Rita Dragonette's Blog
February 20, 2025
Votes Are Finally Tallied: New Author Photo Has Been Chosen
I thank all 836 of you who voted for your favorite photo, which tells me this selection was a fun question to ask and I’m thrilled so many of you took to the task. The votes were still coming in from various social media sites as late as mid-January.
What’s really interesting is that many of you took the time to rank-vote more than one photo, often as many as three shots, or put all of them in order of preference. And you were free with comments about a favorite, versus one more appropriate, or with more or less jewelry. Meaning, you really took it seriously and I’m so delighted. Read on to view the “winning” shot, news about the status of Last Sunset in San Miguel, and exciting things that have happened over the past few months.
OVERALL CROWD-PLEASING FAVORITE: Enviable Green
Yes, over two-thirds of you agree with my mother that redheads and green go together. I can just hear her smirking an “I Told You So” from the afterlife. And you were emphatic about it. It is now known as the “Green Jacket Shot.” You were split on the ring, however. Comments ranged from “it’s a distraction” and “too matchy-matchy,” to it’s a “sassy urban vibe.” There were also comments about the need to crop to see my face better, but also loving the brick background. As my Ragdale friend Victor Pildes noted, “The weathered brick wall in the background says you’ve been tested and proven solid.” A comment from former colleague Chris Petersen knocked it over the top, “It’s so groovy cool.” So it’s final this is the book jacket shot, whether on the fly leaf or the back cover. I’ll check in with super photographer Michele Marie to see about cropping for a better closeup and the fate of the ring. Thank you, Green Team.
THE FAVORITE ALL-PURPOSE HEAD SHOT: Basic, Little-Black-Dress
This was the second favorite overall photo, and the overwhelming second in rankings. Those who loved it for #1 included a comment from my former writing instructor, Gary Wilson, who defines himself as a minimalist: “It is the essential you: sincere, intelligent, honest, open and approachable. What more is there or need there be?” Wow, that turned my head. Ken Probst, an artist friend, likes its directness and sincerity. “It says, ‘Hey I’m a professional. I’m a successful author, ya’ know. This is how I look and dress ALL THE TIME.’” That made me laugh, but of course it’s “true.” 🙃 Those who ranked it #2 or #3 pointed out it would be the most useful for the wide range of author-photo needs beyond the book cover. You may have noticed I’ve already begun using it for social media posts and on-line bios where a simple close-up is all the detail that can be accommodated.
BEST ALTERNATIVE OPTION: Pastel Pretty
Quite a few of you indicated this photo should be on the book jacket depending upon the color of the cover, assuming it will likely be the colors of a sunset. I hadn’t thought about this at all. I’ll certainly share it with the cover designer. I also think my mother would have liked it despite her rule that “redheads can’t wear orange.”
FAVORITE OPTION BY MALE VOTERS: Little-Black Dress with a Bit More Pizzazz
Interestingly, this was the option the majority of guys most gravitated to, even if they chose others for #1.
Is it the tilted-head touch of glamour? If that’s the case, I’ll certainly use it when seeking movie rights. Or is it more “authentic,” as my friend Richard put it: “The other pictures are more about the outfits. This one looks like the photographer caught the real you for a second when you weren’t posing.”
Posing? Me?
BOTTOM LINE
I have a bounty of choices and a great rationale for each of them. Thanks so much for participating in this voter’s choice effort. I may not yet have a published book, but I’m gathering steam with a data-backed, crowd-pleasing title in Last Sunset in San Miguel, and author photo(s). I hope you found this as much fun as I have.
Update on Last Sunset in San Miguel
Per my last report in October when I had a manuscript that was “Submission Ready!” to send off to potential agents, I was raring to start the process in mid-November. But I ran into messages from a few agents who’d closed their submission windows for the year. So I held off over the holidays. Meanwhile I continued reviewing it, sending a copy to one San Miguel veteran to fact-check and to another Spanish-speaking associate for a sensitivity read. I’m so grateful for their comments. In between I engaged in that ultimate revision technique of reading it aloud. I believe I read the entire thing at least five times, until I no longer caught typos, repetitive words, or “duh” things that only surfaced when I was reading like a reader, instead of an author. I spent many a weekend with a gravelly voice. At this point, I’m sure I can recite Chapter One, at least, by heart. I may be in trouble at future readings when my eventual agent/publisher inevitably proposes changes. 😵💫
The manuscript is now out to two agents, and I will be pitching it in person to four more at conferences this month and next. I plan to wear my Green Jacket.
Wish me luck.
What’s really interesting is that many of you took the time to rank-vote more than one photo, often as many as three shots, or put all of them in order of preference. And you were free with comments about a favorite, versus one more appropriate, or with more or less jewelry. Meaning, you really took it seriously and I’m so delighted. Read on to view the “winning” shot, news about the status of Last Sunset in San Miguel, and exciting things that have happened over the past few months.
OVERALL CROWD-PLEASING FAVORITE: Enviable Green
Yes, over two-thirds of you agree with my mother that redheads and green go together. I can just hear her smirking an “I Told You So” from the afterlife. And you were emphatic about it. It is now known as the “Green Jacket Shot.” You were split on the ring, however. Comments ranged from “it’s a distraction” and “too matchy-matchy,” to it’s a “sassy urban vibe.” There were also comments about the need to crop to see my face better, but also loving the brick background. As my Ragdale friend Victor Pildes noted, “The weathered brick wall in the background says you’ve been tested and proven solid.” A comment from former colleague Chris Petersen knocked it over the top, “It’s so groovy cool.” So it’s final this is the book jacket shot, whether on the fly leaf or the back cover. I’ll check in with super photographer Michele Marie to see about cropping for a better closeup and the fate of the ring. Thank you, Green Team.
THE FAVORITE ALL-PURPOSE HEAD SHOT: Basic, Little-Black-Dress
This was the second favorite overall photo, and the overwhelming second in rankings. Those who loved it for #1 included a comment from my former writing instructor, Gary Wilson, who defines himself as a minimalist: “It is the essential you: sincere, intelligent, honest, open and approachable. What more is there or need there be?” Wow, that turned my head. Ken Probst, an artist friend, likes its directness and sincerity. “It says, ‘Hey I’m a professional. I’m a successful author, ya’ know. This is how I look and dress ALL THE TIME.’” That made me laugh, but of course it’s “true.” 🙃 Those who ranked it #2 or #3 pointed out it would be the most useful for the wide range of author-photo needs beyond the book cover. You may have noticed I’ve already begun using it for social media posts and on-line bios where a simple close-up is all the detail that can be accommodated.
BEST ALTERNATIVE OPTION: Pastel Pretty
Quite a few of you indicated this photo should be on the book jacket depending upon the color of the cover, assuming it will likely be the colors of a sunset. I hadn’t thought about this at all. I’ll certainly share it with the cover designer. I also think my mother would have liked it despite her rule that “redheads can’t wear orange.”
FAVORITE OPTION BY MALE VOTERS: Little-Black Dress with a Bit More Pizzazz
Interestingly, this was the option the majority of guys most gravitated to, even if they chose others for #1.
Is it the tilted-head touch of glamour? If that’s the case, I’ll certainly use it when seeking movie rights. Or is it more “authentic,” as my friend Richard put it: “The other pictures are more about the outfits. This one looks like the photographer caught the real you for a second when you weren’t posing.”
Posing? Me?
BOTTOM LINE
I have a bounty of choices and a great rationale for each of them. Thanks so much for participating in this voter’s choice effort. I may not yet have a published book, but I’m gathering steam with a data-backed, crowd-pleasing title in Last Sunset in San Miguel, and author photo(s). I hope you found this as much fun as I have.
Update on Last Sunset in San Miguel
Per my last report in October when I had a manuscript that was “Submission Ready!” to send off to potential agents, I was raring to start the process in mid-November. But I ran into messages from a few agents who’d closed their submission windows for the year. So I held off over the holidays. Meanwhile I continued reviewing it, sending a copy to one San Miguel veteran to fact-check and to another Spanish-speaking associate for a sensitivity read. I’m so grateful for their comments. In between I engaged in that ultimate revision technique of reading it aloud. I believe I read the entire thing at least five times, until I no longer caught typos, repetitive words, or “duh” things that only surfaced when I was reading like a reader, instead of an author. I spent many a weekend with a gravelly voice. At this point, I’m sure I can recite Chapter One, at least, by heart. I may be in trouble at future readings when my eventual agent/publisher inevitably proposes changes. 😵💫
The manuscript is now out to two agents, and I will be pitching it in person to four more at conferences this month and next. I plan to wear my Green Jacket.
Wish me luck.
October 29, 2024
New Book, New Look: Vote for Best Author Photo
Read on for the gallery of options, how to vote, an update on novel #2 and the latest news.
Hey, followers and friends (I consider you the same). You were great in helping me come up with the title of my second novel, when I had to forgo my beloved La Querencia for an English version of the same concept. My current working title, Last Sunset in San Miguel is due to the great suggestions of so many of you. You were wonderful.
So, I’ve come back to the trough to ask again. Please help me select my new Author Photo. I recently had a session with the incredible photographer Michele Marie, and have great choices, though I know I’m missing the serious profile shot (my nose is simply not “important,” enough). I need your help because I can’t personally see the forest of a good photo through the trees of the fading red in my hair, the Mr. Ed toothiness of my smile and the fact that I haven’t completely gotten over being told by a former employee that I’ll always look like a cheerleader (which btw, I never actually was.)
Help me pick the shot you think works best to demonstrate a degree of gravitas that says “I’ve written an important book!” for media and reviewers, yet with an openness and approachability that invites readers to feel they’d love to have a book chat with me. Here are the choices. Vote by their number. Pick your favorite one, or top two or three, rank them all, whatever your fancy, and let me know in the comments below. Note, the photos with scenic backgrounds will probably end up being cropped. I’ll share the “winning” shot.
To see the options and vote, click HERE.
Update on Last Sunset in San Miguel
Though this book has been underway for the past five years (or net three, since I couldn’t write during COVID), this past year has really been intense and I’ve been nose-to-computer screen with the manuscript since March, which pretty much wiped out my summer social life. However, I’m now down to the wire. At this moment I’m cleaning up final comments from my developmental editor who tells me the manuscript is now “Submission Ready!” After my proofreader signs off I’ll be starting the process of sending it out to see if anyone bites. I do have three agents who’ve asked to read it! Fingers crossed, but the likelihood is that I’ll need to eventually send it out farther and wider.🤞
It’s a long road to publication. I’ll keep you posted.
Hey, followers and friends (I consider you the same). You were great in helping me come up with the title of my second novel, when I had to forgo my beloved La Querencia for an English version of the same concept. My current working title, Last Sunset in San Miguel is due to the great suggestions of so many of you. You were wonderful.
So, I’ve come back to the trough to ask again. Please help me select my new Author Photo. I recently had a session with the incredible photographer Michele Marie, and have great choices, though I know I’m missing the serious profile shot (my nose is simply not “important,” enough). I need your help because I can’t personally see the forest of a good photo through the trees of the fading red in my hair, the Mr. Ed toothiness of my smile and the fact that I haven’t completely gotten over being told by a former employee that I’ll always look like a cheerleader (which btw, I never actually was.)
Help me pick the shot you think works best to demonstrate a degree of gravitas that says “I’ve written an important book!” for media and reviewers, yet with an openness and approachability that invites readers to feel they’d love to have a book chat with me. Here are the choices. Vote by their number. Pick your favorite one, or top two or three, rank them all, whatever your fancy, and let me know in the comments below. Note, the photos with scenic backgrounds will probably end up being cropped. I’ll share the “winning” shot.
To see the options and vote, click HERE.
Update on Last Sunset in San Miguel
Though this book has been underway for the past five years (or net three, since I couldn’t write during COVID), this past year has really been intense and I’ve been nose-to-computer screen with the manuscript since March, which pretty much wiped out my summer social life. However, I’m now down to the wire. At this moment I’m cleaning up final comments from my developmental editor who tells me the manuscript is now “Submission Ready!” After my proofreader signs off I’ll be starting the process of sending it out to see if anyone bites. I do have three agents who’ve asked to read it! Fingers crossed, but the likelihood is that I’ll need to eventually send it out farther and wider.🤞
It’s a long road to publication. I’ll keep you posted.
April 25, 2024
There Are Two Sides to the Story of Women During the Vietnam War. Now You Can Read Them Both
A few weeks ago I got a lovely email from a new acquaintance who had just finished my novel The Fourteenth of September. Yes, she did like it, but added that she’d never before read fiction from the Vietnam era, and that made it a particularly “unusual and very interesting read.” I was surprised since she’s only a generation behind the characters in the story.
It reminded me of a presentation I made during the novel's launch about the dearth of fiction about the war, but especially by and about women. I commented that in the 75+ years since WWII there had been a consistent run of new novels and movies about that war that featured unique slices of female experience, i.e., The Zookeeper’s Wife, The Lilac Girls, All the Light We Cannot See and, of course, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. However, in the 50+ years after Vietnam, after an initial burst of male-centered, combat-related stories and movies, there has been nowhere near the attention.
I made the case that we writers had barely scratched the surface of the war in general, but particularly the experience of women during that time, and we needed to catch up.
Yes, there had been reasons to skirt the subject (we lost the war, we behaved badly to our vets, there were atrocities). However, if you agree with the point of view that though we learn our history from facts we understand it from narratives, avoiding the subject has left a hole in our history, one I’ve learned subsequent generations often don’t even know enough to ask about.
So I’m thrilled that Kristen Hannah's new novel The Women topped the New York Times bestseller list for weeks and is creating the type of curiosity and interest this complicated era—with strong echoes to today’s world—deserves. As a writer, Hannah has nailed the relatable female voice that takes readers into the action of many of history's untold stories and gives them fresh blood. I'm delighted at her success with the story, and also how closely a companion it is to my own, and how the incidents and attitudes of the changing war impacted our two fictional nurses. There has always been more to the story, as illustrated by our main characters who come from "opposing " perspectives yet arrive in similar places.
Women Can Be Heroes, Too
Hannah's character Frankie comes from a privileged background in 1965, when the war was patriotic, our cause (stopping the domino effect of communism) was righteous, and the assumption that the US would win was absolute. Her coming of age as a combat nurse where she navigates life and death situations by the second, convinced that women can also be heroes, is complicated by the sexism of the times and an unsupportive family that doesn’t understand why a girl would even consider going to Vietnam. When Frankie comes home it's to a country divided, a family confused. Her story of being marginalized as both a vet and a woman leads to a powerful portrait of post traumatic stress disorder as vivid as that of any man's. Hannah wins her point: Women are heroes, however unsung. They deserve an equal spotlight.
Women Don’t Need to be In Country to Be Heros
In 1969 my character Judy is in college on a military nursing scholarship. It’s the only way she can afford the education required to live the independent life she wants, a choice championed by her mother, a former WWII combat nurse. When she graduates, she’ll be off to Vietnam, if it’s still going on.
But by this time the war had changed: patriotism had waned, “progress” had descended into body counts reported on the evening news, and the country was dividing as it grappled with how long it should continue when the objective was no longer clear.
Judy's career decision becomes challenged daily as the escalating war comes to campus. When the first birthdate drawn in the new Draft Lottery is September 14, her own birthday, she realizes that with a flip of a chromosome she’d be off to the front lines at a time when it had become a death sentence. She goes “underground” into the antiwar movement trying to save both her future and her conscience by helping stop the war before she has to join it. Being a nurse is noble and needed, but does it also mean she’s complicit in supporting a war that is killing off her generation? Does true integrity mean she should give up her scholarship, her ticket to the life she needs and wants? She faces pushback on both sides—from her military family who doesn’t understand why this war is different from their war, to fellow protestors who don’t listen to her because she’s a girl and the enemy won’t be shooting at her. No one understands why she should care. Judy’s coming of age becomes her coming-of-conscience choice, as ultimately she is forced to make a decision as fraught as the one faced by any male lottery draftee. Point made: women have equal agency whatever their contribution.
A Story That Still Needs Telling
Two women with the same need to make a difference with their lives, the same calling, facing the same sexism and incredulity over their principles and patriotism. One on one side of the war, one on the other. It's two sides of an eternal story in a divided country. Another story idea springs to mind—how would we tell it today, with so much at stake and women’s rights in jeopardy?
I remember my mother, a combat nurse in WWII who saw much more action than my father, was consistently marginalized when no one wanted to hear her story because she was "just a nurse." Telling Judy's story was a way to give her standing, to show that her experiences and choices were as significant as those of any male soldier. The experiences of men and women in war (as in life, right?) are equally patriotic, heroic, horrific, and complicated. They may be different but should be valued equally. That's why I wrote The Fourteenth of September, and it appears why Hannah wrote The Women. I hope you'll read them both. as they tell a robust story of women in war.
Book Club Opportunity
I can’t help but think that reading these two books together would be an irresistible book club experience. Just imagine the discussions you’ll have. Read The Women first, The Fourteenth of September second. As one avid reader of both recently told me, back to back “they continue the story.” I’d been happy to zoom in.
Update on Last Sunset in San Miguel
The latest news is that I’m finishing up what I hope are final edits on the manuscript for this second novel of mine. I’ve gone through many drafts, as you can imagine, and credit my wonderful first editor, Barb Shoup, and copyeditor, Linda Naslund, for helping me get it all on the page. I’m now working closely with my terrific developmental editor, Andrea Robinson. I’ve also been verbally pitching the story idea to agents at recent conferences, and it’s been well received. So for the next six-eight weeks I’ll have my nose on the grindstone getting the manuscript ready to send out. It’s a long process, as many of you know. I could use another stint at Ragdale, that magical place of inspiration and productivity, but my old neck injury talks to me and the Bod Squad I’ve assembled to keep my spine in order has convinced me I can no longer take a three-week retreat with that much relentless at-the-computer intensity. Instead, I will try to recreate the retreat atmosphere in my own home office, with many breaks and visits from Bod Squad members (massage therapist, trainer, movement expert).
Wish me luck.
It reminded me of a presentation I made during the novel's launch about the dearth of fiction about the war, but especially by and about women. I commented that in the 75+ years since WWII there had been a consistent run of new novels and movies about that war that featured unique slices of female experience, i.e., The Zookeeper’s Wife, The Lilac Girls, All the Light We Cannot See and, of course, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. However, in the 50+ years after Vietnam, after an initial burst of male-centered, combat-related stories and movies, there has been nowhere near the attention.
I made the case that we writers had barely scratched the surface of the war in general, but particularly the experience of women during that time, and we needed to catch up.
Yes, there had been reasons to skirt the subject (we lost the war, we behaved badly to our vets, there were atrocities). However, if you agree with the point of view that though we learn our history from facts we understand it from narratives, avoiding the subject has left a hole in our history, one I’ve learned subsequent generations often don’t even know enough to ask about.
So I’m thrilled that Kristen Hannah's new novel The Women topped the New York Times bestseller list for weeks and is creating the type of curiosity and interest this complicated era—with strong echoes to today’s world—deserves. As a writer, Hannah has nailed the relatable female voice that takes readers into the action of many of history's untold stories and gives them fresh blood. I'm delighted at her success with the story, and also how closely a companion it is to my own, and how the incidents and attitudes of the changing war impacted our two fictional nurses. There has always been more to the story, as illustrated by our main characters who come from "opposing " perspectives yet arrive in similar places.
Women Can Be Heroes, Too
Hannah's character Frankie comes from a privileged background in 1965, when the war was patriotic, our cause (stopping the domino effect of communism) was righteous, and the assumption that the US would win was absolute. Her coming of age as a combat nurse where she navigates life and death situations by the second, convinced that women can also be heroes, is complicated by the sexism of the times and an unsupportive family that doesn’t understand why a girl would even consider going to Vietnam. When Frankie comes home it's to a country divided, a family confused. Her story of being marginalized as both a vet and a woman leads to a powerful portrait of post traumatic stress disorder as vivid as that of any man's. Hannah wins her point: Women are heroes, however unsung. They deserve an equal spotlight.
Women Don’t Need to be In Country to Be Heros
In 1969 my character Judy is in college on a military nursing scholarship. It’s the only way she can afford the education required to live the independent life she wants, a choice championed by her mother, a former WWII combat nurse. When she graduates, she’ll be off to Vietnam, if it’s still going on.
But by this time the war had changed: patriotism had waned, “progress” had descended into body counts reported on the evening news, and the country was dividing as it grappled with how long it should continue when the objective was no longer clear.
Judy's career decision becomes challenged daily as the escalating war comes to campus. When the first birthdate drawn in the new Draft Lottery is September 14, her own birthday, she realizes that with a flip of a chromosome she’d be off to the front lines at a time when it had become a death sentence. She goes “underground” into the antiwar movement trying to save both her future and her conscience by helping stop the war before she has to join it. Being a nurse is noble and needed, but does it also mean she’s complicit in supporting a war that is killing off her generation? Does true integrity mean she should give up her scholarship, her ticket to the life she needs and wants? She faces pushback on both sides—from her military family who doesn’t understand why this war is different from their war, to fellow protestors who don’t listen to her because she’s a girl and the enemy won’t be shooting at her. No one understands why she should care. Judy’s coming of age becomes her coming-of-conscience choice, as ultimately she is forced to make a decision as fraught as the one faced by any male lottery draftee. Point made: women have equal agency whatever their contribution.
A Story That Still Needs Telling
Two women with the same need to make a difference with their lives, the same calling, facing the same sexism and incredulity over their principles and patriotism. One on one side of the war, one on the other. It's two sides of an eternal story in a divided country. Another story idea springs to mind—how would we tell it today, with so much at stake and women’s rights in jeopardy?
I remember my mother, a combat nurse in WWII who saw much more action than my father, was consistently marginalized when no one wanted to hear her story because she was "just a nurse." Telling Judy's story was a way to give her standing, to show that her experiences and choices were as significant as those of any male soldier. The experiences of men and women in war (as in life, right?) are equally patriotic, heroic, horrific, and complicated. They may be different but should be valued equally. That's why I wrote The Fourteenth of September, and it appears why Hannah wrote The Women. I hope you'll read them both. as they tell a robust story of women in war.
Book Club Opportunity
I can’t help but think that reading these two books together would be an irresistible book club experience. Just imagine the discussions you’ll have. Read The Women first, The Fourteenth of September second. As one avid reader of both recently told me, back to back “they continue the story.” I’d been happy to zoom in.
Update on Last Sunset in San Miguel
The latest news is that I’m finishing up what I hope are final edits on the manuscript for this second novel of mine. I’ve gone through many drafts, as you can imagine, and credit my wonderful first editor, Barb Shoup, and copyeditor, Linda Naslund, for helping me get it all on the page. I’m now working closely with my terrific developmental editor, Andrea Robinson. I’ve also been verbally pitching the story idea to agents at recent conferences, and it’s been well received. So for the next six-eight weeks I’ll have my nose on the grindstone getting the manuscript ready to send out. It’s a long process, as many of you know. I could use another stint at Ragdale, that magical place of inspiration and productivity, but my old neck injury talks to me and the Bod Squad I’ve assembled to keep my spine in order has convinced me I can no longer take a three-week retreat with that much relentless at-the-computer intensity. Instead, I will try to recreate the retreat atmosphere in my own home office, with many breaks and visits from Bod Squad members (massage therapist, trainer, movement expert).
Wish me luck.
December 5, 2023
The Second Annual List of Holiday Recommendations from The Irrepressible Book Gifter... And a Huge Book Sale!
This was a big hit with followers last year, so I thought I’d again share my personally curated list of books I’ll be giving as holiday presents. Perhaps something for many on your own list. I hope it saves you shopping time you can then use to read them yourself.
My reading patterns were different this year. I read a lot of very popular books (and was disappointed by quite a few) and sampled a lot of genres I don’t normally read, but I did find these gems.
From Dust to Stardust, by Kathleen Rooney
A star is born and born again in this historical fiction story of one of Hollywood’s biggest silent film stars (Colleen Moore) on whom the original story of A Star is Born was based. This is my major gift book for this year for females of any age and film buffs.
It’s about a determined teenager who follows her dream and makes it to the top, but who also sees the writing on the wall with the transition to talkies. And of her love story with a publicity genius who makes her a star but can’t keep up with her.
In the process Rooney reveals fascinating details about the making of silent films—how actors and directors grew up with the industry, learning as they went, not always knowing what they were doing, little fish often surpassing big fish. Even for a film nut like me, I learned a lot. The parallel narrative is how her love of miniatures and for her Irish grandmother who yes, does believe in fairies—leads her to create a gigantic Fairy Castle that makes her as influential in the 1930s as she was in the Jazz Age.
A delightful read. You’ll want to gift this widely and then take everyone to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry to see the actual castle. Make a day of it. Note: I saw the castle when I was a Brownie, and never forgot it.
King: A Life, by Jonathan Eig
I’m sure you’ve already heard of this new masterpiece. As the most exhaustive biography yet of Dr. Martin Luther King, including information from FBI files only recently released, this book more than deserves all its accolades as one of the best nonfiction books of the year. It makes a fabulous gift. I’d recommend the hardcover as an impressive keepsake. I’ve actually already given it as a housewarming gift, where it’s found a home on a tabletop in between being passed around. For anyone.
The Left Over Woman, by Jean Kwok
This is my third Jean Kwok novel, and I admire her ability to tap into stories that are part thriller and part domestic drama, while dealing with fascinating issues about immigrant lives, in this case transracial adoption. The novel is told alternatively from the perspectives of an immigrant who has lost her daughter as a result of China’s one-child policy and an American woman successful in everything but fertility who adopts a Chinese girl.
The characters are brought together in a surprisingly suspenseful, page-turning ending when both mothers instincts are brought into violent play. The last third of the novel needs to be read in one gulp, so warn your giftees.
NOTE: Kwok’s first book was the wonderful Girl in Translation (which ridiculously, is in danger of being banned from sources who’ve obviously never read it). Support it. Love it. Consider a two-volume gift.
I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai
The guilt-racked star of a popular podcast returns to her high school after 20 years to teach a class. Her students decide to make the questionably resolved murder of her long-ago roommate their class project. That’s the simplest recap possible of this incredibly intricate literary mystery which has rightfully been compared to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. For your friends who like to chew on their mysteries, this book is chockablock with, well, everything: plot, social relevance, timeliness, timelines, you name it. Of note is that it has a huge cast, so I recommend the hardcopy or paperback. Readers will want to page back.
Havana Hangover, by Randy Richardson
This is a fun romp with serious meat to it. A perfectly titled tale of a bucket-list trip that ends up down a very deep rabbit hole delivers on its promise. Even for a non-thriller/suspense reader, it kept me up late turning pages-there was simply no pause in the action and continually side-switching intrigue. It will leave the readers dizzy, enthralled, and either dying to hightail it to Cuba to fill themselves with rum or definitely scratching both off their own bucket lists. It will also leave them surprisingly touched as the narrator, a self-described loser in life, gets his sea-legs in both love and life. The ending is, well, let your giftee tell you, and then you’ll want to borrow the book back. This is a great choice for the guys on your list, but not exclusively.
Hello Beautiful, by Anna Napolitano
Okay, so Oprah found this one first. For me, it was part of my experimental best-seller reading. And, in a year of so much revisionist feminism, it was refreshing to come across it. The novel, which starts as well-written women’s fiction (a familiar family story with a nod to Little Women) about halfway in becomes something remarkable, as the key male character becomes the unexpected focal point. It's longish, but stay with it, say all the reviews, and I have to agree. The audiobook is narrated by Maura Tierney, who is perfect.
Direct Sunlight, by Christine Sneed/For Those Who Favor Fire, by Gary Wilson
I like to give short story collections to friends who tell you they would love to have the time to read more, if only. The rationale is obvious.
These two new collections should tantalize, and even encourage readers to pursue the authors’ longer works. Both are what I’d call impressionistic, complete in a few pages, in terms of leaving you with not exactly a wrapped-up ending but instead, a definite tone.
I adore the titles of books from the ever-prolific Sneed (The Virginity of Famous Men, Portraits of a Few of the People I’ve Made Cry—seriously, aren’t you now dying to read those?). With Direct Sunlight she’s done it again. This new collection focuses on what she calls the “memorable strangeness” of everyday life, whether it be a childless couple who adopts a monkey or an advice columnist who replies to his own mother about family issues.
Wilson’s characters are cut from a similar cloth but come from a bleaker landscape. They are desperate to connect, whether they know it or not. They are presented with opportunities to do so, some as obvious as the need to deal with a newly discovered corpse, others as subtle as words that must be said in a fleeting instant. Will they act? Will they even notice they should?
For each, readers will be touched, laugh at the wry and poignant humor, and perhaps shudder at the blazing truth of the human condition. Consider including a story collection with one of the novels I’ve mentioned as a great gift for fiction readers.
Hot off the Presses. For Those Who Favor Fire just won the Book of the Year Award in Indie Fiction from the Chicago Writers Association.
Like Love, by Michele Morano
This appears to be the moment for essays. Though it’s not an obvious gift choice, more and more writers are turning to this form to comment on the world, and the subjects that move them. And they are assembled in wonderfully themed collections.
I was introduced to Like Love in a Valentine’s Day zoom reading during COVID, and the piece blew me away. It read like fiction. And, what a concept. Stories of every type of love except what you’d assume.
Previous “criteria” for romance, such as consummation, are sidelined in these stories, revealing new dimensions of intense longing and bonding that also pierce the heart, often with both agony and ecstasy—or simply wonderful delight and warmth.
If there is such a thing as a page-turning essay, this collection is full of them. Not one a who-done-it, but each an I-wonder-if-they could/should will stay/go. If there’s no one on your list this seems to speak to at present, wait till February and consider giving it as a Valentine to your best friend.
How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History, by Annette Gendler
There is someone in every generation who is (or needs to become) the keeper of the family story, so there will be answers to all the questions of all the relatives moving forward--including those not yet born. In my family, it's me. And part of that designation is that at some point I will need to turn the baton over to someone a generation younger.
The holiday, when family is gathered and top of mind, is a great time for this and I plan to send this how-to guide to a second cousin as a gift that will alert her to this honored status and how we will work together to keep the heritage safe--and fresh, with new information. The task can be daunting and Gendler's book tells you how it can be managed with love and curiosity. A must gift for the person charged with the heritage in your family.
And Now, The Plug for the Author
I always say my novel becomes more relevant with each day, given the world situation. Now, it seems this is also a new era for stories about women during the Vietnam War. Check out Absolution by Alice McDermott and watch for Kristin Hannah’s The Women, coming out in February. It’s a hot topic.
Please scan your list and consider gifting The Fourteenth of September, a book that checks many boxes for many readers: historical fiction, coming of age, women’s and war fiction. Available in all formats including paperback. E-book and audiobook formats are both on sale for the month of December, so I’ve made it cost-effective as well as easy.
My reading patterns were different this year. I read a lot of very popular books (and was disappointed by quite a few) and sampled a lot of genres I don’t normally read, but I did find these gems.
From Dust to Stardust, by Kathleen Rooney
A star is born and born again in this historical fiction story of one of Hollywood’s biggest silent film stars (Colleen Moore) on whom the original story of A Star is Born was based. This is my major gift book for this year for females of any age and film buffs.
It’s about a determined teenager who follows her dream and makes it to the top, but who also sees the writing on the wall with the transition to talkies. And of her love story with a publicity genius who makes her a star but can’t keep up with her.
In the process Rooney reveals fascinating details about the making of silent films—how actors and directors grew up with the industry, learning as they went, not always knowing what they were doing, little fish often surpassing big fish. Even for a film nut like me, I learned a lot. The parallel narrative is how her love of miniatures and for her Irish grandmother who yes, does believe in fairies—leads her to create a gigantic Fairy Castle that makes her as influential in the 1930s as she was in the Jazz Age.
A delightful read. You’ll want to gift this widely and then take everyone to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry to see the actual castle. Make a day of it. Note: I saw the castle when I was a Brownie, and never forgot it.
King: A Life, by Jonathan Eig
I’m sure you’ve already heard of this new masterpiece. As the most exhaustive biography yet of Dr. Martin Luther King, including information from FBI files only recently released, this book more than deserves all its accolades as one of the best nonfiction books of the year. It makes a fabulous gift. I’d recommend the hardcover as an impressive keepsake. I’ve actually already given it as a housewarming gift, where it’s found a home on a tabletop in between being passed around. For anyone.
The Left Over Woman, by Jean Kwok
This is my third Jean Kwok novel, and I admire her ability to tap into stories that are part thriller and part domestic drama, while dealing with fascinating issues about immigrant lives, in this case transracial adoption. The novel is told alternatively from the perspectives of an immigrant who has lost her daughter as a result of China’s one-child policy and an American woman successful in everything but fertility who adopts a Chinese girl.
The characters are brought together in a surprisingly suspenseful, page-turning ending when both mothers instincts are brought into violent play. The last third of the novel needs to be read in one gulp, so warn your giftees.
NOTE: Kwok’s first book was the wonderful Girl in Translation (which ridiculously, is in danger of being banned from sources who’ve obviously never read it). Support it. Love it. Consider a two-volume gift.
I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai
The guilt-racked star of a popular podcast returns to her high school after 20 years to teach a class. Her students decide to make the questionably resolved murder of her long-ago roommate their class project. That’s the simplest recap possible of this incredibly intricate literary mystery which has rightfully been compared to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. For your friends who like to chew on their mysteries, this book is chockablock with, well, everything: plot, social relevance, timeliness, timelines, you name it. Of note is that it has a huge cast, so I recommend the hardcopy or paperback. Readers will want to page back.
Havana Hangover, by Randy Richardson
This is a fun romp with serious meat to it. A perfectly titled tale of a bucket-list trip that ends up down a very deep rabbit hole delivers on its promise. Even for a non-thriller/suspense reader, it kept me up late turning pages-there was simply no pause in the action and continually side-switching intrigue. It will leave the readers dizzy, enthralled, and either dying to hightail it to Cuba to fill themselves with rum or definitely scratching both off their own bucket lists. It will also leave them surprisingly touched as the narrator, a self-described loser in life, gets his sea-legs in both love and life. The ending is, well, let your giftee tell you, and then you’ll want to borrow the book back. This is a great choice for the guys on your list, but not exclusively.
Hello Beautiful, by Anna Napolitano
Okay, so Oprah found this one first. For me, it was part of my experimental best-seller reading. And, in a year of so much revisionist feminism, it was refreshing to come across it. The novel, which starts as well-written women’s fiction (a familiar family story with a nod to Little Women) about halfway in becomes something remarkable, as the key male character becomes the unexpected focal point. It's longish, but stay with it, say all the reviews, and I have to agree. The audiobook is narrated by Maura Tierney, who is perfect.
Direct Sunlight, by Christine Sneed/For Those Who Favor Fire, by Gary Wilson
I like to give short story collections to friends who tell you they would love to have the time to read more, if only. The rationale is obvious.
These two new collections should tantalize, and even encourage readers to pursue the authors’ longer works. Both are what I’d call impressionistic, complete in a few pages, in terms of leaving you with not exactly a wrapped-up ending but instead, a definite tone.
I adore the titles of books from the ever-prolific Sneed (The Virginity of Famous Men, Portraits of a Few of the People I’ve Made Cry—seriously, aren’t you now dying to read those?). With Direct Sunlight she’s done it again. This new collection focuses on what she calls the “memorable strangeness” of everyday life, whether it be a childless couple who adopts a monkey or an advice columnist who replies to his own mother about family issues.
Wilson’s characters are cut from a similar cloth but come from a bleaker landscape. They are desperate to connect, whether they know it or not. They are presented with opportunities to do so, some as obvious as the need to deal with a newly discovered corpse, others as subtle as words that must be said in a fleeting instant. Will they act? Will they even notice they should?
For each, readers will be touched, laugh at the wry and poignant humor, and perhaps shudder at the blazing truth of the human condition. Consider including a story collection with one of the novels I’ve mentioned as a great gift for fiction readers.
Hot off the Presses. For Those Who Favor Fire just won the Book of the Year Award in Indie Fiction from the Chicago Writers Association.
Like Love, by Michele Morano
This appears to be the moment for essays. Though it’s not an obvious gift choice, more and more writers are turning to this form to comment on the world, and the subjects that move them. And they are assembled in wonderfully themed collections.
I was introduced to Like Love in a Valentine’s Day zoom reading during COVID, and the piece blew me away. It read like fiction. And, what a concept. Stories of every type of love except what you’d assume.
Previous “criteria” for romance, such as consummation, are sidelined in these stories, revealing new dimensions of intense longing and bonding that also pierce the heart, often with both agony and ecstasy—or simply wonderful delight and warmth.
If there is such a thing as a page-turning essay, this collection is full of them. Not one a who-done-it, but each an I-wonder-if-they could/should will stay/go. If there’s no one on your list this seems to speak to at present, wait till February and consider giving it as a Valentine to your best friend.
How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History, by Annette Gendler
There is someone in every generation who is (or needs to become) the keeper of the family story, so there will be answers to all the questions of all the relatives moving forward--including those not yet born. In my family, it's me. And part of that designation is that at some point I will need to turn the baton over to someone a generation younger.
The holiday, when family is gathered and top of mind, is a great time for this and I plan to send this how-to guide to a second cousin as a gift that will alert her to this honored status and how we will work together to keep the heritage safe--and fresh, with new information. The task can be daunting and Gendler's book tells you how it can be managed with love and curiosity. A must gift for the person charged with the heritage in your family.
And Now, The Plug for the Author
I always say my novel becomes more relevant with each day, given the world situation. Now, it seems this is also a new era for stories about women during the Vietnam War. Check out Absolution by Alice McDermott and watch for Kristin Hannah’s The Women, coming out in February. It’s a hot topic.
Please scan your list and consider gifting The Fourteenth of September, a book that checks many boxes for many readers: historical fiction, coming of age, women’s and war fiction. Available in all formats including paperback. E-book and audiobook formats are both on sale for the month of December, so I’ve made it cost-effective as well as easy.
September 14, 2023
Today, September 14, is the Fifth Anniversary of the Publication of my First Novel, The Fourteenth of September
It’s been a wild ride teetering between my initial aspirations, which were as grandiose as those of Christo, of course, but often crashed into a reality which was more Matisse-like: I still can’t fold a fitted sheet, but I no longer just ball it up and shove it into the linen closet. I’ve learned it takes way more than two hands, and to master one corner at a time. Ah, metaphors. And yes, I’ve squeezed the life out of this one. Stay with me.
I’m happy to say the novel has done well and is still plugging away, with new interest—from younger book club readers to an upcoming release by a major author that should build readership for my book as well. It’s all good and has been fun—funny “ha, ha” as well as funny peculiar. And today, for your amusement, I’m sharing some of my favorite lessons and “curiosities” that have occurred over the past five years. Enjoy.
Book Marketing is Murder on Your Looks
Like most authors, I spent a hefty amount of time and money on perfectly fashioned author portraits that combined aspects of attractiveness (as possible) and (not too) serious artist, with an attitude both approachable and friendly—someone you’d like to chat with for an hour over lunch, or better yet, think about for the twenty hours you’re reading my book. However, I find the photos that end up in the newsletters and social media posts are the exact opposite—top of the reject line, if I’d had a say in it. Please appreciate how brave I am to share these with you.
Kristin Hannah is Writing the Mirror Image of my Story
I’m pretty excited that Kristin Hannah, best-selling author of The Nightingale and many other books, will come out with The Women in February.
Her story is about a young woman who volunteers as a nurse in Vietnam and has a crisis of conscience. Her theme is that “women can be heroes, too.”
The story of The Fourteenth of September is about a young woman on a military scholarship to become a nurse and go to Vietnam who has a crisis of conscience. My theme is that women in war are faced with life-altering decisions as tough as men.
If I were an instructor, I’d teach the books side by side. A great project for a book club as well, right?
I’m selfishly hoping the release of The Women will give my book a bump, but most of all, further help to make the subject of Vietnam as attention worthy as the ubiquitous World War II.
Birthdays Bring Big Bucks
At live events, one of the most popular reasons people stop to look at my novel is that September 14 happens to be their own birthday, or that of a husband, mother, boyfriend . . . you get it. And I respond, “Then of course the book will make a perfect birthday present,” which as a sales pitch is almost always successful. I used to feel guilty, since they had no idea what they were in for. But then, more than half the time we discuss the story behind the date of the title and their eyes widen, glad there is more to their purchase than coincidence, and they tell me a story from their own lives about the Vietnam era we’ve all been touched by whether we realize it or not. As for the guilt, not so much if the purchaser originally asked if the novel was a mystery or thriller (apparently titles with dates are often these genres). Bottom line, you never know what will spur a sale. (I also get sales because of the pretty cover!)
A Birthday to Die For
Though I didn’t anticipate the appeal, the book was initially sent to media reviewers wrapped in birthday paper with a card indicating the Fourteenth of September was “A Birthday to Die For.” Audacious but effective, and on point for this story of a young woman whose birthday is is same as the #1 in the Vietnam Draft Lottery. I did brace myself for pushback, which didn’t happen. Whew! Thanks to Books Forward for the idea and creative genius Cathleen Johnson for the line.
Catch 22 in Vietnam
At my book launch my brother-in-law told me his birthday was September 14 and he had therefore been #1 in the Lottery. This was a fact I hadn’t known during the entire writing process of the novel, but you’d think I would have remembered from birthday parties over the years. He was immediately drafted back in 1970, one of the most dangerous times in the Vietnam War. He was twenty-five at the time. The Army put him through all the paperwork, got him into a uniform, and sent him to basic training. Then, just as he was ready to be shipped to Vietnam, his actual birthday occurred and he turned twenty-six, which made him too old for duty. They took back the uniform and sent him home. A close call for him (though he’d been willing to go). But a genuine Joseph Heller moment of military absurdity. It was also one of the many bizarre-but-true stories shared by quite a few of my readers who were drafted at the time, but through some slip up in the universe didn’t actually go to Vietnam. They were amazed at how fate . . . and f---ups were on their side.
Tip for Audiobook Listeners
I can’t believe I made the narrator of the audio book of The Fourteenth of September pronounce the dew do do da dews in “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” the era-specific Crosby, Stills & Nash song that led to my main character being named Judy Blue Eyes. That should have been left to David Crosby, Graham Nash, and/or Stephen Stills and no others. But if you set the speed faster you’ll enjoy her interpretation. Please sing along.
I knew you’d ask. I’m killing myself to get the full revision of my next novel to my editor before the end of September, when I will be off to Morocco on a trip that’s been delayed for three years because of COVID, unless it will be delayed again due to the earthquake. I’m also planning a trip to San Miguel in November for the Day of the Dead fiesta, which is the setting for the final third of the novel. I’ll be completing bits of remaining research so I can begin the process of sending the manuscript out to find a publishing home. Stay tuned for updates.
I’m happy to say the novel has done well and is still plugging away, with new interest—from younger book club readers to an upcoming release by a major author that should build readership for my book as well. It’s all good and has been fun—funny “ha, ha” as well as funny peculiar. And today, for your amusement, I’m sharing some of my favorite lessons and “curiosities” that have occurred over the past five years. Enjoy.
Book Marketing is Murder on Your Looks
Like most authors, I spent a hefty amount of time and money on perfectly fashioned author portraits that combined aspects of attractiveness (as possible) and (not too) serious artist, with an attitude both approachable and friendly—someone you’d like to chat with for an hour over lunch, or better yet, think about for the twenty hours you’re reading my book. However, I find the photos that end up in the newsletters and social media posts are the exact opposite—top of the reject line, if I’d had a say in it. Please appreciate how brave I am to share these with you.
Kristin Hannah is Writing the Mirror Image of my Story
I’m pretty excited that Kristin Hannah, best-selling author of The Nightingale and many other books, will come out with The Women in February.
Her story is about a young woman who volunteers as a nurse in Vietnam and has a crisis of conscience. Her theme is that “women can be heroes, too.”
The story of The Fourteenth of September is about a young woman on a military scholarship to become a nurse and go to Vietnam who has a crisis of conscience. My theme is that women in war are faced with life-altering decisions as tough as men.
If I were an instructor, I’d teach the books side by side. A great project for a book club as well, right?
I’m selfishly hoping the release of The Women will give my book a bump, but most of all, further help to make the subject of Vietnam as attention worthy as the ubiquitous World War II.
Birthdays Bring Big Bucks
At live events, one of the most popular reasons people stop to look at my novel is that September 14 happens to be their own birthday, or that of a husband, mother, boyfriend . . . you get it. And I respond, “Then of course the book will make a perfect birthday present,” which as a sales pitch is almost always successful. I used to feel guilty, since they had no idea what they were in for. But then, more than half the time we discuss the story behind the date of the title and their eyes widen, glad there is more to their purchase than coincidence, and they tell me a story from their own lives about the Vietnam era we’ve all been touched by whether we realize it or not. As for the guilt, not so much if the purchaser originally asked if the novel was a mystery or thriller (apparently titles with dates are often these genres). Bottom line, you never know what will spur a sale. (I also get sales because of the pretty cover!)
A Birthday to Die For
Though I didn’t anticipate the appeal, the book was initially sent to media reviewers wrapped in birthday paper with a card indicating the Fourteenth of September was “A Birthday to Die For.” Audacious but effective, and on point for this story of a young woman whose birthday is is same as the #1 in the Vietnam Draft Lottery. I did brace myself for pushback, which didn’t happen. Whew! Thanks to Books Forward for the idea and creative genius Cathleen Johnson for the line.
Catch 22 in Vietnam
At my book launch my brother-in-law told me his birthday was September 14 and he had therefore been #1 in the Lottery. This was a fact I hadn’t known during the entire writing process of the novel, but you’d think I would have remembered from birthday parties over the years. He was immediately drafted back in 1970, one of the most dangerous times in the Vietnam War. He was twenty-five at the time. The Army put him through all the paperwork, got him into a uniform, and sent him to basic training. Then, just as he was ready to be shipped to Vietnam, his actual birthday occurred and he turned twenty-six, which made him too old for duty. They took back the uniform and sent him home. A close call for him (though he’d been willing to go). But a genuine Joseph Heller moment of military absurdity. It was also one of the many bizarre-but-true stories shared by quite a few of my readers who were drafted at the time, but through some slip up in the universe didn’t actually go to Vietnam. They were amazed at how fate . . . and f---ups were on their side.
Tip for Audiobook Listeners
I can’t believe I made the narrator of the audio book of The Fourteenth of September pronounce the dew do do da dews in “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” the era-specific Crosby, Stills & Nash song that led to my main character being named Judy Blue Eyes. That should have been left to David Crosby, Graham Nash, and/or Stephen Stills and no others. But if you set the speed faster you’ll enjoy her interpretation. Please sing along.
I knew you’d ask. I’m killing myself to get the full revision of my next novel to my editor before the end of September, when I will be off to Morocco on a trip that’s been delayed for three years because of COVID, unless it will be delayed again due to the earthquake. I’m also planning a trip to San Miguel in November for the Day of the Dead fiesta, which is the setting for the final third of the novel. I’ll be completing bits of remaining research so I can begin the process of sending the manuscript out to find a publishing home. Stay tuned for updates.
April 25, 2023
I've Been Hacked By The New Yorker!
“It’s a terrifically gripping story about aging hippies in San Miguel, but could you make it in Swedish?”
For those of you sending messages asking when my next book will come out, this cartoon of theirs should make it obvious I’m busy translating the manuscript into Swedish, and it’s . . . challenging: All those umlauts! Endless episodes of YouTube’s Say it in Swedish.
Seriously, I think this “plagiarism” may be yet another data breach or an AI imitation of another novel that just wants to be mine. It doesn’t have a chance, using words like “hippie” (when anyone who read my first novel, The Fourteenth of September knows the proper word is “freak”). It’s irrelevant anyway, my book is about “expats,” (a very particular species of hippies.) And what’s with the “aging” reference? I mean, okay, they’ve got some time on them, but my characters are up for a big Querencia of a life change, that takes vitality!
As for news of my writing vitality—which we all know has been ebbing more than than flowing—well…it’s a book itself.
Chapter One: Mea Culpa
January 3 (it was a long New Year’s weekend) to February 28.
I’ve been thwarted by the effects of an old neck injury I seriously aggravated while spending 8–12 hours a day at my computer during a 26-day artist residency at Ragdale Foundation last year. All I can say is it’s a bitch to try to finish a novel-length manuscript when you can only manage ten-minute increments of computer time. (But otherwise, the residency was lovely.)
I apologize to those of you who may think I bushwhacked them into thinking my book was finished and ready to go last fall when I asked for your help in coming up with a title. I seriously thought it would take longer to turn La Querencia into Last Sunset in San Miguel , and I admit I was buying time. I also understand not offering continuing status when you’ve gone public with a book is a bit like trying to date back in the day without revealing your astrological sign—conversation stopping. Let’s just say I use the word “painstaking” quite a bit when describing my process and I think “pain” is an apt root word for my condition.
Chapter Two: Humpty Dumpty Gets Reassembled
March 1 to March 30
Let’s just say pain is not conducive to creativity until after the fact. My Bod Squad (physical and massage therapists and trainer assembled to put Humpty Dumpty back together again) suggested I give up the computer and just dictate. I explained it isn’t quite as easy as in The Queen's Gambit when Beth Harmon visualized her chess moves on the ceiling each night. You have to be able to relentlessly fidget with your words. Enough said.
Chapter Three: Back Up on the Wall
April 1 to present
But I’m happy to announce that the months-long course of dry needling to my trap muscles (as awful as it sounds) has come to an end and by God it worked. So, Hallelujah! I’m back at it, writing flowing like crazy, with new deadlines. (No, I’m not sharing).
Since so many of you have asked, publication specifics remain in limbo because I haven’t completed a final draft, after which I must await the verdict of my editor to decide if that draft is, in fact, final. And then of course, there is all the usual find-an-agent/publisher frivolity one must endure. So, hang in there with me and I’ll strive to be entertaining in the interim.
Interim Diversions
About that interim. I’ve met a number of awesome writers who blow my mind not only with their work—but also with their volume of work. They somehow achieve this despite leading very busy lives and would probably never use a pathetic neck-injury excuse. They are literary Energizer Bunnies who turn new books out like crazy while racking up awards, running organizations, blanketing the media, raising families, teaching, baking (you know who you are), etc. I love/hate them. They are my “get your money’s worth out of your time on earth” aspirational models. Their latest works alone will give you hours of enjoyment as you continue to await my book. 🤣 Take your time.
My review of From Dust to Stardust by Kathleen Rooney
My review of A Spying Eye by Michelle Cox
My revivew of The Islander by David Berner
My review of I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
For those of you sending messages asking when my next book will come out, this cartoon of theirs should make it obvious I’m busy translating the manuscript into Swedish, and it’s . . . challenging: All those umlauts! Endless episodes of YouTube’s Say it in Swedish.
Seriously, I think this “plagiarism” may be yet another data breach or an AI imitation of another novel that just wants to be mine. It doesn’t have a chance, using words like “hippie” (when anyone who read my first novel, The Fourteenth of September knows the proper word is “freak”). It’s irrelevant anyway, my book is about “expats,” (a very particular species of hippies.) And what’s with the “aging” reference? I mean, okay, they’ve got some time on them, but my characters are up for a big Querencia of a life change, that takes vitality!
As for news of my writing vitality—which we all know has been ebbing more than than flowing—well…it’s a book itself.
Chapter One: Mea Culpa
January 3 (it was a long New Year’s weekend) to February 28.
I’ve been thwarted by the effects of an old neck injury I seriously aggravated while spending 8–12 hours a day at my computer during a 26-day artist residency at Ragdale Foundation last year. All I can say is it’s a bitch to try to finish a novel-length manuscript when you can only manage ten-minute increments of computer time. (But otherwise, the residency was lovely.)
I apologize to those of you who may think I bushwhacked them into thinking my book was finished and ready to go last fall when I asked for your help in coming up with a title. I seriously thought it would take longer to turn La Querencia into Last Sunset in San Miguel , and I admit I was buying time. I also understand not offering continuing status when you’ve gone public with a book is a bit like trying to date back in the day without revealing your astrological sign—conversation stopping. Let’s just say I use the word “painstaking” quite a bit when describing my process and I think “pain” is an apt root word for my condition.
Chapter Two: Humpty Dumpty Gets Reassembled
March 1 to March 30
Let’s just say pain is not conducive to creativity until after the fact. My Bod Squad (physical and massage therapists and trainer assembled to put Humpty Dumpty back together again) suggested I give up the computer and just dictate. I explained it isn’t quite as easy as in The Queen's Gambit when Beth Harmon visualized her chess moves on the ceiling each night. You have to be able to relentlessly fidget with your words. Enough said.
Chapter Three: Back Up on the Wall
April 1 to present
But I’m happy to announce that the months-long course of dry needling to my trap muscles (as awful as it sounds) has come to an end and by God it worked. So, Hallelujah! I’m back at it, writing flowing like crazy, with new deadlines. (No, I’m not sharing).
Since so many of you have asked, publication specifics remain in limbo because I haven’t completed a final draft, after which I must await the verdict of my editor to decide if that draft is, in fact, final. And then of course, there is all the usual find-an-agent/publisher frivolity one must endure. So, hang in there with me and I’ll strive to be entertaining in the interim.
Interim Diversions
About that interim. I’ve met a number of awesome writers who blow my mind not only with their work—but also with their volume of work. They somehow achieve this despite leading very busy lives and would probably never use a pathetic neck-injury excuse. They are literary Energizer Bunnies who turn new books out like crazy while racking up awards, running organizations, blanketing the media, raising families, teaching, baking (you know who you are), etc. I love/hate them. They are my “get your money’s worth out of your time on earth” aspirational models. Their latest works alone will give you hours of enjoyment as you continue to await my book. 🤣 Take your time.
My review of From Dust to Stardust by Kathleen Rooney
My review of A Spying Eye by Michelle Cox
My revivew of The Islander by David Berner
My review of I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
December 6, 2022
By Demand: The Irrepressible Book Gifter’s Holiday Recommendations
I like to give books as presents, there’s nothing unique about that. And I spend a fair amount of time selecting the right book for the right reader, because when someone gives me one I’m always interested in why they made that particular selection. I think most people who give books do the same, but for some reason (probably because I published a book in this third career of mine), there are a lot of questions each holiday season about not only what I’m buying, but for whom and why.
So, this year I thought I’d consolidate and share. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of lists for best holiday gift books out there. But the questions come, so here goes. They aren’t all the latest titles, just the best suited for particular friends, perhaps some of yours as well.
The Candy House / The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
These mind-bending books include glimpses of a plausible near future and grapple with tricky concepts: What if we could sell our memories on the cloud for anyone to download? What if epigenetics was a reality and trauma passes through DNA for generations? These novels are for readers who love to engage with intellectually challenging, as well as page-turning material. They don’t have to have read "Goon Squad" before “Candy House,” but if not, they’ll want to go back to it, so maybe a two-volume gift? I recommend the audio for “Daughters,” the actors are incredible and help keep the time-shifting clear.
Please Be Advised
Pure, side-splitting pleasure. I’m giving this hilarious “novel in memos” to everyone I know who has experienced the absurdity of a corporate environment. They will all relate. I’m also using it as a hostess gift for holiday parties. The gift of a belly-laugh.
Coco At The Ritz
An irresistible title for a story of war and fashion colliding for Paris elite under the WWII Occupation, and a plausible answer to one of the era’s still unsolved mysteries. For the reader who always wants a war story, with a new twist--it’s told from the point of view of the irascible Coco Chanel, who may or may not have been a German spy.
Suspect
Turow’s (perhaps first) female narrator, Pinky is an unpredictable hoot. The story twists, of course, but so does this millennial, tattooed, hard-drinking, drug-taking, bi-sexual cub investigator who gets in WAY over her head. Give this, for the sheer fun of it, for those readers who must have a mystery/thriller. Gift the audio book, the voice is a delight.
The Women of Troy / The Silence of the Girls
I was preoccupied for weeks with this propulsive saga. I picked up the second book first and immediately went back to the first once I finished. For anyone who loves historical fiction, the wonderful Pat Barker retells the Iliad and its aftermath from a women’s point of view. It's deeply insightful and realistic with a contemporary feeling. If you adore the person you give this to, make it a two-volume gift. And, when they resurface, you can make plans for giving them Barker’s Regeneration trilogy of WWI. I’m giving this to a dedicated historical fiction reader still mourning the end of The Outlander series. She’s in for a ride.
Oh, William
My favorite of all the Strout books since Olive Kitteridge. It’s amazing to see how she crafts a compelling narrative out of what you could only call a character sketch. A clear-eyed story of an "unlikeable" man, who happens to be her ex-husband, a connection the author seems unwilling to break, and neither does the reader. This novel saved my life during a failed, overnight sleep study. For anyone who loves women’s fiction (though that’s a reductive description of potential readers) and a great voice.
Klara and the Sun
Someone on your list will love/only read science fiction. I typically do not (except for select Ray Bradbury). But this exquisite tale of an android who becomes the artificial friend of a dying girl and exhibits such innocent powers of observation that she comes to understand humans much better than they do themselves, was addictive. Give it to anyone, then wait for the call when they finish—note the word they use to describe it. Perhaps it will be the one your searching for, besides “awesome.”
Where are the Snows / A Necessary Explosion
Blow the minds of those who love literature, but think they can no longer be surprised. These two books of poetry are wildly experimental but totally accessible. At first your head will spin over Rooney’s daily musings as you try to decide just what they are, but as it goes on you get it. It’s what a poet with a strong sense of the absurd, access to the internet, and endless time to contemplate does during COVID lock-down. Ridiculously quotable. You’ll be taking notes and wishing you could respond to every line she writes. Give to friends with whom you want to crack a bottle of wine, sit back and discuss.
Similarly, in A Necessary Explosion, Dan Burns shares the results of his warm-up process—the poems he generates as he gears up for the writing work of the day. Send either of these to someone you want to inspire into deeper creativity.
Sandman, a Golf Tale
Someone on your gift list will want a sports book, others a wonderful parable of life. If you’re finding it hard to chose gifts for a man, this will do it in particular, though not exclusively. A beautifully written, quiet book that will appeal to virtually any reader--just be sure to warn them it isn’t really about golf.
How to Walk on Water
I’ve frequently given this book for many reasons, but mostly to avid novel readers to get them equally addicted to short story collections where, in the time it takes to read a chapter, they will be able to savor a complete tale. These stories are full of danger and, perhaps, the supernatural. Caution your gift recipients not to read them in the dark.
Last Summer on State Street
I always give a copy of my favorite book of the year to my niece. This one is already wrapped and under the tree. When we say books allow us to experience lives we could never imagine, we mean stories like this. It’s a novel of coming of age under the worst possible circumstances that’s as hopeful and funny as it is shocking and tragic. This is due to a 12-year-old narrator who tells the tale of what happens to four jump-roping girlfriends, their pastime a stark contrast to the racism, poverty and violence of the world falling apart around them. Yes, it’s a book for those looking for a more diverse reading experience, but also for any reader who wants to expand their universe with an excellent story.
And Now For The Plug (You knew it was coming).
Please scan your list and consider gifting The Fourteenth of September, a novel that checks many boxes for many readers: historical fiction, coming of age, women’s and war fiction (Putin and his conscription/draft have made it newly relevant). Available in paperback, e-book and audio formats.
So, this year I thought I’d consolidate and share. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of lists for best holiday gift books out there. But the questions come, so here goes. They aren’t all the latest titles, just the best suited for particular friends, perhaps some of yours as well.
The Candy House / The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
These mind-bending books include glimpses of a plausible near future and grapple with tricky concepts: What if we could sell our memories on the cloud for anyone to download? What if epigenetics was a reality and trauma passes through DNA for generations? These novels are for readers who love to engage with intellectually challenging, as well as page-turning material. They don’t have to have read "Goon Squad" before “Candy House,” but if not, they’ll want to go back to it, so maybe a two-volume gift? I recommend the audio for “Daughters,” the actors are incredible and help keep the time-shifting clear.
Please Be Advised
Pure, side-splitting pleasure. I’m giving this hilarious “novel in memos” to everyone I know who has experienced the absurdity of a corporate environment. They will all relate. I’m also using it as a hostess gift for holiday parties. The gift of a belly-laugh.
Coco At The Ritz
An irresistible title for a story of war and fashion colliding for Paris elite under the WWII Occupation, and a plausible answer to one of the era’s still unsolved mysteries. For the reader who always wants a war story, with a new twist--it’s told from the point of view of the irascible Coco Chanel, who may or may not have been a German spy.
Suspect
Turow’s (perhaps first) female narrator, Pinky is an unpredictable hoot. The story twists, of course, but so does this millennial, tattooed, hard-drinking, drug-taking, bi-sexual cub investigator who gets in WAY over her head. Give this, for the sheer fun of it, for those readers who must have a mystery/thriller. Gift the audio book, the voice is a delight.
The Women of Troy / The Silence of the Girls
I was preoccupied for weeks with this propulsive saga. I picked up the second book first and immediately went back to the first once I finished. For anyone who loves historical fiction, the wonderful Pat Barker retells the Iliad and its aftermath from a women’s point of view. It's deeply insightful and realistic with a contemporary feeling. If you adore the person you give this to, make it a two-volume gift. And, when they resurface, you can make plans for giving them Barker’s Regeneration trilogy of WWI. I’m giving this to a dedicated historical fiction reader still mourning the end of The Outlander series. She’s in for a ride.
Oh, William
My favorite of all the Strout books since Olive Kitteridge. It’s amazing to see how she crafts a compelling narrative out of what you could only call a character sketch. A clear-eyed story of an "unlikeable" man, who happens to be her ex-husband, a connection the author seems unwilling to break, and neither does the reader. This novel saved my life during a failed, overnight sleep study. For anyone who loves women’s fiction (though that’s a reductive description of potential readers) and a great voice.
Klara and the Sun
Someone on your list will love/only read science fiction. I typically do not (except for select Ray Bradbury). But this exquisite tale of an android who becomes the artificial friend of a dying girl and exhibits such innocent powers of observation that she comes to understand humans much better than they do themselves, was addictive. Give it to anyone, then wait for the call when they finish—note the word they use to describe it. Perhaps it will be the one your searching for, besides “awesome.”
Where are the Snows / A Necessary Explosion
Blow the minds of those who love literature, but think they can no longer be surprised. These two books of poetry are wildly experimental but totally accessible. At first your head will spin over Rooney’s daily musings as you try to decide just what they are, but as it goes on you get it. It’s what a poet with a strong sense of the absurd, access to the internet, and endless time to contemplate does during COVID lock-down. Ridiculously quotable. You’ll be taking notes and wishing you could respond to every line she writes. Give to friends with whom you want to crack a bottle of wine, sit back and discuss.
Similarly, in A Necessary Explosion, Dan Burns shares the results of his warm-up process—the poems he generates as he gears up for the writing work of the day. Send either of these to someone you want to inspire into deeper creativity.
Sandman, a Golf Tale
Someone on your gift list will want a sports book, others a wonderful parable of life. If you’re finding it hard to chose gifts for a man, this will do it in particular, though not exclusively. A beautifully written, quiet book that will appeal to virtually any reader--just be sure to warn them it isn’t really about golf.
How to Walk on Water
I’ve frequently given this book for many reasons, but mostly to avid novel readers to get them equally addicted to short story collections where, in the time it takes to read a chapter, they will be able to savor a complete tale. These stories are full of danger and, perhaps, the supernatural. Caution your gift recipients not to read them in the dark.
Last Summer on State Street
I always give a copy of my favorite book of the year to my niece. This one is already wrapped and under the tree. When we say books allow us to experience lives we could never imagine, we mean stories like this. It’s a novel of coming of age under the worst possible circumstances that’s as hopeful and funny as it is shocking and tragic. This is due to a 12-year-old narrator who tells the tale of what happens to four jump-roping girlfriends, their pastime a stark contrast to the racism, poverty and violence of the world falling apart around them. Yes, it’s a book for those looking for a more diverse reading experience, but also for any reader who wants to expand their universe with an excellent story.
And Now For The Plug (You knew it was coming).
Please scan your list and consider gifting The Fourteenth of September, a novel that checks many boxes for many readers: historical fiction, coming of age, women’s and war fiction (Putin and his conscription/draft have made it newly relevant). Available in paperback, e-book and audio formats.
November 4, 2022
Trumpet Blast: The New Title For My Second Novel Revealed. Thank You, My Collaborators
Whew! Despite a few leaks in response to persistent pleas, I’ve waited to reveal the new title for my second book until today, my birthday, since this is such a huge gift to me. Thank you all for participating in the “game” to help me replace my perfect but rejected La Querencia with something equally “transcendent” but more accessible. And what a process it was. Every single suggestion sent led, step by step, to the final (by then obvious) selection.
You may recognize the new title (you may have recommended something close to it). There was a lot of consensus, so you may not be surprised. I actually thought a final title might be more “out there,” and require multiple rounds of dueling options, but as I pared down the (nearly 330-option) list for the reveal, my new perfect title simply emerged. Here it is with place-holding artwork.
It’s the Total Package.
According to agent/friend April Eberhardt, this choice “seems to have all of the subjects.” You’ll recognize it as one of the combo titles mentioned in the last blog, where I also indicated that the elements of the name San Miguel, a sunset (the English-language stand-in for Querencia), dreams and the concept of “last” were common to most of your suggestions and seemed to best resonate with the theme and tone of the novel. With “dream” already in the tag line, it’s the whole package.
Titles can take a while to “sink in,” but this one does a lot for the story.
Shout Outs: Final Round
Thanks to Lynda Woodworth (a former colleague at Dragonette,Inc./GCI Dragonette) for indicating potential readers would be intrigued if the location of San Miguel was in the title. It “sounds exotic, enticing and would make me want to find out more.” Certainly, the setting is a major element of the story—it couldn’t take place anywhere else. And, when you say “San Miguel” eyes do glaze over and smiles begin—"I’ve always wanted to go there.” “ I almost bought a house there.” “San Miguel” was in at least a third of all title suggestions.
A big nod to fellow writer Ruth Chatlein, whose book, Katie Bar the Door, came out around this time last year. She strongly championed the idea of “Last Call. ” “The combination of a bar and a group of people trying to realize their final dreams.” This was also in at least another third of overall suggestions. It puts “Sunset in San Miguel” into a narrative, begging the question- why is it the last?
Kudos to Lainey for suggesting I try pairing the emotion with the location. “The Last Mexican Sunset, Hope and Sunset Dreams in San Miguel-kind of thing.” I did, in fact, throw everything into the title line and subtracted the essence. It was fun.
And I thank artist Ken Probst who told me (quite vigorously) to stop overthinking and use my own words, “The Last Best Part of Life.” This title tops my alternates list for its irony. A huge part of the story is about the viability of the last dreams of the five characters. They probably don’t all come true. At least a quarter of you agree.
And I still really love “The Sunset Dreamers," which is also on the alternate list. Thank you Lynda Naslund. Both of these phrases will no doubt end up in the book in some form or another.
Will the Sun Set on this Title, is the Question.
I know it’s just a “working title,” subject to the whims and tastes of a future publisher. Though working titles have a way of settling in and becoming inevitable . . . if not predictable, I say with a nod to the great Jacqueline Mitchard. And I am unconcerned. I have nearly 330 alternates—a helluva backup list.
Above all, I am so thrilled you engaged in the process and, I hope, enjoyed it. You helped me break down my hoity-toity concept into something simple and powerful—or rather, simply powerful. It works. As evidence, I no longer mourn the loss of La Querencia. It remains the name of the bar in the story so I don’t have to give it up. And it may just be more appropriate in that capacity.
You guys are great. Count me in on your creative teams for your own projects.
Best birthday present EVER!
You may recognize the new title (you may have recommended something close to it). There was a lot of consensus, so you may not be surprised. I actually thought a final title might be more “out there,” and require multiple rounds of dueling options, but as I pared down the (nearly 330-option) list for the reveal, my new perfect title simply emerged. Here it is with place-holding artwork.
It’s the Total Package.
According to agent/friend April Eberhardt, this choice “seems to have all of the subjects.” You’ll recognize it as one of the combo titles mentioned in the last blog, where I also indicated that the elements of the name San Miguel, a sunset (the English-language stand-in for Querencia), dreams and the concept of “last” were common to most of your suggestions and seemed to best resonate with the theme and tone of the novel. With “dream” already in the tag line, it’s the whole package.
Titles can take a while to “sink in,” but this one does a lot for the story.
Shout Outs: Final Round
Thanks to Lynda Woodworth (a former colleague at Dragonette,Inc./GCI Dragonette) for indicating potential readers would be intrigued if the location of San Miguel was in the title. It “sounds exotic, enticing and would make me want to find out more.” Certainly, the setting is a major element of the story—it couldn’t take place anywhere else. And, when you say “San Miguel” eyes do glaze over and smiles begin—"I’ve always wanted to go there.” “ I almost bought a house there.” “San Miguel” was in at least a third of all title suggestions.
A big nod to fellow writer Ruth Chatlein, whose book, Katie Bar the Door, came out around this time last year. She strongly championed the idea of “Last Call. ” “The combination of a bar and a group of people trying to realize their final dreams.” This was also in at least another third of overall suggestions. It puts “Sunset in San Miguel” into a narrative, begging the question- why is it the last?
Kudos to Lainey for suggesting I try pairing the emotion with the location. “The Last Mexican Sunset, Hope and Sunset Dreams in San Miguel-kind of thing.” I did, in fact, throw everything into the title line and subtracted the essence. It was fun.
And I thank artist Ken Probst who told me (quite vigorously) to stop overthinking and use my own words, “The Last Best Part of Life.” This title tops my alternates list for its irony. A huge part of the story is about the viability of the last dreams of the five characters. They probably don’t all come true. At least a quarter of you agree.
And I still really love “The Sunset Dreamers," which is also on the alternate list. Thank you Lynda Naslund. Both of these phrases will no doubt end up in the book in some form or another.
Will the Sun Set on this Title, is the Question.
I know it’s just a “working title,” subject to the whims and tastes of a future publisher. Though working titles have a way of settling in and becoming inevitable . . . if not predictable, I say with a nod to the great Jacqueline Mitchard. And I am unconcerned. I have nearly 330 alternates—a helluva backup list.
Above all, I am so thrilled you engaged in the process and, I hope, enjoyed it. You helped me break down my hoity-toity concept into something simple and powerful—or rather, simply powerful. It works. As evidence, I no longer mourn the loss of La Querencia. It remains the name of the bar in the story so I don’t have to give it up. And it may just be more appropriate in that capacity.
You guys are great. Count me in on your creative teams for your own projects.
Best birthday present EVER!
September 14, 2022
My New Novel—aka La Querencia—Now Has 306 Potential Titles. THANK YOU ALL!
What a response! My call for title help received more responses than any blog post I’ve sent out in five years. All I can say is to repeat something I learned back when I was still buying 45s; the Beatles were right, duh. I did need a little help from my friends and boy did you come through. I’ve been playing with all the titles, falling in love with each and following the riff of possibilities it sent me through. Just yesterday I thought I had it with The Dream Chasers. I was fantasizing about possible covers and where in the manuscript I could seed in language to make it transcendent. Then I discovered it had been the title of a 1984 two-star modern day western as well as two documentaries. I guess that means it was a good, if not unique, idea. But alas, not for me. So, I don’t have a finalist yet, but the winnowing has been enlightening. Read on to see where I am in the process.
I Promised to Make the “Author” of the Final Title Famous. Round One.
All 306 possibilities have been great, and they are still coming in, from many sources including some people I haven’t connected with since pre-Covid and longer. I’m delighted. My Excel spreadsheet is now on page ten. Some of you have shared the process of your entire creative burst and others have sent a single carefully curated option.
The leader in quantity with 38 suggestions is master designer/identity expert Greg Samata, who designed the look of my website (and in full disclosure was also my eighth-grade boyfriend). Within seconds of sending his ideas he texted to indicate that he could come up with more if I’d just tell him the ending of the novel. Ha! Nice ploy, Greg. I differed. But then we know that endings are as changeable as titles, yes?
Coming in the twenties was poet Nolan Chambers with 26, many based on some fascinating research into the origin and meaning of potential Spanish words. Writer John Poplett follows with 21. I met John when I browbeat him into buying my first novel at the Printers Row Lit Fest a while back. He threw it on his TBR (to be read) file and didn’t crack it open for a year, after which he sent a fan email.
Some other seriously great writers also sent double-digit lists of seriously great options including 17 from Maggie Smith, who is currently basking in the glow of the successful launch of her debut novel Truth and Other Lies. At 16, networking buddy Brenda Butler tied with fabulous photographer and supporter of all writers Susan Aurinko, who took my first author photo. Alice Early, author of the award-winning The Moon Always Rising, sent 15, including the one currently stuck in my head that truly sings. Alice and I share a publisher (She Writes Press) and a consultant-to-author background. Bob Carr, former communications colleague and writer sent 11, as well as some wonderful research on the Day of the Dead Fiesta, which figures prominently in the novel.
The First Cut
Going through so many potential titles has helped me reach a few early conclusions. As much as I love the truly wonderful titles featuring “bull,” I realize I shouldn’t have that word in the title. The novel is already an homage to The Sun Also Rises, with a single bullfighting scene, the prospect of either of which is off-putting to some who are squeamish or Hemingway adverse (sad but true). I’m always explaining that the book is not about bullfighting, that it’s just the metaphor, so putting bull in the title is going to make that hill harder to climb. As a result, I have to give up wonderful options like Twilight of the Bulls, The Place in the Ring, The Season of the Bull, Last Stand in the Ring, In the Bull’s Eye.
Also, the concept of “safety” doesn’t seem to work as well as I’d envisioned to communicate what the story is about. Although I do like Safe Dreams.
What I have learned on the “what does work” side is:
1) San Miguel is a setting that really resonates, so having it in the title would be a bonus.
2) Sunset or “twilight” seems to combine the wonderful-but-temporary concept of querencia. And it’s already in the manuscript. As Rachel, the main character, explains: “La Querencia is the perfect time before the end of life, a sunset is the most beautiful, last hurrah of the day.”
3) Dream works in many of the titles and clearly represents what all the characters are after. Wounded Dreams, A Rage of Dreams.
4) Last or “final” offers the concept of a last shot or opportunity for that dream. Last Call, Last Stop, Last/Final Dream, Finale, Last Call at La Querencia (the Spanish word could work in this sense).
Many of the title options use or combine these elements, such as:
Last Sunset in San Miguel
Twilight in San Miguel
Sundown in San Miguel
The Sunset Dreamers
Last Stand at San Miguel
This Last Dream
I’m still going through many more from the categories above as well as those related to the Querencia time frame, i.e., The Last Best Part of Life (though that won’t necessarily be true. After all, there are five characters, each with a dream, what are the odds?) So, if you have any thoughts or additional ideas, or want to make a case for something I’m passing on, I’d love to hear from you. Meanwhile I’m clearing off my bulletin board so I can whiteboard this process and come to a conclusion or at least identify final candidates by my next post. Thank you all so much.
It’s Anniversary Day—The Fourteenth of September published on September 14, 2018. Or did it?
I still remember the conversation with my publisher when we knew publication would be September 12. “Marketing me” said that of course we should hold it two days—“Fourteenth on the 14th.” Genius, right? Logical, of course? She laughed. Apparently the 14th that year was not on a sacred Tuesday, the only day of the week when books are launched. This was one of many critical factoids about the publishing world I was to learn. The first year I was peppered with many questions: Why didn’t it just come out on the 14th? I finally took to rounding it off and just telling people it WAS published on the 14th. Which is where the story is today and will stay.
It has been quite a four years. I still have an approach/avoidance relationship with the good/bad situation of history that continues to make The Fourteenth of September evergreen historical fiction. Though set in 1969-1970 (from the first Vietnam Draft Lottery through the Kent State Massacre), the world continues to deal with similar issues. I take pride in the fact that the lessons of what we encountered ending the Vietnam Draft are currently giving Putin pause in starting one of his own. Hopefully, it will help to accelerate a badly needed conclusion. There will never be a good way to sacrifice lives without a worthy objective.
On the positive side, I’ve met and worked with amazing people and partners. We had a ton of parties and events, won more than a few awards and schlepped many pounds of books to and from independent bookstores, festivals, and book clubs. I’m amazed that the book continues to sell after all this time, though I know if I take my foot off the marketing machine it stops cold. (As if I would do that. You all know me better). I’m very grateful to the masses that helped me launch as well as to my current team of Kaitlyn Kennedy on publicity and Zerina Mehmedovic on social media (she actually had a baby and moved across the country in the middle of all of this!). Both of them agree with the adage of author Ann Patchett, “If You Haven’t Read It, It Is a New Book to You.” I thank all those readers in all those enthusiast social media sites who press on beyond the recent best-seller lists to prove that to be true every day.
To celebrate the anniversary, we’ve lowered the ebook price to $1.99 through the month of September only.
So, act fast if (despite all my nagging) you haven’t yet read the book, or if you have friends you think would like it.
Thanks for being with me.
I Promised to Make the “Author” of the Final Title Famous. Round One.
All 306 possibilities have been great, and they are still coming in, from many sources including some people I haven’t connected with since pre-Covid and longer. I’m delighted. My Excel spreadsheet is now on page ten. Some of you have shared the process of your entire creative burst and others have sent a single carefully curated option.
The leader in quantity with 38 suggestions is master designer/identity expert Greg Samata, who designed the look of my website (and in full disclosure was also my eighth-grade boyfriend). Within seconds of sending his ideas he texted to indicate that he could come up with more if I’d just tell him the ending of the novel. Ha! Nice ploy, Greg. I differed. But then we know that endings are as changeable as titles, yes?
Coming in the twenties was poet Nolan Chambers with 26, many based on some fascinating research into the origin and meaning of potential Spanish words. Writer John Poplett follows with 21. I met John when I browbeat him into buying my first novel at the Printers Row Lit Fest a while back. He threw it on his TBR (to be read) file and didn’t crack it open for a year, after which he sent a fan email.
Some other seriously great writers also sent double-digit lists of seriously great options including 17 from Maggie Smith, who is currently basking in the glow of the successful launch of her debut novel Truth and Other Lies. At 16, networking buddy Brenda Butler tied with fabulous photographer and supporter of all writers Susan Aurinko, who took my first author photo. Alice Early, author of the award-winning The Moon Always Rising, sent 15, including the one currently stuck in my head that truly sings. Alice and I share a publisher (She Writes Press) and a consultant-to-author background. Bob Carr, former communications colleague and writer sent 11, as well as some wonderful research on the Day of the Dead Fiesta, which figures prominently in the novel.
The First Cut
Going through so many potential titles has helped me reach a few early conclusions. As much as I love the truly wonderful titles featuring “bull,” I realize I shouldn’t have that word in the title. The novel is already an homage to The Sun Also Rises, with a single bullfighting scene, the prospect of either of which is off-putting to some who are squeamish or Hemingway adverse (sad but true). I’m always explaining that the book is not about bullfighting, that it’s just the metaphor, so putting bull in the title is going to make that hill harder to climb. As a result, I have to give up wonderful options like Twilight of the Bulls, The Place in the Ring, The Season of the Bull, Last Stand in the Ring, In the Bull’s Eye.
Also, the concept of “safety” doesn’t seem to work as well as I’d envisioned to communicate what the story is about. Although I do like Safe Dreams.
What I have learned on the “what does work” side is:
1) San Miguel is a setting that really resonates, so having it in the title would be a bonus.
2) Sunset or “twilight” seems to combine the wonderful-but-temporary concept of querencia. And it’s already in the manuscript. As Rachel, the main character, explains: “La Querencia is the perfect time before the end of life, a sunset is the most beautiful, last hurrah of the day.”
3) Dream works in many of the titles and clearly represents what all the characters are after. Wounded Dreams, A Rage of Dreams.
4) Last or “final” offers the concept of a last shot or opportunity for that dream. Last Call, Last Stop, Last/Final Dream, Finale, Last Call at La Querencia (the Spanish word could work in this sense).
Many of the title options use or combine these elements, such as:
Last Sunset in San Miguel
Twilight in San Miguel
Sundown in San Miguel
The Sunset Dreamers
Last Stand at San Miguel
This Last Dream
I’m still going through many more from the categories above as well as those related to the Querencia time frame, i.e., The Last Best Part of Life (though that won’t necessarily be true. After all, there are five characters, each with a dream, what are the odds?) So, if you have any thoughts or additional ideas, or want to make a case for something I’m passing on, I’d love to hear from you. Meanwhile I’m clearing off my bulletin board so I can whiteboard this process and come to a conclusion or at least identify final candidates by my next post. Thank you all so much.
It’s Anniversary Day—The Fourteenth of September published on September 14, 2018. Or did it?
I still remember the conversation with my publisher when we knew publication would be September 12. “Marketing me” said that of course we should hold it two days—“Fourteenth on the 14th.” Genius, right? Logical, of course? She laughed. Apparently the 14th that year was not on a sacred Tuesday, the only day of the week when books are launched. This was one of many critical factoids about the publishing world I was to learn. The first year I was peppered with many questions: Why didn’t it just come out on the 14th? I finally took to rounding it off and just telling people it WAS published on the 14th. Which is where the story is today and will stay.
It has been quite a four years. I still have an approach/avoidance relationship with the good/bad situation of history that continues to make The Fourteenth of September evergreen historical fiction. Though set in 1969-1970 (from the first Vietnam Draft Lottery through the Kent State Massacre), the world continues to deal with similar issues. I take pride in the fact that the lessons of what we encountered ending the Vietnam Draft are currently giving Putin pause in starting one of his own. Hopefully, it will help to accelerate a badly needed conclusion. There will never be a good way to sacrifice lives without a worthy objective.
On the positive side, I’ve met and worked with amazing people and partners. We had a ton of parties and events, won more than a few awards and schlepped many pounds of books to and from independent bookstores, festivals, and book clubs. I’m amazed that the book continues to sell after all this time, though I know if I take my foot off the marketing machine it stops cold. (As if I would do that. You all know me better). I’m very grateful to the masses that helped me launch as well as to my current team of Kaitlyn Kennedy on publicity and Zerina Mehmedovic on social media (she actually had a baby and moved across the country in the middle of all of this!). Both of them agree with the adage of author Ann Patchett, “If You Haven’t Read It, It Is a New Book to You.” I thank all those readers in all those enthusiast social media sites who press on beyond the recent best-seller lists to prove that to be true every day.
To celebrate the anniversary, we’ve lowered the ebook price to $1.99 through the month of September only.
So, act fast if (despite all my nagging) you haven’t yet read the book, or if you have friends you think would like it.
Thanks for being with me.
August 9, 2022
Urgent: I Have to Break Up with My New Novel’s Perfect Title, and I Need a Little Help from My Friends
The split is neither of our faults but is being forced by wiser, more experienced (editor/agent/authoritarian-type) sources who have my best interests at heart and assure me that in the long run we will not be compatible for either broad readership or decent sales.
I’m bereft. I thought I could make it work.
But the novel draft is approaching completion, and I’m running out of time. I have to start title creation all over again and . . . well . . . breaking up is hard to do. I’m having trouble. My perfect, but rejected title is etched in my brain. I need an outside perspective. I need a little help from you—writers, readers, observers, supporters, friends—to come up with a new title. Are you game?
I’ll lay out everything you need to know, and hopefully you’ll see ever so clearly what I cannot and help me replace my perfect book title with another perfectly wonderful, no doubt, better one. And I’ll reward you for your efforts, really.
Here is the Problem.
LA QUERENCIA
My rejected title is in Spanish: La Querencia. It’s a bullfighting term, though my story is not about bullfighting. Thematically, it’s ideal as you will read below, but no, it does not easily trip off the tongue. In fact, even my iPhone can’t cope with it. It keeps “correcting” querencia into various irrelevant words and phrases—quince, queer congrats, quest, queen. So, I have to agree that a difficult-to-pronounce word in another language is a recipe for the discount bin.
My new title needs to be in English, period. Simple, right? Not so much. La Querencia is idiomatic, so a direct translation doesn’t really work and there are variations about what it means.
My preferred definition refers to “the place in the ring where the bull feels safe.” It is a moment of transcendence for the bull—where he thinks he’s won. Though we know the bull will soon die, in the moment of his Querencia he lives the last, best part of his life.
This is a perfect metaphor for my story of a group of expats, each of whom have come to beautiful San Miguel de Allende, with their last dream. The generational story is informed by Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. Click here for the full synopsis.
Like the moment it describes, La Querencia as a title is also transcendent, which is another reason why it’s hard to give it up.
Why a Transcendent Title?
I never felt I had the perfect title for my last book. My working title started out as September 14, but it was too close to the very loaded date of September 11th. My writing instructor, the marvelous Gary Wilson, suggested The Fourteenth of September and it stayed like that for its entire development. I always thought I’d come up with something more lyrical, an elegant brushstroke of my theme.
My model for a great title has always been The Adulterous Woman by Albert Camus, the famous story of a woman whose brief, misunderstood flirtatious encounter plunges her into a review of her life and a “sensuous” visit to an Algerian fortress where she engages in her “adultery.” The title is so apt and necessary that without it you don’t fully understand what you think is happening is actually “true.” If you haven’t read it, you must.
I’ve also been drawn to titles like Starting Out in the Evening, about a writer starting over well past his prime, and Old Joy, about long-time friends on a camping trip, “coming to grips with the changes in their lives.” I feel each of these titles elevated their stories in beautiful and profoundly impactful ways.
I had wanted the title of my debut novel to sing like that. However, despite many brainstorming sessions, it remained “working” until my publisher pronounced it “strong.” Who knew? I admit in retrospect, The Fourteenth of September is well-suited for the story of a young woman with that birthdate who realizes that if she’d been a man, she would have been Number One in the Vietnam Draft Lottery. I just couldn’t see it myself. I needed a friend to help me. Thank you, Gary.
This Novel Has Already Had More Than a Little Help from My Friends.
This time the title came first and was my source of inspiration for the entire story. La Querencia had worked in my mind for nearly 15 years. The wonderful photographer Karen Thompson had given me one of her pieces with that title and its safe-place-for-the-bull definition. The photograph depicted a place where she, herself, felt safe. I loved the concept. I knew it had potential for a metaphor. But at the time I didn’t know for what. Thank you, Karen.
Flash forward almost ten years, when a friend told me she wintered in a beautiful place, popular with expats—San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She regularly shared amusing, sometimes absurd stories of these visitors who straddled the line between their home lives and their expat adventures, giddy with plans to become painters, writers, or restauranteurs. I noted the setting and the expats had great potential for some story, though I had no idea what it would be. Thank you, Cathleen.
In 2016, during a visit to Paris, I introduced a friend from Quebec to Shakespeare and Company, the famous bookstore that published so many of the American expats after the First World War, including Hemingway. I realized she’d never read anything by the author and bought her a copy of The Sun Also Rises. Thank you, Aimée.
Once home, during a massage (head rubbing makes me very creative. Thank you, Sarah.) all these pieces started to come together. I had the beginning of a story—an homage to the Hemingway novel, but contemporary, with world-worn expats looking for their final chapter in this Mexican paradise.
Armed with this story idea I was off to San Miguel for research. I was invited to a bullfight. Thank you, Phyllis. I wasn’t looking forward to it, having seen one before—a bad one in Acapulco, with inept matadors, from way high in the top of the bleachers.
For this bullfight our seats were close. And a relative of the friend who invited me turned out to be an aficionada who talked us through each of the afternoon’s six fights, giving me a completely different perspective—from the bull’s point of view. Thank you, Karen #2.
There was one bull who wouldn’t move, another hugged the ring wall. In those moments their postures seem to transform them. I realized that “being safe” in the ring was also this precious moment of time before the end. Suddenly, I saw La Querencia as a potential title: a metaphor for a time in life paralleling that of the older expats in my story. The “moment” you could miss or make the best, a last opportunity for a generation to fulfill its early promise. It worked. And I had a story with a title and a tag line.
La Querencia
For a Generation of Dreamers, this Last One Really Has to Come True
But alas, the beautiful La Querencia, which is still the name of a bar in my story, can no longer serve as the title.
My personal dream would be for a new title that would describe the querencia moment in English and to keep the tag line. That may or may not be possible, or even advisable. I fully disclose that I can only see trees in this forest.
San Miguel Also Rises. Thank you, Nolan.
So now you know everything. And yes, I’m really sticking my neck out by going public with so much, and potentially so much that could change.
But I am more than ready to just move on with a new title. And I’m a little tired of working on this all alone.
Continuing the tradition of this novel’s progress, I’m in serious need of help from, well, anyone reading this blog. The titles I come up with all sound soapy. I can literally hear the organ music as I say them out loud.
The pathetic brainstorming list on my bulletin board has only a few potentials:
The Last Hurrah (a Spencer Tracy film?)
The Last Dream, Last Dreams (a romance?)
Sunset over San Miguel, The Sun Also Sets (a Hemingway Pastiche?)
Please engage. Just send any ideas through the comment section of this blog post. It doesn’t matter how farfetched. This is an online brainstorming and each idea will spur other thoughts. Or you can email me directly through the website.
In return I promise to report on progress towards a new title and offer fame (if you want it) to anyone who comes up with a winner. This would begin with immortality via the acknowledgments section of the eventual 🤞🏼 published novel and continue with all kinds of early-read opportunities, giveaways, special invites, and other goodies. If your suggestion really sings, I may adopt you.
It’s my Working Title. Okay?
And yes, after all this, I know the publisher will probably change it anyway. Possibly to something quite simple. That doesn’t mean we can’t play and have some fun. I say game on. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you all in advance.
I’m bereft. I thought I could make it work.
But the novel draft is approaching completion, and I’m running out of time. I have to start title creation all over again and . . . well . . . breaking up is hard to do. I’m having trouble. My perfect, but rejected title is etched in my brain. I need an outside perspective. I need a little help from you—writers, readers, observers, supporters, friends—to come up with a new title. Are you game?
I’ll lay out everything you need to know, and hopefully you’ll see ever so clearly what I cannot and help me replace my perfect book title with another perfectly wonderful, no doubt, better one. And I’ll reward you for your efforts, really.
Here is the Problem.
LA QUERENCIA
My rejected title is in Spanish: La Querencia. It’s a bullfighting term, though my story is not about bullfighting. Thematically, it’s ideal as you will read below, but no, it does not easily trip off the tongue. In fact, even my iPhone can’t cope with it. It keeps “correcting” querencia into various irrelevant words and phrases—quince, queer congrats, quest, queen. So, I have to agree that a difficult-to-pronounce word in another language is a recipe for the discount bin.
My new title needs to be in English, period. Simple, right? Not so much. La Querencia is idiomatic, so a direct translation doesn’t really work and there are variations about what it means.
My preferred definition refers to “the place in the ring where the bull feels safe.” It is a moment of transcendence for the bull—where he thinks he’s won. Though we know the bull will soon die, in the moment of his Querencia he lives the last, best part of his life.
This is a perfect metaphor for my story of a group of expats, each of whom have come to beautiful San Miguel de Allende, with their last dream. The generational story is informed by Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. Click here for the full synopsis.
Like the moment it describes, La Querencia as a title is also transcendent, which is another reason why it’s hard to give it up.
Why a Transcendent Title?
I never felt I had the perfect title for my last book. My working title started out as September 14, but it was too close to the very loaded date of September 11th. My writing instructor, the marvelous Gary Wilson, suggested The Fourteenth of September and it stayed like that for its entire development. I always thought I’d come up with something more lyrical, an elegant brushstroke of my theme.
My model for a great title has always been The Adulterous Woman by Albert Camus, the famous story of a woman whose brief, misunderstood flirtatious encounter plunges her into a review of her life and a “sensuous” visit to an Algerian fortress where she engages in her “adultery.” The title is so apt and necessary that without it you don’t fully understand what you think is happening is actually “true.” If you haven’t read it, you must.
I’ve also been drawn to titles like Starting Out in the Evening, about a writer starting over well past his prime, and Old Joy, about long-time friends on a camping trip, “coming to grips with the changes in their lives.” I feel each of these titles elevated their stories in beautiful and profoundly impactful ways.
I had wanted the title of my debut novel to sing like that. However, despite many brainstorming sessions, it remained “working” until my publisher pronounced it “strong.” Who knew? I admit in retrospect, The Fourteenth of September is well-suited for the story of a young woman with that birthdate who realizes that if she’d been a man, she would have been Number One in the Vietnam Draft Lottery. I just couldn’t see it myself. I needed a friend to help me. Thank you, Gary.
This Novel Has Already Had More Than a Little Help from My Friends.
This time the title came first and was my source of inspiration for the entire story. La Querencia had worked in my mind for nearly 15 years. The wonderful photographer Karen Thompson had given me one of her pieces with that title and its safe-place-for-the-bull definition. The photograph depicted a place where she, herself, felt safe. I loved the concept. I knew it had potential for a metaphor. But at the time I didn’t know for what. Thank you, Karen.
Flash forward almost ten years, when a friend told me she wintered in a beautiful place, popular with expats—San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She regularly shared amusing, sometimes absurd stories of these visitors who straddled the line between their home lives and their expat adventures, giddy with plans to become painters, writers, or restauranteurs. I noted the setting and the expats had great potential for some story, though I had no idea what it would be. Thank you, Cathleen.
In 2016, during a visit to Paris, I introduced a friend from Quebec to Shakespeare and Company, the famous bookstore that published so many of the American expats after the First World War, including Hemingway. I realized she’d never read anything by the author and bought her a copy of The Sun Also Rises. Thank you, Aimée.
Once home, during a massage (head rubbing makes me very creative. Thank you, Sarah.) all these pieces started to come together. I had the beginning of a story—an homage to the Hemingway novel, but contemporary, with world-worn expats looking for their final chapter in this Mexican paradise.
Armed with this story idea I was off to San Miguel for research. I was invited to a bullfight. Thank you, Phyllis. I wasn’t looking forward to it, having seen one before—a bad one in Acapulco, with inept matadors, from way high in the top of the bleachers.
For this bullfight our seats were close. And a relative of the friend who invited me turned out to be an aficionada who talked us through each of the afternoon’s six fights, giving me a completely different perspective—from the bull’s point of view. Thank you, Karen #2.
There was one bull who wouldn’t move, another hugged the ring wall. In those moments their postures seem to transform them. I realized that “being safe” in the ring was also this precious moment of time before the end. Suddenly, I saw La Querencia as a potential title: a metaphor for a time in life paralleling that of the older expats in my story. The “moment” you could miss or make the best, a last opportunity for a generation to fulfill its early promise. It worked. And I had a story with a title and a tag line.
La Querencia
For a Generation of Dreamers, this Last One Really Has to Come True
But alas, the beautiful La Querencia, which is still the name of a bar in my story, can no longer serve as the title.
My personal dream would be for a new title that would describe the querencia moment in English and to keep the tag line. That may or may not be possible, or even advisable. I fully disclose that I can only see trees in this forest.
San Miguel Also Rises. Thank you, Nolan.
So now you know everything. And yes, I’m really sticking my neck out by going public with so much, and potentially so much that could change.
But I am more than ready to just move on with a new title. And I’m a little tired of working on this all alone.
Continuing the tradition of this novel’s progress, I’m in serious need of help from, well, anyone reading this blog. The titles I come up with all sound soapy. I can literally hear the organ music as I say them out loud.
The pathetic brainstorming list on my bulletin board has only a few potentials:
The Last Hurrah (a Spencer Tracy film?)
The Last Dream, Last Dreams (a romance?)
Sunset over San Miguel, The Sun Also Sets (a Hemingway Pastiche?)
Please engage. Just send any ideas through the comment section of this blog post. It doesn’t matter how farfetched. This is an online brainstorming and each idea will spur other thoughts. Or you can email me directly through the website.
In return I promise to report on progress towards a new title and offer fame (if you want it) to anyone who comes up with a winner. This would begin with immortality via the acknowledgments section of the eventual 🤞🏼 published novel and continue with all kinds of early-read opportunities, giveaways, special invites, and other goodies. If your suggestion really sings, I may adopt you.
It’s my Working Title. Okay?
And yes, after all this, I know the publisher will probably change it anyway. Possibly to something quite simple. That doesn’t mean we can’t play and have some fun. I say game on. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you all in advance.
