The Writer's Blog

Just back from the four day Bold Strokes Book 4th Annual Lesbian Book Festival in Palm Springs. I'm inspired to dive back into my book-in-progress, and determined to be better about keeping this blog up to date.

The absolutely best thing about the BSB festival is the opportunity it gives authors to talk to the readers. I signed a lot of books, both for people who hadn't yet read Veritas and for some who'd read it but were buying another copy so they could have a signed one! A few told me they'd read the book twice. My fragile ego thanks you from the bottom of its heart.

I'm a voracious reader myself, so I know the feeling of wondering what went into the writing of a book, what the story is with the author who came up with the idea and the wherewithal to write it. It's wonderful to have the two worlds collide - the reader and the writer - to discover that there isn't that much that separates them. Us. It is a quirk of the author's personality that they happen to be good at telling stories and have learned how to write them effectively. It's an aspect of the reader's personality that they are passionate about books and can appreciate what the writer has done. It's a match made in heaven, of course, but the opportunities for writers to talk directly to readers about their writing are not that plentiful. The BSB Festival had that in spades, plus a whole lot of fun.

Here's a link to a short interview I did with Carsen Taite, a fellow BSB author and talented vlogger. In the interview I talk about the book I'm working on, so please check it out for a synopsis. I'm pretty excited about the story, but still a long way from having everything worked out. If all goes well, it should be in print in 2011.

A book you should look for much sooner than that is The Big Bang Symphony by Lucy Jane Bledsoe (Terrace Books, The University of Wisconsin Press, May 2010). Lucy is an author I've long admired, ever since reading her first novel, Working Parts. Last year I had the pleasure of not only reading with Lucy in Oakland, but also being in residence at Ragdale for the same period of time in November. She's a fantastic writer and The Big Bang Symphony is going to be a great read. It's set in Antarctica, where three women go to work the summer season. Here's the link to the book trailer.

I've also put up the link to the BSB online bookstore. For those of you who would like to buy Veritas or any other BSB novel, I urge you to use the site or any independent bookseller. Amazon.com has good prices and is amazingly convenient, but each purchase there takes money out of the pockets of the publishers and authors. Amazon pays the publisher only 35% of the list price, not enough to support a publisher. It gets away with it because of its near monopoly on online marketing. I'm just saying . . .

Back to work for me. Until next time.