Click here to read my poem “Parrot in Winter” that came out today in The Other Journal. There’s also an audio link, so you can hear me read the poem. That infamous bird, Coco McQuerry, and a long spate of gray in February inspired the poem. I really do have a trunk of dress-up clothes and I’m expecting an occasion to don that frock coat and my dancing shoes.

The Other Journal describes itself as a journal at the “intersection of theology and culture.” Articles in the Aesthetics issue that caught my eye include: Altars to Unknown Gods: A Christian Approach to Contemporary Art :: Daniel A. Siedell , My Body for You: Meditations on Sacrifice as a Theme in Contemporary Art :: Bruce Herman and a review of Paul Mariani’s latest Sea Billows Rolling: A Review of Paul Mariani’s Deaths & Transfigurations .

Happy Reading!

Travelers’ Market received a nice compliments recently;  it was selected as book of the month for the Catholic Moms’ Book Club.

I’ve been finishing the third book in the trilogy, Destiny Stone.  It’s  now complete.  Okay–I never really stop tinkering until the very last minute when my publisher says, “enough!”

Writing the last book in a trilogy is an interesting experience.  I had to tie up all the loose ends from the previous stories, and I wanted to be sure that  each of the character made one last appearance. More than either of the previous books, Destiny Stone is a quest.  Timothy, Sarah and Jessica search for the ancient Stone of Destiny with the help of a map cipher. Remember the map Mr. Twig gives them at the end of Travelers’ Market?  That map begins a quest that leads the three to Scotland and to the ancient site of  McBeth’s castle.  Readers will be able to help the three solve the cipher.

Of course, stories never really end with the last page.  Astute readers will notice that there is more to Timothy and Jessica’s story and to Sarah’s that happens after the book cover closes, but that, dear reader,  is left to your imagination. I hope that there will be word of them again some day, because I would like to see what kind of grown ups they become.

This post is for the writers in the crowd. Every now and then I come across new agents who are actually looking for clients.  Finding an agent is hard work. Here are two agencies actively building client lists.

Mark McVeigh has formed the McVeigh Agency. Formerly Editorial Director of Aladdin at Simon and Schuster, Mark knows the publishing indsutry. He’s also a humorous, insightful guy.

Firebrand Literary, an innovative agency, has two new agents: Danielle Chiotti and Stacia Decker. Both have morphed from editors at well-respected houses to literary agents looking for clients. 

Good luck!