These past ten days since the election have been brutal, certainly those of us who worked and hoped hard for the more joyful, optimistic outcome. For many, the results cratered their forward motion, and left them fighting to even stay afloat (see How to Survive a Rip Tide … and live to see another election). At the end of the day, creativity is what keeps me sane, for many reasons. And because I know art has the power to lift us up, I’m shifting my focus at this moment from election madness to my latest creative project:

Writing has always been a balm for me. Whether pounding out letters I never sent, winding my way through the puzzle of song lyrics, crafting essays and op-eds that spoke my mind and heart, or taking on the heft of a novel, immersing myself in the art and craft of writing has truly, without hyberbole, kept me sane.

My latest novel, Chick Singer, has been signed by Sibylline Press, and will be released (in print, audio & ebook) via their Sibylline Digital First imprint in March 2025, and that is something that not only cheers me greatly!

The story was birthed from one of those random “what ifs?”, the kind that sticks; the kind you can’t stop thinking about, that tickles your brain until you follow the thread to some ultimately satisfying fruition. In this case, it was a prompt based on my wild, rollercoastering, exhilarating years in rock & roll, and went something like this: “What if somebody secretly posted your old ‘80s music online and it went viral?”

I remember laughing, thinking that would, indeed, be random, but the idea sparked a bigger idea, one that carried me into the world of “Libby Conlin”—her band, her family, her life, her dreams, her secrets—all of which led to Chick Singer. It’s a story that has percolated through various iterations, engaging the input of many wonderful readers, consultants, editors, and advisors, all of whom contributed to a “satisfying fruition” in novel form. To give you a snapshot of its story:

Logline: A former ‘80s rock singer is forced to excavate her mysterious past when her boomeranging adult daughter secretly—and successfully—posts her old music online.

Rock & roll stardom is something you dream about when you’re young, and for Libby Conlin the ‘80s and all their wild promise are ancient history. What pulls her attention now is the unexpected arrival of Bridget, her newly divorced daughter who’s home again despite their historically fractious relationship and the chaos it inspires. And, as if predestined, life quickly turns upside down when Bridget’s application to a local art school involves anonymously posting Libby’s old music online, music that’s good enough to garner the attention of industry gatekeepers. When Libby’s mysterious past—and all its dark secrets—comes roaring into the present, the reconfiguration of everything and everyone in her orbit is both bittersweet and life changing.

When fascination with rock & roll remains a never-ending draw, CHICK SINGER steps onto that stage with its raucous exploration of a complex mother/daughter relationship set against a backdrop of music, dreams, and love—and the art of redefining all three.

If you’d like to keep up with the process as it moves toward publication, you can tap its page on my website, and of course I’ll be posting pertinent updates from time to time here and on my socials.

It’s not every day you have a deliciously brilliant author/indie publisher from the UK spend a little word count on your behalf, so when it happens, how remiss would you be if you didn’t share those precious words with your always interested audience?

Please take a moment to enjoy the very funny, astute, and really touching write-up Mr. Mark Barry wrote up about the state of fiction in general, and my fiction specifically.

And when you click over to read the full post, I urge you to take some time to click on Barry’s books posted on his site. The three I’ve read—Carla, The Night Porter, and Once Upon A Time In the City of Criminals—were each incredibly original stories, with fierce wit, enough edge to slice a finger, and utterly intriguing characters and plot lines. Which makes his kudos for my work all the more meaningful.

Thank you, sir; you are a reminder of what a wonderful circle of wagons the indie community can be!

• • • • • • • •

Lorraine Devon Wilke Reviewed!

by Mark Barry

Contemporary Fiction is the unwanted, bastard stepchild of Independent fiction.

Harsh? No. True. Don’t believe me? Come and join me at the shelter where, just outside the soup kitchen, you can find ten, fifteen, twenty Contemporary Fiction writers huddled around the brazier, polystyrene mug of powdered Minestrone warming fingerless mitts and coating trembling, arid lips.

Contemps just can’t catch a break.We starve for our art.

I’ll go further.

To sell in Indie, you need to be writing genre fiction.

Famous Nottingham author Nicola Valentine held court on this in a debate at the Nottingham Writer’s Studio a short while ago and many, many blogs and analysts on the scene allude to the eminence, the supremacy of genre. Here’s the top four (outside non-fiction and self help).

Vampire – preferably the stuff that sparkles.
Erotica – atm, LGBT erotica in particular.
Young Adult – pick something unreal and it’s likely to be written about: Wizards, Zombies and Gargoyles have been popular recently and of course,
Romance/chicklit – say no more.

(The really clever authors who are sitting on biblical piles of paper moolah the size of the Tower of Babel are those who write dirty vampire romances for teenagers. They’re rolling cigars made of crisp twenties and laughing all the way to the bank).

That’s genre.

Unreal. Invented. Other. Escapist.

In fact, genre fiction= escapist. The more fantastic, the more unreal and out there, the more it is likely to sell.

Contemporary fiction writers can usually be found hunting for food in skips outside conferences full of genre authors, which is a shame as generally contemporary fiction authors, as writers, knock genre writers into a cocked hat. These boys and girls can write.

And Lorraine Devon Wilke, who lives just up the road from Brenda Perlin, the “Faction” writer I featured last week, is a damned fine contemporary writer indeed.

She’s written two books. The first, After The Sucker Punch, I reviewed here: Review of After The Sucker Punch.

I loved it. It was in the top three books I read last year and in the top thirty of my lifetime. It is that good…

CLICK TO CONTINUE READING….

Follow Lorraine Devon Wilke on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, and Huffington Post. Her article archive can be found at Contently, her photos at Fine Art America, and details and links to her other work @ www.lorrainedevonwilke.com.

Her novels, AFTER THE SUCKER PUNCH and HYSTERICAL LOVE, are available in ebook and paperback at Amazon and Smashwords. Her short story, “She Tumbled Down,” (ebook) is available at Amazon. To view the After The Sucker Punch trailer, click HERE.