News from the Inkpot
I'm thrilled to have been invited to teach a four-hour workshop at the 2024 CO Gold Writer's Conference.
The gathering is always inspiring and educational, a great place to meet new friends and catch up with fellow writers we typically see only once a year.
Greetings from the Inkpot
I'm excited to announce that my comedy screenplay
Eating a Hearse null
has made quarter finals in the Stage 32 Grown Up Screenplay Contest.
Previous reviews:
BlueCat Evaluation quarter-finalist: “I wish this movie had been made instead of ‘The Bucket List’! The dialogue is extremely strong. In addition to being consistently clever and sometimes guffaw-out-loud funny, it is briskly paced, fluid, and rings true to the characters throughout. You have a great ear…unusual and layered characters, ones an audience will want to get to know, well drawn, multi-faceted as the bonds that they share…fun and breezy without sacrificing depth, quite well-crafted, a lot of creativity and wit in the service of some very serious subject matter.” Script Vamp: all highest “excellent” honors for Characters and conflict.
I had a great time teaching at the Colorado Gold Conference! They had a new venue this year. It was perfect, rooms conveniently all on one floor.
I met quite a few authors after each of my three workshops, was unexpectedly hired on the spot to do some freelance editing. I met with international and film adaptation scout Hadley Ramsay and will follow up on her interest in my current project. After my own interview on YouTube and the RMFW podcast with Mark Stevens, he directed me to a link to her interview with him and I discovered that the trends she's seeing in the industry match up well with several projects I have to offer. Solo and collaborative (two with Sister of the Quill Janet Fogg Extraordinaire!) I'm about to send my log lines, contest wins, reviews and praise from publishers Weekly, BlueCat, Page Awards, Huffington Post, Writer’s Digest, and Amazon top 1000 Vine Reviewers.
I'll look forward to hearing from Ms. Ramsay in response to my novel and screenplay pitches.
Here's the link to my YouTube Interview about Agents, the ups and downs of having an agent (forgive nervous-Karen beginning, it gets better).
To all my writer friends, I have been going to this RMFW event for years now. I highly recommend attending the annual CO Gold Conference! Thank you to all those who put their time in and expertise out there. And to Mark Stevens for inviting me to be interviewed about my experience with literary agents.
COVER REVEAL!
Very excited! Today is the big Cover Reveal for the Pikes Peak Writers' first anthology, Fresh Starts. I'm honored that my essay, After Grandpa Died, joins other creative pieces with that theme. We can all use the hope of a fresh start right now. Release date is April 9th!
I'm thrilled to announce the birth of my new book, Mu Shu Mac & Cheese. "It interweaves the subtle relationships of family with food and Chinese culture, with liberal dashes of humor."
You can order it here.
More on the book:
With her household the focus of a TV reality show, food writer Elaine’s professional dreams are about to come true. But her dominating Chinese mother-in-law's unexpected arrival blends the filming with more than a dash of culture clash. All too soon, Ma wants to chaperone Elaine’s son to prom and otherwise brings the household's pot to a full boil.
It was inspired by my marrying into a Chinese family.
Having two books out in one summer is remarkable. It took me a long time to decide to self publish. Now I'm happy I did!
You'll find a photo of my mother-in-law in the book, an inspiration for this story. If you decide to read it, please let me know what you think!
Thank you to my son, Zach, for designing the cover for both of my novels!
Love from the Inkpot!
