boxing the octopus

Sugarland , is out of the vault and FREE on Kindle today. Enjoy! About the book: As children, Kit and Kiki Smithers performed and the Sugar Babes, but those glory days are long gone. All that remains are the blues the sisters sing as they cope with withering marriages, cheating spouses, lost opportunities, and the demands of motherhood. Sugar Land is a verdant novel about the healing power of forgiveness, the seemingly impossible task of loving, the resilience of family ties, and what happens when a tornado meets a double-wide trailer house. PMA Benjamin Franklin Award finalist (1999) “Every character in this novel resonates with life. This talented author knows how to bring pen-and-ink people to flesh and blood fulfillment…poignantly authentic.” Southern Living “Alternately wrenching and humorous…Rodgers’ strength is her knack for realistic characters…and a womanly wise, laugh-through-tears appreciation of life.” Publisher’s Weekly “Richly appealing…” Library Journal “Bitterswee...

Gary's been a longsuffering observer (and listener) during the last year as I struggled to navigate treacherous territory between art and commerce, trying to make my way through the uncharted rain forest of indie publishing. Today for my birthday, he gave me this WWI officer's compass and said, "The purpose is not so you can find your way. It's so you know your way."

Oh, yeah. It's m'birthday! It's m'birthday!

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Patsy Cline's "Crazy," our own New York Times bestseller Joni Rodgers has made her novel CRAZY FOR TRYING absolutely free for Kindle! Check it out!

First published in 1999 and written under my Gwyneth Atlee pseudonym, Touched by Fire is as much a historical fiction as it is a historical romance, focusing on the 1871 Great Peshtigo Fire, which blazed through Wisconsin territory on the very same day as the Great Chicago Fire. And for the new few days, it's an absolutely free download for the Kindle. I'd love it if you would download today and help me share the news using the Facebook or Twitter feed buttons!

Celebrating my birthday and the 50th anniversary of Patsy Cline's "Crazy" this weekend. My firstborn novel, Crazy For Trying , is FREE through Sunday! The song and I were both born on January 29, 1962. Pardon me while I feel a little bit awesome about that...

Looking up some facts about the song that offered up the perfect title for my first novel, Crazy For Trying (which happens to be FREE on Kindle Select this weekend), I was ridiculously thrilled to discover that it was released the day I was born.

Looking up some facts about the song that offered up the perfect title for my first novel, Crazy For Trying (which happens to be FREE on Kindle Select this weekend), I was ridiculously thrilled to discover that it was released the day I was born.

I was inordinately delighted to discover today that Patsy Cline's "Crazy" EP was released 50 years ago this coming Sunday, January 29, 1962 - the day I was born. "Crazy" has been in my head my whole life, and offered up the perfect title for my first novel, Crazy for Trying. To celebrate my big Five-Oh, Crazy for Trying will be FREE this weekend on Kindle Select.

I can't help it. It makes me want to dance. And go to the chiropractor. Basically, this is how I'm entering my 50s this week: not terribly graceful, but with a LOT of enthusiasm!

Yeah, a bunch of really smart people thought this was a terrible idea too.

I want to remember this, and so I write it down. Ted spoke today.  Ted Benfey doesn't often speak up, but when he does, I listen.  Ted is eighty-seven years old, a former chemistry professor--he and I have taught in the same classrooms--and an emigre who as a young boy was lucky enough to escape Hitler's killing machine.  One of the things he taught at our college was the philosophy of chemistry: a field of study which asks us to think not just about how the world is bonded together, but about the very idea of bonding itself.  Ted has been retired now from teaching for many years; his shoulders are stooped, and when he stands in a meeting to speak, he grips the back of the chair in front of him, if one is there.  If not, he stands and folds his hands in front of him, balancing himself from the inside.  His voice is soft, and it shakes slightly.  I should be clear: this is a bit like saying a tree shakes softly.  You don't confuse th...

Incredibly excited about the official launch campaign for The Hurricane Lover , starting today with a nice big fat plug on Kindle Nation Daily . Putting a new book out into the world is always simultaneously terrifying and thrilling, and this one is even more so for me because it's my first indie pub novel. (I've indie pubbed my backlist books, but this is the first original from my digital imprint Stella Link Books .  One week from today, I shall turn 50. This is a great way to kick off the Power Decade!

Do you read Kindle e-books on your e-reader, smartphone, iPad or other devices? If so, I *highly* recommend THE VOLUNTEER by Barbara Sissel, and best of all, it's a free download from Amazon on Jan. 20th and 21st. From my own review of the book: In the days since this young bride was left at the altar, Livie Saunders has worked hard to put her life back together, steeping herself in the language of flowers and the beauty of the world around her. But her facade has one big crack -- the "red dress nights" in which she falls into the arms of strangers--nights whose consequences are catching up with her just as the painful past comes crashing down. Her errant fiancé, Cotton O'Dell has returned, seeking forgiveness for the unforgivable, redemption in the form of the Ninth Step. But is it too late for either of them? The Ninth Step is an unforgettable story of loss, forgiveness, and the true cost of redemption, as beautifully-written as it is compelling. Barbara Tay...

If you haven't been reading Chuck Wendig's blog, you're missing some great, unvarnished honesty for writers. Warning: the "unvarnished" part includes a heaping helping of profanity, so consider yourself warned. 25 Things Writers Should Start Doing

Haven't you always suspected that books have secret lives? Enjoy!

Per the press release: The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is off to a strong start: customers borrowed 295,000 KDP Select titles in December alone, and KDP Select has helped grow total library selection to over 75,000 books. With the $500,000 December fund, KDP authors have earned $1.70 per borrow. In response to strong customer adoption of the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (as well as seasonal, post-holiday use of new Kindles), Amazon.com, Inc. has added a $200,000 bonus to the January KDP Select fund, raising the total pool from $500,000 to $700,000. Read the rest in the Amazon Media Room.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Julia Cameron's classic book, The Artist's Way, is chock full of wonderful ideas to help writers, artists, and other types get their creative mojo back. One of the ideas I like best is that of taking yourself on the occasional "artist's date," something to refill the well of images and ideas that constant work depletes. An artist's date can be just about anything: a walk through a garden, a trip to a museum, an hour spent hanging out watching birds and butterflies--whatever it takes to get you out of your own head and reconnect you to the universe. Yesterday, I took myself on an artist's date to see the new movie, The Artist, a black & white silent film that's making a very big splash. I went because my friend and fellow blogster, Joni Rodgers, told me it was full of little surprises that she could only describe as "delights." She was right about that, and the fact that I'm pr...

The race to get published can be pure hell, but as someone who's spent more than twelve years and twenty books in the trenches, I can tell you it's a leisurely Sunday stroll compared to the Herculean effort of staying published--and staying sane and healthy while doing so. Of the scores of romance writers I started out with (the Class of '99, we called ourselves), very few remain. Some have dropped out, disillusioned. Others flew high for a time, then crashed down and became embittered. Still others succumbed to insurmountable health or financial problems. But before I depress you, let me say that there were in fact survivors, just as there are those who have been writing for decades and dozens (sometimes even hundreds) of books longer and are still out there kicking tail and taking names. So what are the distinguishing qualities that enable some to keep working through the ups and downs common to every career? What lessons can those of us who aspire to be marathoners tak...

While I am not a fan of laughing at other writers, and hate the whole "let's put writers in a hierarchy" shtick anyway, I found this 2010 article by Anis Shivani in the Huffington post both entertaining and relieving. One of the hardest parts of my whole MFA/PhD experience was feeling like I had to uphold the status quo--that I couldn't push back when people said how great a writer was, and universally ooohed and ahhed at sentences, that, quite frankly, I didn't think even worked . Everyone's tastes are different, and I do see a couple of my favorite writers among this very tongue and cheek list, but the list itself distracts from the more important points Shivani is making. What happens when we have an establishment that tells us what is good to read, but doesn't exercise any real discernment? And what happens when the aesthetics of that same establishment become so entrenched in a system that, while pretending to be democratic, is really anything but...

Just so you know, my latest novel, The Hurricane Lover is just $2.99 now through March, bargain priced for my upcoming AuthorBuzz/ book club campaign. So, yeah. Buy my book! We need new plumbing. Tweets and FB also appreciated! Buy The Hurricane Lover on Nook