Once again, I have neglected this blog. My neglect stems from the good news that I’ve been very busy writing other things and/or participating in events that have to do with writing. So, it’s all good.I’m having fun with rewrites of the next Desert Goddess book.
A few beta readers have given me some ideas and I’ve been busy incorporating them into the work. My brother, Larry, an enthusiastic fan, gave me lots of additional work to do, but he was right (for once) so it meant adding and subtracting and reworking and it’s taking a lot of time. Which is okay. Even with tightening and moving things around, Book II, The Bonding Blade, will be the longest book I’ve ever written.
I’m not going to predict a publication date this time since I keep pushing it back and pushing it back. Just know that when it does finally see the light of day, it will be the best book I could write.
In addition to those rewrites, I’ve been a bit more successful in the essay writing business. My piece about Bosnia was published in The War Horse. (YAY!) It was so dang hard to get this thing just right, but the editors on The War Horse don’t let you get away with half-stepping. Ever since I attended their writing workshop, I made it a goal to get something published there. I’m proud of this piece. I’ve had a lot of great feedback on it and I know that it touched some folks in exactly the way I wanted it to, so it’s all good. There will be more essays on the way. I’m picking at one about the convoy I took with my brother from Kuwait to Baghdad.
In 1997, we saw a lot of this type of transport in Bosnia.
Between reading submissions, writing essays and editing podcasts, work with the editors at The Wrath-BearingTree.com is turning out to be a worthwhile creative outlet. For November, the online magazine will publish a series of stories, essays and poetry about WWI as we recognize the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice. A hundred years. So much has happened since the end of WWI. I’ve included a piece that promotes the project, Fort George G. Meade; The First 100 Years, along with an essay excerpted from the book – Paving the Way for the Interstate. If nothing else, the pictures are really cool. In case you’ve missed the many times I’ve posted about this book (a project I worked on for TWO YEARS), you can read a free PDF copy at www.ftmeade.army.mil. But there’s no substitute for the hardcover version which can be purchased here. It’s on sale right now, by the way.
On Veterans Day, Mon. Nov. 12 at 5:30 p.m., I’ll be joining other veteran authors for a reading at The Writer's Center. The editors of O-Dark-Thirty invited me to be a part of the event that is themed after their most recent issue, “Prisoners”. I’ll be reading from Shoshana Johnson's memoir, “I’m Still Standing,” and looking forward to hearing from the others who will be there. If you’re around that day, I hope you will join us.
By Veteran’s Day the election will be another blip in your rear view mirror. As I’m writing this, it’s only five days … FIVE DAYS until the election. I surely hope you’ve done what you need to do to ensure your voice is heard. Even though my polling place is literally across the street, I couldn’t wait until Nov. 6, to cast my vote, so I stood in line, and looked around me with a smile. I have voted early in other midterm elections. The rooms are usually empty, the election judges bored and there’s little to no waiting. Not this time. The early polling place in my neighborhood was bustling. The best part was seeing the smiles on people’s faces. It was as if we were all breathing a sight of relief. We could FINALLY do something about this. In Maryland, they say some 40,000 people voted on the first day of early voting in 2014. The first day of early voting in 2018 in Maryland, almost 90,000 people voted. I was one of them.
https://mldoyleauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/nov-6-2018-1024x512.png
M. L. Doyle has served in the U.S. Army at home and abroad for more than two decades as both a soldier and civilian. Mary is the author of The Desert Goddess series, an urban fantasy romp consisting of The Bonding Spell and The Bonding Blade. She has also penned The Master Sergeant Harper mystery series which has earned numerous awards including an IPPY, a Lyra Award and the Carrie McCray Literary Award. Mary is the co-author of two memoirs; A Promise Fulfilled; the story of a Wife and Mother, Soldier and General Officer (Jan. 201) and the memoir, I’m Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen—My Journey Home (Touchstone, 2010), which was nominated for an NAACP Image award. Mary's work has been published by The Goodman Project, The War Horse, The WWrite Blog and The Wrath-Bearing Tree, an online magazine for which she serves as a fiction editor. A Minneapolis, Minnesota native, Mary current lives in Baltimore. You can reach her at her website at mldoyleauthor.com.
