Yeah, so… I got a little busy for the last few months and, regrettably, neglected the newsletter. I’d love to say it was because I climbed Denali, or sailed through the Panama Canal, or finally binge-watched every season of Better Call Saul — but that wouldn’t be the truth.
The truth is: I was at the Sony Studios in Culver City, California, competing on “Jeopardy!”
No, that’s not true, either.
For real: some of the time away was spent on new book prep, some on household projects, some on a week’s vacation in downeast Maine, and some being fitted for hearing aids.
I said, “… BEING FITTED FOR HEARING AIDS!!!”
I also got some new glasses; now that I can hear and see properly I started to pay attention to things and OH MY GOD what a mess we’re in at the moment.
Amidst all this kerfuffle, I haven’t been away from my keyboard completely: I’ve been working on book revisions, marketing materials, social media campaigns (bleh), and a few other writing tasks — one of which I’ll post below.
In just a few more days I’m headed to lovely Dayton, OH (motto: “Even the Wright Brothers took flight from here”) to attend the 2022 Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop. Their website describes it best:
“The 2022 workshop will feature New York Times’ bestselling authors, Saturday Night Live legends, Emmy Award winners, Thurber Prize winners, a Moth GrandSLAM winner, the author of the Bible (The New Comedy Bible, that is), screenwriters and a slew of celebrated comedians and authors.”
I’m not sure how many are in a “slew” but I think I’m included in that total since I am also a celibate author.
Oh… I see it says “celebrated.” Never mind.
Anyway — I’ll be back in touch after attending the workshop and hopefully getting my picture taken with Laraine Newman as she holds a copy of my new book while looking awestruck in my direction.
Hope you are easing into fall. What costume are you planning for Hallowe’en? I can suggest some accessories if you’re thinking of trick or treating while dressed as a celibate author.
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A friend sent me a link to an interesting contest: the Rhyming Story Challenge 2022. Entrants were randomly assigned to groups, and within those groups were given 3 prompts: Genre, Theme and Emotion — and then had 8 days within which to craft an original, 600-word rhyming story incorporating those prompts. In each round, entrants are judged against the others in their group; eight from each group will advance to the 2nd round and receive new prompts for a 500-word story that must be completed in 3 days; finalists will have 48 hours to complete a 400-word rhyme.
I submitted my 1st round story — my prompts were SciFi (Genre) / Adrift (Theme) / Insignificant (Emotion). Honestly, that emotion threw me at first… but I soldiered through and here’s a link to what I came up with:
I got super excited at the Jeopardy announcement! :)