(reflections on writing, life, and the writing life by Suzanne Baldwin Leitner)
My novella, Sessions with a Cheater’s Wife, is now available from Main Street Rag Publishing Company.
I want to thank everyone who ordered the book early (and got a break on the price). Hopefully, you have your copy as of this writing. Whenever you have finished reading it, I would love to get your feedback here in the comments section.
Happy Holidays!
Writer’s block, that is. “Experiencing ‘writer’s block,'” however, is an overused phrase, in my opinion. I frequently experience the frustration of not being able to make the words fit together the way I want them to fit together. I am, in fact, having this experience right now. I should be writing my 5 daily pages of the novel on which I’m currently working, but on Friday, when I last worked on said novel, my use of the “backspace” key on my keyboard surely broke some kind of record. I got my daily pages written, but it was a grueling afternoon. Some days are just like that. That kind of struggle isn’t what I call “writer’s block.” Continue reading “I’ve Been Around The Block a Time or Two”
My novella entitled Sessions With a Cheater’s Wife will be published by Main Street Rag Publishing Company, and we have a projected release date of December 8, 2008. A novella, simply put, is a work of fiction that is longer than a short story, but shorter than a novel. You can get a discount on the price of the book if YOU ORDER ONLINE DIRECTLY FROM MY PUBLISHER BEFORE December 1, 2008. The Advance Sale Discount only applies to ONLINE orders. Click on the cover (above) for ordering information.
I’m very excited about the novella. It will be my first longer work of fiction to be published, so it is a big first step for me. I appreciate your support, as does my publisher, Main Street Rag Publishing Company, an independent small press publisher. My decade-long association with MSR has been a special part of my writing life. I encourage you to peruse all their titles, on the “Coming Soon” page, and also on the other “Bookstore” pages.
Summary: Jessica Stanley is a first grade teacher who is convinced her husband is having an affair. She also speculates incessantly about the possible “secret activities” of her teenage children. “Jess” will make you laugh, she may make you cry, but she’ll definitely make you want to scream. Travel with her as she goes further and further into her own thoughts and, perhaps, further and further away from those whom she loves most. Can she ever come back?
To read an excerpt,
In discussing the need to free ourselves from “ego,” Eckhart Tolle, in his latest book A New Earth, writes, “To do whatever is required of you in any situation without it becoming a role that you identify with is an essential lesson in the art of living that each one of us is here to learn. You become most powerful in whatever you do if the action is performed for its own sake rather than as a means to protect, enhance, or conform to your role identity.” [emphasis added]
It’s a little ironic that I should be quoting this passage on the day after I have embarked on a new kind of “self-promotion” (you will see why this is a misnomer, I hope) with this blog, but let’s explore both the passage and this seeming irony. Perhaps this post should have a subtitle: Does Three of a Kind beat a Par-a-dox? Continue reading “Immersion”
Sorry for the misleading post title. I’m not really a “blogging novice,” as that title implies. In fact, I have been blogging, anonymously, about politics for several years now. The reasons I blog “incognito” elsewhere are numerous and complicated; suffice it to say that, one day, all will be revealed. Although it may not be time to introduce myself to the world, by name, as a political pundit, I do think it’s time to introduce myself more fully as a poet and writer of fiction. So … this post is my inaugural foray into the world of promoting my published and soon-to-be-published works (see more next door under “About SBL”). Continue reading “My First Time”
Talking to Myself ... eavesdroppers welcome 