Cheryl A. Head's Blog, page 12

Grateful to Dru’s Musings & Michigan Chronicle: Wake Me When It’s Over

Award-winning mystery web blogger Dru Ann Love, was kind enough to post my book cover reveal for Wake Me When It’s Over, the second book in the Charlie Mack Motown Mystery Series.    

 

 

Also a love shout out to the Michigan Chronicle of Detroit who posted a blurb about WMWIO in the city and lifestyle section of their online newspaper.

You can find the Michigan Chronicle post  Here.  Thank you Michigan Chronicle.

Available where you buy your books on May 15, 2018

….and Dru’s Musing post Here.  Thank you Dru Ann!!

Writing Life: New Orleans Style

Wow. What a time at the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival.  In association with the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, this New Orleans gumbo of LGBTQ writers, publishers, publicists, teachers, and book sellers included craft panels, author readings, poetry events, awards, presentations, master classes, and book signings.

And, of course, steps from the fabulous Hotel Monteleone where most of the activities were held was music, food, street strolls, bands, dancing…and cocktails. One of my favorite stops was the Red Fish Inn where I overindulged in white wine, gumbo, jalapeno cornbread, and chocolate bread pudding.

I was a panelist for a discussion about  the mystery genre with the fabulous New Orleans crime/mystery writers, Greg Herren and Jean M. Redmann; as well as award-winning authors, Ali Vali and Jeffrey Round.

I also discussed historical fiction writing with Judith Katz, Vanda, Jeff Mann and Matthew Griffin. I was honored to be in the company of all these good writers of LGBTQ themes.  Judith and I both happened to wear turquoise that day.

Of course,I also indulged in meeting new friends and old, and that was the best seasoning of this amazing literary event.   Saints and Sinners, hope to see you in 2019!!

Florida in March: Family Affairs

I had a whirlwind trip to Florida for writing events, and family visits.  My 90-year old mother and two brothers live in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area and I can’t really travel to the Sunshine State without time to feel the warmth of family.

The primary purpose for my Florida long weekend was to attend, and participate in, the celebration of writing education that is the annual Association of Writer’s and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference.  This year held in Tampa.  This 5-day gathering of 12,000 writing students, teachers, lovers of books and writing, and writing luminaries is an immersive experience.

The panel I participated in: “Nothing Happens Nowhere” was a Friday afternoon discussion about setting and the Siren’s call to home in LGBTQ writing. Moderated by author/teacher: Paula Martinac (The Ada Decades) and including panelists/teachers Serkan Gorkemli, Amy Hoffman, and Carter Sickels.

It was an interesting conversation about the intersectionality of themes when focusing on the craft of setting in LGBTQ writing.

I also attended the LGBTQ Writers Caucus, and the room was abuzz with energy and good ideas for increasing the presence of LGBTQ-themed panels for the 2019 AWP conference.

On Sunday in St. Pete, I joined five other lesbian writers to read from our varied works at the fabulous Queen’s Head restaurant/bar.  The other authors were Stefani Deoul, Gale Massey, Elizabeth Sims, Alison Soloman, and Rachel Spangler. The event, hosted and moderated by Tiffany Razzano of Wordier Than Thou, a Florida super supporter of all things book related,  was well attended by a group of attentive readers on the Queen’s Head patio and was a laugh-filled, collegial gathering of old friends and new.  Fellow Bywater Books author, Stefani Deoul worked with Tiffany to organize our time together.

The two reading events were the perfect writer’s life bookends to the dynamics of family.

Come to think of it, I’m very grateful to both my biological and writing families.

 

What Golf Has Taught Me About Writing

I have always been a golfer even when I wasn’t.  My father played golf and he often watched the tournaments on television; I watched him watch golf, and play golf, and perhaps that is where my affinity for the game comes.  Golf is a sport filled with beauty, imagination and precision.   When one steps to the tee and looks onto an immaculately manicured, 300-yard fairway, it is an awe-inspiring view of soaring possibilities.   When one approaches the close-shaven turf of a green it is a challenge to succeed measured in inches.

I have always been a writer even when I wasn’t.   My mother was a storyteller.  She had once played Meg in Little Women in her high school in Saint Petersburg, Florida.  She read books to me and my sister filled with the intonations of her acting ambition.  I watched her become the characters of these books and perhaps that is where my affinity for storytelling comes.    When one approaches a new story, the cursor blinking rhythmically in the white space is a grand invitation to create a landscape of soaring imagination.  When one begins to reveal the motivations, challenges and flaws of the characters who reside in this world it is a challenge to succeed measured in small detail.

Writing and golf take regular practice.  One never becomes good enough.  The practitioner is required to know and understand the rules, technique and theory of the craft so well that they can ultimately influence the practice through innovation.   That’s when the golfer becomes the master; the writer becomes the artist.

Both endeavors take uncommon and painstaking patience.   One must often wait (with grace when we can) for the next shot, the next word to reveal itself.   Both also require a commitment to study.  Learning (and re-learning) through one’s own work and by studying the work of others who are at the next level of execution.

Mental toughness is required to shake off the poor drive, the mundane paragraph, the writer’s block, the golfer’s slump.    One must learn to step into the space where no outburst from the gallery, no domestic distraction can easily shake one’s focus on visualizing the trajectory of the ball and the plot.

The golfer and writer must often take chances.  Getting out of one’s comfort zone, trying a new club from the golf bag, or letting a character take you down a path you would not normally choose is a glorious adventure to be embraced.

The writer, like the golfer, must love the act—knowing they have no other choice than to be before the unblemished page/the pristine fairway.    Only then will frustration, poor performance and rejection seem less like failure and more like a spiritual nudge to recommit, with more determination, to the act.

Originally published January, 2012.

The Big Apple, Good Books, and the Holidays!

It’s always a pleasure to visit New York City in December. I do it almost every year. NYC feels like the backdrop of so many of my childhood Christmas memories, starting with my wide-eyed viewing of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, and movies like Miracle on 34th Street.

I’m heading to NYC again this year, and I’ll take in the sights of the decorated department store windows, the ice skating at Rockefeller Plaza, the light displays on Fifth Avenue, and the hustle and bustle of Holiday shoppers.

But the main reason for this December visit to the Big Apple is to support a handful of fine writers who will be reading from their works in the anthology:  Our Happy Hours. 

This book, published by Flashpoint Publications, and with cover art by Ann McMan offers the reminiscences, essays, poetry, and short fiction of 40+ gay and lesbian authors (I’m one of them) about the impact of the bar scene on our lives.  The book’s curators: Lee Lynch and S. Renée Bess were inspired to launch this project after the horrific hate crime at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida in 2016.

Proceeds from the sale of the anthology will benefit the LGBTQ youth programs at the Ali Forney Center in New York City, and the Attic Youth Center in Philadelphia.

I hope you have safe, joyful, fun-filled Holidays. And don’t forget, books make wonderful Holiday gifts for family and friends!

GCLS-We are Vegas Bound!

In case you didn’t know.

There is an organization dedicated to the recognition, support and education of writers and readers of lesbian literature.

The non-profit, Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS), has amazing resources for emerging and established writers, including a Writing Academy with master teachers, mentors and one-on-one consultations.

Additionally, the GCLS Conference…known affectionately as the Con.. is an amazing annual event, held in various locations across the U.S., where lesbian writers, readers, publishers and reviewers gather for workshops, panels, socializing and Madcappery.

You’ll get to meet all your favorite LesFic writers up close, buy books, get books signed, flex your reading or writing muscles, and join your fellow fangirls.

Next year’s Con (July 4-8, 2018) will be held in, wait for it….Las Vegas!!!

Keynote speaker will be award-winning author, Lucy Jane Bledsoe (Bio); and Special Guest speaker, award-winning, young adult fiction author, Rachel Gold (Bio)

To register for the Con, or to get more information, try here.

Come join us. Because, you know, what happens in Lez Vegas doesn’t necessarily have to stay in Lez Vegas.

Provincetown Women’s Week

Wow. Did I have  a good time in Provincetown this year.

I spent a lot of time with my Bywater Books family–they are ALL talented, fun ladies.  I got to hang out with my new editor Elizabeth Andersen, who is a former editor for the nationally syndicated Doonesbury, and Calvin and Hobbes comic strips.

How lucky am I?

I also met other amazing authors who I have admired from afar. I did readings with some of them. I read from Long Way Home: A World War II Novel, Bury Me When I’m Dead, and from a short-story in the Our Happy Hours: LGBT Voices From the Gay Bars anthology whose sales will support the youth services of two LGBTQ agencies, one in Philadelphia, another in NYC. 

The readers I met.  Amazing.  Discerning, supportive, wonderful people with interesting lives which include loving books.

I played Wiffle ball (look out knees, don’t fail me now).  I saw the amazing Suede, who was in a particularly sentimental mood. So was I. I met film director, Donna Deitch who screened her iconic Desert Hearts.  We all remember the first time we saw that film’s love scene.

A few pictures.

 

PCW

Shout out to the People Called Women Bookstore in Toledo, OH

…and owner Gina!

                                        It’s Ohio’s Only Feminist Bookstore!!!

                                             They have a mystery book club, too.

                                     http://www.peoplecalledwomen.com/

 

LezRead Book Club

I thoroughly enjoyed the stimulating conversation with these discerning readers at DC’s Politics & Prose LezRead Book Club.

Reader feedback is Muy importante.    Thank you!!

Hometown Girl

Posing with my book which was housed at the main branch of the Detroit Public Library  (07/11/17)    Proud moment.