Category: from the publisher
-
Support Anti-Trafficking
Geraldine Donaher is hard at work on the sequel to Mouth Shut Head Down, so those of us who are dying to know how Allée does in college… Well, we should have an answer… soon-ish. Meanwhile, Geraldine and I have been working to offer a streamlined way to offer a portion of the…
-
On Travel Writing
As my regular readers may know, and has been mentioned in this newsletter, I am in Dublin, Ireland today with my good friend and traveling companion, M. My daughter brought me to D.C. last weekend so that M. and I can leave from his home on Wednesday night after I get done…
-
Tips to jumpstart creativity
Tip One: Allow yourself some brain-dead time If you’ve been stressed or in a rut, find something that doesn’t require effort to lean you toward creative productivity. I’m not talking about spending all day on the couch or sleeping until 2 p.m., but watch a favorite movie or one that mirrors…
-
Bookstore Review: Midtown Scholar, Harrisburg, Pa.
Voted the Publisher Weekly’s Bookstore of the Year Today Eva and I visited Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg, Pa, the state capital. I am headed to Washington D.C. to meet my friend M with whom I will travel to Dublin later this week. Eva is technically delivering me to D.C.…
-
Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
I don’t “doom scroll.” I got my first iPhone in 2009 to settle my anxiety. Everything I could need was in my pocket, accessible by a tiny computer known as the iPhone 3GS. I start my mornings and end my evenings by checking my email, studying dog training videos (as…
-
Reflections on My Left Foot
I ended up reading Christy Brown’s My Left Foot this weekend. (The movie stars Daniel Day Lewis. I watched that also.) Christy, born in 1932 as a middle child in an Irish Catholic family of 22 children, had cerebral palsy. The only limb he could control was his left foot— and he even learned to…
-
5-star reads from 2025
Let’s take a look at what I read in 2025. According to Goodreads, I read more than 15,500 pages in published books. I say published books because I also read unsolicited submissions for Parisian Phoenix and piles of pages for editing and critique. The shortest book I read was Exactly how I Promote and Sell…
-
Welcome, Historical Society
Finally, I want to welcome the Greenwich Historical Society to the Parisian Phoenix fold, as they contacted me about publishing their hometown heroes banner project in a commemorative book. Gayle and I met with the society last night at the Greenwich Township Municipal Building in Stewartsville, N.J., which— full circle— was one of the…
-
Our start to 2026
A few weeks ago (or maybe a month or two), I talked about cleaning my desk. Since then, I’ve emptied a bookshelf, reorganized and purged business supplies and developed a system for tracking and storing inventory. Because, guys, I’ve reached the point where I need a system for tracking, storing,…
Parisian Phoenix Publishing 