Joyce B. Hicks

2022 EXCITEMENT–Unexpected Guests at Blackbird Lodge

Thank you so much for looking for me, Joyce Burd Hicks. We may have met in Cortland, New York, class of ’63, St. Lawrence University, or in Northwest Indiana or northern Michigan. I write stories about families and marriages–secrets unveiled, new stages arising, humor and adjustment to new futures and history.

The biggest news for me this year is publication of Unexpected Guests at Blackbird Lodge, a novel set in New York’s Adirondack mountains. I’m classifying it as a literary fiction/cozy mystery/romance that takes place over a week at a writers’ workshop at a lodge.

There are many excellent blogs devoted to books and writing; perhaps some of my posts will add to our conversations and advice. My posts appear in the categories listed on the right.

BABIES AND BOOKS

One could go on for pages about the similarities of birthing a book and baby: moments of delight at conception, nausea during the early stages while an idea takes hold, exciting expansion of the middle, and hours of hearing about other births or miscarriages–award winning novels and novels abandoned. Others anticipate the birth of your book, while you experience anxiety–Will it meet their expectations for your success or failure? And of course where would you be without assistance of experts and midwives–conferences, writing groups, agents, editors, cover designers, and publishers. Finally, of course, you hope for readers who will “ooh” and “aah” at your book party and recommend your book, and like admiring relatives, find something of themselves in your masterpiece!

Escape from Assisted Living became available just about on April Fools Day 2014 to the delight and relief of its author. One More Foxtrot, the sequel, launched in 2017.