Horse, Meet Cart

There’s a fine line between optimism and jumping the gun. Getting the cart before the horse. Getting ahead of one’s skis. Biting off … you get the picture.

A few years ago, more years than I want to admit, I sat down with a laptop and began pounding out a novel. Eighteen months later, voilá! My first novel was complete. Back then (and still today), the powers that be insisted a writer must be known and have a following if she hopes for success when her novel sells and hits the shelves. “Build a website,” they said. <“Ok.” check> “Write short stories, submit to journals.” <check> “Get busy on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., etc.” <check, check, check> What all of that other stuff won’t get you is a book deal. Short of returning to school for an MFA, I’ve done all the extras, yet still no book deal. In other words, it’s possible I spent too much time building a platform and too little time honing my writing. Until …

I have recently completed a new novel (my fifth), titled THE PUZZLEMAKER. It’s good. It’s ready. It’s at least ready for a good editor to make it great. The seed of this story came to me in early 2015, so I’ve technically been writing/editing/polishing it for five long years (though if you’ve read my previous posts you know I took a two-year hiatus in there for … Life). So now I’m back, focused, and ready to make this gig official.

So what’s THE PUZZLEMAKER about? Click here to find out. And let the wild rumpus start …

Open Window Literary Magazine

Hello, peeps. It’s been a while… sorry (I’ve been writing!). But I’m back with great news to report.

An excerpt from my novel The Best Liar of All was selected for inclusion in the inaugural issue of Open Window Literary Magazine. Open Window is an online publication by the geniuses at LCCC in Laramie, Wyoming. Open Window launches on Tuesday, December 20th, 2011. The minute their site is up, I will link you to it.

A bit of background: The Best Liar of All is the story of 39-year old Brooklynite Daniel King. Danny’s company went bankrupt, then his girlfriend was murdered. As he’s trying to rebuild his life, the SEC tells him they “have a few questions”, then the man who allegedly killed Danny’s girlfriend threatens his life too. Danny quickly realizes he needs to disappear so he takes his dog (and a bag of cash—a cool quarter million dollars), and heads to his father’s hometown of Jackson, Wyoming, a place so small it must be safe. But what he learns when he gets there is that no one is who they seem to be. Danny must filter through “fifty-four years, four months” of fallacious history to find out who everyone truly is, including himself.

The excerpt that I submitted to Open Window is a flashback about Danny’s father as a teenager in Jackson, 1956. “Chuck” had a rough childhood, something he never told Danny about, never even told his own wife.

A big thanks to Lori Howe at Open Window, and everyone else on the selection committee. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend the launch party, but with any luck I’ll upload a reading of my short story to YouTube that they can watch, and can you too.

xox, Karolyn