Not Another Newsletter!

We Have a Winner!

The questions I got in response to the ARC giveaway in my last newsletter were so much fun, like little mini stories in and of themselves. I read every single one. People asked why Arles chose to set her treatment center in the wilderness (I agree, that's a head scratcher, but the answer will be found in the early chapters of the novel) and what has made her life so hard. Even how she got her name and the way it's pronounced.

It's Arlz, btw.

Plus a lot of other creative q's. Out of 511 entries, congratulations go to Tony H.; you have won the giveaway! If you see this announcement first, drop me a line; otherwise I'll email asking for your mailing address after the holiday weekend so it doesn't get missed during the away time you're hopefully enjoying.

I Know It's Odd to Hear From Me So Soon

Usually I let at least a month go by between letters, and most of you know I've been more derelict than that during the last tumultuous two years or so.

This picture is from this summer's vacation in Maine that my mother took the whole family on. In the wake of my father's death, we are more committed then ever to traveling to places he loved and carrying on his hope of everyone being together. As I stood at this vantage point, I remember sending a wish out toward the endless sea.

Something about my words finding readers and being able to help other writers along on their journeys to their words being read. So on that note...

I Have Good News

For those who wish to read The Usual Silence early (and, um, for free), I have the honor of annoucing that it has been selected for Amazon's legendary First Reads program.

I owe great thanks to my editor and everyone at Thomas & Mercer who helped make the book what it is. (If you're interested in learning who they are and more about them, I go into detail in the acknowledgments at the end of the book. It's a few paragraphs about how publishing, and crafting a novel from Manuscript to Done, works at its very best today).

Hope for Those Who Are Going Through It

What do you think when you see a bird, from the tiniest starling to a raptor? I had reason to consider feathered creatures in a piece I wrote for the Rogue Women Writers.

If you're dealing with a milestone in your life, or the sad loss of a loved one now gone, I hope these words might provide some solace.

Literary Lotteries

When I was a debut author lo these eleven years ago, the head of the publicity firm I worked with on my first book (and every one since) said I'd won the literary lottery. During the world's longest book tour as Shelf Awareness deemed it, I was to appear on Thacker Mountain Radio, hosted by the venerable Square Books, and at the equally venerable Moveable Feast hosted by Litchfield Books. Two events that turned out to be so grand, I remember them to this day.

“You have exactly thirteen minutes to speak,” the MC told me as a jazz band broke into song in front of a rousing crowd in Oxford, MS. "It'll be fun." And it was.

On Pawley's Island, between courses of a southern meal so tasty that I ate every bite—and I usually skip all meals on event days—I stood in front of the Atlantic and sent up my own song of thanks to a sherbert colored sky.

With my sixth novel now available to readers, I want to thank every bookseller, librarian, and literary soul who has helped and hosted me along the way. I hope that with every new book I have out, I can find ways to support all that you do for the book-loving readers in this world.

So Is There a Jackpot?

And if so, does my new novel have any connection to it? Who knows? So little is known, in life and in this game called publishing.

What I do know is that with things now out of my hands, I'm glad to have all of you to hold onto.