Hear me narrate my own writing in "Reprieve", now live at NewFictionWriters.com

Once again, I've been doing a lot of everything except blogging! Sorry! I continue to be chronically swamped, but nevertheless I wanted to post a quick entry about a short story of mine that is now live at NewFictionWriters.com. It's called "Reprieve" and it's the story that I submitted to Farrago: The Michael Bekemeyer Project, which I blogged about back in October.

Now "Reprieve" is available in audio format as well, and not only was I able to share the story itself, but Tony Whitford at NewFictionWriters asked me to record a "Story Behind the Story" afterwards so that I could talk about the process of writing "Reprieve".

"Reprieve" is not related to Dreaming of Deliverance, but I think you'll find that the intensity and tone are similar. It is a story that is very important to me for a number of reasons. For one thing, it was writing this story back in 2004 that gave me the courage to admit to myself that I am a writer. I can still remember what it felt like to read it over and get goosebumps. "Reprieve" seems to have a big impact on readers/listeners as well.

Another reason this story is special, is that I was lucky enough to share it with Diana Gabaldon, author of the amazing Outlander series as well as the Lord John Grey novels, at the Surrey International Writers Conference. Diana Gabaldon is one of my favorite authors and getting her in-person feedback (all of it positive!) was an incredible experience! You can hear more about that in the above-mentioned "Story Behind the Story", which now that I think of it, is kind of a mini Renée-Unpublishednotdead!

I'll be back here soon with more updates on my progress with Dreaming of Deliverances's sequel and related short stories! They are moving along!