Nobody Solves a Problem Like Maria

Maria Schneider, that is. Head Honcho and founder of EDITOR UNLEASHED, the coolest watering hole for writers this side of the planet, Maria actually cheers when someone hands her lemons.

Because, you see, Maria is a creator -- of words, ideas, and paradigms. And those lemons are just another tool to her.

Maria is a dynamo, creating a new website for writers, launching her digitial platforms and dragging her readers (many of us screaming) with her. She's exposed us to agents and editors, slush piles and contests, twibes and tweets, doling our cupcakes along the way. But most of all, Maria has shared herself in a very human way.

Maria granted me my first 'break' as a writer -- she named this blog as one of 20 'writing blogs to watch' on her Project 20/20 Blogroll, back in the days when she headed the helm of Writers' Digest. Since then, our paths have crossed often, and I appreciate her grace and generosity -- with me, and with other writers.

My writing buddy John Towler says it best...

"Maria is that rare soul that has risen to the top of her profession, yet still makes time for all those struggling up the ladder. I am grateful for all she gives back to the writing community and particularly for her kind words which have inspired me during times of doubt."

Yep.

We appreciate everything you do, Maria. Keep rocking our world. Peace, Linda and John

(And please sign the guestbook)

Life Is A Pomegranate

So much work, extracting those ruby seeds from the bitter pith, but so worth it when that sweet-tart juice squirts between your teeth.

Cold nipped at summer's heels, chasing her to some other clime. Is it any coincidence the temperature plunged to the 50s the day school resumed? Monday was a melancholy day, the end of a too-short summer. Rust tinges my garden. Hazelnuts have fallen to the ground, rejected even by the squirrels. The last of the raspberries dot the browned bushes, and the crickets' chirrups have replaced the incessant whir of the cicadas.

Two of my favorite Johns nominated my wee blog for 25 Best Writing Blogs over at Editor Unleashed. No, these dudes are not my customers (though I hope someday they’ll buy my books). John Towler, whose latest short LOTTERY WINNER, can be found in Your Darkest Dreamspell anthology, and Jon Strother, whose #FRIDAYFLASH has transformed flash fiction into a tweetable community event, are amazing writers and really generous dudes. CAST YOUR VOTE in the next week. Thank you guys!

Speaking of generosity, in addition to publishing books, DZANC Books also has Creative Mentoring Program where for a mere $50 for four hours, you get one-on-one attention from some of the best writers and poets around. I just finished a session with Peter Selgin (LIFE GOES TO THE MOVIES) and received excellent feedback on my current NIP (Novel-in-progress).

Upcoming: Look for a free book give-away after Labor Day – one of my debut authors has a second one on the stands! Plus, I’ll wax on Kreative Bloggers.

Write long and strong… Peace, Linda

Fabulous Flash Fiction - Forty For Free!

Available NOW for your reading pleasure -- The Editor Unleashed Flash Fiction Forty Winners.

Featuring:

--Defection (Yours Truly)
--Mirror, Mirror (Greta Igl)
--Pure White (Stephen Book)
--Rough Trade (Stephen Nicholson)
--Sportsmen (John Towler)
--Unscrambling Love (Angel Zapata)
--Ten One-hundreds of a Second (Deborah Bundy)
--The Mercantile Exchange (Kim Beck)

Peace, Linda

What Grows in the Garden

The peak of summer. My garden is lush with foliage, flowers, and the buds of many edibles: blueberries and service berries, hazelnuts fat for the squirrel to pick off, sugar snap peas late this year from the chilling spring rains. The asparagus have sprouted into high feathery fronds that hide my children and the rabbits, and the raspberries sport small white flowers that buzz with bees.


This year, for the first time, the kiwi trees droop with fruit, although the white peach is sparse after last season's bountiful crop.

We spend a lot of time in our garden. My husband is the primary caretaker; the garden is his genius genesis. I play supporting actor by weeding and dead-heading his prize daylilies, harvesting the bounty and making it part of our dinner staple. Caring for our outside living room, preparing the peas and berries, slows me down, puts me in a meditative frame.

Like my garden, my words slow, become more lazy yet purposive at the same time, unlike the manic rush of writing in the early dark hours of winter.

How does your garden grow?

**

The Writing... PURE trucking along at a steady pace. I am preparing work for the Harbinger*33 anthology, which has me confounded - what to submit? Something new? Something old and tweaked? I'm running out of time, and my head is full...

My short story DEFECTION placed well in the popular vote in the Editor Unleashed Flash Fiction 40, and snagged a spot in the anthology. I'm grateful for the feedback from readers, and especially thrilled that so many of the stories penned by my writing peeps (especially my Nudgers) will snuggle between the covers with mine.

The Reading... Finished Middlemarch and starting in on The Corrections (Franzen) and Lady Chatterly's Lover, among others. Also grooving on Best American Short Stories 2006, picked up at a yard sale for a dime. Short stories are one of those writing groups I don't eat enough of.

My dad... Thanks all who have shared your concerns and sent good thoughts and prayers. He starts a Phase II clinical trial that may help slow tumor growth. We leave this week to spend some vacation time with him and my mom...

My kids... turn 10 and 7 this week! My little sprouts, my joys, they grow with abundance like our garden.


Peace, Linda

(Garden by Henry, pictures by me)