I’m getting excited about Arcs,  (advanced review copies), of The Travelers’ Market. They’ll be out soon and I’ll be able to see all of the new illustrations. John Murphy’s illustration style has changed a bit since Wolfproof came out in 2006 and  I like what I’ve seen so far. I haven’t had a peek at the cover yet, but thought I’d give readers something to look forward to by showing off one illustration.  

Expect a chapter “sneak peak” soon.

Hope you’re enjoying Wolfproof on Cover to Cover!

Fantasy fans arise. Terry Pratchett one of the funniest writers of the fantastic,(ever read the Discworld series? Ever been to the chalk?), has been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. And he’s not alone–1 in 8 baby boomers will also be diagnosed with Alzheimers. The research budget is low, the devastation high.

 Help match Terry Pratchett’s $1 million ( £500,000 ) donation to Alzheimer’s Research.

Buy a t-shirt

Donate to Alzheimer’s Research Trust  or Alzheimer’s Association. Tell them it’s for Terry Pratchett, so it will count as part of the Match It For Pratchett campaign.

Let it be official: e.e. cummings is the poet laureate of spring. When the daffodils bloom and the cottonwoods bless the earth with their caterpillar pods nobody says it better and in so many different ways. We all know In Just- but take a minute to discover one you may not know.  Also check out this lovely spring poem The Blessing by James Wright.

about Cover to Cover’s presentation of Wolfproof. Sylvia Dorham is the reader and she makes the book come alive! What a cool job, to be a book reader and create a world with your voice.

Did you know that there are discussion guide questions for Wolfproof? Carmichael Middle School is planning to read Wolfproof in their book group. Discussion guides help you get started, and any I’m always happy to answer author questions sent through this address info@maureenmcquerry.com

Cover to Cover, on Catholic Radio International (CRI), will read Wolfproof starting this Wed, March 12th.  Audio books will be available. Cover to Cover is a new feature that lets us tune in and listen to literay works that explore the human condition.  Check out their library to download books already read.

http://www.catholicradiointernational.com/covertocover.php

 Watch for an interview with me on Backcover later in the week. Happy listening!

The art of the story is powerful - so powerful that through it God reveals Himself to us. Stories teach, delight and move us. Good stories show us that which is true and beautiful. On Cover To Cover you will hear memoirs, short stories, biographies and histories.

Fourth graders ready to write at Maya Angelou Elementary School.

Notice how prepared they are? And how good looking? These students take writing seriously! They showed up on time with pencils, paper and plenty of ideas. Being ready to capture your ideas when they come, is half the battle. The other half of the battle is long hours of BIC Jane Yolen mentions, butt in chair.

Each student left with a plot outline and a character sheet to help speed their story along. Thanks for letting me visit your school!

Perhaps you’ve noticed that man y of my characters are amateur detectives, spy wanna-bes. Sarah quotes Sherlock holmes to Timothy and Molly writes down “just the facts” in her notebook of important things. So, it’s no wonder I was drawn to the International Spy Museum and just had to visit when I was in WA D.C.

According to the website: “The first and only public museum in the United States solely dedicated to espionage and the only one in the world to provide a global perspective on this all-but-invisible profession. It features the largest collection of international spy-related artifacts ever placed on public display.”

How can you resist information about microdots hidden betwen the paper layers of a postcard, the tunnel that Americans built under the Berlin wall that was used by both Americans and Russians to gather information. And the telephone shoe from Get Smart? Real or not? You’d have to kill me to find out.

http://www.spymuseum.org/about/index.php

 Brooklyn Bridge

There are  landscapes that stay with us, that work in our subconscious in mysterious ways. Most often, it’s our childhood landscape– the fields, streets, skies we knew growing up. Sometimes it is the landscape of our family stories–stories that we heard often enough to imagine ourselves part of. And then, there are literary landscapes. There are books that have made their landscape a part of me.A week ago I got to visit one of these landscapes, Brooklyn. Brooklyn was never my home, but it was my parents’. It was a different Brooklyn, a 1920’s and 30’s Brooklyn. I knew the stories of Prospect Park (still there) and Wallabout Market (gone). I read novels by Pete Hamill, and Betty Greene.

Brooklyn is also a more personal literary landscape. For the last nine months, I’ve walked the streets of 1919 Brooklyn with characters in my new novel, Trail of Crumbs. I felt the wind off the East River, knelt inside

Mauricio Lorence, (amazing tour guide), took us on a walking tour on a bitter Saturday afternoon. There’s nothing like walking down the same street as your characters, a street you’ve only walked in your imagination. One of the exciting things is that it all worked. Walk down Clinton Avenue and you’ll see the house where the imaginary Gossley family lived. Then imagine pigeon coops on the roof of Sacred Heart School. Listen, and you’ll hear the horse drawn carts trundling produce into Wallabout Market. 

 Winter poems. Today it’s grey and dripping in my corner of

I am honored to have poems appearing in the winter volume of two of my favorite journals The Southern Review http://www.lsu.edu/tsr/IssuesWinter08.html and Relief Journal http://www.reliefjournal.com/

The Southern Review, under the estimable Bret Lott, consistently puts out one of the finest literary venues anywhere. Relief is a new brand of literary journal for writers who grapple with faith in the midst of daily life.

Seems like most of my writing colleagues are celebrating at AWP this week in NY City. For the next three days, throw a snowball in NY and you’ll hit a writer. Haiku–2 for $5 on every street corner—enjoy!

Some friends and I have been having a discussion about our  favorite movies from 2007. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to tell if a movie actually came out in 2007 because movies take a while to make it to the Tri Cities. And good movies, anything out of the mainstream, don’t stay long.

So, it’s really been a discussion of movies we saw for the first time in 2007. For first place, I’d choose The Lives of Others–a great film about the power of beauty and art to transforms lives. It won the Best Foreign Film 2006, but I didn’t see it until 2007. Without a good car chase, it had little hope of getting to the Tri Cities its first year out. Then I’d pick Once– A small jewel of a film with great music and a refreshingly moral ending.

Atonement, Juno–I saw them both last week, and wonderful as they are, I can’t count them on my 2007 list.

Want to speak Klingon, play Sci-Fi Jeopardy, discuss Heroes-the series, learn about drinking in history or how to make the quintessential pirte jacket? Want to hear about alternative markets for your urban fantasy space romance novel? Then RadCon’s the place to be Feb 15-16th.  I’ll be there talking about inspiration and alterantive markets. But do I have to wear the pointy ears? Seriously, I want to know.

New year, new writing opportunities. So, all you student writers out there take note.

“Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.” Willa Cather

The Kay Snow Writing Contest

 http://www.willamettewriters.com/1/guidelines.php poetry and fiction 

Scholastic Art and Writing Awards

http://www.scholastic.com/artandwritingawards/index_page6.htm

Teen Writing Contest

 http://www.piercecountylibrary.org/kids-teens/teens/teen-writing-contest/Default.htm 

The new issue of GF is live. http://www.goblinfruit.net/winter08/

We all enjoy that delicious thrill of something scary read from the comfort and safety of our own armchairs or from the warm cocoon of our own beds. Remember ghost stories at slumber parties? That’s the only reason I ever got invited, to tell a good ghost story. Or ghost stories around the campfire? It’s okay to have an icy finger run up our spines, when we’re in the company of friends and firelight. There are definitley some poems in this issue that will bring back that thrill. And there’s some wonderful language, see Sonya Taaffe’s “Cherries in Winter” and “Night Auger” by Lucinda Lawson. Then there are a few that are downright scary. More than the delicious chill, they make me look over my shoulder and hope what I’m thinking about isn’t there!  It’s the reason I prefer cozy mysteries and procedurals to forensic stories. So “St. Lucia”  is only for those who like the details. Scares me silly! I like my eyelids whole, thank you.

 Here’s the new postcard that will be going out to Seattle schools. If your school would like a copy, please email me: info@maureenmcquerry.com

 I sometimes get questions about who designed my website. It was designed by Brennan McQuerry, (the book and vine design) and Mike McCain, layout and design.  Mike, a former student, is the webmaster. He doesn’t only design web pages. He’s also a concept artist, animator and illustrator. Take a look at his gallery of work. www.mdbworks.net/mike

The featured art is “subterranean”,  from his portfolio of concept art and illustrations. Looking for a website designer? Check out his web and graphic design work.