I am so excited to finally see the finished product of Minvera Rising!

The first chapter of my novel, After the Smoke, was published in the inaugural issue of this amazing literary journal.

Started by my friends and fellow Goddard alumni, the journal seeks to be a place for women writers. The theme of the first issue was “Beginnings.”

How fitting is that theme? To begin some thing means to end some thing else since there truly can only be one beginning.

I gravitated to this theme because I had just ended a journey that had forever changed me–earning my MFA. To some, going down that path is only about getting a degree, but for me it awakened me, it flicked on a switch. It answered a question. Did I have what it took to be a writer? Yes. Definitely.

Now my journey is about how to do that in the real world. I have to define for myself what it means to truly be a working artist–this is my new beginning.

I can’t express how excited I am to see this first chapter in print. It looks good! Hopefully it won’t be my last in print either.

Meanwhile, an update on my writing. I am slowly working on a novella, expanding a short story I forced to become a short story. Never a good idea. Never. Ever.

I plan on returning to my novel, which has been completed but in  desperate need of some line-by-line editing. That will have to happen in the New Year.

Then there’s always NaNoWriMo.

Here’s what Minvera Rising’s cover looks like.