So what am I doing?

So what am I doing? Well, I have some time off this summer, call it a a Sabbatical if you want, as that’s what they call any extended time off in my line of work, college professor, that is. Intentional or otherwise, it’s a few months off, and what I’m planning on doing, that is after I shove aside all the flotsam and jetsam of the previous semester and prep for the upcoming Fall, is write.

Actually getting time to write is both a profane and sacred thing to a writer, because it’s equally dreaded and longed for. Gone are the florid visions we enjoy in those moments before sleep, idling at a stop light, or as the shower water rains down, the story coalescing in our heads. Imminent is the task of collecting all those scraps of paper, sticky notes, phone memos, links, Moleskine or tablet scratchings–all the research collected, filed, categorized. Now to open up the laptop or grab a clean legal pad and put fingers to keyboard or paper and let that verbal vomit fly. It’s go time and Writer, you know that that means.

Ass in chair, sweetheart, ass in chair. Because nobody’s going to get it to the end but you if you don’t. (Or me if I don’t.) Now let’s all become the writers we think we are, because what we are can only start if we do.

Okay. Let it rip.

Showing my Literary Side

Hey! I know it’s been a long time, but just to show you how flexible I am, I’d like to prove there’s more to my writing than just snarky fiction. I am, along with my co-conspirator, Barbara Krasner, a co-editor of Kelsey Review, a literary journal now open, until May 31, 2026 for submissions. If you’re a writer, fiction or creative nonfiction, poet, artist or photographer, and live in New Jersey or Bucks or Philadelphia County, PA, we want to hear from you! Submit via our Submittable link today!

Liberty State Fiction Writers is having a Conference AND a Bookfair!

A New Direction

I heard somewhere in order to stay fresh and current, you need to reinvent yourself every ten years. I also read awhile ago it takes ten years or 10,000 hours to become a master at anything. Well, I’ve done both–invested both the hours and the years, plus more. So now it’s time to start the reinvention. And I’m starting by writing something new and moving on from what got me to where I am now.  And that begins with my representation.

I know the search engines would like to to remain where I was but to them I’m like–sweethearts, no matter what you say I’m overruling you right here. I’ve left my long-time literary agency, and not because they’ve done me egregious, but because I’m moving in a different direction and that’s not their forte. But look, I’m grateful for all the time and effort they put into me to make me a better writer. The time wasn’t wasted because I am.

So to those agencies visiting this as I begin my search, call me on it. If you have my query letter, ask to see more. Make me prove myself. I’m up to it and anything you can toss at me.

So let’s begin.

Summertime, and the living is…easy?

Actually, the living is quite a-kilter. Every day is a new surprise, and perhaps this is what it means to live in “interesting times.”  In any event, I (watch what I) eat, I read, I sleep, I teach, I write with arguably extra-sufficient skill, while wondering what fresh hell will be delivered to my inbox that morning (rejections need not apply). I’m seriously trying not to doom scroll, or return to the X wasteland for what I’ve been missing,  and right now all I’m using Instagram for is the cat videos. (Yes, guilty as charged.) Most of all I’m trying not to live a parenthetical life, but it’s starting to look as if I am, still waiting (a bit impatiently) for that Big Breakout. I wonder if it too is waiting for me.

Ah, what the hell. Going to grab a cold one and slice off another slab of watermelon. Happy Summer everyone!

A Most Happy Pride Month

Love is love and hate is hate,  and I’d choose love, wouldn’t you?

Pittsburgh is Having an Online Writers Conference May 31 – June 1, and I’m Going!

Write at Rutgers with Dr. Roxanne Gay!

Click here to apply by May 1 for the Fall 2024 cohort!

Liberty State Fictions Writers Conference is coming up March 23, 2024!

Join us on March 23, 2024, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Hamilton, New Jersey for the 13th Annual Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference. This is a great opportunity for published and aspiring authors to network and learn from a fantastic line-up of industry professionals. The conference will feature a dozen workshops that cover various aspects of writing including craft, business, promotion, and indie-publishing. Don’t miss out on a full days of education and networking. Visit our website for more info and to register!

Seriously Snark