It's heeeeeeeeeeere!

Yes - that's right!

Penny Wishes is now available
at Lilley Press!

When Grampa James comes to visit his grown daughter, he grows increasingly alarmed about odd coincidences, and about a dark secret buried deep in his past, as he discovers more about Penny, the strange friend of his 15 year old granddaughter Alex.

Told from three different characters’ points of view, this is a story of words and deeds that should have been said or done, and never were. It is also a story of triangles: of Grampa James, Alex, and her friend Penny who connect with unexpected consequences in the present time, and of a young teen boy named Jimmy and his two best friends, all of whom were forever changed because of one singular event which occurred in 1959.

Check it out!

Launch Time is Rapidly Approaching...

My erstwhile, hardworking and generally wonderful editor, Denyse Loeb just let me know that Penny Wishes is almost ready to be released now! The date is February 15th!

Am I excited? You bet I am!

And considering my birthday is actually tomorrow, it is most certainly a well-timed and a very, very welcome gift!

The cover art for Penny Wishes was created by Ron Leming. When you read the book, you'll be able to see why this really does capture the mood and setting of the book. I'll be posting a bit more about it all in the next few days. but in the meantime, don't forget to mark your calendar for February 15th - and then visit Lilley Press!

As London Tipton would say, "Yay me!" But I'd also like to add to that, "Thanks!"

It's been a while, hasn't it...

...but I decided it's a good time to post again!

It's been a busy time, but things are going pretty well. I just finished the third round of content edits on Penny Wishes with my editor at Lilley Press (thanks so much, Denyse!), and now we're into the line editing phase. The cover design looks pretty good - and I was lucky to have a designer who really tried to work with me and incorporate the things I wanted for the cover (thanks Ron!)

As for other news, I'm working on getting the packages ready for the Goldfinch 2009 readers so that they can start the process of ranking submissions. I know it'll be a tough job for them, because there are so many great prose and poetry pieces!

And, happily, Bound Brook Memorial Library has invited me to do a seminar/reading in April for National Poetry Month. They also very kindly accepted Mugging for the Camera into their circulation collection, which is awesome, considering it's a self-published book!

Finally, I'm on Facebook, which is a lot of fun, fairly addictive and also, a great way to network. Check me out there as well as on my website!

Things are looking good for 2009!

Meeting Jeff Markowitz - Part II

Yesterday I went to the Manville Library to see and hear Mr. Markowitz talk about murder mysteries, his writing and the Cassie O'Malley series, among other projects.

Despite his claims to the contrary, I found Jeff Markowitz to be quite funny - and the group of people attending his discussion certainly seemed to agree with this assessment. He fielded questions about how he became a writer and storyteller, talked about some of his favorite authors and books, and told some humorous anecdotes to punctuate those points. One of my favorites was about an appearance he made in Florida at a bookstore: To get the gig, he told the bookstore management he could fill the room. And he did - by calling his mother who lived near the store and asking that she send ALL her friends to come by on that date.

As a New Jersey writer, he also told the Manville Library audience that he likes to incorporate a lot of quirky state-related details into his stories, such as local politics (like the kind you can see televised on local access TV) and fictitious minor league baseball teams in fictitious towns.

After his talk, Mr. Markowitz was available for questions - and of course, to autograph copies of his latest book. Unable to resist (because 1.) I am a fan of murder mystery. 2.) because I love to support local authors - and 3.) I really enjoyed his talk) I bought a copy of A Minor Case of Murder from him, and he autographed the book for me. We chatted about some of his upcoming work - and about a bit of my projects, too - and then he also told me about another Xanga blogger who writes humorous poetry. I intend to check this writer out later today!

After I read A Minor Case of Murder, I'll give a review here.

In the meantime, if Jeff Markowitz is going to be appearing at a convenient venue - I recommend going to see him.

And speaking of upcoming readings and appearances - check me out, too!

Next Tuesday, September 16th at 7PM, I'll be joining host (and most excellent poet) Marcia Ivans for Poetry & Pastries - an entertaining evening of poetry readings at Café Beethoven in Chatham.

I'll post more on that soon, along with other dates for readings and stuff!

Cheers,
RJ