Last spring I met three other women who, like me, were looking for a writer's support group. The four of us hit it off right away, and we've been meeting twice a month since then. We've completed one joint project so far and have submitted it for publishing under the pen name of Vier Dammen. One of our members, Marcia, did an excellent job of describing Vier Dammen:

Vier Dammen is the name of a creative female force. Each writer sees through her unique perspective, and together they cover a topic like a rich ganache. Individually, the writers are Loretté Teal, Michelle Pierce Battle and Joyce Dunn of Omaha, Nebraska, and Marcia Calhoun Forecki of Kansas City, Missouri. Their collective product is far greater than the sum of their very considerable wit, clarity and bite.

For our first joint project each one of us wrote about a paticular aspect of body image that resonated with us. When we get it published, I'll let you know where you can read it. :) For those of you who don't speak German, Vier Dammen translates as Four Ladies.

In my first blog I promised to tell you about the book I'm currently working on. For now, you'll have to be satisfied with a 55 word hint of what it is about.


REPRIEVE

“It’s stage 4, incurable.”

She feels only a need to get everything organized before she leaves. Her sadness is for the pain her family will feel, and regret that she won’t be there to help them.

A Lakota Medicine Man provides the healing that medicine can’t, allowing her to continue to be there for them.

Untl next time...

My first book was Fate, Chance or Divine Design. It is a series of vignettes of the people I worked with at an alcohol treatment center, some patients, some staff members, plus information about alcoholism and chemical dependency: how recovery works and why it sometimes doesn't. The seed for writing this book was planted years earlier when a co-worker and I were laughing about the antics of one of our patients. I commented that I should write a book and title it ATC: Fruits, Nuts and Vegetables I've Known and Loved. When I began writing this book my idea was to make it a series of funny stories. While some of them are funny, the book evolved into something more than a humerous read, so I decided to find a different title. Hindsight tells me it might have been better to stay with the original title.

My next book was a novel, loosely based on a great aunt of mine, who was our family black sheep. Belle: Rebel In Red Silk was pure fun to write. At the risk of sounding like a kook, it felt like Belle was doing some of the dictating. The first two pages are true, and will offer insight into my fascination with her. With one small exception the book is pure fiction. You'll have to read the book, then contact me if you want to know what the other true part is. :)

Now I'm working on another book, but I'll tell you more about that in my next entry.

Both my books are on Amazon, or can be purchased from the publishers: Outskirts Press.com or Eloquentbooks.com, or directly from me.