Audrey Kalman's Blog, page 4

A book to get you through the longest night

Photo above: Stonehenge at dawn on winter solstice (photograph by Mike Peel via WikiMedia Commons) BOOK GIVEAWAY INFO BELOW Desire for soup Recently I’ve been feeling sluggish and unfocused. My greatest desires seem to be curling up under a warm blanket and cooking a hearty soup. Everything else seems like too much trouble. Then, a... Continue Reading →

Is Utopia overrated?

Welcome to our day of reckoning. Sirens approach, heralding nearing disasters. Catastrophes invade our countries, our states, our cities, our homes, our bodies. Fires rage, both actual and metaphorical. And I write. I document disaster in tiny print, writing smaller and smaller, writing myself down a spiral of denial. The illusion of control boils away... Continue Reading →

What I did this summer

I recently returned from my cross-country indie bookstore tour. In case you missed my Facebook posts about the trip—and so I can remember everything myself!—I’ve created this wrapup. The tour coincided with the release of Tiny Shoes Dancing and Other Stories, but it wasn’t exactly a book launch tour. Because a small indie publisher is... Continue Reading →

An “Epic” Guest Post: New Ways with Old Words

Being in the presence of a diva can be intimidating. Fortunately, the author of today’s guest post, Arlene Miller, is anything but. Even as I wrote that last sentence I worried there’s something wrong with it. Will I hear from her about how it’s constructed? Is there a prohibition against ending a sentence with “but?”... Continue Reading →

Today’s invitation to rejection

My third grade teacher, Mrs. Smith, was rather stern. You might even have called her cruel. I was a compliant kid who enjoyed being useful. You might even have called me a teacher’s pet. One day, I asked Mrs. Smith if there was anything I could do to help in the class. She turned to... Continue Reading →

Countdown to launch, with bookends

Tiny Shoes Dancing officially launches on August 8. You can mesmerize yourself by staring at the countdown widget in the sidebar to the right. But this post is about the countdown to an altogether different launch happening less than a week after the book launch: I’ll be dropping Son #2 off at college. The second... Continue Reading →

What do you love to read? (plus a free book today)

Tell me about your favorite books As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve spent a lot of time on marketing activities recently. Which means I’ve watched a ton of book marketing Webinars, signed up for a gazillion email lists, and experimented madly. (If you’re interested in some of the resources I’ve discovered, see below.)…Read more What do you love to read? (plus a free book today)

Marketing is eating my lunch

Once upon a time, writers wrote, marketers marketed, and readers read. Alas, I missed out on the days when authors primarily paid attention to their craft and the art of storytelling. Now the line between content producers and content promoters has blurred, if not disappeared. The idea of what it means to be an “author”…Read more Marketing is eating my lunch

Are you burger or filet? The dilemma of genre

I’ve had quite a few stories published in online and print literary journals in the last five years. And quite a few not published. I recently received a rejection from a publication that provides brief feedback in return for a small contribution when you submit. As I read the comments, it became apparent that the…Read more Are you burger or filet? The dilemma of genre

Birthing beauty (#BOAW2018)

One Woman Giving birth, all women become One Woman.   There will be blood. There may be tears. There will be fear, and also wonder.   This particular woman sweats trembles, grunts, vomits. I offer a cool cloth for her forehead best if dipped in a bowl of ice water so cold my fingers ache.…Read more Birthing beauty (#BOAW2018)