The First Annual San Diego Writers Festival—Free and open to the public!

This weekend, I'm going to be volunteering at the first annual San Diego Writers Festival at our wonderful Downtown Library. Check out the festival's site and find their schedule, which is chock-full of events/talks/panels, here.
It sounds like a great idea, and I love what the organizers are planning—to make San Diego a destination for writers and those who want to write.
This is just one of the many talks and panels that will be offered that day—and it is all free!

I'll be participating in the "Ask An Expert" event at 11am, as part of the day's line up, and floating around as a volunteer during the afternoon. Look for the blue T-shirts, as we volunteers will all be wearing them.
I think it is going to be a lot of fun—I hope to see you there!

Another Great Conference Weekend is in the Books (Pun Intended)

So, I've been a bit lax about blogging lately, but I have some pretty good excuses. Not in order of importance, but I am: working hard editing great books, including a natural history about our local desert to be published by Sunbelt Publications, which is very exciting; working on getting our house in North Park ready to rent (though Russel is doing most of the work); doing some minor "landscaping" on the property; spending as much time as I can with my mom at her assisted living place, before her memory fades completely and she doesn't know who I am; and helping out with projects on our boat Watchfire—mostly expanding our storage/work spaces (and yes, Russel is doing most of the work!).
Of course, I also have to find time for family, friends, fun, and some writing of my own. My wonderful writers group has been going strong for well over ten years and it is still keeping me focused and sane as years go by and I seem to get no closer to finishing my Baja memoir project. However, I was informed that my first chapter will be included in the upcoming A Year in Ink, volume 12 anthology, published by San Diego Writers, Ink, and edited by the always-exceptional Judy Reeves. Whoopeee! (I was also published in vol 11 of the anthology.)

To make me feel even better about my glacial writing speed, I heard Julie Moss speak at SCWC over President's Day weekend, and found out that her memoir took her over 35 years to write. So I have a couple more years to go before I have to start worrying...Her new book, Crawl of Fame, about her life as an Ironman Triathlete from 1982 to the present—co-written with my friend Robert Yehling—sounds like a true "winner" and is now at the top of a big stack of (mostly virtual) books on my bedside table.
Speaking of SCWCSD33, the conference was fabulous as always. I met new friends, hob-nobbed with old friends and met a few new clients to boot. I am particularly excited about working with David Reed, who is not only a talented writer, but a super-nice guy with a meaningful, layered story to tell. I've been watching with interest as he developed and honed his craft over the last couple of years; in fact, he won the "Most Improved" award at the conference!
Of course, I missed my Pitch Witch partner Marla Miller, who was healing at home from an accident, but the Pitch Witches show must go on. Heard some great pitches and queries and also some excellent writing at the Read & Critiques, especially from our 7 am "Early Bard" group.
More about the recent conference can be found in this wrap up, with the full list of awards, right here. Maybe I'll see you in SCWC Irvine in September.
hasta pronto!

Five Books I Read in 2018—and Recommend

It’s time for me to list five books I loved reading this year, that were published in 2018 or 2017. As always, I leave off the big prize-winners and mega-bestsellers—the titles you’ve read about ten times in ten “top ten books” lists.

I will give a quick shout-out to Less, a quiet, lovely novel I adored, that is still not much heard of, although it won the freaking Pulitzer Prize! Anyway, it is a must-read, especially for writers of a certain age, like me.

So...On to my "top five" list for 2018, in no particular order:

The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson (2018) Though it isn’t a comedy per se, I did find myself nodding and smiling quite a bit during the time I spent reading The Bookshop of Yesterdays—time that went by far too fast. Though it takes place in my old hometown of Los Angeles (and environs), the book is truly set in an independent bookstore, and in the world of bookselling, among both writers and readers. So, yeah, what’s not to like? But this is no simple frolic through the shelves, with the author merely listing book titles like a name dropper at a Hollywood party; this book is a game, a puzzle, a literary journey through the life of a family and a literary community, and the story of a young woman rather belatedly coming of age, by discovering who she is, and what matters most to her.

Pursuit by Indy Quillen (2017) Every now and then you discover a character in a book who you wish was a real person—and your friend, or mentor—so you could go visit and learn from them. Such a character is Indy Quillen’s Fox Walker. A Native American tracker, Walker is completely of this modern world (he works for both police and federal agencies, after all) and yet, somehow, is not truly living in it. His penchant for wearing moccasins and deer-hide clothing is just the outer trappings of his deep-seated difference—his soul resides on another plane, one peopled by the spirits of the trees of the forest, the creatures who call the mountains home, and the earth itself. Two other equally fascinating characters come along (you’d better start with the first Fox Walker book, Tracker), but to tell you any more about them would ruin the exciting, wide-ranging, edge-of-your-seat journey.

First Corpse: the Appetizer by Carie Toler (2018) Sometimes you want to choose something that is just fun from the menu, and this light but suspenseful rom-com, set in “the city by the bay” is the perfect choice. Celebrity foodie Layne Stevens is a heroine some of us gals will relate to, many will want to become, and every man—and a lot of women!—will dream of meeting. Even though it starts off with a dead body (of course) and is filled with intrigue, this book will satisfy your hunger for a great fireside read, and there are some insightful ideas about diet and health for dessert. I predict you’ll savor every delicious bite, but you might want to keep some chocolate nearby to handle the cravings.

The Space Between by Dete Meserve (2018) As my readers know, I adored this author’s debut novel, Good Sam and her follow-up, Perfectly Good Crime. Also set largely in Los Angeles, in a similarly affluent neighborhood as those featured in her previous books, The Space Between is a wholly different animal. One could categorize it as a mystery thriller, or even as literary fiction, but neither of those genres would come close to explaining this compelling contemporary story. The book’s protagonist is a respected astronomer, mother of a teenaged son, and a wife—in that order. What happens when her restauranteur husband goes missing rearranges every priority in her world and soon changes everything in her life.

Vita Aeterna by Jay Allan Storey (2018) I didn’t realize until I got to number five on the list that the first four authors were all women. Well, sorry to those who like consistency, because slot #5 belongs to Jay Allen Storey. I discovered this book through one of those services that sends you the free or bargain Kindle books for the day, and boy am I glad I did. I started reading it with a bit of trepidation, since most sci-fi—especially the dystopian stuff—is so hackneyed. But a skateboarding teenage protagonist in that bleak setting was irresistible, and off we went. So glad I took a chance on it. With its true-to-life characters and intricate cyber-details, this all-too-believeable, I-hope-it-isn’t-really-futuristic adventure is well worth the ride.


I am linking to the Kindle editions of all of these books, to make an electronic purchase even easier...I hope you will support these fine writers and their publishers. (NOTE: a couple of these books are even available for free as ebooks with Kindle Unlimited, if you have that service.)

Enjoy the great reads, and I trust you will enjoy your holidays, too...
hasta pronto!

Books, books, and more books

Not sure what happened to September. I usually post at least monthly, but last month was so full of events and classes I was teaching and then there was the fabulous SCWC conference in Irvine. I was thrilled that one of my friends and clients (Jasmin Iolani Hakes) won the fiction award for an excerpt from her Work-in-Progress, Hula. You will be hearing from Jasmin very soon, I have no doubt. As usual the conference was a great time for networking, meeting old and new friends—authors, editors, and agents.

           Something else fun that happened in September—I got certified as a SCUBA diver! Now, if I need to, I can strap on a tank and dive under my boat, or see that our anchor is well stuck, or explore a reef without having to come up for air. Very exciting to see a whole new underwater world. After all, most of the world is covered with water, and at the rate the climate is causing the ocean waters to rise, it’s going to be even more watery pretty soon.

          Anyway, here we are in October—which means that even in So Cal, autumn is here and there will be rain and cold someday—a great time to cuddle up with a good book. I have a stack of books I’m reading for work (evaluating and content editing for author clients, which is one of the things I do as an editor). Luckily, I have very talented clients, so my reading stack is always full of an electric mixture of mysteries, memoirs, business books, and recently even a dating book for people over 50. Check out their Facebook page here.

          I do keep another stack of books to read just for pleasure, too. A couple I loved recently were: The Wild Trees by Richard Preston, a nonfiction book that reminded me of how fun a great nonfiction book can be. Speaking of non fiction brilliance, I really enjoyed reading Girl Boner: The Good Girl's Guide to Sexual Empowerment by August McLaughlin. I thought I knew a lot about sex and sexuality, but I definitely learned a thing or two. I love how the book is written so inclusively, too, so it doesn't exclude any gender, outlook or sexual choice. It would be a great gift—seriously, it’s a book that mature teenage girls could appreciate and women of absolutely any age could, too.

         I like to read well-reviewed YA books, sometimes, and the latest stand out was The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas. What an eye opener! The story is literally “ripped from the headlines” about a police shooting of an innocent young black man, told from the POV of the young girl who was in the car with him. Apparently, there’s a movie in the works. Big surprise, there.

         My fave novel last month was The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson. It’s everything I like in a book—books, intrigue, love, cool characters, family drama, and real places. In this case Los Angeles, my old hometown. That made it even more fun. I also enjoyed The House of Broken Angels by Luis Urrea, though it isn’t my favorite of his wonderful books.

         Anyway, it's back to work now, I'm line-editing a book set in Ancient Egypt. Lucky me—I really love what I do!  I get to learn and explore so many ways of living and live so many lives through books. 

         What have you read lately that you loved? I’d love to hear about it.

         Hasta pronto!

Book Openings, and a "Cool" Book Review

Every now and then, you read a novel and it reminds you of why you fell in love with literature, and why you still think that reading and writing can save us, unite us, heal us. Such a novel is My Last Continent by Midge Raymond. It's about a strong woman who already loves two things very deeply, and then falls in love for the first time with a person.
          Much has been written about this justly-acclaimed book—about how Raymond brings to life the loveable endangered penguins and the starkly beautiful threatened continent itself—that I’ll simply say that I feel like I lived through this adventure and barely escaped the shipwreck myself. I read far into the wee hours of the morning (fair warning to future readers) and even in the record-breaking heat of this August in So Cal, I read the final chapters with a shiver or two, and more than one tear.
          Raymond opens the book with the word “Afterwards” and the first lines put us right into Antarctica today; our narrator notices that the tourists waddling up from the shore to the penguin colonies are swaddled so that “these visitors—stuffed into oversize puffy red parkas—walk like the penguins themselves.” Moments later we learn about the shipwreck of the Australis, and we are hooked.

Having lived aboard a boat for most of my last thirty years, I can attest to how well the author captured being at sea for long periods, what it's like to be in a small inflatable dinghy in the dark/cold, and how difficult small boats are to control in choppy water. Luckily I've never been in (or on) such a cold ocean—reading about it was chilling enough...

       

Openings are notoriously difficult, and only a few writers are able to make page one look easy. Every book has its own, perfect beginning—it is the author’s responsibility (and sometimes the editor’s job) to find it.
          You all know I love reading memoirs, and that traveling on land and sea in Baja California was a defining part of my life. Here are the opening paragraphs to two excellent, and very different, Baja memoirs:
         
From Almost An Island by Bruce Berger: “Looking back on a three-decade obsession with Baja California, I see that I have been caught by a cul-de-sac. Longer than Florida, longer than Italy, Baja California is an eight hundred-mile deadend. To the west, the Pacific Ocean stretches a third of the globe's circumference before striking another continent. To the east lies the Gulf of California—more romantically known, particularly to the travel industry, as the Sea of Cortez. A finger of the Pacific, the Gulf is a peninsula of water to complement the one of land.”
         
From Miraculous Air by C.M. Mayo: “The first airplane arrived at San José del Cabo in 1931. The people couldn't believe it, that this thing could stay up above the earth, swoop over them without falling. The pilot's surname was Flores, but no one remembers his first name.
       It is the town historian, Don Fernando Cota, who is telling me this story. It is late October, more than sixty years later. Most of the people who were there that day are dead.”

          One excerpt is a bit shorter than the other, but that is the least of their differences. Each establishes a clear tone and a unique voice, but both make me want to read more. I bet you all have one or more favorite opening line(s) to a book—please share them with us below.

Hasta pronto!