Better late than never: I’m thrilled to share the June 2012 Stories on Stage performance, in which actor Blair Leatherwood read my short story “Q&A at the Film Fest.” He does a fantastic job, as you can see for yourself here:   To learn more about this event, which is run by my fellow BkMk [...]

With a craft beer in hand at the Market Garden Brewery’s Brews + Prose reading series on Tuesday night, I joined a sizable crowd to hear some beautifully written essays and poetry about my adopted city and its residents. Then I read my own essay, signed some copies of the anthology, and posed for photos [...]

If you’re in the Cleveland area, come have a beer with me tomorrow night (Nov. 13) at the Market Garden Brewery, where I’ll be reading along with other Rust Belt Chic contributors — Huda Al-Marashi, Nicole Hennessy, Richey Piiparinen, Anne Trubek, and Douglas Max Utter. The reading starts downstairs at 7pm. I have it on [...]

Before I read this bit of depressing publishing news last night, I dropped by the hair salon Tease, which participated in the Lakewood Chocolate Walk not only by offering chocolatey snacks, but also by hosting a sale for Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology. Here I am with Richey Piiparinen, one of the anthology editors. [...]

On Saturday, after going out for lunch with my visiting brother and sister-in-law, I summoned all my powers of persuasion and managed to convince everyone to head out to the Skunk Fest. Yes, a skunk fest, and yes, we saw many skunks: Fat skunks, baby skunks, brownish skunks, white skunks, skunks on leashes, skunks in [...]

I took this photo last weekend at the lakefront park that’s only a few minutes from my house on foot. Since I returned from Bread Loaf I have walked to this park almost every day to to see how very different the water and skyline look under sun or cloud or fog. Before Peter and [...]

Eight minutes can either fly by or seem like an eternity. Right now, as I try to decide what to read on Saturday night for a special 8-8-8 reading (eight Cleveland authors reading for eight minutes each on Sept. 8), my goal is to make those minutes fly. Or, you know, cut my reading down [...]

1. A few weeks ago, when I introduced myself to someone at a contributor get-together for Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology, she said, “Oh, are you Laura Maylene?” 2. David Abrams, an author and literary advocate whose forthcoming novel Fobbit is definitely going to be big-time, recently featured my guest post in his “My [...]

This will be my last Bread Loaf post. Probably. I think. I feel I should post detailed accounts of what happened, what I heard, what I learned, and so on and so forth, but I’m too exhausted. I still see yellow when I close my eyes. I’m still digesting all I learned. I’m still a [...]