Celebrating the Colorado Book Awards

I read a portion of my story from the CBA finalist anthology, Broken Links, Mended Lives to a happy hour audience at Baur's in downtown Denver. Five other finalists read from their works, too. Thanks to so many of my friends who showed up, the readings were a fun event!

We took the scenic route over Independence Pass on our way to Aspen, where the awards were presented. My anthology didn't win, but we enjoyed hearing the results and hearing the speakers, who included the mayors of Aspen and Denver. Thanks for everyone's support, and to my neighbors who joined us there!

To see a list of the 2010 winners of the Colorado Book Awards, go to this website:

http://www.coloradohumanities.org/content/2010-colorado-book-awards-winners-announced

ON STARTING A NEW BOOK--part 1

I'm feeling the urge to start a new book, and I thought it'd be fun to log the process here. Right now I have no idea what book will develop from this urge, or when I'll finish the project.

The first step of the process is recognizing the need to start. It's an addiction, this need to write. This urge starts almost as a hunger pang, a sense of being incomplete. What this means today is that I will have to clear (most of) the projects from my desk. Then I'll have to sift through my ideas (currently there are 9 burning my brain), then research, then find my story. If all goes well, I should be able to start writing the first draft of this unknown book in January.

Colorado Book Award--Finalist!

My short story "Losing the Light" appears in Broken Links, Mended Lives. This anthology is a finalist for the Colorado Book Award! These awards, presented by Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book, will be announced June 25th at the Aspen Summer Words Literary Festival.

The anthology's theme is the same as its title. My story is about an intergalactic pilot who travels by transforming to light...until she's recalled from duty, to be replaced by a newer version.

In anticipation of the Colorado Book Awards, there will be a series of readings. I'm scheduled along with other popular fiction finalists on:

June 16, 2010

at 5:00 pm

at Baur's Italian Restaurant, 1512 Curtis Street, in Denver, CO

Waiting for the New Grandbaby!

This is the post I should've posted the end of March. Instead, I got to plant tomato seeds with my two-year-old granddaughter while we awaited the birth of her little sis.

The cats only come out when the children are away.

Writing Workshop

I've just returned from another round of fabulous workshops, and people often ask me why on earth do I keep going back? Didn't I learn it the first time?

Well, not exactly. Here's what it's really all about:

1. I don't have to cook, find lost household items, or clean the litter box back home, while instead

2. I enjoy the beautiful Oregon coast and

3. get to hang out with like-minded folks and discuss devious things to do to characters while

4. light bulbs are going off in my foggy head, and I find myself in a candy store of ideas(!!) and then

5. I return home with several finished new stories, and most importantly

6. I'm fired up to tackle new projects and new ways of doing them!

New Story Out!

My short story, "Flour Power," appears in the February issue of Sorcerous Signals. You can find it here: http://www.sorceroussignals.com/FlourPower.html

This is a story about a wizard caterer in Washington D.C. It bubbled up from my imagination after hearing tales from my daughter, who worked for a high-end caterer in D.C.

I usually practice new techniques with each short story, and with this one, I was experimenting with structure. So I tried switching the order of the beginning and ending, as a sort of reflection of playing with reality.

Bon appetit!

Caribbean Cruising--7 reasons why this is one of my favorite vacations:

1. We leave winter behind as we sail away.

2. We are pampered in decadence aboard ship.

Our cabin

steward makes art with our towels.

3. I get to sit on a beach and ponder:

how many shades of blue are there in the Caribbean Sea?

4. Flowers! And more flowers! And palm

trees! And...um?

Barbados

5. It's colorful and cheery.

Dominica

6. We get vistas like these:

Martinique

Sint Maarten

And sunsets, oh my!

7. I always learn something new. This is a ruined sugar mill from the 19th century. Slaves gave their lives to run this unreported mill on a sugar plantation on St. Martin.