Over the Moon

A giant, loud-enough-to-be-heard-in-England cheer for my writing buddy Eliza Graham, whose novel Playing with the Moon came out on June 1. YAY!

When I was getting into the writing forums a few years ago, I shared some work with the very helpful Karen Dionne at writers net and she put me in touch with Elizabeth. I think we swapped a chapter or something, and I still recall her description of her character doing something very ordinary - opening the dishwasher - and it being just perfect. You know how it is when the words do exactly what they should to convey the image and the moment? Anyway, we decided to become critique partners and so over the years I've been lucky enough to read most of her work.

Her writing's always been top drawer, but sadly, that's not enough to get published, and a lot of factors (including, perhaps, the alignment of the planets) need to be in place. With all the ups and downs leading up to this moment, she may have felt at times like she was living a novel rather than writing one - it was frustrating enough for me when her earlier mss didn't get picked up, so I can only imagine what it was like for her. But now that Playing with the Moon is out, it's even more of a reason to celebrate.

She'll probably be very busy over the next couple of weeks doing readings and promotion, but I hope she gets a chance to enjoy the moment: picking the book up off the shelf in a store and holding it in her hands; seeing someone take a copy away with them. Congrats E, all the best for the coming months, and as always, for the next project.