“There’s something very beautiful about playing improvised music in a space that’s got an unusual ambience,” he says, recalling other gigs in a Cold War-era Soviet submarine, and serenading the dawn on Hampstead Heath.

It was streamed live across the pond and I believe will be available on his website soon (I hope so – I want to hear this!)

Read the full BBC article here.

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Also awesome: the judges (all published writers) had some super nice things to say about GLOW:

We are pleased to announce the winner of the SciFi/Fantasy/Horror category of our OUT OF THE SLUSH PILE, Novel Journey’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame Contest.

We’re also pleased that everyone liked the same entry best, so there was no need for bloodshed. The judges agreed the writing is tight and moves the story forward, and the characters are realistic and have depth. All things considered, it’s a strong, compelling story.

It’s things like this that really make my day!

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Watching the Karmetic Machine Orchestra is like getting a peek at the inner workings of a factory through a sheet of glass. It churns. Gears turn. Wired mallets beat drum heads. Some of the musicians sit at laptops looking like workers as they rhythmically press buttons.

Read the full article here.

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Yeah right.

Anyway, it’s been a while since I’ve posted, so here’s a few highlights:

• I have a job. Let me say that again. I HAZ JOB. (Whew, I was getting a little worried for a bit there, too!). I’m now the Audience Development Manager at the Phoenix Symphony—wish me luck!
• We adopted a second pug! Meet Milo (if you haven’t already…) 
• For some reason, the folks at WEbook.com really liked my submission package for GLOW—so much so, that they’re using my query letter as an example of what to do since I’ve had a 20% request rate. They’re making me blush!
• Also making me blush is the overwhelmingly positive feedback I’ve received on my query and sample pages for THE GHOST WRITER. I was prepared for them to be ripped to shreds by betas and critique buddies, but instead everyone seems to like it. A lot.
• And I’m finally making some serious headway on my next book – CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE CYBORG. I have to do something while waiting for my beta readers to get back to me!

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I’m the featured member in WEbook’s April 2010 newsletter!

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I entered the first page of two manuscripts: GLOW and THE GHOST WRITER.  48% of voters thought GLOW was good enough to progress to the next round, and 54% liked THE GHOST WRITER just as much.  In fact, GLOW is one of the Top Titles featured on their website.

That in itself is pretty darn cool. But it gets better.

The super-duper-awesome feature of WEbook is that they also run a program called “AgentInbox” through which one can query certain agents with a manuscript. The WEbook staff vets all submissions to make sure they’re appropriate for a given agent and have all the required components (for those of you who don’t know nor care about the publishing process, just bear with me…). The program is still in beta, but it’s gotten favorable attention from agents and writers alike.

Somehow, the folks at WEbook convinced/conned/pleaded with those agents to participate in a special judging of promoted PageToFame projects after each round. Meaning, if enough of your peers like your work, you get to find out how an agent would rate it on the same scale.

Awesome and terrifying at the same time.

Needless to say, all of us have been on pins and needles awaiting the judges’ scores.  And they were not being lenient. Several people who had entries I thought were fabulous were scored surprisingly low. I was more than a little nervous when I got the email update from WEbook letting me know my scores for GLOW were available.

Let me tell you, I almost fell off my chair when I saw I got a 5 and 3 from the two agents – AND one of them is “tracking” the progress of my manuscript as the judging continues into the second (and hopefully third and fourth) round.

Now don’t mistake me – this does not mean GLOW will get published. It doesn’t even mean I’ll be able to get an agent. What this does mean to me, is that maybe I’m not crazy to pour myself into writing.  I rocked the socks off one agent and didn’t completely disgust the other – it means there’s hope.

I’ll take this little victory, and if more little victories pile up, maybe someday it will turn into a major success.

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Granted, they didn’t think of the idea first (they were inspired by this stunt), but the execution was fabulous.  Just look at all those SMILES in the audience! You can’t buy that kind of goodwill, you have to create it.

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Mountains in AZ

Panoramic view along the drive

The ride was another long one, and we actually ended up skipping the Sunset Crater. We did not anticipate the $25 per person entry fee. . . . It will be worth a trip when we can make a day of it.

Anyway, we’re here, we’re happy and today we’re looking for apartments!

Phoenix, AZ

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