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THE SOUL MUST SPEAK, AND LONGS TO BE HEARD

YOU TURN ME ON, I'M A RADIO

Recently I was invited for an interview on the Carrboro Book Beat, on WCOM-FM 103.5 LP FM - the Community Radio of Carrboro.
Hosts Audrey and Paul made me welcome. We had an enjoyable hour discussing writing, Where the Lake Becomes the River, publishing, the creative process, and immortality.

Of the questions that were asked,  Read More 
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THE URGE TO PUBLISH TERRORIZES YOU

Years back, when I lived in Seattle, a certain graffito adorned buildings around town: "The urge to buy terrorizes you." Being a non-consuming sort, the urge to buy in fact did not terrorize me. However, the phrase stuck in my head, much as had a graffito in large white letters painted on the bricks  Read More 
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Anti-Chronology, sez the Book, Is Where It's At

I do believe that if you listen, over how ever long it takes, a book will tell you what it wants to be. In this case, Where the Lake Becomes the River was determined to be non-chronological. It took the shape it wanted to take.

The book starts in a "present" wherein the heroine, Parrish,  Read More 
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THE FIRST AND FINEST REJECTION

My first rejection was from The New Yorker, when I was fourteen. I sent them a poem, that had something to do with a storm and the exhileration thereof. After some time, they sent back a heavy, cream-colored half-sheet with a black logo across the top: the Manhattan skyline, and a gentleman with top  Read More 
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IN THE REALM OF DREAMY DREAMS

So, most folks have seemed to like my humble little book, but one person who really, truly did not like it at all, complained, among other failings, that it had way too many dreams in it. (As Mr. Lincoln said, You cannot please 'em all.) (Mr. Lincoln himself had a quite spectacular precognitive dream/ Read More 
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THE GREAT LIBRARY IN THE SKY

I've kept dream journals for many years. There are certain landscapes and buildings I've revisited many times on the Dream Plane. One of these is the great Library in the Sky, as I think of it.
It's a lovely, classical Greek building full of light, with many rooms--a library and museum combined. It  Read More 
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TEMPLES OF ALL GOOD THINGS

What is it about libraries? They're such cool places. The Chapel Hill Library just hosted an Author Tea for me, and it was a wonderfully enjoyable event (see Newsletter.)

The house I grew up in was a bit like a library, with bookshelves in just about every room, and voracious readers of all ages  Read More 
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WHAT THE MUSE SAID

Well, hey, why not Blog? This will not be a daily effort, but I'll ramble on as the Muse inspires.

The title? I was invited to speak as a novelist at a University of North Carolina "Writing Careers Night" event last year, and went, expecting maybe two or three students
to be interested in  Read More 
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YOU TUNE ME IN, I'M A TELLY

I'd never appeared on television before. When the e-mail came from Morgan Potts at UNC-TV inviting me to appear on North Carolina Bookwatch,with gracious host and NC book maven D.G. Martin, I decided some web research was in order a.s.a.p. The taping was set for a few days away. The show is a classic and popular literary interview series on public TV, broadcast throughout North Carolina on Sunday evenings.

When I googled "appear on TV", immediately "do's and don't" came  Read More 
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