Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Stuck in the pain body

 A few years ago, I went to see a new therapist. At our first appointment, she asked if she could read my numbers. I'm not an expert in astrology, but I do occasionally read my horoscope. I was curious more than anything so I agreed. This woman, knowing nothing about me, said "you're a writer." I nodded. She then said "your current project is killing you." 

Um, that's one way to get my attention. I'd been working on a novel for almost 10 years about a traumatic and turbulent time in my life. A story I thought had to be told before I could move on with anything else. 

"You need to destroy this project." Not what I expected to hear . . . at all. 

"It is keeping you stuck in your pain body. Until you let this story go, you'll block your source of creativity."

In one brief session, this therapist made me realize the trauma story didn't define me. It was a part of my journey, but not *the* story. 

I went home. Deleted all versions of that novel. And began writing A Date with the Fairy Drag Queen. 

Please click the link below to contribute towards the success of the novel that began when I let go . . . 

Dreams do come true


Monday, August 12, 2024

Meet Marlena Merlot

EXCERPT FROM A DATE WITH THE FAIRY DRAG QUEEN

Walking into Marlena's room was like simultaneously walking into a nursing home, Grateful Dead concert, and crowded men's room at a bar on New Years' Eve. The sickly smell of Vicks Vapor Rub mingled with vomit, piss, and more than a hint of weed. No matter how many times I stepped into that space, the smell assaulted me, and I had to stifle my gag reflex.

Marlena must have seen me wrinkle my nose. "Ah, the crazy rich straight girl is offended by my perfume. Eau de AIDS isn't your fragrance?" she teased.

"I prefer Eau de Montezuma's Revenge," I quipped.

So, she was in a good mood today. Wasn't going to kick me out or tell me to go fuck myself. I relaxed and sat in the wooden folding chair next to her hospital bed. There were few personal touches in her room. The others decorated their spaces - with family photos, art, plants - but Marlena's space was plain. I made a mental note to ask her about that sometime.

"I didn't think you'd do," Marlena sang. Her dachshund Charlie looked up from underneath her sweatshirt with his big brown eyes then breathed a deep sigh and snuggled back into his dog nap.

"He loves it when I sing Dylan. Our favorite crooner," Marlena explained.

"It's soon after midnight," Marlena continued singing in a husky, sultry voice. If I closed my eyes, I could picture her as the magnificent Marlena Merlot in all her shimmery, glittery finery.

Charlie's tail started to wag.

"And I don't want nobody but you." Charlie's tail was going so fast now I worried he'd propel Marlena off the hospital bed.

"That's from 'Soon After Midnight' the song that inspired my drag look, "she said. "I imagine that someday I will meet the Fairy Drag Queen on the other side, and I want to be radiant for her."

"Never heard it," I admitted.

"Well, it should be our theme song," Marlena declared. "Remember how much I hated you when you got here?"

As if I could possibly forget. The creamed corn Ensure mess on my lap. The refusal to take her medicine if I sat next to her at the table. Her obnoxious comments and insistence that I smelled bad. "I gag every time she walks into the room," Marlena told Harry. "It's like I'm allergic to her pheromones. I'll die sooner if you let her keep volunteering here," she insisted.

Harry reminded me again that the disease played funny tricks on Marlena's mind, and sometimes the medications had strange side effects. I'd shrugged it off. But her words had stung. Of course they had. I was clinging to the guys at Horizon House. They kept me from thinking about why I was really there.

But somehow it seemed that Marlena could smell right through me.

Like she knew I had a secret and was going to ferret it out at all costs.

-Accepting donations through 8/15/2024 at 12:00 p.m.

https://gofund.me/6c8993e3

Wednesday, August 7, 2024

A Date With the Fairy Drag Queen's Path: From inspiration to publication

THE INSPIRATION. The inspiration for A Date With the Fairy Drag Queen began in 1990 when a series of events led me to Horizon House, a home for men dying of AIDS. The Jesuit motto is "men and women in service of others" and a key part of our college curriculum was active participation in community service. I was assigned to HH, specifically as a companion to Chris, who was struggling more than some of the others to accept his terminal illness. 

THE TITLE. The novel's title was inspired by Bob Dylan's Soon After Midnight. "Charlotte's a harlot. Dresses in scarlet. Mary dresses in green. It's soon after midnight. And I've got a date with fairy queen." Where does the drag come in? As a 19-20 year old, I volunteered at Horizon House, a hospice for men dying of AIDS. I was assigned to a curmudgeonly older man who did not like me. Until we discovered a mutual love of Dylan. Chris liked to think there would be a fairy drag queen waiting for him on the other side. When he learned I wanted to be a novelist, he said something along the lines of "make sure I'm in it, and make sure Charlie (dog) is, too." They are. I know that he'd be proud in his crusty way...."it's probably not all bad." Here's to Chris and Charlie.

THE SEEDS. The novel itself began as three short pieces in Valley Haggard's Thursday night Life in 10 Minutes writing workshop. 

THE WORK. The actual writing of the novel took place at the Starbucks at Broad and Bowe where Rene Genesee Smith created a community of oddballs and misfits-the perfect space to write about those who are "othered."  

THE END. When I got fired from a law firm in the fall of 2019, my husband told me to take some time to finish my novel before I found another job. I wrote "the end" on the manuscript at the Broad & Bowe Starbucks in December 2019. That location was destroyed in the riots in May, 2020.

THE SYNOPSIShttps://shorturl.at/wiGq7


THE FLIRTATION. Three years in a row I won the Agent Dating Game at the James River Writer's Conference. Each time winning a one-on-one with an agent, all of whom asked to see the complete manuscript when I gave my elevator pitch. They had wonderful things to say about A Date With the Fairy Drag Queen. "devastating, heart breaking, compelling." They didn't take me on as a client, but they gave me invaluable advice and feedback.

THE FINETUNING. I hired an amazing editor - Cindy Cunningham, formerly with Life in 10 and now the founder of the Wellspring Writing Collective. 

THE HUNT. Beginning on June 27, 2024, I sent queries/bios/synopses/sample pages/complete manuscript to seventy-five (75) potential agents and publishers. On July 11, 2024, I got my first interested publisher, on July 12th the second; the third on July 24th.  

THE EMAIL. On July 29, 2024, I got an email from Miranda at Koehler Books; we talked on July 31, 2024.  

THE OFFER. Koehler Books has offered me a hybrid/co-publishing contract for a June 2025 release of A Date With the Fairy Drag Queen

THE VETTING. The contract was reviewed by an attorney who found it to be "excellent," and "author-friendly." Kelly Justice, owner of Fountain Bookstore said they have a good working relationship with Koehler and have stocked their books on their shelves. Add to that my own "gut instinct" that this was the right fit.

THE DEADLINE: My soft deadline to sign the contract is August 10, 2024. The hard deadline is August 18, 2024.

THE ASK. As of August 7, 2024, I have received $2,691 in generous contributions. An additional $2,388 will help me realize my lifelong dream of being a published novelist. Please donate what you can. To donate click here.


THE ITEMIZATION. Your contributions will go toward: title preparation; front cover design; marketing program; line editing; text layout; copyedit and proofreading; soft cover and hardcover wrap; printing and distribution assistance for softcovers, hardcovers, a digital ARC (Advanced Readers Copy), and eBook prep and processing.

THE WISDOM: “It's hard enough to give fearlessly, and it's even harder to receive fearlessly. But within that exchange lies the hardest thing of all: To ask. Without shame. And to accept the help that people offer. Not to force them. Just to let them.” ― Amanda Palmer, quote from The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help

THE WHERE. A Date With the Fairy Drag Queen will be available through Ingram to over 30,000 online and brick and mortar retailers for print and digital. You'll also be able to read it on your eReader.

THE WHEN. Expected release date for A Date With the Fairy Drag Queen is June 17, 2025.

THE STANDARDS. the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) has set the criteria for the standards for independent and hybrid publishers:
1. Define a mission and vision for its publishing program.
2. Vet submissions.
3. Commit to truth and transparency in business practices.
4. Provide a negotiable easy-to-understand contract for each book published.
5. Publish under its own imprint(s) and ISBNs.
6. Publish to industry standards.
7. Ensure editorial, design, and production quality.
8. Pursue and manage a range of publishing rights.
9. Provide distribution services.
10. Demonstrate respectable sales.
11. Pay authors a higher-than-standard royalty.

Koehler Books meets all eleven (11) industry standards.

THE MODELS: Traditional. Self/Independent. Co/Hybrid. What's the difference?

Traditional Publishing House:
• Publishers assume financial risk up front, and authors receive an advance on that risk
• Publishers retain all royalties until the book's sales have recouped the advance
• Publishers keep a higher percent of the royalties; often retain the rights to the book.
• Publishers have more control over the final product (design, content, marketing.
• Best for established authors with name recognition, breakthrough success through a            traditional publishing house is rare

Self/Independent Publishing:
• Publishing without a traditional publishing house or company
• Authors pay all costs of the publishing process: editing, design, format, etc.
• Authors retain full creative control and ownership of the book rights.
• Authors have autonomy and higher royalty rates
• Little to no oversight of the quality of the finished project.

Hybrid/Co-Publishing:
• Authors share in the risk up front while receiving the same high-quality services
• Authors immediately earn royalties on publication
• Authors keep a higher percentage of royalties and often retain rights to the book
• Authors and publishers collaborate on editing, design, marketing, distribution

THE VANITY: Reputable hybrid publishers are NOT vanity presses. Vanity presses are a pay-to-publish scheme. They get no money from selling the books, so have no skin in the game about the finished product.


Monday, July 22, 2024

Monday, July 8, 2024

A Date With The Fairy Drag Queen - Synopsis

 

Saskia Nash has an idyllic childhood in Germany. Raised by her father (Jack Nash), and grandfather “Opa” (Otto Stein) after her mother dies in childbirth, Saskia’s world is filled with love, daffodils, constellations, magic circles, and the certainty that the only monsters are imaginary ones lurking under her bed.

When Jack announces they are moving to America, Saskia’s world comes crashing down. Torn from her grandfather, and thrust into a strange new place, Saskia is an outsider in a world where she soon learns some monsters aren’t imaginary. She’s learning a new language, exploring her faith and questioning her sexuality. She feels like a freak. Jack is consumed by his career at a small East Coast Jesuit college, Otto is far away, and Saskia doesn’t know where she belongs. 

Saskia is drawn to the progressive spirituality of the Jesuits. Most of her classmates are seminarians.  She doesn’t mean to fall in love with Allen. When she finds herself pregnant, Fr. H will go to great lengths to protect his star seminarian. Saskia is sent away to “recover” at an AIDS hospice where she is assigned as a companion to a dying drag queen. Ed begs Saskia to grant his one final wish-to resurrect Marlena Merlot for his last performance before he dances his way to The Fairy Drag Queen.

Alternating between early 1970s Germany and the East Coast of America in the early 90s, A Date With The Fairy Drag Queen is a story of chosen family, queer platonic love, and learning to live while letting go of the past.