Writeful

a weblog for readers and writers

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Walking Wild Wyoming

The last time my father, brother and I were in Wyoming was in 1987. Now, nearly 30 years later, the three of us will spend the first third of August backpacking the mountains of Wyoming.

After some time in Arizona and Utah, we’ll cross into Wyoming and start our trek at Big Sandy Trailhead. Our adventure will take us through Wind River mountain range, the Cirque of the Towers, Jackass Pass, Pyramid Lake, Maes Lake, Valentine Lake, Lizard Head Meadow, and the Continental Divide. The hike begins at over 9,000 feet above sea level, and will take us above the 10,000 mark.

We’ll be carrying everything we need on our backs—tents, clothes, food, gear … bear spray. Hopefully we’ll avoid the grizzlies, and the scenery will be easier on the eye than the packs are on the back.





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Monday, July 18, 2016

Lit & Art Celebrates Life in Me Like Grass on Fire

The July 31 edition of Lit & Art at the Watermark is a celebration of the fifth anniversary of Life in Me Like Grass on Fire, an anthology of Maryland poets.

In 2011, the Maryland Writer’s Association published an anthology titled Life in Me Like Grass on Fire containing poems by over forty Maryland writers on the theme(s) of love. Editor Laura Shovan claimed then that love could stoke our inspiration, fuel our living, or turn us to ash. On our fifth anniversary, we are still hot!

Join Lit & Art’s celebration of poetry at the Watermark Gallery, 100 South Charles Street in the Bank of America building across from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The festivities take place from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 31 and will include poetry readings, music, art, refreshments, and the opportunity to party with area poets, authors, musicians, artists, and readers. It’s an arty party!

Featured participants include Shirley J. Brewer, Jane Elkin, Frank Joseph, Barbara Morrison, Sonia Linebaugh, Lalita Noronha, Laura Shovan, Patricia Jackovich, Danuta E. Kosk-Kosicka, and the event is hosted by Nitin Jagdish, Eric D. Goodman, and features resident artist Manzar Rassouli.

Started in 2007, the Lit & Art Reading Series takes place about five times a year at the Watermark Gallery, 100 South Charles Street on the second floor of the Bank of America building across from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The program features artists who represent various literary genres combined with visual art. Each event includes literary readings, live music, original art, along with wine and refreshments.


Thursday, July 07, 2016

I’m Expecting—It’s a Book!

Good news: I’m expecting! I’ve been pregnant with this baby for years and am well overdue.

This fall, Merge Publishing will release Womb: a novel in utero.

What makes Womb most unique is its unusual narrator. Set in the city and suburbs of Baltimore, the novel is narrated from the point of view of a child still in utero. He describes his own reality inside the womb, his connection to the collective consciousness, and narrates (through his own perspective) the drama of his mother’s life as she deals with her pregnancy, friends, family, and work. The unique narration in Womb has been compared to that in the novels Room by Emma Donoghue and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

I wrote the original draft about a decade ago, after reading The Lovely Bones, being impressed by the dead narrator, and looking for the challenge of a unique point of view of my own. My wife was pregnant with our second child at the time, so I didn’t have to look far for my unusual narrator.

Stay tuned for news as it comes! 

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