all afternoon, which was a more personal experience. Notice the Loose Leave mini-catalogue flier standing up at left.

Loads of networking and good fun took place before and after a delicious lunch in the cramped quarters.

Chris Roerdon ends the afternoon with acknowledgments. I don't know if I'm the only one, but I left with the feeling that I'm not alone as a writer in the South. We're everywhere! The gentleman on the right is editor and proprietor of Pisgah Press, A. D. Reed.

And a moment of glamour. We have to mark whenever the disparate members of Loose Leaves manage to occupy the same space. They used a swamp cooler at the restaurant, so my hair is frizzing out, so it's just as well the picture is blurry!

I hope all the attendees found this luncheon as interesting as I did! I love a chance to get out and mix with other writers and editors!

Carolinan and Virginian Book Lovers, Take Note!

This Saturday, I will be at the High Country Festival of the Book with my Loose Leaves friend and colleague Jan. We'll have a table where we'll sell Loose Leaves titles as well as Açedrex and Jan's Fireship titles. Click here and scroll down to see our lovely logo, then get all the information to come see all the wonderful authors, publishers, and books if you're in the area! It's a one-of-a-kind opportunity to get signed copies from both Jan and me.

All titles will be at a steep festival discount. We'll also have free bookmarks and a cool one-sheet catalog to take with you.

If you're not in the area, it seems that Amazon has reduced the price of all my titles for the foreseeable future. Snap them up at low prices!

Available Titles

From Loose Leaves

The Fleet Angels by Barbara Marriott (five-star reviews) (author signature stickers available!)

No Turning Back by Lidia Falcón Amazon Top 5 Bestseller (get it signed by the translator!)

From Açedrex Publishing

The Laughing Princess by Seymour Hamilton

The Abencerraje (Español & English) Amazon Top 20 Bestseller (get it signed by the translator!)

Dusk Before Dawn by Jessica Knauss (five-star reviews) (get it signed by the poet!)

Tree/House by Jessica Knauss (five-star reviews) (get it signed by the author!)

Sail to Italy and Sail from Italy by Jessica Knauss (get it signed by the author!)

From Fireship Press

Eight Things You Need to Know to Write a Novel by Jan Holmes Frost (get it signed by the author!)

Without Sanctions by Jan Holmes Frost (get it signed by the author!)

Coming Home

Is it a sunrise or a sunset? 

My husband and I have been in our new home state for about a week. This is our third multi-state move since this time last year. Although we had some difficulties getting here, it still feels as though this move is the One, the end of new difficulties, the beginning of feeling our place in the world.

I've been reading that writers should show their true selves on their blogs. Here's the truth about our recent situation: Illinois never seemed it would be anything more than a stopover. I had dreams and plans and everything was going to work out incredibly well. I was going to get a good job in my chosen field in NYC, Boston, or elsewhere, and be able to support my husband. I have so many chosen fields, after all, something had to come through. Or so I thought. Turns out, I've had some disappointments this spring, in this 2013 that was clearly meant to be our year. (We met on a 13th and married on another 13th, so that's our number.) Of five solid plans I had, not a single one panned out.

My husband and I were so close to being homeless that we told my parents we were moving in with them. They're in Oregon, so this was not a step to be taken lightly, given the distance and expense, and total leap of faith, required. In spite of my recent disappointments, I was totally secure in the thought that once we'd made that decision, everything would fall into place for us. Oregon is nice, and we would each get a decent job in a decent amount of time and we would support each other financially as well as emotionally. We told our landlord and started a painfully slow process of packing up and trying to get someone to take over our lease.

And then, mere days before we would have been on the road westbound, an old contact emailed my husband asking if he was interested in a job in North Carolina.

Yes. Yes, we were.

The relief began to flood in for me, but my husband remained reserved throughout the phone interview process (two or three steps) and confirmation after confirmation that this was going to happen, and even the offer.

My husband expressed some doubts as to whether the salary would be livable, but I said, "They're going to offer you X. That's enough to be comfortable and slowly pay off our debts." And I nailed it!

But we've been through so much, I saved my joy, too, even though I thought we deserved to scream "Yippee!" out each and every window of our Illinois apartment.

So here we are. Contract negotiations being what they are, we're staying in a hotel until some time in July. It's a mite inconvenient, but it also gives us an unparalleled opportunity to check out the area and decide where would be a good, affordable place to live. Before, we've always been rushed and have ended up with some pretty lousy living arrangements for different reasons.

We still haven't had that moment of jumping in the air and yelling with jubilation. How can we tell when the threat of homelessness is truly behind us? What is the magical gateway that serves as express permission to revel in our long-awaited good fortune?

I still meet my wonderful Tucson writers' group through Skype. Our most recent meeting was the second night I was here, and I was exhausted from the details and mishaps of the move. But I'd still managed to give the group new material based on their and my editor's previous suggestions, and I explained my plans for submitting SNKL and the tasks I had to accomplish before I could submit. One of the writers expressed admiration at the way I've pressed on with my writing and all it entails in spite of all the disruption—and she didn't even know the whole story. So perhaps that acknowledgment is my moment of hurrah. Just having another human being appreciate my efforts is sublime.

Because everyone likes to be acknowledged! And I certainly do keep on keepin' on, roll with the punches, get back up when they knock me down, etc. So that eternal optimism has crept back in and wants to tell me that all I need is a little (more) patience, and North Carolina is the place where it will all work out.

Yippee!!

Happy Memorial Day!