I was a fan of Rebecca Makkai even before I picked up her new novel THE GREAT BELIEVERS. Makkai was a featured author at the 2016 Washington Island Literary Festival and taught a workshop in the boathouse on our property. I was traveling the month before, and I was delighted to find her short story … Read more
Who drives two-plus hours to read three pages of FRANKENSTEIN aloud? Part of Iowa City’s annual Book Festival (tenth annual this year for the UNESCO City of Literature) was a continuous reading of Mary Shelley’s famous novel. Other events were a panel discussion at the public library and screenings of “Frankenstein” and “Bride of Frankenstein” … Read more
As I become comfortable in what I consider my third career (quilting industry business owner first, nonprofit advocate second, and now, novelist), I think often of my early love of narrative, the joy I remember from childhood at the very concept of stories. That mere words are capable of creating people one can know, places … Read more
Tomorrow, I leave for New York City—to spend the weekend with my oldest, Hannah Fons, and to meet my agent Ms. Evans in person. Hannah and I have some neat plans, including Friday night’s Art Battle New York, (a live painting competition with artists as contestants), a wine-and-cheese tasting yacht cruise, on which I hope to catch … Read more
Like any self-respecting holder of an MA in literature, I lean toward the highbrow in my reading. This unwavering lifelong quest to improve my mind and comprehend the human condition has driven me through the pages of a number of extreme downer Pulitzer Prize winners (AMERICAN PASTORAL, A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES). From time to time, … Read more
I’m just back from Killeen, TX, where I lectured during the biennial (every other year) Crossroads to Texas Quilt Show. The exhibit and the people were wonderful, but the absolute highlight (for me) was the Quilts of Valor award ceremony conducted by Laura Winkel and members of the Quilters With a Heart QOV group on … Read more
Now that the Labor Day holiday is over, my literary agent will begin shopping MY LIFE WITH SHELLEY to editors of publishing imprints in (I assume) New York. (Go, Ms. Evans, Go!) During the years I spent writing—even though publication was always my goal—I didn’t think too much about agents or publishers. I spent my … Read more
As a person who majored in literature both in undergraduate and graduate school, naturally I’ve read a lot. During my university years, for example, I did two full semesters of Shakespeare, a semester of Chaucer, eighteenth century poetry and prose, literature in translation, modern American literature, a semester of Faulkner, and an independent study on … Read more
After months of knocking on the doors of various New York literary agents, my novel MY LIFE WITH SHELLEY has found its advocate! I queried Ms. Evans early in the morning on my birthday June 27, and before noon she requested my full manuscript. (I sat on my hands for several hours before shooting the … Read more
My quilts these days are frequently red, white, and blue because I am often making Quilts of Valor. My latest patriotic work was inspired by a vintage WWII beauty in the collection of quilter-historian-researcher-lecturer Sue Reich, who also happens to currently chair the board of directors of Quilts of Valor Foundation. The pattern for Sue’s … Read more