The end of the year: looking forward (and back)
The end of the year: looking forward (and back)
The end of the year: Looking forward (and back)
Huge hugs for your love and support over this year. I can only wish you the same in whatever you pursue. I’m so grateful; it’s been an incredible journey—thanks to you.
I was thrilled to launch THREE MUSES and travel the country meeting readers and writers at bookstores and libraries. I learned from your thoughtful, insightful questions. I was honored that critics gave my book a warm reception.
This past week, I had amazing conversations with Yvette Benavides of Texas Public Radio, and Jody Sperling about emotion in fiction.
I’ve had fun recording additional podcasts and being interviewed about what it’s like to turn 65 when you publish your debut novel, the power of memory, and the impression that watching ballet dancers had on me as a young child. I’ve lectured on jettisoning history in a historical novel and written about same; described what it was like to choreograph my own, original ballets for THREE MUSES, written about Dorothy’s ruby slippers and rejection; and more.
I’ve come to your book groups and look forward to visiting with more of you in 2023. (Please let me know if you want me to zoom or show up.)
What’s floated your boat this year? And of course, what hasn’t? We have suffered illnesses, personal and national tragedies, and lived in our hurting, needy world. Thank you for all that you contribute to making it a better place.
Here’s a review I wrote for the Washington Post about a Black leader who did much to make the world better. Franklin M. Thomas’s posthumous memoir, AN UNPLANNED LIFE, covers his leadership in investing and reinvigorating Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood, helming the Ford Foundation, and working to end apartheid in South Africa.
What’s next? First and foremost, I am in the throes of the final revision of a new novel, hoping that the publishing gods are in a good mood.
I have in person and virtual events scheduled for 2023, and would love for you to join me. Among the highlights: DC Temple Sinai’s Author’s Roundtable (March 25), Annapolis Book Festival (April 29), and being interviewed by the extraordinary writer and humanist, Kiese Laymon (virtual, April 13) at Loyalty Bookstores. [Details to come on all of these.]
Most of all, I wish you and your loved ones good health and joy for the holidays and beyond.
Love, Martha