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My Literary Community

Writing is often viewed as a solitary pursuit, but no author works in a vacuum. Here
is my gratitude to those who have shaped my words, my career, and my life.

First and Foremost — Gratitude

Kathryn Okashima

who deserves more thanks than a website can hold. You should thank her
too. Not kidding. She vanished but she isn't forgotten.

The Editors

To Max Talley, Angela Borda, Marina Aris, & Richard Peabody — four
editors who not only published me, but grabbed my hand and made me
jump where I was reluctant to go. THANK YOU.

Who Wants Cake

To Emily Speer Ryan, Loretta Shapiro, Fiona Soltes, Christina Chiu, Arlaina
Tibensky, Tim Carroll, and Emily Pulley, who have among them read
nearly every word I have written and many that they have subsequently
counseled me to delete. Which I did. And also to the ever-fluctuating
members of my amazing writing group, Who Wants Cake, because they
picked up smacking me around where my oldest friends left off. I adore
them, and they're always right.

The Teachers

To my long-ago eighth grade English teacher in Texas who clandestinely
gave me Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Also credit goes to Josephine
Trueschler for wringing essays out of a girl who did NOT want to write
about anything real. Any craft in fiction writing that I possess is because of
Michael Cunningham and Helen Schulman at Columbia. They pushed until
it almost hurt, and I got so much better. My music professor gets all the
credit for initially scaring me into focus. Ernie Ragogini, you were right for
giving me the only C on my entire transcript.

Kids & You

To my 2 kids, because they get me and like me anyway (most of the time) and because we survived everything together and kept our sense of humor.

And to you, for caring enough to bother reading all these crazy links. You rock. I wish you prosperity, good health, and may the next person you see agree to
whatever nonsense you ask them to do without even questioning it.

WRITER'S CLINIC

Has your writing career
derailed?

If you are a writer who is looking for one-on-one coaching, I do that. We will meet, we will figure out what's going on, and I will get you back on creative track.

I will NOT be reading your manuscript or editing it during this session.

Book a Session ($150)

Signs you might need a coach:

  • you have lost your writing mojo

  • you are unable to start a project even though you "kind of" know what you want to write

  • you have absolutely no idea how to begin to do something

  • you have been working on the same project for years

  • you are lost and alone and have no one else to call because no one cares about writing (don't worry, we've all been there)

  • you are in a situation where you are not at all sure if you ought to give up entirely

  • you had a little recent success and now you are baffled by what to do next.

Useful Links

Manuscript Formatting

Before sending a manuscript, I always check this manuscript formatting site. One can never be too careful.

Pen Parentis

If you are a writer who has kids, join this literary community for parents who are writers. It's a great networking site and I don't just say that because I founded it.

Literary Journals

I have been seen between the covers of these fine literary journals. Submit to them!

Speculative Fiction

I also dabble in excellent spec fiction. These
have published me:

Colleagues & Influences

These are colleagues who influence my work, usually by reading it and telling me to cut
something or another, but in some instances, just by their very existence.

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