Tag Archives: Pen-L Publishing

Author Interview: Lily Iona MacKenzie

Welcome to Lily Iona MacKenzie for this special guest post and author interview feature.

Pen-L Publishing will be publishing Lily Iona MacKenzie’s novel Fling! in July 2015. 

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Click on the cover for more information from Pen-L Publishing.

  1. Tell me about your latest project.

It’s hard to describe a “latest project” since I’m usually working on more than one thing simultaneously. I’m revising my novel Bone Songs that will be published in 2016. I’ve just completed another novel whose focus is a young version of the main character in another novel of mine, Freefall: a Divine Comedy. And I have several short stories in process.

  1. What role, if any, did books, writing, and reading play in your childhood?

When I was 13, I started a diary, but I was afraid someone would see what I had written, so I used a coded language that I can’t remember. I would love to see those pages again so I would have a better sense of my writing self at that age. I didn’t start keeping a diary again until I was in my mid-20s and going through a deep depression. The writing was my attempt to understand what was happening. I began then to journal daily not only about what I was thinking and feeling but also recorded my nightly dreams. I’ve continued this practice ever since, learning much about myself in the process. I feel the keeping in close contact with my dreams has fed my writing and enriched my imagination.

  1. What is your writing practice, your writing routine?

I try to write a minimum of one hour per day. I usually can fit in that amount of time, and I’ve produced an amazing amount of material over the years as a result: three poetry collections, one of which is published; four+ novels, two of which are on their way to being published, and I’m sure the other ones will as well; a short story collection; travel articles; reviews; memoir; and much more.

  1. Who are you reading now?

It’s hard to say because I always have so many books on my night stand. I love the Norwegian novelist Per Petterson and have read all of his books except the last one, which is now waiting for me. I recently finished Three Light Years by the Italian author Andrea Canobbio. Francine Prose had praised it highly in The New York Review of Books, and over all it lived up to the accolades. My husband and I will be spending a month in Italy this summer, so we read John Hooker’s The Italians, a wonderful overview of the country and its people. I intersperse fiction and non-fiction with poetry since that’s a genre I also write in. I’ve been impressed with Mark Strand’s Collected Poems and have been going through it. Always much more to read than I have time for!

  1. What are three of your all-time favorite books? Why do you love those?

I really can’t identify three favorite books. There are too many that I love. But I can say that certain novels had a profound effect on me at different stages of my life for various reasons. When I was working on my BA in English, I took a Modern American Novel class that did exactly what Lionel Trilling said such books should do: they read me as much as I read them. Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury and his Light in August. Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. And many more. Each book made me aware of elements of myself that were also manifested in the characters inhabiting the books.

Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude found me at a time when I needed a model for the magical realism approach that seems natural to me and inhabits much of my work. I LOVE that book and return to it often for inspiration.

In another mode, Roberto Bolano, a Chilean writer, has also inspired me. He diverges from the more familiar magical realist vein and creates his own genre. I’ve read most of his books now, and they create a world that seems like a parallel universe to ours. He also steps beyond the usual fiction boundaries, violating our expectations of how a novel should unfold or end. I’m always entranced by his work.

And I haven’t mentioned W.G. Sebald yet, another writer who died far too young. He’s another writer who invented a new genre, a hybrid novel form. Again, I’ve read all of his work, and I’m stunned by it.

I’m sorry that all of these authors are men when there are so many female authors I love as well, including Anne Enright. I’ll read anything she writes because of her sharp wit and illuminations of contemporary life.

  1. How do you balance “building a writing platform” and the actual writing to set on that platform?

Platform has become a hated word in my lexicon. I feel we writers have become cogs in the publishing machine instead of masters of it. Of course, we don’t have to create platforms, but most publishers wouldn’t work with us if we didn’t. So I now find myself stealing precious time from my writing to keep up with the demands of social networking, finding reviewers for my novel, writing blog posts, etc. In the last week, I haven’t had time to go near the various projects I’m working on. I’m clearly not doing very well in the balancing category.

  1. What is a typical day like for you?

I’m not sure I have a typical day. I teach freshman comp at the University of San Francisco, just one class a semester now. I also am vice president of the part-time faculty union. Those two responsibilities take a considerable bite out of my day. I’ve already mentioned the marketing demands I’m dealing with. Working out is essential for my mental and physical well being, so I ride a stationary bike for 45 mins each day. Three days a week I also do strength training at a gym. I love to cook and enjoy making healthful meals for my husband and myself. I also am a great tennis and baseball (SF Giants) fan, so I squeeze these activities into some days. The writing I fold into whatever spaces are left.

  1. What is the best wisdom you have to share with other writers?

Write. Rewrite. Write some more. Get feedback from respected editors. Revise, revise, revise. Keep writing.

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Thank you, Lily, for sharing your writing life and journey with us. I can’t wait to read Fling!

You can find and follow Lily on Facebook, Twitter, and at her blog.

Holiday Sale 99 Cents Days

I hope this week finds you prepared for whatever holidays you celebrate this time of year! We are on the Christmas track of things, but our family has also established a tradition of having latkes — often on Christmas morning itself. We grew to love them from friends who are Jewish (especially during my husband’s years of working at the Jewish Community Center in
West Bloomfield, MI). My family loves them served with bacon, so it is far from kosher, but I think that’s what happens in a place like America. Traditions meld and form into something new. I’m all about any celebration that involves presents and food and family!

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My husband goes a little “Clark Griswold” this time of year, but it looks mighty pretty from the highway as travelers drive by.

As a holiday special, I have set all three of my Cats in the Mirror books for sale on kindle for only 99 cents each. That’s all three for less than the normal price of one book! If you still need gifts for the last few nights of Hanukkah or are looking for some Christmas gifts, I hope these fit the bill for you. The 99 cents special runs from December 20th – 26th, so if someone gets a kindle for Christmas you know what to stock it with right away. Click here to find all of my books on kindle at amazon.com.  

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Alien rescue cats for only 99 cents each. You can’t beat that!

My writing work was sidelined a bit this month because I have taken on a new position as a proofreader for Pen-L Publishing. I’ve gotten to know Duke and Kimberly Pennell quite well over the last few months. They are putting out my adult book, “At the Corner of Magnetic and Main,” in September. I have done freelance proofreading for a while now, and I’m thrilled to be a part of the team at Pen-L that helps authors put out the most beautiful and fantastic books possible. My first project for them was a mob hit mystery type book called “Copperhead Cove.” It was a bit of a rush job to get it all tucked in before the holidays, so I proofed 85,000+ words in three days. Whew. I’m grateful I enjoyed the story! And the cover is perfect too. I’m sure I’ll toot more about it when release time comes.

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Staying focused, I was also able to get “Max’s Wild Night” completed and off to the beta readers before the holidays, like I had planned. My husband has already had his say and made some good notes (which he says I fixed perfectly). This is the stage where I take another break from the book and let it rest for a bit while others have their chance to add their two cents. I’m really happy with how the story evolved and look forward to sharing it with you on May 1, 2015!

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Max is very excited that he is finally getting a book of his own! He wants to be more than just The Big Black Beast.

In January and February, this blog is going to take a bit of a turn and focus on sharing what I have learned in the last three years of my self-publishing journey. There are hundreds of books on the subject. This will not be like that. It’s going to be only about what I have learned and discovered along the way — failures and successes — in the hopes that it can start some conversation and sharing in the comments sections so we can all get better at this new frontier of publishing. Watch for the first blog on January 5, 2015, and one each week after that. Is there something you want to make sure I cover? Shoot me an email or share your thoughts in the comments section.

What am I currently reading? I just finished “The Story is the Thing” by Amy Hale Auker, and I just loved it. Here’s my amazon.com review (5 stars!), and here’s the link where you can purchase it directly from Pen-L Publishing. Another reviewer used words like “lyrical” and “poignant” and described it as a “love letter.” I totally agree. Highly recommend.

On my bedside table right now is “Washed in the Water” by Nancy Hartney — a collection of Southern stories that won Best Book of the Year from the Ozark Writer’s League. So far, these stories also hit that “poignant” spot. I also just picked up “Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson at the library. It is a National Book Award winner, and I keep seeing it on everyone’s lists of best books this year, so I need to know what the fuss is about. I’ll let you know.

I have finally broken down and asked for a kindle for Christmas. My book budget is soooo tight (they know me by sight at the library), and I love all the deals I can get on books that way. My mom always gets me what I ask for, so I have been collecting freebies and fun-looking books to put on it. I can’t wait to start reading it all! I know I will always prefer actual books. I’ve shared my husband’s kindle for the last year (and boy is he grateful I’m getting my own), so I’ve done some reading that way. It’s just not the same, but it is time to step at least one foot into the more digital age.

I hope each of you has a joy-filled end of the year and take time to enjoy all of the little pleasures of the holidays amid all of the chaos it can bring. I know I’m really going to try this year. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Wonderful Winter Solstice, and a Happy New Year to you all!

Ozark Creative Writers Conference 2014

Well, I’m exhausted, which is exactly how I should feel after two days and three nights of hanging out with wonderful authors from all over the area at the Ozark Creative Writers Conference.  There were fun workshops, but I think I spent far too much time just talking with the other writers there and hearing about their works in progress and stories from the year.

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I got to spend some nice chunks of time kvetching with the lovely Duke and Kimberly Pennell of Pen-L Publishing, who will be producing my adult book “At The Corner of Magnetic and Main” next fall. That’s the date we came up with for now at least. Can we call it an award-winning novel?

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Well, it won an award at the conference for in the category of unpublished manuscripts from High Hill Press, but it was only First Honorable Mention (aka 4th place). I wouldn’t want to be one of those authors that tries to make her work sound like more than it is. Maybe I’m just spoiled from having won a few First Place awards last year. Anything less was kind of disappointing. But, of course, you never know how many other people entered and what/who you were up against. I had honestly only entered this manuscript in the contest to catch the attention of the folks at High Hill Press and Pen-L Publishing. Since Pen-L already has it under contract, I guess I won the real prize I wanted in the end. Score!!

I also took home First Honorable Mention (4th place) in the Young Adult Short Story contest for an adapted version of “The Brave, Frail, and Delicate Princess.” It is really more middle grade, so I was grateful it got anything at all. And they didn’t do any other honorable mentions, which makes me think that they just wanted to be sure I got something for it. I’ll take that as good, even if it’s all in my head. This story definitely has legs to be developed into a nice middle grade book. I’ll add it to the list of projects!

Then there was a Second Honorable Mention in the Flash Fiction contest for a little 100 word piece called “Justice.” Considering the number of people who probably enter this quick category, I’ll smile and say thank you for getting anything on that one. It was a fun one. Maybe I’ll post it another time.

I only entered two of the other contest categories, so percentage-wise I did very well. Next year I’m taking over as a local contact and Conference Coordinator with the hotel since I live here in town, and “At The Corner of Magnetic and Main” will be hot off the presses. I doubt there will be any time to mess around with contests.

The fall fun continues on Wednesday night as we set up our booth at the War Eagle Fall Craft Fair, which runs Thursday to Sunday (Oct. 16-19). Literally thousands of people attend this event, but we have been gearing up and planning for it so we are ready. I just need to sleep for a day or two. I think I’ll go find Cheetara for a nap/cuddle… because she will let me.