Catherine McNamara, author of the novel The Divorced Lady’s Companion to Living in Italy and the forthcoming collection Pelt and Other Stories asked me some very smart questions in a Q&A that covers lots of ground, from the writing process to POV to submitting to book promotion and beyond. My answers somehow led me down [...]

1. First, huge congratulations and many bottles of champagne to our dear Averil, who just landed a two-book deal with Harlequin MIRA. I could see this type of good news coming ever since I started reading her blog. It’s well deserved, my friend. 2. I feel I should clarify my last post a bit. As [...]

Rosebud Book Reviews has posted a short and shiny review of Living Arrangements. Reviewer John Lehman compares the book to “an old Gershwin tune that has specific, personal memories attached. Once you read the stories you will never quite be able to get them out of your mind.” The review also includes claims such as [...]

Stuffing too much paper into the toilet. Wondering who’s on first. A soldier crouched in the dust. A beloved old copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. Slipping down a muddy slope. Ski lessons in jeans. Caramel, you old smoothie… Those are snippets from the memories some of you shared in this post when you entered [...]

I’m thrilled to share that the Fiction Writers Review has posted an interview with yours truly. Anne Stameshkin — a fellow writer from Lancaster, PA — asks me some wonderful questions about writing, publicity, Living Arrangements, short fiction, and more. I love the Fiction Writers Review and I think you should all head over there [...]

» I forgot to bring my bookmarks and business cards to my library presentation earlier this week. Oops. » My alma mater posted this blog interview with me recently. I neglected to mention in my response that I don’t really believe any author or book should be considered “a guilty pleasure.” Is that so very [...]

NewPages has posted a lengthy review of Living Arrangements. A few excerpts: Winner of the prestigious G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction, Living Arrangements, a collection of short stories by Laura Maylene Walter, offers the reader thirteen well-crafted stories, crisp in their language, tight in their structure, and thought-provoking in their effect. Most of [...]

I spent the bulk of Saturday at the Hudson Library Ohio Author Day & Book Fair. It was my first book fair and, despite the inherent humiliation in these kinds of things, I enjoyed myself. I got to talk shop with other authors, picked up a few books I can’t wait to read (never mind [...]

It’s Monday, it’s raining, and I only got 5 hours of sleep last night, so this post is going to be short and sweet. If you already have a copy of Living Arrangements, then you have access to the author Q&A and the discussion questions in the back of the book. If not, you can [...]

It was five months after my mother’s death. I was 20 years old, had just finished my sophomore year of college, and was struggling. I decided to attend a grief group at a local hospital in the hopes that it would provide me with some sort of solace or help. What I experienced, instead, was [...]