So here I am in Dublin, a literary capital. A renowned whiskey town. It's raining. We went for a walk this am, a literary tour that took us by Oscar Wilde's home, Finn's Hotel, near where James Joyce met Nora and where she once worked as a chambermaid. We stepped into Sweny's chemist--a pharmacy featured in Ulysses, here lemon scented soap is purchased. We joined locals gathering for tea and for a reading.
Now I sit on a cafe near Grafton Street waiting for V to finish his last meeting before we head to County Wexford for two days and then we continue on to Paris. I am sipping an Irish Coffee and wondering how and when life became so pleasantly unexpected. Here I sit, at age 39, on my first trip abroad in Ireland, from whence part of my family stems. (Ah, whence, would I be using that word if I were in Austin. Nope.)
I am doing what I love for a living. Writing. Teaching. Editing. I am so grateful. And speaking of editing, it is today's recent work at Hunger Mountain, that I am here to share. The children's lit team is extraordinary and our Assistant Editor, Caroline Carlson, who is repped by Greenhouse Literary just earned herself a three book deal! As stated on the Greenhouse website:
Caroline Carlson’s MAGIC MARKS THE SPOT, pitched as Eva Ibbotson meets Lemony Snicket with a twist of ‘yo ho ho’, to be illustrated with maps, journals and letters, in which a girl is rejected by the Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates and shipped off to a Finishing School for Delicate Ladies instead, from where she must escape and set sail with a motley crew including a governess, a budgerigar and a talkative gargoyle on a treasure hunt for the kingdom’s lost magic, to Phoebe Yeh and Toni Markiet at Harper Children’s, in a significant deal, in a pre-empt, in a three-book deal, for publication in 2013, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (NA).
Congrats, Caroline and thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do at HM. You make my job easier, more fun and even more inspiring. All good things! (And possibly some Writers' Tears Whiskey in your future.) Cheers.
Now on to the latest over at Hunger Mountain...
This week, we welcome our Katherine Paterson prize winner and finalists, as judged by National Book Award winning author Kimberly Willis Holt: Him by Heather Smith Meloche; Forty Thieves and Green-Eyed Girl by Christy Lenzi, and Cesar by Betty Yee. Another highlight is Writing from Both Sides of the Brain, a feature by Kelley Barson, which explains how both the left and the right sides of the brain are engaged in producing good fiction. We offerseveral poems by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, author of the recent Under the Mesquite. This issue’s Flipside is unique. We offer three voices, a seasoned writing instructor,Uma Krishnaswami, author of The Grand Plan to Fix Everything and newer writing teachers,Sarah Aronson, author of Beyond Lucky and Debby Dahl Edwardson, a current National Book Award nominee for My Name Is Not Easy. Each shares her own unique method of The Art & Insanity of Teaching Writing.
And as a reminder, we are accepting pieces for submissions for consideration for our Winter 2012 issue The Magic & Mystery of Identity and our Spring 2012 issue The Landscape of Literature. Please see here for submission guidelines. *Note: there is now a $3.00 submissions fee which is not a reading fee, but a charge that helps fund the cost of the online submissions manager. Since our readers and editors are scattered around the globe, snail mail submissions, which would also cost submitters roughly $3, are not viable. Thank you for your continued support of Hunger Mountain.*
The long wait is over everyone! The annual print edition has been put to bed and before the year is up will be turning up in subscriber mailboxes as well as brick and mortar stores and the fall YA & Children's issue is rolling out new content.
From my editorial letter:
Dear reader,
Welcome to the Art & Insanity of Creativity issue. While this issue’s theme may sound tongue in cheek, it is anything but. To quote Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis (1885-1957) “A person needs a little madness, or else they dare never cut the rope and be free.” Kazantzakis’ quote points to artist as rebel. Artist as free thinker. Artist going against the societal ties that bind us all. An artist is all these things—and therefore an artist needs the courage to examine the world we live in and our own human nature.
And then we have psychiatrist, scholar, and bipolar patient Dr. Kay Redfield Jameson whose book Touched with Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament intends:
…to make a literary, biographical, and scientific argument for a compelling association, not to say an actual overlap, between two temperaments—the artistic and the manic depressive—and their relationships to the rhythms and cycles, or temperament of the natural world. The emphasis will be on understanding the relationship between moods and imagination, the nature of moods—their variety, their contrary and oppositional qualities, their flux, their extremes (causing in some individuals occasional bouts of ‘madness’)—and the importance of moods in igniting thought, changing perceptions, creating chaos, forcing order upon that chaos, and enabling transformation. (5)
In reading Jameson’s book for research for an upcoming novel of mine, and to understand an illness that has touched my family’s life in many ways, I began to see and make connections I hadn’t before. Any illness—cancer, diabetes, bipolar disorder—is scary and can be life-threatening but it also can be life-affirming. That is where art and artistry comes in: exploring the dark, wandering there, with the sole purpose of finding the light.
In this issue, we will have pieces on the artistry of teaching (with Debby Dahl Edwardson, current NBA finalist both last week and this week), the market’s “obsession” with dystopia, how to overcome fear in our work, an In Response essay by Andew Karre, Editorial Director at Carolrhoda Books on our In Defense of YA piece and my YA is NOT a Genre essay, which appears over at Hunger Mountain blog Another Loose Sally, a word play exercise with Children’s Poetry Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, as well as fiction and poetry which play with extremes and bring order to the chaos of the character’s lives.
This week, we welcome Kirsten Cappy of Curious City in our Industry Insider with her ode to REM, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It…” which delves into the multifaceted work that Kirsten does with her Curious City clients. We offer new fiction by novelist Jennifer Hubbard with The Stage Managerand A Cut-Out Face by Mima Tipper—both of which are psychological studies as well as damn fine short stories. And, we debut the first of our features for this issue with Bobbie Pyron’s brave essay The Perks of Being Bipolar.
And lest this issue sound too serious—do not fear— there is plenty to chuckle at and laugh with in the pieces above and the pieces to come. So, please stop back often. Read, respond and let this issue aid the art and insanity in your creativity.
Best,
Bethany Hegedus, YA and Children’s Lit Editor
We are now accepting pieces for consideration for our Winter 2012 issue The Magic & Mystery of Identity and our Spring 2012 issue The Landscape of Literature. Please see here for submission guidelines. *Note: there is now a $3.00 submissions fee which is not a reader fee, but a charge that helps fund the cost of the online submissions manager. Since our readers and editors are scattered around the globe, snail mail submissions, which would also cost submitters roughly $3, are not viable. Thank you for your continued support of Hunger Mountain.*
The temp here in Austin is now reaching a high of 87 with evenings in the cool 60s. This is fall for us--so I am going to take it. I do miss the fall foliage of upstate NY, the crisp apples, donning sweaters and walking to my beloved Brooklyn bagel shop and having coffee with friends on park benches. But, Austin has brought other Indian Summer pleasures--taking a walk with AK down at Town Lake, writing outside at The Place with the ladies and as K.A. Holt said bogarting a picnic table for 5 hours, and finally opening The Writing Barn to friends.
This last Sunday, a rainy Sunday which the drought ridden soil so desperately needed we held the opening of The Writing Barn. (Also, a birthday celebration for my 39th.) The day before Dave Wilson, a wonderful photographer, who just happens to be married to Austin author Nikki Loftin came to take professional shots of The Barn. It may have been gloomy outside but Dave, with his wide angle lense, and his talent made The Barn look bright and welcoming.
A fancy shot merging three solo shots.
Guest bedroom, queen sized bed
Cozy loft space to read or write
A place to rock and read
Screened in porch
Lovely courtyard in front of The Barn
The rain continued to fall for the Barn Warming on Sunday afternoon but friends came--ready to eat, drink, and be merry! Abou Sylla and band were incredible!
Jeff Crosby, Shelley Ann Jackson, and E. Kirstin Anderson chat.
Gather ye round for cake. From R to L, Vanessa Lee, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Jenny Moss, and Don Tate and his lovely wife.
Abou Sylla breaks it down. Pic by Jen Bigheart.
The birthday carrot cake ala Central Market
It was a wonderful to see so many friends, old and new, and to break in the barn the right way--mud and all--before The Barn's first event this weekend, a book launch party for HARNESS HORSES, BUCKING BRONCOS & PIT PONIES: A HISTORY OF HORSE BREEDS at the Writing Barn on Sunday, Oct. 16th from 2-4 pm. Written and illustrated by Jeff Crosby and Shelley Ann Jackson. (For an excellent interview with Jeff and Shelley see Donna Bowman Bratton's blog.)
Lots of other goings on this week, In Austin
Don't miss Cynsations interview with Tu Books (Lee and Low) Editor Stacy Whitman and Author Karen Sandler. Comment and you will be eligible for a 10 page critique by Editor, Stacy Whitman.
Publisher's Weekly featured BookPeople in this week's Children's Bookshelf. Meghan Goel, book buyer for BookPeople was asked 3 Questions. To find out what they are--go here.
Outside Awesome Austin
The National Book Award nominees were announced. A big congrats to all nominees but a special congrats to friend Debby Dahl Edwardson for My Name is Not Easy, and the two other VCFA names in the mix--the wonderful Lauren Myracle for Shine and current VCFA faulty member Franny Billingsley for Chime!
Over at Hunger Mountain The annual print edition is DONE, which means new content to the YA & Children's section for the fall issue, The Art & Insanity of Creativity will be launching soon. Look for content by Bobbie Pyron, Ron Koertge, Lindsey Lane, Debby Dahl Edwardson,Uma Krishnaswami,Jennifer Hubbard, Sarah Aronson,J. Patrick Lewis, and more. I was invited by Claire Guyton to write an essay for the Hunger Mountain Voices series going on at the blog, Another Loose Sally. The first essay was written but nabbed up for a future Writer's Life, Inc piece. So I began drafting a new one--that effort YA Is Not a Genre--I hope clears up some of the misinformation about YA. Thank you to my Hunger Mountain colleagues--the woman at the head of the ship, Miciah Bay Gault, and our extraordinary social media intern, Kris Underwood for their participation in the conversation.
Today at Inside the Writer’s Studio we welcome debut author Tess Hilmo. Tess is a member of The Class of 2k11 and writes in the genre I most love: Southern Middle Grade!
About the book:
From the Publisher--FSG
When Ollie’s daddy, the Reverend Everlasting Love, pulls their travel trailer into Binder to lead a three-day revival, Ollie knows that this town will be like all the others they visit— it is exactly the kind of nothing Ollie has come to expect. But on their first day in town, Ollie meets Jimmy Koppel, whose mother is in jail for murdering his father. Jimmy insists that his mother is innocent, and Ollie believes him. Still, even if Ollie convinces her daddy to stay in town, how can two kids free a grown woman who has signed a confession? Ollie’s longing for a friend and her daddy’s penchant for searching out lost souls prove to be a formidable force in this tiny town where everyone seems bent on judging and jailing without a trial.
Welcome, Tess! Thanks for being with us today!
Is there a story behind the story that you wish to share? (Ie: the ah-ha or lightning moment where the story inspiration struck.)
I grew up loving southern gospel music and have memories of singing songs like Swing Low Sweet Chariot,Let My People Go andThis Little Light of Mineas a little girl. I'd sing them while I was walking home from school or doing my chores. I'd sing them in the shower or after an argument with a friend. Now you should know that I am a terrible singer but that didn't matter. Those songs made me believe in myself. Fast forward many, many years and you would find me, now a busy mom, trying to write novels for kids. I decided that I wanted to write a novel that would embrace these songs I love so much. With A Name Like Loveis that story.
How do you stay inspired to face the dreaded blank page? Is it something you dread? Look forward to? Share a bit about your writing process.
I'd love to tell you that I have a strict writing schedule...that I follow the good advice to sit down and write some every day, but I don't. My creative process takes a lot of musing. I need to go on long drives and sit in parks. I need to gaze out windows and let my mind wander. Sometimes I even need to eat whole tubs of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. It's a hard life, but someone's got to live it :)
How does “place” come through in your writing? How important is place in this current novel/picture book? Is it tied to a place you once lived or are familiar with or is it a new world entirely?
I knew this story would need to be set in the south, but really had little experience of the south myself. Generations ago, I did have distant relatives in Arkansas and a great uncle who was an itinerant preacher. I honestly believe those angels looked down from heaven and guided my writing. I read some of their journals and lots of books on Arkansas. I combed the internet. I wrote key facts on paper and taped them all around my workspace. I did my best to imagine the world they lived in and make it come to life for Ollie and her family.
Writers love books; we love reading. What book do you turn to over and over again and why do you love it?
Anything by Gary Schmidt is a favorite. His writing style is very different from mine, but it inspires me. I can imagine myself dancing on the rocky cliffs with Lizzy Bright from Lizzy Bright and the Buckminster Boyor tossing a baseball with Doug Swieteck in is most recent (and amazing) novel,Okay For Now. Everything he writes encourages me to strive for real characters living in a real world. No one does characterization better.
If your protagonist and antagonist were competing on American Idol what songs would each sing? And who would have the better voice?
I couldn't pass this question up! Ollie sings old gospel songs that her daddy teaches her and her sisters ... at one point in the novel she sings Let My People Go, her daddy's rich voice guiding her in her head. If she were to be on the American Idol stage, she'd sing that song and rock the house! There are a few antagonists in the story...I'll chose Esther Roberts for this question (a pinch faced shop keeper who is mean as they come) and say she'd stand on the stage and start singing I'm A Little Teapot --- but about two sentences in, she'd stop singing and tell everyone how dumb the whole competition is before stomping off stage. That woman is a pain in the hind end!
In ode to Maebelle, the main character in my new book Truth with a Capital T, who keeps a book of little known facts about just about everything, please share a wacky piece of trivia that has stuck with you or please share a little known fact about YOU.
I used to be terribly superstitious as a child...always careful never to step on cracks in the sidewalk or pick up "tail side up" pennies. I even recall separating all of the silverware in the dishwasher because I was afraid the knives would hurt the forks and the forks would hurt the spoons. It may have been extreme, but it was for their own good.
Tess, thanks for being with us and thanks for keeping those forks and spoons safe!
The Austin Teen Book Festival
I was one of the 25,000 attendees at The Austin Teen Book Festival at the Palmer Center last weekend. I snapped many a picture, chatted with many a fellow author, and was overwhelmed at the excitement in the air. The teens came out in full force to see a line up of stellar YA writing rock stars. Check out today's coverage from Publisher's Weekly, including a fabulous quote from Varian Johnson, Austin author of Saving Maddie.
A young fan of author Jennifer Ziegler
An attendee in full steampunk regalia.
Authors Jennifer Ziegler, Christina Mandelski, Stephanie Perkins and Simone Elkeles
For more photos of the outstanding event, see Cynsations Event Report by Austin Teen Book Festival featured author Cynthia Leitich Smith, whose Tantalize series drew in plenty of fans. And, see also Greg Leitich Smith, whose new novel Chronal Engine is coming soon!
The Writers' League of Texas
As usual, much is going on at the Writers' League of Texas, including a fundraiser for the WLT this Sunday evening. Check out information for the Raise the Roof Party Here.
The Texas Book Festival
I am up to my ears in books for this year's TBF. Please join me on Saturday at 2pm, Oct. 22nd for:
Zombies, Odd Girls, and My Other Middle School Classmates
Moderator Bethany Hegedus is the author of Between Us Baxters and Truth with a Capital T, both of which were named to the Best Books list by the Bank Street Awards Committee. Forthcoming is the picture book Grandfather Gandhi, co-authored with Arun Gandhi, grandson to the Mahatma. Bethany serves as the Young Adult & Children's editor for the literary journal Hunger Mountain.
Please join Jeff Crosby & Shelley Jackson to celebrate the release of their newest children's picture book, HARNESS HORSES, BUCKING BRONCOS & PIT PONIES: A HISTORY OF HORSE BREEDS!
Minis and Friends, a charitable organization that benefits disabled children, will be at the event with live miniature horses to pet. Original art from the book will be on display, prints will be for sale, and copies of HARNESS HORSES will be available for purchase and to get autographed. We'll also have snacks, horsey games and more!
This event is open to the public. The Writing Barn is located at 10202 Wommack Road in Austin. Parking will be available inside the property and overflow parking is available on Riddle Road and Wommack Road.
It's sure to be a fun event for horse lovers, book lovers, and art lovers of all ages!
Today for Inside the Writer’s Studio we have with us Monika Schroder, author of The Dog in the Wood, Saraswati’s Way, and the newly released My Brother’s Shadow. I was introduced to Monika by the irrepressible Kirsten Cappy, the brain behind Curious City. Shortly thereafter, Monika was working on a piece for Hunger Mountain about the writing of My Brother’s Shadow. It is an honor to have her with us today to dig into her process and her keen insights into human nature.
Welcome, Monika. And let us all welcome My Brother’s Shadow to the shelves.
A bit about the book:
From the publisher, FSG
As World War I draws to a close in 1918, German citizens are starving and suffering under a repressive regime. Sixteen-year-old Moritz is torn. His father died in the war and his older brother still risks his life in the trenches, but his mother does not support the patriotic cause and attends subversive socialist meetings. While his mother participates in the revolution to sweep away the monarchy, Moritz falls in love with a Jewish girl who also is a socialist. When Moritz’s brother returns home a bitter, maimed war veteran, ready to blame Germany’s defeat on everything but the old order, Moritz must choose between his allegiance to his dangerously radicalized brother and those who usher in the new democracy.
And though out only one day, the reviews are in and they are outstanding!
“A good choice for sharing across the curriculum, this is a novel readers will want to discuss.” --Booklist
"In this nuanced and realistic work of historical fiction, Schröder (Saraswati’s Way) immerses readers in her setting with meticulous details and dynamic characters that contribute to a palpable sense of tension. Moritz’s intimate narration captures the conflicts, divided loyalties, and everyday horrors of the period." --Publishers Weekly
" 'War gives meaning to some men's lives. For other men, the experience of war extinguishes all meaning in life,' says a man who becomes Moritz's mentor; Schröder makes this sad and ever-timely lesson all too clear."--Kirkus Reviews
“The sorrow and the pity of World War I haunt every page of this unsparing coming-of-age story set in Berlin during the war’s final days. Monika Schröder skillfully sketches in the fractured political background of a disintegrating imperial Germany. She doesn’t miss a beat in her fast-paced first-person narrative as sixteen-year-old Moritz copes with his family’s misfortunes, finds his calling, and discovers love…This is a memorable and instructive novel.”—Russell Freedman, Newbery-award winning author of The War to End All Wars: World War I
Now on to the interview!
Monika, how do you stay inspired to face the dreaded blank page? Is it something you dread? Look forward to? Share a bit about your writing process.
I dread writing the first draft. I am not good at tapping into the “white heat” some writers describe that lets them write pages and pages of unedited text in one swoop. My “inner editor” is always on and I experience a constant struggle between the part of my brain that thinks about structure and function of a scene or a chapter and the part that just feels what needs to happen next. So probably like every writer I dread the blank page, but over time I have learned that sitting and staring is part of the process. When I talk to kids I tell them that one secret of writing is to just “keep your butt in the chair.” I don’t have a rule about minimum amount of pages per day, but I am very disciplined when it comes to just spending time in front of that page, be it empty or partially filled, and waiting until I can write the next sentence.
I much prefer revising to composing a first draft. Once there is something to shape it is easier to get into the flow.
Name a writer whose work and/or career you admire. And why do you admire them?
I like the books by Avi, since I enjoy the way he makes place and time come alive. And I also admire Jennifer Holm who writes always with a strong voice and has a gift of creating lively characters in historical fiction.
Theme can be seen as a dirty word but as writers I believe we all have something to say, something we want to share with the world. What is that something for you?
I think that one theme I have investigated in my writing is how war and political transitions affect regular people and children in particular.
I have always been interested in history. Germany, my home country, has started two World Wars in the last century. Both wars not only brought death and terror to large parts of Europe but also ended in defeat followed by fundamental changes of the political system. I have tried to imagine how regular people dealt with these changes. I find it fascinating that a German person born at the beginning of the 20th century could have experienced a monarchy, a failed democracy, a fascist dictatorship, a socialist totalitarian regime and then again a democracy, just within one life span.
In my first novel, THE DOG IN THE WOOD, I wrote about the end of World War II and how people in a small village in east Germany experienced the arrival of the red Army. My new novel, MY BROTHER’S SHADOW, is set in 1918, another important transition time in German history. I tried to imagine what it might have been like for a young man who had grown up under the Kaiser to see the monarchy disappear and be confronted with socialist ideas and women’s emancipation. The defeat in the war led to a socialist revolution in Germany. The split between those who considered this a hopeful event and those who thought of it as treason foreshadowed the conflicts to come during the Weimar Republic.
What do you feel is your strength as a craftsperson? How do you turn your weaknesses into strengths?
I hope that my strength lies in pacing and characterization. I believe my weakness is voice. I hope to have tackled this weakness by writing MY BROTHER’S SHADOW in first person. The book I am currently working in is also told in first person. And I have another work-in-progress that I am trying to tell in two alternating voices.
How does “place” come through in your writing? How important is place in this current novel/picture book? Is it tied to a place you once lived or are familiar with or is it a new world entirely?
I think place is very important in my books. I have written two novels set in Germany and one set in contemporary India, and I hope that readers feel transported to those locations while reading the books.
MY BROTHER’S SHADOW is set in Berlin, my favorite city. I have lived in Berlin in the late 1980 and early 1990s and was always fascinated with the city’s history. When I wrote the book, which takes place in the year 1918, it was easy to imagine what Berlin looked like at the time. Also, there are a lot of photographs and even early film reels available to help an author see the setting.
Currently, I am working on a book set in the 1830s. The story starts in Boston and the character takes a boat to Calcutta. I have visited both cities but the historical time period requires a lot more research for me to depict it authentically.
How do you balance the internal and external arc in the story? Which comes to you first—the external action or what is emotionally at stake? How do you weave the two together?
I seem to develop the external plot structure first. For THE DOG IN THE WOOD I had to slowly create a character that this story could happen to. Akash, the main character of SARASWATI’S WAY, was fleshed out in my mind early on and I knew that his internal journey would be connected to his relationship to his gods and how he defines fate. I knew the story’s arc would take him from his village to the train station in New Delhi, but I didn’t learn about the obstacles along his way until I wrote the book.
When I started to write MY BROTHER’S SHADOW I knew it would be a story about disillusionment, about how the main character, Moritz, deals with the loss of what once was and adjusts to a completely new world. I knew that Moritz’s brother would return from the war and join the reactionary forces in Germany, opposing his mother’s involvement with the socialist movement. But the details of his journey and the emotional development that he went through I had to discover through the process.
Which literary character, yours or another author’s, do you most relate to? And why?
In my own work I can relate to Akash. He is a math wizard (I used to be very good in math), he has a burning desire to fulfill his dream and the stamina to pursue it, but he has to learn patience (I still haven’t learned to be patient).
Inspired by the Actors Studio, what sound do you love? What sound do you hate?
I love silence. When my husband and I spend the summers at our cabin in Northern
Michigan I enjoy the absolute silence at night. Having lived in big, noisy cities for the last 15 years probably has made me crave silence even more. We have now left New Delhi, a noisy city of over 17 million, and moved to the mountains of North Carolina, where it is more silent.
But if you ask me about my least favorite ones I might name a few: I don’t like the sound of chain saws or loud machines but I also have some quirky dislikes: I don’t like hearing someone clipping his nails or cracking his knuckles or the sound of people jingling coins in their pockets. (I know this is weird.)
Be brave. Share a paragraph from a WIP.
As I passed the reverend’s room I noticed that the door stood ajar. I peeked inside and found his chamber empty. I gave the door a light push and it opened without the familiar squeak. The reverend must have fixed it himself as I noticed a dark oil stain around the hinges. I entered the room where the bag stood on the bed. Next to it a large map was spread out on the cover. I recognized the almost triangular outline of India, as I had read about the country in Uncle Ezra’s magazine. On the left bottom of the map was written: “A New Map of Hindoostan by Major James Rennell, Surveyor General to the Honorable East India Company.” I stepped next to the bed to study the tiny names of cities and rivers. A circle was drawn in red pencil around a city in the northern part of the country. Leaning closer I tried to decipher the name. Dehly. I wondered if this was the location of the reverend’s brother’s mission. Looking at the bag I contemplated a quick search for the heavy object that caused the clanging sound earlier but I didn’t dare to touch it. When I heard footsteps on the stairs I quickly hurried from the room. I had just reached the hallway when the reverend appeared on the landing, wearing his coat and hat. “You are still awake, Caleb?” he asked, eyeing me suspiciously. “I’m just about to go to bed,” I said, glad the loud banging of my heart was inaudible to him, and that I could slip into my room without another word.
In ode to Maebelle, the main character in my new book Truth with a Capital T, who keeps a book of little known facts about just about everything, please share a wacky piece of trivia that has stuck with you or please share a little known fact about YOU.
I only drink three kinds of beverages: water, red wine (preferably Merlot from South America) and high end second flush Darjeeling tea.
Thank you to Monika for being with us. I will always have water, red wine and Darjeeling tea on tap for you!
