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Bodikin
Very happy to announce that my modern fairytale, Bodkin, has now been published online by Gingerbread House Literary Magazine. I love the work that Gingerbread House is doing; creating an enchanting venue for literary work of a speculative nature. I wrote Bodikin last year, and reworked the story several times to tighten it up. I wanted something that portrays both the antagonistic, joyful, tribal energy of teenage boys and the mystery of their inner lives. I wanted to put the Xbox child into a fairytale, with all its attendant dangers. Life, of course, is all about negotiation–the things we win, and the things we give up, the things we consciously…
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Things I did in November to avoid writing my Novel
I bought a dresser from an estate sale, I painted it in “Mouse’s Back.” I baked a Christmas cake, presoaking the fruit in cognac purloined from the liquor cabinet. I cleaned out my bathroom drawers, all those cosmetic samples with their illusory promises. I wrote a honey-do list for my husband. He ignored it. I gathered in the fruits of my garden a single enormous pumpkin bought for Halloween and still uncut. I cut it open discovered a thick substratum of flesh, beading moisture betwixt seed and skin I felt parsimonious. I made 5 gallons of pumpkin soup. A pumpkin pie. 12 pumpkin muffins. 10 cups of pumpkin purée to be frozen for future use,…
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The 20th Mile
November. The longest month of the year. And this year it has felt particularly arduous. I could point a finger at the presidential election, of course, but I think NaNoWriMo has been equally to blame. I am pretty sure most of you know what NaNoWriMo is, but for those who don’t, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, and is an annual worldwide challenge to write 50,000 words in the month of November. And in a few hours, I will hopefully have achieved my third “win”. On the two other occasions I have participated, I used the month to work on a YA children’s trilogy that’s been stewing in the great casserole of my mind for about…
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The 2015 Rash Award for Fiction and How this Writer Received the News
Ok, a bit of a brag, but last weekend began with a big surprise….a call from the editor of the Broad River Review informing me that one of my stories had just won their 2015 Rash Award for Fiction. This was obviously a very happy moment for me, but my initial joy was heightened by two things. Not only had I heard my cellphone ringing, but I had dared to answer it. I have a rather uneasy relationship with my phone. I do not suffer it, and telephone calls in general, gladly, and I am convinced that this comes partly from spending my childhood in South Africa, and partly from my dislike of being beholden to anything. When I was growing up…