Current Events

It has been a while so I thought I'd give a quick synopsis of all things writing related.

• I will be presenting to the Friends of the Pewaukee Library on Thursday, December 11th (my birthday). I had such a good time at the New Berlin Library, that I am really looking forward to this. It will consist of some short readings, a slide show, followed by a book signing.
• On December 17th I will be travelling to St. Cloud Minnesota where I'll be leading a book discussion about Dirty Shirt at the Stearns County Museum. This group, the Granite City Book Club has taken the time to buy my books and read it, which is flattering. Also, this is my father's hometown, so this trip will be pretty meaningful all the way around. 
• Dirty Shirt was featured in the University of Minnesota's Alumni "Bookmarks" section on their website. Check it out here.
• My book has been ordered by the Wisconsin Historical Society. This is pretty cool as it is already in the Minnesota Historical Society collection.
• My  article in the Wisconsin State Journal's Sunday "Just Read It" column should be out in the next two weeks. This is the Madison paper and Madison is a market I haven't been able to bust into, so hopefully this will spur some sales or interest.
• I continue to work on new poetry as well as editing my existing work. It's my goal to have it ready to submit by mid-January. 
• I am also periodically working on the Portland book as time permits or as my focus drifts, as it does quite often.
• I've submitted to a number of places recently, both poetry and some nonfiction stories. Sometimes these places take months to get back to me. Some never do. Cest la vie.
• I've been to a few more book signings by fellow Authors recently, Nanci Rathbun and Sandy Goldsworthy are both gifted writers who had books published this year. It is wonderful to be surrounded by other successful colleagues but it is making my "to read" pile quite high.
• I'm still enrolled in the AllWriters' Workplace and Workshop on Monday nights with about ten other students. I love working with this group. They encourage, support and keep me honest.
• I have a story in an anthology about "Home" by Main Street Rag publishing that should be coming out in Q1 of next year, if not sooner.
• At last count I was in over 30 libraries in Wisconsin and 20+ in Minnesota. I found I am also in several other out-of-state libraries on the WorldCat site, which shows me in 52 libraries. Yikes.
• I am working to schedule another book group in Minnesota for the second weekend in January when I go up to drop my daughter off at school.

So it's all going great. I love what I'm doing and can't wait to see what the future brings. I am especially excited to get the poetry collection going. 

Stay tuned.

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