lilyionamackenzie

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Writers as Thieves

When I picked up Marguerite Duras’ The Lover, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew she was considered one of France’s most important literary figures, but The Lover was the first work of hers that I had read. Continue reading Writers as Thieves

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Who is Curva Peligrosa? Read on!

Curva Peligrosa, who entered this world in September 2017, has just turned seven. Who, you may ask, is Curva, and why should I care about her? If you’re also a Regal House Publishing author, you’ll want to give tribute to Curva Peligrosa as one of the first novels released by that Regal House, now a well-established and renowned press. Continue reading Who is Curva Peligrosa? Read on!

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Meet Valerie Nieman whose upcoming novel presents the Macbeth's you've never known!

Valerie Nieman’s historical novel, Upon the Corner of the Moon, is now available for pre-order with the release set for March 2025. This is the story of the Macbeths you never knew, rightful rulers who united Scotland in the tumultuous 11th century. The second of the two ALBA books, The Last Highland King, will appear in 2027. In the Lonely Backwater, winner of the 2022 Sir Walter Raleigh Award,…

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Where does fiction come from? Not AI!

Whenever I give a talk or reading, someone in the audience asks where my stories come from. I find the answer more complex that what it would appear to be on the surface. What are my narrative seeds? What starts me on these explorations of others’ lives?Continue reading Where does fiction come from? Not AI!

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Revision Hubris

Okay, I’ve been writing for longer than I care to remember, but I still can convince myself (arrogant? yes!) that I don’t need feedback from other writers.  This attitude tends to take over when I’ve spent considerable time working on something, as I had with a memoir I’ve written.  After all, it’s my story I’m telling.  How could someone else help me to improve it?  I don’t usually take this…

[lilyionamackenzie]

ON FINDING AN AGENT!

Okay, so you’ve accomplished the impossible. An agent has expressed interest in your work and you’ve signed a contract.  All those months (maybe years) of sending out your novel have paid off.  Not only do you have an agent, but she’s in New York, on Park Avenue.  A respectable established firm. Now what? You wait. First, give up the notion that the agent will want to see everything you’ve…

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Huge thanks to Elizabeth Winthrop Alsop for this excellent piece on "How, What and When Book Authors Get Paid"

The Royal(ty) Lesson I’m reposting this newsletter that I sent out over a year ago in case some of my newer readers missed it. I continue to get questions on the royalty system, both in traditional publishing, and in the newer forms from independent presses to hybrid to self-publishing. I hope this math lesson helps a little to clarify matters. I’ve learned over the years that many readers, fans…

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Letting the imagination lead!

In addition to writing adult fiction and non-fiction, I also create pieces for children. Recently, I tried to start a children’s story of a girl sleeping in an elegant dollhouse based on a dream image that has stayed with me.  But after a few sentences, I felt extremely critical of what I’d written.  I had to stop. Let it breathe, I said to myself. Let the criticalness soften—fall away. Continue…

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A high-school dropout and a single parent at sixteen, my options were severely limited. I had a son to raise on my own, and I received no child support from his father. A quick learner, I parlayed the typing skills I had learned in my high school commercial course (it was assumed then that most women would end up as clerk typists or some version of that role) into a variety of office jobs after…

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Writers or magicians?

Fiction writers have been called many things, but magician seems to me the best description.  They dip into the black hat of their imagination and produce an endless variety of characters, situations, images, genres, events, and styles.  The effect on readers is nothing less than magical, the reader also becoming a magician, assisting in making visible what wasn’t there before. Continue reading…

[lilyionamackenzie]

Writers as Thieves

When I picked up Marguerite Duras’ The Lover, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew she was considered one of France’s most important literary figures, but The Lover was the first work of hers that I had read. Continue reading Writers as Thieves

[lilyionamackenzie]

Join me in celebrating the 9th birthday of my first novel FLING!'S release, a wildly comic romp on mothers, daughters, art, and travel!

My novel Fling, a wildly comic romp on mothers, daughters, art, and travel, was published in July 2015. What happens in Fling? Feather, an aging hippie, returns to her Calgary home to help her mother, Bubbles, celebrate her 90th birthday. Bubbles has received mail from the dead letter office in Mexico City, asking her to pick up her mother’s ashes, left there seventy years earlier and only now…

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From inside my study, one wall book-lined, the other holding a large mirror that makes the room appear bigger, I sit on the loveseat, listening to Strauss and the waterfall powered by a tiny electric pump. When I’m home, I turn it on, the sound of water like a heart beat in this house, a tangible reminder of what usually is invisible, at least to waking life—water for me representing the…

[lilyionamackenzie]

The raising of a literary agent!

Years ago, for several months I was involved with a small Canadian literary agency with one principal, a former practicing contract attorney (I’ll call her Virginia, though that isn’t her real name), and her associate Sandra, a woman who claimed to have years of experience in the New York publishing scene as an agent and editor.  Before email became ubiquitous, ours was largely a relationship by…

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Read guest author David Roth's thoughtful & thought provoking comments on writing narrative!

David Roth’s bio: David received his undergraduate Communication degree from Stanford University. After moving to New York City to pursue a career in documentary film production, he began MA studies in Creative Writing at New York University, which included a course with his first literary hero E. L. Doctorow. He took a leave of absence after a semester to focus on supporting his growing family.…

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What's in a name? Here's my experience!

I was having dinner with friends recently. They’d read my novel Fling! and wanted to know how I came up with the main characters’ names—Bubbles and Feather. When I tried to pinpoint the moment when the names tumbled onto the page, I couldn’t. Continue reading What’s in a name? Here’s my experience!

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Are presenting our books at Book Festivals worth the time and money?

I’ve been thinking about book festivals I’ve participated in and realize that, while these events are great for focusing on the many book genres available, I probably won’t attend one again. A while back, I signed up for the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley, a relatively new venue. Its first session was in 2015, and it claims to be an international event that draws people from all over the…