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In Case You Don’t Hear From Me

… It’s because I’m getting ready for this:

http://saltcaywritersretreat.com/about-the-salt-cay-writers-retreat/You might think “getting ready” means sit-ups and squats and tanning salons. And, based on my natural skin tone and the number of blueberry muffins I eat in a year, that would be a good idea. But, sit-ups hurt and squats threaten my sciatica and I don’t tan. Indoors or out. Call me Scottish, call me Irish, call me Freckles and Burn. Besides, that island holds more than beautiful skies, clear waters, and walks on white sand (though, that would certainly be enough).

In late October, it serves as the hub for the Salt Cay Writers Retreat, a retreat I am lucky enough to attend. What this means is

  1. I’m in shock. I never imagined I’d be attending a week-long writing retreat, or a writing retreat with such amazing faculty on the agenda, or a retreat to the Bahamas (!). This means so much to me as a writer, but as a Mother and a Wife with a day job, it presents plenty of challenges. I owe lots of thanks to some key folks. If you don’t know who you are, just wait until your name shows up on the acknowledgements page in that novel I plan to finish.
  2. Speaking of said novel, I’ve got to get my manuscript in better order. When I silently prayed a while back for a real kick in the butt, I had no idea….

So, I’ll be cracking away at a rewrite for the next month or so, but I won’t be lagging behind on blog posts. There’s a ton in store for you, including a few book giveaways:

  • September 11th: Q&A and giveaway with Amy Sue Nathan
    author of The Glass Wives.
  • October 2nd: Q&A with Stevan Allred,
    author of the short story collection, A Simplified Map of the Real World.
  • October 16th: Guest post by Trish Ryan,
    author of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.
  • October 23rd: Q&A and giveaway with Susanna Daniel,
    author of Sea Creatures.

There’s more, but those are the biggies. I’m excited to spotlight each one of these authors, and their books.

In the meantime, I could use all the good vibes you can send my way as I tackle this manuscript and prepare to break in my passport.

Me, with a passport. That really is funny.

Tell me, what’s kicking you into gear this fall?

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Home

PICT0359In Texas, I get lost. 

Two lane roads open into four lane highways, and concrete consumes old pastures. Overpasses pile up like skyscrapers, and I grow restless behind the wheel of a borrowed car. Everything has changed.

I ride the freeways like a foreigner, holding my breath and missing my exits and circling the city until I find something familiar. Something constant.

The cemetery where my mother is buried. The houses where I grew up. The road to my Uncle’s home–as it rises and falls–on the way to celebrate my grandmother’s birthday.

I get lost in these images.

Then later, with a warm afternoon breeze on my face, the sound of cicadas send out their call in waves, like a radar. And I think, This is what it means to be home, the pull of memory: of easy conversations with my cousins, my sisters, my father, our time apart irrelevant; the feel of my grandmother’s hand in mine, her skin worn and fragile after 90 years but her spirit strong.

I carry all of this with me into the next morning as I board a plane before sunrise, hold tight each moment for several days after. For as long as I can, because I know it may be a year before I return.

Before I get lost again.

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Study Fiction to Write Creative Nonfiction

file000845471725“[T]rue stories, well told.” That’s the definition of creative nonfiction, Lee Gutkind says (in this brief radio interview), as he admits he loves to read fiction–even as he is the founder of one of the biggest nonfiction literary magazines, Creative Nonfiction.

Gearing up to teach my workshop on Flash Nonfiction in two weeks, I came across this interview with Gutkind in which he reminds writers that reading across genres enhances our skills as storytellers, especially when it comes to fiction and non.

All of us need to learn a lot more about the world than we ever did in the past, and the way in which we learn is through story. We don’t just learn by someone throwing information at us. We learn because people tell stories, and the stories are learning experiences. . . . Who can tell a story better than a fiction writer?

The interview is less than four minutes. You can’t finish your a cup of coffee that fast (if you can, holy cow). And, if the topic–of how studying techniques in fiction can enhance your nonfiction skills–piques your interest, consider joining us on August 24th for more about FLASH nonfiction, where we’ll discuss two major challenges in this sub-genre: Space and Telling the Truth.

Registration is easy. The hard part? Choosing the perfect pen and notebook to bring to class.

* Photo credit: imelenchon on morguefile.com