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My COVER REVEAL for “Doll Seed: Stories” IS a video HERE on Instagram and it is on fire!
Author Chen is the artist who created this brilliant cover!
I’d love your support:
From Aunt Lute Books:
A dazzling debut collection of speculative short fiction.
If you’re a fan of Octavia Butler, Dean Koontz or Kelly Link you’ll enjoy this debut short story collection by Michele Tracy Berger. Playful and provocative, these speculative stories cover a wide territory including sci-fi, contemporary fantasy, weird, horror and magical realism.
The stories span horror, fantasy, science fiction, and magical realism, but are always grounded in very real characters and beautifully rendered, distinctive communities. Often thematically centered on the lives of women and girls, especially women of color and their experiences of vulnerability and outsider status, these stories are often playful and always provocative.
Fifteen stories invite you to get comfortable in the dark, to consider freedom and sacrifice, trust and betrayal, otherness, and safety. Marisol, an aspiring jewelry artist is haunted by a fast-food icon. Chevella, a self-aware doll, finds herself in 1950s America playing a key role in the Civil Rights Movement. Lindsay, a Black girl in 1970s America “wins” an extraterrestrial in a national contest only to find her family’s life upended. Chelsea and Jessa, two sisters, fight about what a
strange child means for their family. A meat grinder appears in a magical forest and chaos ensues. All this and more.
My love letter to my courageous mother is next to letters from Suze Orman, Dr. Phil McGraw, Melissa Rivers, will.i.am, Lisa Ling, Dr. Jennifer Arnold and many other amazing sons and daughters. In this third installment of the A Letter to My series…(following A Letter to My Dog and A Letter to My Cat), over sixty contributors share letters that chronicle the love, gratitude, silliness, fun and even conflict that define mother and child relationships. I am so honored to be part of this collection.
My writing teacher, Marjorie Hudson (author of Accidental Birds of the Carolinas) encourages students to ‘find their territory’, to explore the kinds of unique themes and challenges that only they can write about.
The relationship with my mother is definitely my territory. In 2013, I started exploring a snippet of my mother’s life which involved a great act of courage that changed the course of our lives. Since that time, I have continued thinking about the intersection of my life and hers. I am constantly surveying that rich and fertile ground. My mother is no longer living, so writing about her is one way that I can keep her memory alive.
When I saw the call for ‘A Letter to My Mom’, I decided to submit my very personal story. The editor and creator of the A Letter to My series, Lisa Erspamer and her team were amazing. They treated my narrative (and I assume all the others), with great care, respect and unabashed enthusiasm.
A Letter to My Mom is so inspiring and the layout of the book is beautiful. Each entry is accompanied by photos.
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The response to my Declutter Challenge for Creative People has been phenomenal.
This is a reminder for the procrastinators (I see you!) and folks who meant to sign up but forgot—tomorrow is the last day to to sign up and receive two bonuses.
As I say in this video, decluttering is not just about moving things around. It’s about mindset. The process I have created stimulates inner wisdom and transformation. It’s about your future you, less overwhelm, and struggle. The link to the self-paced course is here.
In the video, I explore the concept of ‘backups’, irritants and perfectionism and how they relate going deeper into decluttering mindset work.
Course details here.
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Since it’s spring, it’s a natural time to tackle decluttering. Did you know that I consider decluttering a transformational practice for creatives?
-Are you feeling stuck or stagnant in your creative life?
-Are the techniques you have relied on to expand your creative life not working (i.e. vision boards, affirmations, submitting your work)?
-Are you struggling with clutter?
Ah, Houston, we have a problem!
Clutter is the physical manifestation of unmade decisions fueled by procrastination.
-Christine Scalise
I have created a self-paced declutter challenge course specifically for creatives. It’s based on Feng Shui (the Chinese art and philosophy of placement) and it’s not like any decluttering process you’ve done before. It tackles physical clutter and supports inner transformation. It recognizes the unique challenges that creatives can have with physical clutter and mental clutter (e.g. inner critics) and how they can reinforce each other. This declutter challenge is FUN and manageable. If you’ve got anywhere from 20-minutes to an hour a day for a few days this declutter challenge is for YOU!
Sign up by April 8 and you can join me on a live call and also have access to a bonus conversation with me and a therapist about the relationship between trauma and clutter. More details here.
Want to know more about how I approach this issue of creativity and decluttering? I’ve got three videos that explore the decluttering process, our resistance to it and why I’m so passionate about it as a practice for creatives.
The 5 Things You Say Over and Over Again that Stop You From Decluttering (and How to Overcome Them)!
5 More Things You Say Over and Over Again that Stop You From Decluttering (and How to Overcome Them)!
Shame, Fear and Anger and the Decluttering Process + Why I’m Passionate About Decluttering:
Ready to have a workspace that is welcoming, functional, and mirrors your highest intentions? Ready to be filled with energy and creative magic MOJO? Don’t miss out on this declutter challenge course
]]>I’m hearing from many writers that 2024 is a time for preparing for the next phase of success whether that is planning for a new release (like me!) or making significant progress on the next WIP. In the ever-changing writing and publishing market, and no matter what you write, an important component of being a writer is having a website where people can find you.
If you’re an emerging writer there’s a good chance that you’ve been putting the critical task off of getting your author website done and checked off your list of to-dos. The delays could stem from imposter syndrome (who am I to create a website when I don’t have a ton of publications?), the potential cost, not knowing how to get started.
I GOT YOU!
My writing colleague Li Yun Alvarado teaches writers how to build their own AMAZING website in just a few days without being a tech wiz! That’s right, you can have a beautiful, impactful, true-to-you website in 5-7 days through her successful self-paced course: Writer, You Need a Website! And, the best part is that you won’t spend $$$$ of dollars to do it. Her course is less than $300!!!!
Li Yun is a poet, essayist and activist. She loves helping writers get intentional about “crafting a writing life that you love and an author platform that will help you reach your big, dreamy, knock it out of the park goals.” I met her (and took one of her fantastic workshops) while at the transformative A Room of One’s Own Foundation (AROHO) residency in 2015.
Li Yun believes that your first real author website is about “claiming your writer identity and taking control of how You tell your writer story to the world.” And, it’s not about being perfect. I love that!
She also knows you need a Website.
It’s that simple:
If you’re a writer, you need a website.
Not in the fall, not next summer, not in a few years, not someday.
Now.
Yep, I know that it’s something that you’ve probably been putting off.
Let’s change that today!
Writer, You Need a Website
When you enroll in Writer, You Need a Website!
- You’ll learn why it’s critical to take control of your online author story early in your writing career.
- You’ll learn why social media isn’t enough and why any writer who has published pieces (poems, stories, essays) needs a website.
- You’ll learn her proven First Author Framework which outlines exactly to include on your first site (and what you can wait to add on down the line).
- You’ll learn options to help keep website costs manageable.
- You’ll get step-by-step guidance and access to tech tutorials, so you can build your site fast and with confidence.
- You’ll learn what to do once your site is built, and have access to a resource library to help you as your site evolves in the future.
- AND MUCH MORE
This is an AMAZING course as her many testimonials attest to. Add rocket fuel to your 2024 by making an investment in you-one that gives you skills, visibility and resources, and finally, a great author website.
P.S., You’ve probably got all kinds of questions (like the ones below) and feel some resistance to moving forward–especially if you are an emerging author. This is normal! Don’t let it stop you from moving forward.
“I can’t justify spending money on an author website.”
or
“I sort of write and have a few publications, but I’m not far along enough in my writing career for an author website… am I?”
or
“I’m tech-phobic; there’s no way I can build an author website on my own.”
or
“An author website will be nice eventually, but right now social media works just fine for me.”
or
“I don’t want to blog!”
or
“I’ll get around to building an author website once my book gets picked up.”
Li Yun addresses all this and more here
]]>It was fun to make! At the end of the video, I share information about my successful online course Chart Your Path to Publication. There’s a flash sale on it through 12/31.
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–VIP BONUS: Goal Setting Workshop: How to Set Writing Goals that You Love (and can Accomplish) in 2024 and ENVISION Lab (NEW!)