Readings and signings and basic housekeeping.

January appearance in Colchester, Conn. and other bookish news.

,

Hello folks. Just a brief post to make a couple of announcements:

First off, I will be appearing in January at Books and Boos, a brand spanking new bookstore in Colchester, Conn. I will be talking more about the appearance as it approaches, but here are the basics – I will be reading on Saturday, Jan. 19 from 12 to 2 p.m. They will also be carrying Beware the Hawk, in case you happen to be in the area when I’m not there.

I will be the second VBP author to be reading there; on Saturday, Dec. 8, Kristi Petersen Schoonover will be there to read from her book, Bad Apple.

In other news, I’ve finished the very first draft of the sequel to Beware the Hawk! This is only the first step in a chain of drafts. I still have a lot of work to do before I can even hand it to my editor, and I can’t guarantee that she will accept it, but if she does, you can bet that the story will go through a lot of changes before it makes it out into the world.

So the big news here is that the draft exists, which is huge for me, because one of my writing fears is that I will fail to imagine a full plot. Now that the plot is in place, I’m free to go back into the story and refine what I have.

That’s it. I hope you’ve all been enjoying the long holiday weekend.

/0 Comments/by

Reading, discussion and signing at the Fairfield Bookstore tonight!

I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you all that tonight, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m., I will be at the Fairfield University Bookstore (that’s the former Borders) in downtown Fairfield to talk about, read from and sign copies of my book, Beware the Hawk.

I hope you come to see me.

/0 Comments/by

Upcoming events, both actual and virtual.

Hello, hello! Just a quick post to make some announcements.

Come see me in Fairfield next Wednesday!

A week from today (Wedensday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m.) , I will be at the Fairfield University bookstore downtown Fairfield to discuss and read from Beware the Hawk. If you’re in the area, come see me! I will be signing books and everything. And if you want a saw in what I will talk about about that evening, you can have one! Vote below.

[polldaddy poll=6532091].

Interview with the editors of Spry Literary Journal.

Are you a writer? Do you write short? Boy, do I have a post for you! Later this week I will be posting an interview with the founders of Spry, a brand spanking new journal dedicated to the short form. I talked to them on Monday (Because we’re all hip and happening ladies, we did the interview via G-Chat) and I’m putting my post together this week. Check back to read an engaging interview and for the inside track on Spry.

Some changes ’round here

If you look at my blog on Tuesday nights, you might see some strange things happening in my sidebar, or even on the main page. (Like a link to my friend Alena’s blog under a category called “Link-a-Licious” in my sidebar.) That’s because I teach a blogging class on Tuesday nights and I use my blog as an example and sometimes, as a guinea pig. So that’s what’s up there. I haven’t lost my mind. Not yet.

UPDATE: Fellow bloggers, I have removed my Blogroll page. All my links are now in the sidebar. Some of my links are now gone – I removed a group of blogs that haven’t been updated in a very long time. But no worries, I will be changing up the links frequently.

/7 Comments/by

Publicity for me and a fellow MFA alum.

Check out the flier created for me and fellow Fairfield University MFA alumni poet (whew, that’s a mouthful) Colin D. Halloran.  The kind people at our MFA alma mater, Fairfield U, put it together for us. Thank you, guys! I will be there on Oct. 10 and Colin will be there on Oct. 19.

Colin’s collection, Shortly Thereafter, which centers on veternan’s issues (Colin himself is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan) will be released on October 12; he will be at the Fairfield University bookstore a mere week after the release, for a reading and signing.

I’ll be there nine days earlier, and as you know if you read this blog regularly, I’m looking for reader input about my talk that night.

 

/2 Comments/by

Time to make the tee-shirts.

Confession time: I promised some new tee shirt designs for my store months ago and then life got busy and I did nothing.

So I’d like to get a better selection of stuff posted. Not that anyone ever goes to the store, but still, I like to have options for the three people a month who visit. I have several ideas for shirts based on older blog posts, but I’ve had no time to put in the Photoshop effort.

Since I don’t have much time this semester, I thought I’d just list my ideas and let people weigh in. Then I’ll put together one shirt based on the responses. Not that I expect folks to actually purchase my shirts, but the shirts themselves make handy prizes for my various contests. Here are the ideas:

1) “It’s not easy being pink.” This is a Beware the Hawk-related design that I’ve been working on. As it turns out, my previous shirt (with the book cover on it) cannot be sold by me.

2) “No one expects the Immaculate Conception.” I was raised Catholic. Last year I wrote that when I was a kid, I lived in fear that I’d go up to my room one night and find The Angel of the Lord waiting for me. S/he would say “Ann O’Connell, the second coming is nigh, and I have some news for you,” and I would say “Oh, please pick someone else. I don’t want to have to explain this to my parents.” Then I’d be sent to Hell for saying no to God, but really, eternal damnation might have been preferable to the conversation I would have ended up having with my mother if I said yes. These are the things I worried about as a kid. Speaking of worry…

3) “Phonephobics Anonymous: Don’t call us, we won’t call you.” This one is not my idea. This one is the idea of Kate Hutchinson, who shares my fear of talking on the phone.

4) “I’ve got a fever and the only prescription…. is menopause.” A baby fever tee shirt.

5) “I’m in touch with my inner monkey.” Because I am. My inner monkey controls me.

6.) “Anger is like food to me.” This one isn’t really associated with any blog post… yet.

That’s it. Have any preferences? Tell me!

/6 Comments/by