Writing Projects
1
Novel: Chocolates on the Pillow
​
An art-store owner decides she needs to get out of Indiana. A somewhat younger customer of hers is on his way to California. They travel together, and a long-simmering mutual attraction first binds them, then tears them apart. Their future together depends on how she handles the appearance in her life of another potential love. 80,000 words, complete. This project was a category winner for a Chanticleer Book Reviews Somerset prize.
2
Novel: code name Lummi
A novelist on the rise risks his career momentum to tell the true story of his father's childhood: the boy's father left the family in 1960 to marry an African American woman. As part of his research, the writer goes to live in his grandfather's neighborhood, and his first-hand encounters with ongoing racism compel him to seek ways to heal two communities. 80,000 words, in revision.
3
Novel: code name Матрёшка
​
A young Madrid flamenco dancer, wise beyond her years, marries for love but finds that poverty dashes her dreams of raising a large family. Forced by an accident to retire from the stage, she retreats into a fantasy world maintained for decades through the visits of her devoted fans. Written in Spanish first, then recomposed in English. 80,000 words, nearly finished.
4
Nonfiction: Love Is So Brief: A Journey through Pablo Neruda's "Poem 20"
​
When he was nineteen, Neruda wrote a universally admired poem about losing a great love. I walk through the poem line by line, explaining themes, word choices for my new translation, my reactions to the text, and explorations of the universal messages he evoked. This project was a finalist for a Chanticleer Book Reviews nonfiction prize. 30,000 words, complete.