Image by Artturi Mäntysaari from Pixabay

“Transient” has been nominated for a Best of the Net award in creative nonfiction, and I am so honored. The response to this piece has blown me away and helped me feel validated as a writer in a time when I really needed it.

Additionally, the stunning featured photograph that accompanies the piece was nominated for best art, so congratulations to artist Stephen Ground! I could not have picked a more perfect image for my story than his gorgeous “Sentries.”

Winners for Best of the Net are announced in January.

In other news, my first attempt at self-publishing has gotten off to a surprisingly good start. I uploaded my young adult cozy mystery MURDER BY MILKSHAKE to the new Kindle Vella platform more out of curiosity than any real hope it would take off. When Vella launched a few days ago, I was shocked to see the book on their front page—one of a few dozen featured stories chosen from thousands.

At the time, it was listed under a pen name and I hadn’t bothered to pay anyone for a cover (yikes!). I quickly remedied that situation and now the book looks lovely with an image from midorix on Fiverr; I told her I needed something with ice cream that was murder-y but cheerful at the same time, and she delivered splendidly, don’t you think?

I’ll post more about my cozy soon. For now all I can say is that I’ve never had as much fun writing a book as I had writing this one, and if you decide to read it (the first three chapters are free), I hope you have fun, too!