by Mary | Apr 6, 2018 | Uncategorized
My review of Charles Frazier’s superb new novel Varina was published yesterday by the Washington Post. And it has been my pleasure to read and blurb three other novels so far this year. Madeline Miller’s Circe is a reimagining of the story of Odysseus,...
by Mary | Apr 4, 2018 | Jane Dystel, Unremembered Lives, What I'm working on now.
Two months ago, I wrote that my agents had sent Unremembered Lives out to publishers. In that blog, I compared the publishing process to selling a house. Well, last month, the right buyer took a good look at the property and said, “I love this. Let’s...
by Mary | Feb 1, 2018 | DOC, EPITAPH, Wyatt Earp
When I base characters on real people, I pay particular attention to their childhood. I believe our first fourteen years are the basis of much of what comes afterward. We build on a solid foundation, or we spend years trying to repair the damage, or we wander in the...
by Mary | Jan 13, 2018 | Natural History of a Novel, Uncategorized, Unremembered Lives, Writer Tech
“Publishing a book is one accomplishment you get to celebrate over and over.” That’s what my friend Karen’s mom used to say. You finish the first complete draft. YAY! You finish editing it. You sent it to your agent. YAY! The agent likes it but...
by Mary | Oct 27, 2017 | Uncategorized, Writer Tech
From the morning email: “Hi Mary! I’m Teri I’m from California. I’m your biggest fan. I’m a novice writer. What is the most important advice you can give to someone who is beginning to write a novel? And why? I hope you are having a great...
by Mary | Oct 19, 2017 | Uncategorized
Unremembered Lives is about ready for my agents to send out to publishers. Usually I have a little break between novels, but this time I started the next one almost immediately. It’s a story I’ve thought about telling since before I started writing The...
by Mary | Oct 8, 2017 | DOC, Doc Holliday, EPITAPH
Jeremy Renner recently commented on playing Doc in the Palmstar Production based on my two novels, Doc and Epitaph. “I’ve been looking at doing a Doc Holliday origin story as a series for Netflix or Amazon.” Although still in early stages, his focus for it seems...
by Mary | Sep 20, 2017 | Uncategorized
My brother has asked me to repost this blog every year. Jeanne’s grandbaby Brinn is now in kindergarden and has a beautiful little brother. Days of Awe September 26, 2012 According to Jewish tradition, the ten days starting with Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Years)...
by Mary | Sep 15, 2017 | An Unremembered Life, DOC, Just for fun!, THE SPARROW, The Sparrow movie, THE SPARROW on AMC
I’ve been in lock-down for the past three months: finishing the first complete draft of Unremembered Lives, doing the first five editing passes through the manuscript, sending it out for comments, re-editing, fixing errors, filling in, filling out,...
by Mary | Jun 14, 2017 | DOC, Natural History of a Novel, THE SPARROW, Unremembered Lives, Writer Tech
A week ago, I got to the final scene of my work-in-progress. It is complete, which is to say, it’s got a coherent plot with a beginning, a middle, and an end. My elevator pitch for Unremembered Lives is “a Romeo and Juliet story set against the backdrop of...
