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Chapters 1-3 of Signs & Wonders in Audio!

3/15/2025

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I know people like a sample before they invest the time it takes to read a book, and we're all incredibly distracted by everything going on. That's why I decided to explore my options for audiobook versions of my novels. 

But I want some feedback. Take a moment to click the cover below to listen to or download the first three chapters of Signs & Wonders. I'd love to hear constructive feedback!
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Want to read the novel? You can find the eBook and paperback at Amazon, both for purchase and in Kindle Unlimited (through 4/1525. After that date, the eBook will be available everywhere). 

The paperback is also currently available at other retailers online like Barnes and Noble and BookShop.org.  (NOTE: The costs are more there, as Amazon underprices competition. I want folks to have options that are not Amazon, however.). 
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Updated Physician Family Articles/Reviews List

3/12/2025

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Essays

  • Highlights from AMAA Virtual Gathering Featuring Betsy Gall, Author of The Silent Epidemic of Physician Suicide. (Fall 2023)
  • Being a "Serial Entrepreneur" Requires Constant Skill Building. (Fall 2022)
  • When You're Not Working Together: Reimagining Your Path from Trailing Spouse to Trailblazer (Fall 2021) 
  • Confidentiality, Compassion, and Competent Care: Highlighting Physician Health Programs. (Spring/Summer 2021)
  • COVID-19's Impact on Medical Education (Winter 2021)
  • Still at the Table. (Spring 2019)
  • Who's Coming to Dinner? (Spring 2016)
  • Making the Most of Being a Lame-Duck Resident's Wife. (Fall 2016)
  • Everybody's Business. (Winter 2018)

Reviews

  • The Illusion of the Perfect Profession: One Wife's Story about Love, Physician Suicide, and Finding Comfort and Purpose in the Aftermath by Betsy Gall. (Winter 2023/2024)
  • The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth, By Sam Quinones. Bloomsbury, 2021 (Spring/Summer 2023) 
  • Literature Review: Books Focused on Health and Gender Dispariities, Bias, Sexism, and Racism. (Winter 2022)
  • REIGNITE: From Burned Out to On Fire, by Clark Gaither, MD (Fall 2021)
  • Review and Author Interview with Amy Faith Ho, MD: Is Mommy a Doctor or a Superhero? (Winter 2021)
  • Review: A Leader's Guide to Giving a Memorable Speech by Donald Palmisano, MD. (Spring/Summer 2020)
  • Review: Real-Life Physician Family: Secrets to Surviving, Even Thriving, During Medical School, Residency and Beyond by Stacy C. Dunn & Joel D. Dunn, MD (Winter 2020)
  • Burnout in Healthcare: A Guide for Addressing the Epidemic. By Rajeev Kurapati, MD. (Winter 2019)
  •  The Thriving Physician: How to Avoid Burnout by Choosing Resilience Throughout Your Medical Career by Simonds & Sotile. (Fall 2019)
  • AMA Guide of Medical Ethics (Spring 2017)
  • Dreamland: The True Story of America's Opioid Crisis by Sam Quinones (Fall 2017)
  • Love in the Time of Medical School by Sarah Epstein (Winter 2018)
  • Memoirs of a Surgeon’s Wife: I’m Throwing Your Damn Pager into the Ocean by Megan Sharma (Fall 2018)
  • Healer's Heart: A Family Physician's Stories of the Heart and Art of Medicine. by Pamela Camosy (Spring 2018)

Physician Family Blog Posts
  • You've Matched . . . Now How to Survive Residency (March 22, 2022)
  • Match Day Articles from Physician Family (March 8, 2022)
  • PBS and ASALH Present Harriet A. Washington (February 15, 2022)
  • ​How to Help Kids Cope with COVID-19 (March 20, 2020)
  • May the Odds Ever Be in Your Favor. Co-authored with Rachel Pyron. March 30, 2018. 
  • Welcome to Resident Widowhood (July 5, 2017) 
  • Match Making. (March 2, 2016)
  • Between Arriving and Leaving. (January 26, 2016) 

Podcast
Childless by Choice on Married to Doctors Podcast. (May 2018)

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Yearly Wrap Up and Update

1/8/2025

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Find out about the upcoming release and what I've been up to.

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Some news related to the upcoming Signs & Wonders!

9/25/2024

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​Interested in a timeline of the events leading up to and surrounding the plot of Signs & Wonders? I've got you.

Click through to check out the rough version of author notes. I don't have a release date for you today, but I'd love to hear if the timeline and author notes spark your interest!

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New Year, Same Me (but more than before)

1/20/2024

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I know—it's been more than a year since I promised to update the blog more often. The Octave Thanet Project and my book projects were ignored in 2023. 

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What a Year!

12/23/2022

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I promise, you would. This year, I just didn't have the bandwidth to do cards, so everyone is getting a blog post instead. Read on if you want to learn about what's been going on this year for me, what I have planned in 2023, and what is going on with the projects that have been sidelined in 2022.

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Freelance Adventures

9/28/2022

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So, I had a Zoom that started at 10 CT today. Obviously, I did not go.  Not only did I not go, I also blocked the organizer and deactivated my account on their platform. 

Let's just say that going into PrepTober that I'm setting some boundaries.

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The reveal--Renovation Diary

5/17/2022

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Well before the pandemic, we decided we wanted to bring more of the arts and crafts elements back to the house. And, we were lucky enough that the job was done before COVID-19 hit Arkansas. In fact, it was only a few days after the fireplace was completed in the den that things ground to a halt. Lucky for us, we had a new space to exist in, and the office was perfect for riding out the next two years.
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From the outside, things are pretty much the same. While we've added three large raised beds in the front, the color profile of the house is the same, and they are finishing up repainting the trim and touching up the paint on the porch and steps as I type this. 

So, before I start with the before and after, note that the master bedroom and back guest room and bathroom are basically unchanged. We did pull the carpet up in the master a few years ago, and found really nice hardwoods underneath. There is a transition/threshold that needs to be added, but we've got someone coming to work on that later this week. The master bath still features a large clawfoot tub and huge granite vanity. 

Let's start with the den/kitchen area. When we looked at the house, it was clear this was an addition, in part due to the low ceiling in the den area. Here are the original pictures.
Everything feels pretty close here, and the ceiling is low. The door to the backyard here led out onto four steps down to concrete. The breakfast nook is pretty hidden there, and there's not a lot of natural light here. Two people in the kitchen area was a bit cramped.
By opening up the back area in the kitchen and taking out a utility room where the washer and dryer were, we were able to create a much larger kitchen area. The dishwasher was in the old island, and we moved it to the main cabinet bank, added more upper cabinets, and brought in an AGA Legacy 36 dual fuel range.  The island is also slightly larger than previously. The old kitchen had one sink, and we expanded that with a double-basin farm sink in the main cabinet area and a round prep sink on the island.  

The ceiling in the den area was raised up to follow the roof line, and can LED lights were installed throughout this two room open space area. The original single door to the backyard was replaced with  center open sliding doors from Pella.  
There are so many things we added to the den. The wood fireplace was completely redone with mosaic tile on front meant to pick up the green in the 1920s era stained glass windows we found on eBay from a shop in Chicago. Built-in bookcases were installed on either side, and they feature outlets inside with access from the mantle. We created a cozy seating area off to the side. The glass door leads into the office. 
We also took out the side cabinets seen in the upper picture and installed a full size freezer and refrigerator, added a large appliance garage, and additional storage, including a broom closet with an outlet for charging my small cordless vacuum. Tile throughout the den, kitchen, and office was replaced with Saltillo tile ordered from Rustico Tile & Stone Company. The lights above the bar are vintage Christopher Wray Murano glass, purchased from Bevolo Gas & Electric Lights.
In the third picture above, you can see into part of the breakfast nook. While that area was open and big enough for a small table, we opted to take out some of the built up area here, put in smaller pendant lights instead of the heavier fixture, and create a coffee and wine bar with additional counter space and storage. Dani mounted the glass shelves using pieces of salvaged flooring that was pulled up when we created the new bathroom with hallway access.
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The office was closed off from the dining room with built-in bookcases.  We moved the door from the dining room entry to the den (that's the white glass-paned door you see in the picture above with the two chairs). The office appears to be an enclosed porch (maybe a sleeping porch at one time). We opened up the wall between the dining room and the office and our contractor, Barry Dodson, built arts & crafts style columns on top of the existing original built-in cabinets.  Our cabinet maker, Joe Roberson of Home Cabinets in Magnolia, made Dani's vision of one long desk reality. Flanking the desk are custom corner shelves.   We also installed custom blinds that can be opened from top or bottom, giving us light and showing off the diamond panes without the room and its occupants being visible from the outside.

The cow sitting on the built-in was found in the attic by the contractor.
One of the major improvements we made was to expand the first bathroom so there is hallway access. In the first picture above, you'll see the entire guest bath we started with. This was only accessible through a bedroom, and the space was extremely cramped. The tub was taken out, and a chimney and small hall closet were removed to make way for a large walk in shower. A floor to ceiling cabinet was added for storage. In addition, a new closet was built for the bedroom and the ceiling (which had been lowered to 8 feet for some reason) was raised to its original 10 foot height.
  While we haven't done much to alter the front yard or front view of the house, We did fill in the pool last fall. While it was fun to have in the summer, it was a lot of upkeep and the backyard was completely taken up by the concrete decking and the pool itself. When it came time to either redo the vinyl liner, steps, and equipment, we opted to fill it in. We installed a new deck which also gave a whole new outdoor space with seating and storage.

We've made a lot of other less visible changes and improvements to the house since we've been here, and I detail those in this description.  If you would like to see more, we'll be listing the house in the next few weeks with Ramona Crain at Century 21. We hope it finds the right people who will love it as much as we do. In the meantime, we're wrapping up the dining room renovation, which I'll post pictures of once we get done with it.
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Grieving Viola

2/2/2022

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The image here is from page 14 of the St. Louis Post Dispatch from October 23, 1953. While it is easy to see in this screenshot of the article's title, unless you knew what you were looking for, you'd probably miss it. 

My grandmother's murder, like so many of the things that happened in my father's life before he met my mother, is one of those stories that I'll never know the truth about. 

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In reality, all you need is hustle.

1/31/2022

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I have a lot of tech set up to help me write more, write better, and get more done. And even so, I recognize that all of the bells and whistles aren't what matters. Especially when I see a post like the recent one in a writer's group I belong to where the author suggested it was time to quit.

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Updated Resource List, September 2021

9/15/2021

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Workplace with Typewriter Vector by Vecteezy
I was contacted today again with a thank you email and link recommendation related to my December 2019 post, "Writerly Resources: Free & Low Cost."​ I'm sharing this post again with the addition of the two student/reader related resources added to the start. Enjoy!
Reader Recommended: 
  • ​Recommended 9/15/21 by Hannah in Alabama: Coupon Follow's "Money-Saving Guide for Authors & Writers."
  • Recommended 4/1/2020 by Amelia in Salt Lake City: Zen Business' "Writing Careers: The Business Behind Becoming a Writer."

Courses
  • Reedsy Learning has these fun email courses for free. Get your day started with a mini-lesson!
  • Coursera and Wesleyan University have teamed up to offer five courses in Creative Writing and even offer a certificate for a fee. But, you can take the courses for free if you don't want a certificate.  I love the idea of several people taking the courses and discussing them as part of their writing group activities, but the courses are also a great introduction to plot, character, and structure and can be solo activities. 
  • Udemy's courses are not free, but they are on deep discount for Cyber Week. They have over 9000 courses in creative writing and while on sale you can get courses for as low as $9.99 and they include lectures and exercises.  And, every course comes with a 30 day money-back guarantee.
  • FutureLearn has free courses in Start Writing Fiction and an Introduction to Screenwriting 
  • Creative Writing and Critical Reading is free from Open Learn, as is their Start Writing Fiction course.

Resource Lists and Worksheets
  • Now Novel has a list of 200 resources arranged in categories including those on structure, creativity, and publishing (both trad and indie).
  • Check out "From Start to Finish: 24 Novel Writing Resources" by Dani Lee Collins. While you're there, check out The Writing Cooperative Archive.
  • "38 Awesome Free Things for Writers" by Shaunta Grimes includes some great resources including worksheets from various sites.
  • Writers' Digest offers a greatlist of worksheets from Novel in 30 Days as well as this great PDF on character development.
  • Gabriela Pereira's resource list will get you started, and she also offers a starter kit when you sign up for her newsletter--and her book DIY MFA offers a good introduction to finding time to write as well as considerations for story creation. Be sure to check out herWriter Igniter, too!
  • The Novel Factory has a variety of free PDF printable worksheets.
  • EA Deverell offers a year's worth of worksheets and more!
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Tell People What You Need

8/16/2021

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Wednesday mornings, we often have what we call Spanish Breakfast. We make a breakfast board, basically, with hard boiled eggs, cheese, different meats if we have them around, some fresh tomatoes or fruit. We call it Spanish Breakfast because it is modeled on the breakfast spread they served at Masia Sumidors in Sitges when we were there last. Last week, I did the thing I always do: I asked Dani if she wanted a little plate when I set the board on the breakfast nook table between our chairs.

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Changes in Process & Playing with Tools

7/1/2021

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When I was in grad school at USM, I was first assigned to work as a Writing Fellow in the Honors College. My job was to basically lead a small group of first-year students through their writing assignments for the FY Seminar. I was assigned to work with Dr. Michael Salda and Anastasia Feldman, who were team teaching the freshman class of 1995.

Dr. Salda passed away in 2015, but one of his major contributions  was to create The Cinderella Project. Working with Dr. Salda, USM grad students in English created a robust site covering various versions of the Cinderella story (pulled from USM's de Grummond Collection) and digitized those, putting them on the web. What this meant was that anyone with internet access could view those texts and learn about them--they could learn, for instance, that there isn't just one culture that embraced the story, as well as see the cultural differences in how the story was told. 

When I went to view The Cinderella Project, I found that it no longer exists. USM's site gives me a 404 error. 

As noted in his Authuriana obituary, Dr. Salda also maintained archives on Jack & the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood. None of those archives exist anymore.  Doing Google searches, though, demonstrates how powerful the projects were--many other faculty used those archives in their own classes. Syllabi and lesson plans are still floating around out there that attempt to link back to the non-existent archives.
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Over at the Octave Thanet Project, I've been working my way through the primary texts in the order of publication. Part of that has involved using Google Play Books versions of those texts because:
  1. ​The Google Play versions are the scanned pages of the text. While I can get a Kindle version, I lose the page numbers, footnotes get placed in odd spots (and Octave loves a good footnote on dialect and terminology--in Expiation there are something like seven footnotes explaining Arkansas dialect in the first few pages). Also, there's something special about seeing the text as the first edition readers would have.
  2. Highlighting and annotation are a breeze! Google Play Books are incredibly user friendly. Not only are they easy to highlight and make notes on, but the notes and highlights auto-sync to your Google Drive. What this means is that you can easily edit and share those notes. Once I've created a copy of my overall notes, I then go back through and do searches for specific things and create notes for those items. For instance, I'm keeping track of and highlighting instances of racist language and terminology, as French's representations of race are one feature often pointed to as to why her texts are not typically anthologized and why her work fell out of favor.
  3. Creating this as a web project has several bonuses. One reason I decided to work on the project in real time as a blog is that is the fastest way to share what I find. (The first reason is that it means I constantly work on it--I don't want the blog to just sit here).  Not only is there an immediacy, but the ways in which I can use category tags in posts is automatically creating an "click and go" index. As the project progresses, I'm sure the index will continue to grow. The idea is that later if I do turn this into a critical biography of French I can easily use those tags to write essays about specific themes in her work, for instance. 
  4. Academic non-fiction is not a money maker for the creators. I don't necessarily think it should be--but I do think that the prices and access issues that graduate students and independent scholars are faced with for published academic texts mean a lot of research and ideas never get published and those that do don't get read because the cost to the researcher is prohibitive. Because there's no "loss" to me by creating this project as an OER, why not? If one graduate student or casual reader finds my project and benefits from it, that's a great thing.

Ultimately, this type of work is what my PhD trained me to do. And so far I'm having a blast. 

While I certainly was influenced by Dr. Paul Reuben's Perspectives in American Literature site, I have to think that were it not for Dr. Salda, I might not be approaching this project in this particular way. Realizing that the work he did on those three archives is gone, I am also considering how to ensure that even once I'm gone, the resources will remain. On the bright side, you can still view snapshots of 
all three (see urls in the top for easy searching--the links in the snapshots do still work, so if you get to one, you can get to them all) on the WayBack Machine on the Internet Archive.​
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Updates (or what I've been up to)

6/25/2021

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  • The initial entries for Octave Thanet's stories in her first two collections, A Knitter in the Sun and Otto the Knight are up on the OTP page. I will add to these as I read articles and dissertations later that also discuss individual stories. I'm working on categorizing things well enough that the site will be easy for researchers to use and that will help people keep up with the chronology, themes, and so on.
  • I'm about 1/2 way through the first draft of the WIP. If you follow me on Facebook, you likely have guessed that cult indoctrination is a major theme in this novel. The fallibility of memory is also a major theme. The main characters continue to evolve and develop, and I'm slowly untangling knots. There's been a good bit of research involved for this one, as I want to be sure I present a believable and relatable story.
  • I did some editing work a while back for Emma Wallis, and I saw that her book This is Not a Love Story was a finalist for a Lesfic Bard Award. Be sure to check the book out. Bonus: Emma's novel and all of mine are in Kindle Unlimited, so if you have that subscription you can read our books without paying extra. 
  • I have reviewed a couple of books this year over at Reedsy Discovery. Because I was also doing research for the WIP and on Octave Thanet, as well as doing some reading for a competition as a judge, I have been pretty choosy about what I review over there this year.
  • The old project (tentatively titled Long Weekend) is on a back burner (technically, it's on the back of the stove, not even on a burner) until the WIP first draft is fully done.

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When you writing that book? Hypochondria that wasn't really.

6/8/2021

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Hot Springs used to have a huge metaphysical bookstore, The Golden Leaves Bookstore (seen above). It's no longer there from what I can tell, but in the early 1990s I had an experience there that kind of changed my life--just probably not in the way Starr (yes, with two Rs) imagined it might.

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Oppose Arkansas House Bill 1218

1/22/2021

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UPDATE: The Bill did not pass, so I'm shifting this to behind the break.

Today, I sent my state representative a brief email asking him to oppose House Bill 1218, subtitled "TO PROHIBIT OFFERING OF CERTAIN COURSES, EVENTS, AND ACTIVITIES REGARDING RACE, GENDER, POLITICAL AFFILIATION, SOCIAL CLASS, OR CERTAIN CLASSES OF PEOPLE; AND TO ADJUST FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS THAT OFFER CERTAIN COURSES, EVENTS, AND ACTIVITIES."


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NanoWriMo 2020 Supply List

11/2/2020

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I've done NanoWriMo (with varying levels of success) since 2012 with a full on "break" last year (I had just published Homecoming and wanted a rest). So far, I'm pretty happy with my progress in the first two days. Here's what is in my survival kit.

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Transparency, Labels, and Gatekeeping

9/27/2020

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The following entry is probably not for everyone. But, since this is a post about gatekeeping--specifically in terms of who *gets* to write books in a specific genre--I can't identify who it's not for. Let's just say that there are discussions within about sexual orientation, gender identity, butch/femme stereotypes, romance vs. erotica, and even what we mean by "relationship" and "relations." 

Some potential trigger words that may appear: TERF, trans, lesbian, LGBTQIA+, gatekeeping, queer--you get the idea. If that list causes you pause you may want to move along.

Also, I totally get if this is a TLDR; for people. I'm going to put in some headings that let you skip around a bit.

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Choices. . .and Accountability

9/1/2020

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If you've read this blog before, it probably is no surprise that I love the book and movie Wonderboys. And, in the chaos that is 2020, I often feel like Grady--unfocused, wearing my security blanket (in my case, the recent pair of elephant pants that I bought on a deep sale, rather than my ex's chenille bathrobe), and at a loss for editing my story down to just what matters.

September is where I try to turn that around.
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Frugal Editing Tools

8/20/2020

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While there's no substitute for a human editor, there are some wonderful tools which can not only help you save money and time with your editor by presenting them a cleaner manuscript from the start, but which can also help you identify patterns of error and weakness in your writing. Once you know those patterns, you can improve your writing as a whole.

The three tools above (the pictures are linked to their product pages) are the ones I use on a daily basis when writing, revising, and editing. Let's dive a bit deeper into what these are and how I use them.

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Five years or so later. . .

8/10/2020

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Above is my most recent completed project--I feel like I can share the picture now that the two moms these were stitched for have received them (so this isn't a spoiler). But, like many of the stitching projects I signed on for prior to leaving teaching, this one took me way longer than I expected.

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Want to ensure marginalized voices are heard? Listen to them before you write for them.

6/9/2020

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So, I've seen a lot of discussion about whether we should really be reading White Fragility and promoting it and books like White Like Me right now. And, I have to say that I understand the objection, even though I think those are good books to read. 

The point is--don't JUST read those. And maybe don't read those first. Instead, start with books by Angela Davis, Ibram X. Kendi, Malcolm X, Henry Louis Gates, and Cornel West. You may need to go read books by white people about your white person biases after you read these other works and then go BACK to the texts by Black writers to fully respond and process those other works, and that's OK.

But don't just read one book on race by a white person and decide you are done.

Similarly, instead of White Savior narratives like The Help, Green Book, and Hidden Figures consider turning to works by Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Richard Wright, Colson Whitehead, Jesmyn Ward. 

These lists are incomplete, but the idea is that if I point you in a direction, you can keep up the momentum, right?

Similarly, in a writer's group I'm in today, a cis woman (she identified herself as such) indicated she wanted to write about a trans character. Then a couple of men jumped in and said they were writing genderless characters or non-binary ones. They all indicated they want to bring a voice to the unrepresented. They were happy because they felt that no one else had done such work before.

While I applaud the attention to non-cis and non-het characters, I see a lot of writers talking about how underrepresented queer writers are. The problem is these well-meaning people aren't looking at the legacy before them and the contemporary writers around them.

So, if you're going to write about queer people, please go out and read works by queer people first. If you are writing fiction that has characters who are genderless or who flout gender conventions, go read Joanna Russ, Marge Piercy, Jeanette Winterson, Octavia Butler, T. Cooper, Leslie Feinberg, Caitlan Kiernan, Poppy Z. Brite (now Billy Martin).

It really only takes a few Google searches to find plenty of new writers to explore. Here are a few listicles to get you started:

15 Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender Nonconforming Writers to Support
Broaden Your Horizons with 19 Must-Reads by Trans and Nonbinary Authors
16 Books Written by Transgender and Nonbinary Authors You Should Already Be Reading

Go to Lambda Literary and explore there. Also, know that there are other organizations out there focused on fiction by LGBTQIA+ authors.  

Please, writers, realize that you are entering a conversation that has already been started before you discovered the table existed. Please know where you are situated in that larger context before you decide to speak for a group you are an ally for, but not a member of.
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Book List from The Common Ground Meeting, June 2, 2020

6/2/2020

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During today's Common Ground: Law Enforcement & Our Community event, Beth Waldrup gave a list of books (go about 30 minutes in to that video) as resources, and I wanted to share that list here with links.

Note: Clicking the cover will take you to an Amazon page. These are not affiliate links. Do consider, though, if  you use Amazon to also make use of their Smile option. I use it to donate funds to the H&P Animal Alliance with every purchase. Alternatively, if you don't want to shop Amazon (and I totally understand why some folks don't want to) check out eBooks.com for your digital copy needs and ThriftBooks.com for used copies.

Library option: Our public library is part of the Arkansas Digital Consortium. The following books are part of that collection, although you will have to get on the waitlist:  Stamped from the Beginning, How to be an Antiracist, The Hate U Give. 
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April Reading

5/5/2020

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Three books seems to be about all I can get through during COVID-19 in a month.

  • I liked The Outsider best before it slipped into the paranormal. And, yes, I know, I should always expect that slide. However here it seems incomplete to me. Lots of threads picked up from other stories and a LOT of pop culture references like what folks watched on TV or what music they listened to. Lately, I always feel King could and should be edited down by about 1/3rd of the text.
  • Last month I purchased Debbie Nathan's Satan's Silence after listening to the Uncover podcast season on Satanic Panic. Interestingly, the book is not available on Amazon, I suspect because a lot of SRA believers have tagged it as "inappropriate." I did find it on eBooks.com for sale (and the site looks legitimate--check it out if you are interested in a sales site for ebooks that isn't 'Zon). Sybil Exposed was a great listen from the library and if you've seen the movie version with Sally Field, you might find Nathan's uncovering of the truth behind the book interesting (and oddly comforting--that movie haunts me).
  • Thief River Falls was a fairly quick read. I've read a couple of other Brian Freeman books, and while this one wasn't my favorite, I still say it's worth a look if you're into psychological thrillers. And, it appears to be on sale right now for $1.99.
  • Books I didn't finish in April: Interview with a Vampire (Rice), Glass Houses (Caine), Trapped (Konrath). I'll likely revisit/return to Trapped, but it may take me a bit. I'm reading an upcoming release for a Reedsy Discovery Review that won't drop until June, as well as some other stuff related to Octave Thanet.

Writing these days is sparse. I keep picking at Long Weekend, and I'm finding myself slowly rising above the COVID-19 distraction on some days. I know if I can focus for a couple of days in a row, I'm likely to get hooked into the characters enough that I will pick up some speed.
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A couple of greatest hits, some additional resources, and a thank you!

4/1/2020

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  Hi, all! I wanted to share a couple of "greatest hits" posts with everyone, and also to add to the resources I've shared with you in the past. Earlier today, I heard from Barbara Lincoln:

"I would just like to say a quick word of thanks! As a youth services librarian and educator, I've been running a fun writers workshop for 12-15 year olds and thought you might enjoy hearing that we were able to get some great use out of your older post, 'Writerly Resources: Free and Low-Cost' before the self-quarantine and social distancing. We were even able to use some of this information for our most recent group project! Thanks so much for sharing!"

I'm so honored that folks are not only reading this blog, but also that people are finding what I post useful. As a former writing instructor, there's no better feeling than that I've helped someone on their journey.

Barbara continued: 

"I hope you don't mind, but one of our youngest, Amelia has also asked me if I could share an article that she and her mother found together on writing basics for young writers, which includes a great breakdown of potential writing careers, education options and essential skills, self-publishing, book proposals, the editing process, etc. I've included it below if you'd like to review!"

The resource Amelia found is "Writing Careers: The Business Behind Becoming an Author." I took a look, and what a great resource, indeed! Thank you, Amelia! And thank you to Barbara for passing this information along.

In addition to linking to that resources post from December of 2019, I wanted to remind everyone of my "DIY Writer's Retreat" takeaways post, which seems especially relevant now that we are all staying home. Hopefully these resources, which include some great podcasts, will help people feel connected and a little less alone.

And--I have a new favorite writing podcast! Check out Writing Excuses. 15 seasons of 15 minute long podcasts. Quick listening for a walk around the block.
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