This is way belated, but in the spring my comedy sketch, Baby’s Carbon Footprint, was chosen for Second City’s Mary Scruggs Works by Women Festival. Here’s a bit about the festival from Second City: The Second City Training Center in Chicago proudly presents The Mary Scruggs Works By Women Festival 2019. Named for Mary Scruggs,…
Much has happened since I last updated. I’ve become more and more interested in comedy writing, and I took several improv and writing courses at Second City. An excellent satire class with the brilliant Caitlin Kunkel led to a few publications. I wrote about new Halloween traditions at The Belladonna, and speculated on how a…
Darrell Nicholson and I wrote a collaborative short story. Even though the short story is a particularly tough form for a collaboration, we persevered and learned a lot about compromise, Joseph Conrad, Klabautermanns, and the story even played into my longstanding love of miniatures. Thank you to Aquifer: The Florida Review Online for publishing…
There have been a few developments since I last updated. A new story, “Flickerdot,” has just come out in Michigan Quarterly Review Summer 16. I wrote about the benefits of slacking for writers at Read Her Like an Open Book, and my comedy Snow Angel got a little nod–it made the list of finalists–from the…
I’m thrilled to announce that I was chosen as one of 37 writers to receive a $25,000 NEA Fellowship in Prose. The full list of awardees includes many authors I admire. I’ll be using the money to support the writing of my new novel about the unique world of “cruisers”–people who live on sailboats and…
My short story, “The Chautauqua Sessions,” first published in Missouri Review, was cited as a Special Mention in Pushcart Prize XL: Best of the Small Presses.
Bright Shards of Someplace Else has been named a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award. Here’s the full list of fiction finalists: Jennifer Chiaverini. Mrs. Lincoln’s Rival Dutton, 2014. Anthony Doerr. All the Light We Cannot See Scribner, 2014. Monica McFawn. Bright Shards of Someplace Else University of Georgia Press, 2014. Celeste Ng. Everything…
Just heard that I received a fellowship to attend Sewanee from July 21 – August 2, 2015. I’ve heard wonderful things about this conference, and this provides the perfect encouragement to finish a few novel parts and pieces I’ve been working on. Very thrilled!
My romantic comedy, SNOW ANGEL, was recently listed as a quarter-finalist at Nashville Film Fest’s Screenwriting Competition. I’m particularly excited by this as I’m very new to screenwriting, so any nod is a good sign! Plus, the screenplay is one of my favorite projects…it includes monks, gambling, carnivals, racehorses, and, of course, a little girl…
I really like the lit/music blog Largehearted Boy, so I was excited to contribute a playlist to accompany my book. Among other songs, I talked about “Thru’ These Architect’s Eyes,” from David Bowie’s Outside, an album which has haunted my imagination for years. The liner notes and weird bits of postmodern detective fiction creeped me out at the…