Writer and Editor C.B. Calsing/ G.G. Royale

This has been up since the beginning of the month, but I just found it today as I did one of those lovely, ego-boosting Google searches of my own name. This is an interview I did for the editors of "An Honest Lie." That picture is of me in my grandparent's trailer when I was about two, I think. And here's a review of "Mars-side" I hadn't known about either. And finally, here is the On the Premise "First" second-place contest winner, " To Wade Alone. " This story comes from my unpublished collection/ thesis All Along the Pacific (the title is a nod to Bob Dylan). It is loosely, loosely based on my great-great aunt who worked in the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus at the turn of the last century. Do a search for "Bertha Carnahan" and circus or midget and you'll find many mentions of her. Now it's back to work!

During my last semester at the University of New Orleans, my regular workshop leader was Joseph Boyden , who's not just a great writer, but a really nice guy to boot. His wife, Amanda Boyden also stepped in for a few classes. She has a keen eye and a great understanding of how publishing works. I learned a lot, even though I'd already completed most of the program. During one of Amanda's classes, she gave us an exercise (one I'd done with Joseph the previous year). We got on a slip of paper a person in a scenario -- something totally outside our realm of experience -- and tried to write from that person's POV. Men got "pregnant woman in labor," young women got "old man watiting for social security check," that sort of thing (not actual examples from class; I just thought those up now). The one I got was something to the effect of "ten-year-old boy witnesses parents' death." I wrote a voice piece, in my best Irish dialect, about an...

Sometimes, I feel like such a burden to my friends and limited group of writing acquaintances . For instance, I managed, between Sunday last week and Friday, to submit seven stories. One was a reprint ("Turtles"), but the others were all new (three) or revisions(three) of old stories that I had not yet sent out. What I have to remember is that every one of those stories needs to be read by at least one other person, and preferably more, before I send them. Not having a beta reader (as I have so heartbreakingly realized) will pretty much result in a rejection. My two beta readers -- and pretty much because they're the only people I'd ask -- are my husband, Patrick (he has hardly any web presence to speak of, so I can't link anything here), and my writing friend Zach, who attended workshop at UNO with me (I've mentioned him, and he was nice enough to post a comment below about my story). But eight stories is overload, I think. Also, while I know Zach is great...

The story, link in the last post, is up to be read by one and all. Enjoy!

I sold a story today which should be up very soon at Susan Neely's website . Here is a direct link to the page my story will appear on. Ms. Neely is an architect with some amazing projects under her belt. I've checked out the gallery pictures of her past work and they are really amazing. She decided to dedicate a portion of her page to New Orleans arts and culture and doing a wonderful job helping out local artists by including their work on her site.

Today I finally finished up edits on "Gran's Prophecy" which will appear in An Honest Lie , due out in the fall. I'm definitely glad the process is over. I do have to say that it was quite thorough. Probably, due to the phone calls, emails, edits, and other correspondences, this has been the most professional publication process I've entered into. This week, I have a post Apocolypse story to send out (due on Wednesday) and a rewrite of an old, old story about Lilith to submit to an anthology. My acceptance rate is down to 33 percent now, but I will keep working at it. Hopefully once the revisions on those are done, I'll be able to get started on something new. In addition, if you are at all interested in having an entree to bring me up in conversation, I've created for you T-shirts on Cafe Press. Check out my store where you can buy cute "She is my favorite writer" shirts, with my Web site and blog site on the back. If you'd like to be a li...

This was a tough week for writing. I started it in Maine at a retreat for my “day job,” had a huge Fourth of July barbeque, and have since been cleaning and packing for my trip to the beach. I also signed up as a slush pile reader (they call it editor/reviewer) with Sotto Voce . Work for free, you ask? Why yes, in this case I will. Basically, it keeps me in the know. What are other people writing? How good is it? Where do I need to grow? It's sort of like being back in workshop, where I can read a lot of stuff and be able to make a few comments about it, and learn from the process. I did get a nice request from the editor of Polluto for a rewrite of a story I submitted. I completely changed it, hoping to nail it the second time. Other than that, I’m working on a first draft of a sci fi story for an upcoming themed anthology; two thousand words in and probably not halfway. I wonder when I became such a long-winded writer; I used to have a hard time getting to twelve hundred. I ...