Just call me Dame Lori

That's right. Look what happens when you support artists in America: you get all sorts of appreciation. And titles. Damn straight. I mean, Dame Straight.

Composer Quest is a great little podcast worth supporting. If you like learning about music, supporting artists who are trying to keep doing what they love to do, and being an all around friend of the humanities, you can help Charlie keep interviewing composers. For the price of one cup of Starbucks each month.

Happy Valentine's Day: A Note from Pooh. He's the best.

Call for Submissions: Very Short Stories

For all you Texas writers and art lovers, here's a fun short story "contest" that I wish I had time to enter.
It's sponsored by Arts & Letters Live, which selected my short story a few years ago, and they're doing this little shindig with the Dallas Museum of Art.

I've copied here some of the details, but follow the link for the fine print.

Arts & Letters Live, the literary series at the Dallas Museum of Art, invites you to write a very short story(400 words; due Saturday, February 15) inspired by one of four objects currently in DMA art storage. Four people will be selected to read their stories aloud and compete during our Fresh Ink event on the Friday, February 21 Late Night as part of an "Object Slam." Prizes will be awarded! 

You have one week. Go!

Cover Contest

The cover of SOME ACT OF VISION is in a cover contest over here.

When I saw my book's cover, I fell in love with it. The designer, Timothy Pryor, did such a phenomenal job. If you love it, too, please hope over an vote on the design. The winner will get a bit of free advertising. (Authors love free advertising.)

And vote on the other sci-fi books, too. I like the fact that my book's cover stands out a bit, don't you?

Operas and Agents and French, oh my!

After years of taking advantage of the tuition benefits at SMU (free tuition for my son), I decided to take an intermediate French class myself. I need an intense course to help me brush up on my rusty French and prepare me for a gorgeous semester in Paris. So I'm spending about four hours a day on homework and general studying--a sign that I've become obsessed with the French language.

I've just spent four solid hours doing French grammar exercises online.












The only thing I could do to drag my eyes away from that French online program was to tell myself I needed to blog.

Because I have to announce a definite date for the live opera performance of my libretti. Yes, libretti, as in two of those little things. I found a beautiful little brochure in my mailbox at the university and opened it to find this staring back at me:

On May 2, 2014 at Southern Methodist University, the opera singers in Meadows School of the Arts will perform the opera libretto that Neil Gaiman and Jeremy Sams chose as the winning libretto for the English National Opera contest: The Lingerer. Max Perryment, the composer, has created an arrangement for a small live orchestra. AND my other miniopera, Mobile Home, will be performed, too! Charlie McCarron is the composer of that little gem. Best of all, it's free! Bring your lunches and come picnic with me in the Bob Hope Lobby of Owen Arts Center.

All this excitement should distract me from my jitters as I search for a super, dedicated agent for my new humorous novel for children. The entire novel is inspired by my son, Julien, and his year in fifth grade. He practically wrote the thing. More on that later. : )