A local reading and more rejections

Last night I went to a reading by local author Lynne Hinton whose most recent book is titled Pie Town.  The reading was held at one of Rio Rancho’s libraries – the same libraries that have refused to host an author event/signing with  me.  Ms. Hinton is not local to Rio Rancho.  It still burns me when I think about how they could not be bothered to set something up with me – one of THEIR OWN local authors, living in Rio Rancho.

Moving on, I really did enjoy the presentation.  Ms. Hinton has a natural grace and elegance about her (she’s a pastor in a former life), and seemed genuinely excited and happy to be there.  She was friendly, introduced herself to everyone personally with a handshake, and began by talking about how she came to write.  It was refreshing to listen to someone’s else’s journey to the world of books.  She was not pretentious and exists outside of academia, which endeared her to me even more.  She then read a bit from her new book.  I liked the candid phrasing, the quirky characters, and the easy dialogue.  There wasn’t enough of a context for me to grasp whether or not I would enjoy the entire novel, and I wish she had read more.  During the Q & A, she addressed everyone’s question head on.  Someone asked her about her intentions in writing “Christian fiction” (a label she does not give herself), and if she is trying to spread a message.  She said her goal is just to write/tell a good story.  I love that.  It was a nice way to spend my evening.

I have five rejections to note since my last blog post.  Sadly, only one of the four was personal.  They were from New England Review, Ninth Letter; Brain, Child; New Ohio Review; and WomenArts Quarterly Journal.  The one from Ninth Letter was addressed as “Dear Writer.”  Gotta love that.  The one from Brain, Child was kind.  It was clear that they had read the essay I submitted.  The New England Review rejection is annoying because they charge $3.00 to submit.  Anyway, nothing else to report.