This year I’ve adapted Comedy of Errors for Apple Box Children’s Theater, shopped a book, wrote a proposal for a non-fiction book about witches and feminisim, and basically been so busy I’ve been meeting myself coming and going.

Thoughts on stuff I’m reading.

I have really enjoyed The Fourth Wing and Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, partly because I love a salty dragon, partly because I like a salty narrator who needs her knees wrapped and kicks ass anyway, and partly because I like salty sex scenes. These books are super inclusive in a way that doesn’t feel forced, and also does not call attention to itself.

This has indirectly led me to discover Tessa Bailey’s books, which are romances featuring straight white people, one of whom is usually an inarticulate, but passionate, man and the other a achingly cute, non-nonesense woman…and some seriously salty sex scenes.

All these books were predicated by Casey McQuiston’s Red, White, and Royal Blue, which featured a lovely gay love story.

Oh, and I’ve been reading a ton of Terry Pratchett books because I got all of them with a Humble Bundle. This makes me very happy.

As always, you can sign up for Story Beasty newsletter on my About>Biography page here. I promise that this list is the OPPOSITE of a spam blog. You’ll be lucky to hear from me when I actually have news. :)

Check out Apple Box Children’s Theater website here

I’m relaunching my monthly-ish newsletter, Story Beasty. I will be writing more about what I’m reading, but I’m including things that I am teaching to my college students. In the first three months of 2023, you’ll get my thoughts on the dystopian stories like 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale.

This is a reprint of the first Story Beasty of the year, in January. If you want these juicy takes two months early, signt up for Story Beasty. You can sign up on my About>Biography page here.

Thoughts on stuff I’m reading.

This is the part of the newsletter where I’ll talk about what I’m reading, whatever that is. The difference from a book review section is that I will include stuff that I’m teaching as well, since most of what I do for a living is teaching literature.

This term I’m teaching a class called “Why We Like Dystopian Stories,” so we’ll be dystopian heavy until March. Our first week we spent asking what a dystopia is and what a dystopian story is. Here’s the definition the class came up with.

Dystopian story is a story in which:

• Imagined society which causes suffering to some people
• Based on real world problems (feels familiar/relatable)
• Humanity is on the brink of destruction

But there is hope in the actions of the protagonist or a “resistance.”

I think the reason we like dystopias is because while the world has fallen apart, usually from things humanity has done to itself, someone in the oppressed class is either enduring or resisting.

Our first story (not counting Yertle the Turtle, that classic on authoritarianism and burping) was “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut. It’s a farce about what would happen if the government made everyone “equal” by handicapping people. In the story, strong people carry more weight, like racehorses, beautiful people wear masks, and smart people have to wear an earbud that plays the sounds of bells or train wrecks every twenty seconds.

The eponymous protagonist is a 14-year-old genius/Adonis that tries to overthrow the government, to no avail. This led the class to discuss the absurdity of the argument that giving rights to other people takes rights away from others (and how a 14-year-old would be a terrible emperor).

Also, the story is really funny in a Vonnegut-ian way. At least three students and I thought so. But I think Kafka is funny. Go figure.

Next time, I’ll share my thoughts on The Handmaid’s Tale. As you might imagine, I have opinions.

First, I have an agent! Elisa Saphier from the MacGregor & Luedeke Literary agency is someone I knew from the beforetimes when she owned a bookstore. We are preparing to shop a new book to editors, so stay tuned for updates!

I’m relaunching my monthly-ish newsletter, Story Beasty. I will be writing more about what I’m reading, but I’m including things that I am teaching to my college students. In the first three months of this year, you’ll get my thoughts on the dystopian stories like 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale. You can sign up on my About>Biography page here.

Want a sample? Here’s the last newsletter I sent.

And here is my yearly reminder to you that I write things you can buy and have for your very own. Like Sparks, the book about the monster under Rosie’s horse barn that disrupts her love life. Order here

I also have a serialized novel in Kindle Vella. I finally have time to finish it. I promise not to abandon it (again). The Dragons of Mary’s Peak is a book that is part fantasy, part small-town thriller. The mystery is that something is killing livestock and dogs in rural Oregon and leaving a trail of poisonous scales in its wake. It’s Jaws meets E.T. meets Contagion, but with dragons!

The first three episodes of any Vella are FREE, so you can check out my book without any risk. New episodes posted once a week-ish.

You want to watch plays I wrote last year? Okay.

St. George and the Dragon

July 2022 Watch it here.

My kid made the poster. Isn’t it cool?

In “St. George and the Dragon,” the Red Knight, who has no name and was raised by the fairies, goes on an epic (and funny) adventure with Princess Una and her short friend Big Al. They encounter swordplay, magic, monsters, and yes, a three-headed dragon to fight at the end. This play is based on Spenser’s Faerie Queene.

Icons R Us

December 2021 and February 2022

Watch it here.

Icons R Us is a 10 minute play devised, written, and performed in 3 days for the Zoom INstant play festival through PDX playwrights in December 2021.

Carl has a problem. His Mary and Jesus religious icon is, well, talking, so he makes a video call to the Icons R Us customer service line. They are exactly as helpful as you think they will be.

I also edited issue No. 10 of the Timberline Review, became the Emerita Editor of the Timberline Review, and edited another issue of the undergraduate research journal PURE Insights.

It’s good for me to write all these things down for you because it reminds me that I do write a lot. I hope you have a productive, happy year, reader.

Need something fun and dragon-y to watch this summer? How about St. George and the Dragon, my new play about a…well, it’s in the title, isn’t it?

When: June 30, July 1 & 2, 2022, at 6 PM

Where: Western Oregon University Outdoor Amphitheater on the corner of Powell and Knox streets

Bring a lawn chair or blanket

Cost: FREE!

In St. George and the Dragon, the Red Knight, who has no name and was raised by the fairies, goes on an epic (and funny) adventure with Princess Una and her short friend Big Al. They encounter swordplay, magic, monsters, and yes, a three-headed dragon to fight at the end. This play is based on Spenser’s Faerie Queene.

Here’s a link to Apple Box Childrens Theater’s FB page, with maps and whatnot.

August 2022 Update Watch the performance here.

Need something fun and dragon-y to read this summer? How about The Dragons of Mary’s Peak, my new novel about a…well, it’s in the title, isn’t it? A dragon is running loose in a small, rural Oregon town. Think Jaws meets E.T. meets Contagion, but with dragons!

Here’s a fuller description:

The Dragons of Mary’s Peak is a book that is party fantasy, part thriller, part mystery, and part small-town drama. The mystery is that something is killing livestock and dogs in rural Oregon and leaving a trail of poisonous scales in its wake. The Sheriff thinks the culprit is a rogue cougar, but Rosanna and the county veterinarian wonder if the producer of the toxin isn’t something more…exotic.

The Dragons of Mary’s Peak is a new serialized novel published on Amazon Vella (read about it here). Ten episodes are posted now, the first 3 of which are FREE, and I will post two new episodes a week, probably on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Vella is a serialized platform like Wattpad or Radish, so my new dragon/cryptozoology/thriller will be published in 1,500-2,500-word “episodes.” The idea is that while you might not feel like you have time to whip out your phone to read a chapter of a novel in line at the post office (remember lines?), you might have time to read a 5-10 page episode that has a beginning, middle, and some closure at the end.

The cover was designed by my daughter, Colleen Anderson. She wants me to remind you that she is open for commissions. Contact her through me.

Also, if you can’t get to reading the book right away, click “follow” so Amazon knows you’re interested in it.

Thank you and enjoy the book!

First, here is my yearly reminder to you that I write things you can buy and have for your very own. Like Sparks, the book about the monster under Rosie’s barn that disrupts her love life. Order Now!

I was busy writing even during a couple months of deer-in-the-headlights panic about the pandemic. I wrote nearly every day in a journal, which helped me keep my sanity, I think.

Then in April, I began writing a funny play called Lemon Bars about a pair of women trapped on a fictional cruise ship in the early days of the coronavirus. Not only was writing about the virus this way cathartic, but humor is my way of understanding difficult subjects. Lemon Bars had a table read through PDX Playwrights on August 4, 2020, which was a great experience.

After I was done with Lemon Bars, I adapted Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing for the Apple Box Children’s Theater (ABCT). It was soul-cleansing to immerse myself in that funny play, and re-watch Kenneth Branagh’s filmed version a dozen times.

To cope, I wrote a lot during September when the fires in Oregon burned my father’s house to the ground. That has resulted in an essay I’ll read on January 7, 2021, at 7 PM online. You can watch it here:. I’ll also post the permalink here when that is available.

During November, I volunteered to lead a cohort for Willamette Writers Month of Mastery, which was basically Nanowrimo. My cohort was called “The Shitty First Draft” after Lamott, and most of us reached our goals. I was able to use that month to finish the second draft of my Lilith book that I really, really like.

On top of all of that, I also managed to edit issue No. 9 of the Timberline Review, solicit submissions for the 2021 issue of the Timberline Review, and edit the undergraduate research journal PURE Insights.

I’m glad you are here, dear reader. My 2021 be…better.

My short essay “A Fishing Girlfriend” has been published in Flyfisighing & Tying Magazine in Winter 2020. I have permission from one of the editors to post this PDF of the article.

Belated thanks to Fishboy, who may or may not encounter this article as I am sure he is still floating on a lake somewhere, fishing. He did used to have these kinds of magazines lying around.

What do you think of the essay? Any of you “left on the shore” by someone, so to speak?

“A Fishing Girlfriend”

I’ll be sitting at the Not A Pipe Publishing booth with Debby Dodds, author of Amish Guys Don’t Call, and a story in Strongly Worded Women, the Not a Pipe anthology my story “Getting Pregnant on the Back of a Motorcycle” is in. We’ll be selling all of the Not a Pipe titles, which include some wonderful books ranging from epic fantasy to superhero comedy.

We’ll be having a great time, so please drop by and join in the fun!

And hey, if you’re at the Red Pencil Editor’s conference in Seattle on September 21, look for me there, too. I’ll be either sitting at the Willamette Writer’s table, or going to sessions.

Here are even more things I’m doing this Fall (This list isn’t even complete):

Upcoming Events

Rose City Comicon September 13, 2019 11:30 AM-5:30 PM

Red Pencil Editor’s conference September 21, 2019

Willamette Writers on the River Fall Open Mic September 23, 2019 6:30 PM

Portland Book Festival (formerly Wordstock) Saturday, November 9, 2019 9:00 AM 5:00 PM Portland Art Museum

Watch it here.

We also had an insane amount of talent with our costume, art, props and set builders. Dedicated parents filled in the gaps for painting, kid wrangling, snacks, and whatnot.

Part of what I love about theater as a writer is that I not only get to see my characters walking and talking in front of me, I also get instant feedback from an audience…200 of them on good nights.

As a writer of novels, I sometimes have a reader approach me and tell me their favorite parts of a book, but I’m not with them in real time watching them experience it. Reading work aloud at events is similar to theater, but theater is so collaborative, the cohesiveness of audience and author and performer is amplified.

1. Sparks went on sale July 29. Order Now!

2. I am the Editor in Chief of the Timberline Review, and the new issue is now on sale! Buy it here!

3. I went to the Willamette Writers conference in Portland where I hosted the inaugural reading for the Timberline Review one night, and held an epic book launch part for Sparks the next night.

I am going to rest a little now, and then it’s back to writing and promoting.