Writer, Teacher
I have a short story in Troublesome Rising: a Thousand-Year Flood in Eastern Kentucky. This anthology focuses on the historic flood in summer 2022. So many people lost their lives in that flood, and University Press of Kentucky decided to publish this anthology in remembrance of them.
I’m proud to be included in this beautiful book with so many good writers! Here’s a link to purchase it:
https://www.kentuckypress.com/9781950564422/troublesome-rising/
This one is narrated by Katie. She and the gang are taking a computer class with a teacher named Mr. Young, who requires students to work in groups to write their own computer program. Katie, Allison, Randy, and Sabrina create a dating program for their assignment. Each student in the class answers questions and the computer pairs the classmates into boy-girl couples. Then, the teacher organizes a group date to the movies and to Fitzie’s, a local restaurant. It’s an interesting idea for a book, though I doubt it would realistically happen in life. Who knows, though. I suppose kids have done stranger school projects. And just because I’m not smart enough to write a computer program doesn’t mean middle-schoolers couldn’t do it.
Stacy Hansen, the group’s nemesis, spreads a rumor that Katie fixed the computer program so that Katie can be matched up with Greg Loggins. Stacy tells everyone that Katie likes Greg, which is untrue. Scottie hears the rumor and believes it. He starts freezing Katie out and giving her death stares. Sound familiar? This is typical Scottie in-a-rage behavior. As I’ve said before, Scottie doesn’t deserve Katie, and he doesn’t treat her right. Still, she thinks he’s sooo cute. She still likes him, and of course she basically tells him so at the end after she catches him flirting with Stacy to make Katie jealous. Katie sounds pretty mature when she tells Scottie she doesn’t want a serious relationship. I’m quite sure she says that only because these books are for young kids whom parents would think are too young to date. Otherwise, Katie would definitely want Scottie as her boyfriend. All he has to do is smile and wear that hockey letter jacket and she falls all over him.
This book gives us some insight into Greg Loggins. I believe he’s the jerk who said some obnoxious things during the 7th grade trip to Eagle Mountain in book #6, and I know he’s the obnoxious one who bugged Allison during the bowling trip when she was crushing on Billy Dixon in book #10. In this book, Katie still thinks he’s obnoxious until she gets to know him and realizes he acts out because it’s an attempt to get attention from his uncaring father. I felt bad for Greg when he was telling Katie that during their date. I thought it was the most heartfelt and true-to-life part of this book. I wish Scottie could show more vulnerability the way that Greg does.
The one part I didn’t like about this book was all the computer talk as they were learning to write their computer program. Perhaps it was necessary to include those bits in the book, though they bored me.
Happy New Year, dear readers. 😃
Y’all, I have exciting news! My book, Daughters of Muscadine, has just won the Tennessee Book Award in fiction! This is a huge honor. It comes with a $2,500 cash prize, and I’m invited to give a talk with Denton Loving and Rachel Louise Martin, the poetry and nonfiction winners, at the Southern Festival of Books this Sunday. I’m grinning big as can be! ❤️❤️❤️
Proud to have my book, Daughters of Muscadine, featured on the latest episode of Read Appalachia. Thanks, Kendra Winchester!
I’ll be signing books Saturday, September 28th at Madison County Book Festival in Richmond, KY. Excited for this event. I also attended last year and it was among my favorite author events!
Excited to announce I’ll be leading the memoir writing workshop for the Tennessee Mountain Writers. The workshop will be a mixture of craft lectures on writing about family and writing about place. More info here.
Proud to be at Hindman Settlement School this week. I’m teaching a short story workshop full of amazing writers. Feeling lucky today!
Big thanks to Christina Consolino at Shelf Unbound for this wonderful interview and for helping me promote Daughters of Muscadine. Here’s the link:
I read Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn several years ago, and I also enjoyed that movie adaptation. Right now, I’m listening to the sequel, Long Island. This book follows Eilish and the events that occur after she and Tony have been married for twenty years. They are living in New York with their two children, and they live near Tony’s brothers and mother. The opening of the book really hooked me. A complete stranger with an aggressive posture shows up at Eilish’s door. The stranger sounds like an Irishman, and he says that Eilish’s husband has impregnated the Irishman’s wife. He goes on to say he refuses to raise the bastard and that he will deliver the baby to Eilish’s door once it is born. Eilish is shocked and hurt. She doesn’t want the baby, and she’s surprised and mortified to learn that her mother-in-law is considering adopting the baby.
This book reminds us that Eilish also had an affair in the previous book. We catch up to Eilish’s previous lover in here, and I like that I don’t know where exactly the author is going with these two storylines.
I’m only about six chapters along so far, but I’m really enjoying it. It’s a good premise for a book. I like the family dynamics in the story, and I have always loved domestic novels! I look forward to finishing this one.
It’s been a while since I recapped one of these, so here goes. I had fun reading this one. I think the reason I love this series so much is because the four main characters are such good friends. I have never had a close group of friends, and I envy the Fab Four. I ❤️ their loyalty. I ❤️ their strong bond. I ❤️ their youth and vitality.
This book tells the story of the girls and Hitline USA, a television talent show. The show features singing groups who dress up and lip synch to popular music. It’s a nationally televised show that just happens to be hosting auditions in nearby Minneapolis. Sabrina, Randy, Allison, and Katie form a group called Pump it Up and dance to a song called Bounce Right Back. They’re competing against four other groups, including The Valentines, which happens to be Stacy the Great’s group. Sabrina, our narrator for this book, is totally jelly because The Valentines have glamorous dresses with sequins and high heels. Sabrina’s friends decide to dress as bouncing balls to fit with their Bounce Right Back theme. Sabs thinks the bouncing balls idea is a bad one because it’s corny, and I agree with her, but she doesn’t want to upset her friends, especially after she finds out that Randy’s mom has sewn ball costumes for everyone and Katie’s mom has bought rubber balls that Sabrina’s friends plan to sew onto the costumes.
Plot twist: Sabs’ dog Cinnamon chews up their bouncing ball costumes, so they wind up wearing matching minidresses with low heels instead. Sabrina’s friends buy her a gold jacket to wear since she’s kinda the leader of the singing group and she’s the most excited about being on TV. Look at the cover art:
Sabrina’s jacket looks cool, and I like the girls’ tights and heels. I always liked these book covers. The artist makes the girls look as described in the text. We can always tell who each girl is supposed to be. Randy has the spiked hair, and Allison is the tall, slim one, etc. However, the girls often look more like college-age women than middle schoolers, though.
Stacy is obnoxious as usual in this one. She taunts and harasses Sabrina, telling her that The Valentines will win the competition. The best quote from the book is from the moment where Sabrina describes Stacy’s arrogance and hair flip as she brags:
“Stacy flipped her hair one last time—rather strongly. The ends hit me right in the face.” 😂🤣
Sabrina and the gang work well together and are overall proud of their performance. The Valentines screw up royally by bumping into each other on stage, teetering on their too-tall heels, and forgetting the song lyrics. The Valentines come in last place. Sabs’ group wins the runner-up prize, which is a gift certificate to a record store and some tote bags.
The girls have a blast on camera dancing around and just being friends. They also learn a bit about show business. For instance, someone on set holds up a card reminding the audience to clap. Also, the show’s host, Rick Stevens, has the stereotypical diva attitude that I imagine some celebrities have. The celebrity guest, Alek Carreon, is the opposite; he’s sweet and down-to-earth.
Ciao for now! 😊
Monic Ductan 