https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog daily 0.75 2023-09-07 https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/site-is-live monthly 0.5 2022-04-20 https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/paradise monthly 0.5 2022-05-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1651344628487-LCFALKN6W8DTJUBUTPQB/Paradise-Rock-Club.jpg Blog - The Paradise - Here it is, the second in a series of settings from Silverman. The Paradise was one of my favorite places to see a band, back in the day. It’s one of Ben’s favorite places to perform in Silverman. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/boston monthly 0.5 2022-05-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/e25cfda8-ea0e-404e-b13f-c7ff9f7e1d86/Newbury-Street-view.jpg Blog - Boston - The one thing tying all my writing together is the city of Boston, Massachusetts. I came here for college and basically never left, because I fell in love with the brownstones of the Back Bay, the gas lights in Beacon Hill, the cafes, and independent bookstores like The Raven, the Booksmith, and WordsWorth, may she rest in peace. I liked the grit of Park Station, the way the sun winked out of sight when you were in the canyons of the Financial District, the all-night bakery where I could get wedding cookies at 2am, and a certain hole-in-the-wall eatery in Chinatown. Everything was happening here. Setting is a character in its own right, and I’ve gotten to know this character pretty well. So, it shouldn’t surprise me to find that almost everything I’ve published is set in this town. Anyway, I love it when authors post pictures of the settings used in their books. This is what Ben sees when he looks out his office window in Silverman. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/on-coolness monthly 0.5 2022-05-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1651773417004-QAN01HAHZ2F1KYHBYA7X/unsplash-image-LkZRTThjBHA.jpg Blog - On Coolness - One day I received a rejection from an agent who said that she was “not quite cool enough to work on a book about indie rock.” Of course, I wanted to scream. As a writer, I’m used to rejection. That comes with the territory. What bothered me is that she hadn’t seemed to notice that the main character of my book is a nerd. In fact, I am willing to bet that 85% of all successful musicians started out as weirdos who were bullied or ostracized for their weirdness. It takes a certain kind of personality to practice an instrument for hours, to dream of fame, to be able and willing to entertain hundreds or even thousands at a time. I have none of those skills. As a kid, I was shy and awkward. To this day, I’m not entirely sure of what to do with my hands. After college, I went to see a lot of bands, and I had friends in bands, but I would never have chosen a profession or even a hobby that would put me on stage for any length of time. I am an observer. Dancing in public is fraught for me. And that’s okay. Because somewhere along the way, I realized a performer is nothing without an audience. People like me give actors and musicians a raison d’être. So there’s no reason why this book should make anyone feel uncool. If anything, Silverman is a celebration of the power of weirdness to propel a person beyond their origins, into a certain kind of coolness that is less about being calm and collected than being yourself. So rock on, nerds! https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/jamaica-pond monthly 0.5 2022-05-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/f100e3f0-39b0-4e1b-ab05-959e0f07bfe7/Jamaica_Pond.jpg Blog - Jamaica Pond - The third in a series of settings from the novel Silverman: Jamaica Pond. Located south of Boston proper, in the most diverse neighborhood on the East Coast, lies this little gem. Frederick Law Olmsted thought it would be picturesque to allow visitors to rent a boat and flit about. You can just imagine 19th century ladies circling the pond on the paved 1.5 mile path, past the pavilion, the flowering trees, and a string of wrought-iron lamp posts like the one Lucy finds in Narnia. It’s a good place for Ben Silverman to stomp off some anger. If that were enough to make him feel better, he might notice it’s excellent for people-watching. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/booklife-review monthly 0.5 2022-05-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1652279978924-WB4RRGXGLJCDRAFYJF6Z/Booklife-lightning-bolt-review-2.jpg Blog - Fabulous Review of Silverman from Booklife! - Just finished dancing around the room to celebrate the fabulous new review of Silverman at Booklife. Yes, I’m gonna quote it here in its entirety: “This exuberant novel by Wergland plumbs life’s tricky questions with lots of heart. When his past and present collide, Ben Silverman must grapple with the future of his music and his marriage. Ben has reunited with his band Da Funk for a comeback show at Manhattan’s Roseland Ballroom. When he’s offered a record deal to bring Da Funk back into the spotlight, he turns it down, determined to move on with a more financially secure life. His second marriage is crumbling and threatens to topple once an old flame reignites a passion Ben hasn’t felt in years. Meanwhile, a hectic accounting job keeps him from fully devoting himself to his band. “Wergland’s sharp characterizations will capture the attention of readers of character-driven fiction. Ben’s indecisiveness on how to handle relationships with his wife Ingrid and his lover Alison highlights his own sense of unfulfillment, and Wergland’s deft portrait of Ingrid, the beleaguered mother and neglected wife, stirs sympathy. Silverman wraps its very human drama in a story that’s also convincing when it comes to the art and business of music, with Ben’s connection to his musical legacy given equal weight with his personal struggles. Wergland reveals a good ear for indie and rap: Da Funk’s gritty, sometimes tentative lyrics reflect a band re-establishing themselves as adult artists. Ben’s connection to his musical legacy is given equal weight as his personal struggles as he tries to reconcile his new life with his past. “Wergland tempers the heavy human drama with welcome comic touches. Baby Zack, the cause of Ingrid and Ben’s sexual frustrations, is known as the “Immobilizer,” and Ben wonders distractedly, if he turns out not to be present his child’s development, who will teach Zack about “Mozart, the Marx Brothers, the expansion of the cosmos.” With refreshing wit and intimacy, Wergland creates a nuanced portrait of a family on the brink of collapse. “Takeaway: An intimate portrait of a musician torn between past and present makes for a funny, heartfelt novel.” Yesss!!! https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/playlist monthly 0.5 2022-06-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1652477056461-ZZ4NJO6YTRMDBEMRSQY5/unsplash-image-T6_bN2zFhhQ.jpg Blog - Playlist for Silverman - When you write a book about a musician, there’s going to be a lot of music in it. And music writing can be tricky. How do you describe a song? How do you make the reader hear it and feel it and understand what it means to the story? The tunes created by Da Funk were written for this book. They have lyrics and melodies but have never been recorded. Others are popular songs that I could not quote without paying royalties. In some cases, I relied on the song name alone to get the idea across. In others, I described the sound (an inexact science at best). It seems to me that there should be a soundtrack to Silverman. Click on any of the following songs to hear them on Youtube. Chapter 3: Donna Lee, by Charlie Parker Chapter 4: Requiem, by Fauré Chapter 5: Lush Life, written by Billy Strayhorn, best performed by Joe Williams; also Funkin’ For Jamaica, by Tom Browne Chapter 10: Kiss, by Prince Chapter 11: Primetime, by Janelle Monae & Miguel Chapter 13: Hit the Road, Jack, by Percy Mayfield Chapter 19: Unnamed song by Pharrell Williams, which anyone could guess is Happy Chapter 20: Another unnamed song, this time by Adele:,Someone Like You Is it possible that a song list could be a spoiler? I’m leaving the last song out, just in case. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/museum monthly 0.5 2022-05-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/892dae04-31af-49cb-bf81-1db9920190be/medieval-church-mummy-tomb.jpg Blog - The Museum of Fine Arts - The fourth in a series of settings from the novel Silverman: Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. In Chapter 19, as his second marriage is falling apart, Ben visits the museum, “seeking silence. Beauty. Art.” “In Gallery 243A, he came to ‘The Martyrdom of Saint Hippolytus,’ a fifteenth-century triptych of the naked saint suspended by ropes lashing his ankles and wrists to the saddles of four horsemen. Two of the horses charged into the external panels of the triptych, as if the frame of the central painting could not contain the cruelty of their masters.” Sadly, this painting is no longer on view at the MFA, so I couldn’t include a picture here, but you can view it via the link above. Now, back to the story: “Gazing at the pale, naked body, Ben wondered if it had been worth it for the priest, who gazed steadily at the sky, with only a furrowed brow, a slight frown, to acknowledge his situation. Couldn’t he have gone underground, or denied his religion, and died of old age? “Maybe Ben had wanted his relationship with Alison to be found out. Maybe that was why he had invited her to the museum in the first place. It was mid-September, a few weeks after their second meeting. She had appeared in a sleeveless dress that revealed her smooth, white legs, her body giving off that tantalizing scent of sea grass and citrus and the fresh, cold air of an oncoming storm. On that quiet Wednesday morning, he two-stepped her into the wood-paneled Renaissance room to press his face to her copper hair, still hot from the sun. They kissed in the medieval church, the Chinese carpentry exhibit, and the auditorium, and barely managed to maintain any sense of propriety in the mummy’s tomb. The hotel was a spontaneous choice, something they both had to have, after a few minutes in her prehistoric Saab revealed the drawbacks to bucket seats and a stick shift. “And here he was again, standing in front of the painting of the naked saint. If Ben possessed the faith of a martyr, maybe he could stand to be drawn and quartered. But he was only human, and he saw no evidence of an afterlife. The rewards and punishments of life would be visited upon him here on Earth.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/703adb51-6b63-4de4-a3e0-41834e8bb248/Boston_Museum_of_Fine_Arts.jpg Blog - The Museum of Fine Arts https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/museum-6cjkp monthly 0.5 2022-06-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1655305536292-OLW2YQI8XCG7X9VO6D9T/Silverman-at-Amazon.jpg Blog - Kirkus Review - Well, my Kirkus review rolled in, and I’m pleased to say it’s mostly positive. Kirkus is known for being hard on books—they dismissed Dave Eggers’ “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” in just two words: “It isn’t.” That was a bad call, but I do respect a stern review. We’ve all read feedback from people who could not be satisfied, as well as from those who put up with too much, and found our own opinion lies somewhere in the middle. If you can get a remotely positive review from Kirkus, you’re doing all right. Anyway, here it is: “As the novel opens, Ben Silverman, the successful head of a Boston tax preparation company, is about to join his former band mates in the popular rap-rock group Da Funk for a reunion performance at Roseland in New York City. The band members have all moved on with their lives since Silverman left them eight years ago, just as he has: He's living with his second wife, landscape architect Ingrid; Ava, his 10-year-old daughter from his first marriage; and his and Ingrid's infant son, Zack. He can't really imagine returning to a life of shows and touring, but his manager, Kelly, and his band mates want him to accept a lucrative new offer, and the allure of the past is intensified when Alison Clarke, an old romantic fling, attends his reunion show and wants very much to resume contact with him. These formidable specters from Silverman's past quickly wreak havoc, creating chaos at home and pushing him to the brink of an early midlife crisis. Wergland wisely crafts Silverman as immediately sympathetic; very early on, readers will find themselves invested in whether Silverman ruins his life by making the wrong choice at a pivotal moment. Emotionally perceptive and wry by turns....A novel about getting the old band back together that has heart and humor.” —Kirkus Reviews https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/middle-east-nightclub monthly 0.5 2022-06-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/8606b589-43b2-41c1-9a0b-13cc5f8ff25c/Middle-East-Nighclub-lg.jpg Blog - The Middle East Here is the fifth in a series of settings from the novel Silverman: The Middle East, a nightclub in Cambridge, MA. The first time I went to the Middle East was with my friend Carl. He always knew the best places to go. He curated his experience to the bejesus. Which is good, because he didn't live long. But that is another story. In this one, he's hip, he's alive, he's wearing his red fez. We are at upstairs at the Middle East, twenty-one years old, and everything is cool. Other friends came along. New friends, who played in bands all over town. The Paradise was my favorite place to see them play, but the Middle East had its own particular vibe, with the purple storefront, the yellow awning, the creaking wooden floors, and the long stairs down to the larger stage below. I can't tell you how many sweaty nights I stood there, smoking like a chimney, drinking from a flask, dancing once I had lost my inhibitions. Inevitably, I'd have to pee, and end up hovering over a filthy toilet, holding my breath against the smell of piss, staring at the band stickers covering every available inch of wall. For Ben, the Middle East was “their first real venue, the one that told them they had something.” It was the beginning of something for me, too—a certain kind of life, unlike the one I'd had before. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/writing-space monthly 0.5 2022-06-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1654702315660-PDQQGAT3SDJRA0SXZVIU/where-i-wrote-this-novel.jpg Blog - An Armchair and a Laptop - Marketing people are always telling you to post a picture of your writing space, and inevitably what appears is a lovely, orderly office, brimming with creativity. What I have is a chair. An armchair made shabby by the predations of my cat. There is no idea board. There is no desk. It’s just me, with a laptop on my knees. If I’m lucky, there is a cup of chai on a pile of books. This chair is located in a garret, under the peaked eaves of a dormer window, so it has that. The glass doors of a fireplace interrupt the exposed bricks of a chimney, now out of use. But there is literally a bra hanging from the handles of those doors. A basket of laundry sits by the bed. Domestic distractions abound. I’m not complaining. I love this place. But somehow, there is no room for an office. Yet I report to the chair every day, because I work better at home than in a cafe. Here, I can pace back and forth, talking to myself. I can pet the cat. Or go upside down entirely, to get a better perspective. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/silverman-paperback-live monthly 0.5 2022-06-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1655302475348-BVWEP7GQ0W2ER2GBH9LX/Silverman-paperback2.jpg Blog - Silverman Now Available in Paperback! - If you haven’t heard, Silverman is now available in paperback. Someday, it might be available on my website, but for now, you can buy it at Amazon. It’s perfect for the beach…the book club…or whenever you find yourself hiding in the bathroom from whoever is driving you nuts at the moment. “You will laugh and cry!” as one reader said. Or, as others have told me, you might neglect all your adult responsibilities until you finish this book. Yes, I want to ignore all of my adult responsibilities. I’m gonna BUY IT NOW! Happy reading, K https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/funk-music monthly 0.5 2022-06-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1655927427433-4J2KUY9YG0LL8RD1GTFF/unsplash-image-u9NdSgsrsOc.jpg Blog - That’s Funk, not Punk - At the center of the Silverman universe is a fictional band, whose music is described as funk / hiphop / rap / R&B. If you want to get more of a sense of the kinds of sounds you’d hear at a Da Funk show, check out this little playlist. I defy you to stand still throughout any one of these songs. Mark Ronson, featuring Bruno Mars: Uptown Funk Janelle Monae: Tightrope Outkast: Hey Ya! Black Eyed Peas: My Humps Dee-lite: Groove is in the Heart https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/funk-by-rickey-vincent monthly 0.5 2022-07-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1656516617404-9KPHFC05AB1WVROEVJXI/unsplash-image--EoUIP5q2q8.jpg Blog - All Together On the One - What animates Silverman is funk music, which presented a special challenge for me, because I am not a musician of any kind. Not only did I have to describe the sound, but also create some semblance of musical knowledge in my narrator. I found it daunting, at first. How could I achieve that level of verisimilitude in the mind of my narrator? By listening to music, talking to musicians, reading and studying and listening some more. Fortunately, I enjoyed my research. But this is why they tell you to write what you love. Which is obviously what Rickey Vincent was doing when he wrote Funk: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One, a comprehensive deep-dive on the subject. Vincent is a music writer/historian/educator and radio show host whose love of funk shines through every word. According to Vincent, “funk is impossible to completely describe in words,” yet he has done it, defining the core aspect of funk as well as its origin, history, and social context in a voice that stays true to its subject. As Vincent will tell you, funk is based on African rhythms so compelling that they have taken over American music. All the instruments come together to “emphasize the downbeat—the ‘one’ in a four-beat bar”—before they diverge, coming together again “on the one,” as George Clinton so famously put it. Even if you have a hard time parsing a song, you know funk when you hear it. Or, more accurately, your booty knows it: “Funk is that low down dirty dog feeling that pops up when a baad funk jam gets to the heated part, and you forget about that contrived dance you were trying, and you get off your ass and jam,” says Vincent. Included in the book is a genealogy of funk, from its forebears to its most recent incarnations at the time of publication. This list of “funk dynasties” starts with James Brown and ends with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The book concludes with a massive playlist of “Essential Funk Recordings,” which could keep you busy for a thousand years. Here are just a few, listed chronologically: Sly and the Family Stone - Stand! Charles Wright and the Watts - Express Yourself Funkadelic - Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow Sly and the Family Stone - There’s a Riot Goin’ On Stevie Wonder - Innervisions Herbie Hancock - Headhunters Kool & the Gang - Wild & Peaceful Fred Wesley & the JBs - Damn Right I Am Somebody Isley Brothers - Live It Up Miles Davis - Aghartha and Pangea Earth, Wind & Fire - Gratitude Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove James Brown - Can Your Heart Stand It James Brown - Doin’ It to Death Trouble Funk - Saturday Night Live Praxis - Transmutation Kam - Neva Again If that’s not enough for you, get Vincent’s book! https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/the-most-fun-we-ever-had monthly 0.5 2022-07-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/fd3bd292-04f2-4583-8384-699c366f6e36/The-Most-Fun.jpg Blog - If You Liked Silverman… - When you send your manuscript to agents, you are encouraged to describe it in terms of books already on the market. These are your “comps.” For better or worse, I came up with the following: “Silverman shares the sexual questing of Fleishman in Trouble, as well as the missing wife; the intense early connection once enjoyed by Jacob and Julia of Here I Am; and a freewheeling artistic husband paired with a wife who tries to hold it all together, despite her dark past, as seen in Fates and Furies.” I doubt I was supposed to put it this way; a simple list probably would have been preferable. But who can label their work that way? To be clear, the experience of comparing myself to such accomplished, established writers made me writhe. Later, I had more objective input from someone more experienced in such characterizations, who suggested Taylor Jenkins Reid and Claire Lombardo as comp authors. Having not yet read Lombardo, I ended up thinking of Silverman as Daisy Jones & The Six meets Fleishman is in Trouble. Which it is. But I am now in the middle of reading Lombardo’s The Most Fun We Ever Had and feeling a kinship with the author, whose quirky and hyper-articulate sense of humor made me laugh out loud. She’s written a family saga about the troubled lives of four daughters, each aspiring to the happiness of their parents’ marriage, which looms over them like a blessing—or a curse. Lombardo believes in love, favors character development over plot, and writes fearlessly about sex (a topic so necessary I will blog about it just as soon as I get over my fear of doing that). To say that Lombardo operates from a position of acute psychological awareness is an understatement. She specializes in mixed feelings, and doesn’t shy away from devastating losses, treating them with the empathy and sensitivity that defines her work. The novel takes a close third-person point of view, alternating from one member of the Sorenson family to the next, and including flashbacks to key moments in their history, so that you find yourself sinking deeply into the life of this family, almost as if it’s your own. By the end, you’re rooting for the most troubled of the sisters, hoping for the best for their offspring, and marveling at the continued interest of the older generation in sex. More on that later! For now, check it out: The Most Fun We Ever Had. And nope—nobody’s paying me to say this. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/how-to-help-author-friends monthly 0.5 2022-07-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1657584480401-REX6O6V9C5OG6LA0HAVU/unsplash-image-qDY9ahp0Mto.jpg Blog - Help! My Friend Published a Book - I didn’t know how best to support my author friends until I had published Silverman. Believe it or not, some of the best ways don’t cost a thing. 1. Preorder the book, if possible. 2. Buy it for a friend, if it’s not your cup of tea. Books always make good gifts. 3. Most people buy books on Amazon, so if you shop there you can help train the all-powerful algorithm to recommend the book to others. 4. Leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads—even a short phrase and a handful of stars is enough. 5. Recommend the book to friends, online or off. 6. Join the author’s mailing list. 7. Ask your favorite bookstore to stock it. 8. Ask your local library to buy a copy—or donate yours. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/unlikeable-characters monthly 0.5 2022-07-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/fa5e415d-c3c0-46b3-958c-84faefe40c32/Sabbaths-Theater-Philip-Roth-cover.jpg Blog - On Unlikeable Characters - My favorite book of all time is Sabbath’s Theater, by Philip Roth. Probably, you won’t like it. Readers seem to fall into two camps: those who appreciate unlikeable characters, and those who do not. And Sabbath’s Theater has a deeply unlikeable narrator. Personally, I don’t need to like a character. I need to be riveted by their personality, their choices, their voice. But most readers seem to prefer likeable characters. I suspect it makes them feel yucky to be exposed over any length of time to immorality, violence, corruption. I have my own quirks, as a reader, for sure. But I’m deeply curious about people. I want to know why they do what they do, especially when it’s “bad.” With that said, I might not have been able to feel for the narrator quite so much if the behavior he exhibits late in the book had been placed front and center. Roth wisely chose to open the book with Mickey Sabbath mourning the loss of a long-time lover. By page two, Roth has established Sabbath as a libidinous, unfaithful, stubborn, self-serving man. Yet we feel for Sabbath as he mourns all the ways he failed his lover, even when he handles himself badly (sometimes very badly) in the wake of that loss. His most off-putting behavior does not occur until two-thirds of the way through the book. Even then, it’s hilarious and awful, a trainwreck that just keeps unfolding. It’s the opposite of the morality tales our culture was built on. And does our hero ever learn? You’ll have to read the book to find out. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/summer-book-party monthly 0.5 2022-08-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/e85c935d-3f6f-4627-a652-5569fae73b9b/outdoors-book-party.jpg Blog - Book Party https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/e965a428-028b-4083-81aa-6399fdd50859/book-party-centerpiece.jpg Blog - Book Party - Well, my book had to come out in the summer, because a) it was ready, and b) it’s just the right kind of book to read on the beach. Not a “beach book” per se, which I have since learned is ideally set on or near the shore, and has a picture of the beach on its cover (oh, the things you learn in marketing!) but a sexy, fun summer read. Which meant that many of the people I wanted to invite to my book party would be on vacation. Or down with Covid from their travels. Or intimidated by the heat wave which was visited upon us just in time for the party. Timing is everything. But hadn’t I already missed out on having a 50th birthday party because of that stupid virus? And wasn’t it just about time for a post-pandemic party (an ever-retreating goal, given the latest surge)? Yes, yes, and yes! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/39e0aced-5324-4ebc-bd05-236bed3fe53a/book-party.jpg Blog - Book Party So, out came the wine, the cheese, the fruit. The books arrived in time. (Whew!) So did the bookmarks. The masks. The hand sanitizer. In the end, the party was big enough that I was waylaid a thousand times and didn’t get enough time to spend with each guest, yet did get to check in with most of them. Best of all, it gave me the boost I needed to return to work refreshed. Thank god for parties. As stressful as they can be to plan and even to attend, it was a return to normalcy for those of us who have been cooped up thanks to Covid for the past few years. Luckily, we had access to outdoor space, plenty of masks, and hand sanitizer. Thank you, friends. Thank you, science. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/book-cover-reveal monthly 0.5 2022-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1659539815266-RREE66ZTNDGMDAP0QRZY/FB-Poll-Bk-Cover+copy+final+small.jpg Blog - BOOK COVER POLL https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/book-cover-poll-results monthly 0.5 2022-08-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1659539815266-RREE66ZTNDGMDAP0QRZY/FB-Poll-Bk-Cover+copy+final+small.jpg Blog - Book Cover Poll Results https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/unforgettable-character-details monthly 0.5 2022-08-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/230c5861-4566-4a74-a5ac-34a3cf01079a/unsplash-image-0jGbplYqx5w.jpg Blog - Unforgettable Details: A Quiz! - Some details stick with us longer than others. Here are some of my favorites. Which character in The Most Fun We Ever Had has "hair the color of a Band-Aid"? In Humboldt's Gift, Cannibal Pinsker wears "a large yellow cravat that lay on his shirt like a _________." In the penultimate tale of Pastoralia, the narrator is called to the RMV for a safe driving class, where he encounters a girl in a t-shirt. What does her shirt say? How does Mrs. Gobble Gracker of Dory Fantasmagory wear her hair? Which character created by Jamaica Kincaid has "heels like slices of melon"? Scroll down for answers! ANSWERS Liza cheese omelette Buggin' in a "creepy bun" Seriously - I'm asking because I don't know. The detail is indelible, but the name is not! https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/writing-manuals monthly 0.5 2022-09-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1661280151700-X3DWBXNAO3OIFD2TMCJM/unsplash-image-XrSzacdYbtQ.jpg Blog - Favorite Writing Manuals - Undergraduate fiction writing classes are full of questions like, Is it possible to learn to write? Or is it a gift - you have it or you don’t? All I can say is that if you love to write, and seemingly can’t stop doing it, you are a writer. And if you want to be a good writer, you should probably get professional help. Seriously, you should probably find someone to teach you more about the art of writing, whether you find that person by way of a writing manual, or at an MFA program. And since scientists have determined that it takes 10 years to build competence in anything, you might as well start now. Here are a few places to begin: The Art of Fiction by John Gardner If I were stuck on a desert island with only one fiction writing manual, it would be this one. What If? by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter This one has a lot of fun exercises for the beginning writer. Also helpful for anyone who feels stuck. Alone With All That Could Happen by David Jauss Each essay discusses issues of relevance for the intermediate writer with clarity and wisdom. A must-read. Mr. Potato Head vs. Freud by Clint McCown Okay, admittedly, I haven’t read this one yet, but this author is hilarious and it’s on my shelf, so check it out! https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/arrivals-departures monthly 0.5 2022-09-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1662651783740-8JCZAYHSQY3GJW4ZA4KM/unsplash-image-Z_Jdq_xKwb8.jpg Blog - Arrivals & Departures - I did not think the word “relaxing” could be synonymous with “family vacation,” but this year proved it possible. Normally, there is squabbling, something goes wrong, and someone gets hangry. This year, we had a tiny bit of squabbling, and one big hanger event. Otherwise, it was chill. We swam in the ocean, walked barefoot in the grass, ate tons of ice cream, and bought souvenirs. Some of us rode horses. Some of us rode bikes. Some of us were relieved to find we could reliably charge our car at the library. And one of us made enough money with her lemonade stand to buy a $50 pair of earrings! Most memorable was the night we drove to a private beach. There, we wended our way through dune grass toward the sound of the surf, spread out a sheet and lay down. In the city, you see only the brightest stars. Here, against the dark quilt of night, we were able to see much more. Satellites spun through space. Airplanes cruised by. We found the Big Dipper, Orion’s Belt, and the Twins. And a meteor ripped into the atmosphere, leaving a trail of stardust. It was hard to leave the beach that night. And it’s been hard to come home. Normally, I’m happy to get back into my routine. But this time, I relaxed so much that it’s hard to return to everyday life. I keep thinking of the cemetery in this beach community where I like to go for walks. Normally, I don't like walking in graveyards. These inspire thoughts I’d rather not entertain—of dank crypts and rot, and my own mortality. But there, wandering on sandy paths among the tombstones, under the wide blue sky, the reminders of mortality are subsumed by the blazing sun and the gritty, sparkling reminder of the endless tides. I am reminded that my time on earth is limited, but I am part of something greater. More infinite. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/vcfa-alumnx-reading-2022 monthly 0.5 2022-09-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1663003548794-A8B8S2XNYU9FUHR6F1QF/unsplash-image-smgTvepind4.jpg Blog - VCFA Alumnx Reading - Hey! I’m going to be a featured reader at the next VCFA Alumnx Reading. Date: Thurs. Sept. 15, 2022 Time: 8-9:30pm Location: Zoom Host: Tom McEachin (’04 W) Jude Ford (’16 W), Fever of Unknown Origin Karyn Wergland (’08 W), Silverman additional readers TBA Jillian Barnet (’03 W), Falling Bodies Gail Hanlon (’14 W), Mirabilia Learn more about this event and RSVP for Zoom login information. https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/memento-mori monthly 0.5 2023-08-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1664297826869-XKQFNMQQTOGQX57Y4OYS/unsplash-image-4AuX5SnsDyk.jpg Blog - On the Demolition of The Middle East Nightclub - Earlier this month, I learned that a wrecking ball is aimed at my beloved Middle East. Of course, it’s all part of a sensible financial plan for that property. A six-story building will rise up from the rubble, and the income generated on the additional space will help pay the mortgage on the building, which will still contain a nightclub. So I have no business complaining. Still, it made me sad to think of the creaky wooden floors and the arched doorways replaced by modern decor and polished fixtures—a lifeless veneer over the real place we knew and loved. It’s a cliché to mourn these things, but I find it can’t be helped. For along with the news comes a whisper that we will be next. Eventually, we will all be outmoded, unable to compete, knocked down, and replaced. In the meantime, we must say goodbye to the things we loved, that defined our youth. And our willful blindness to the passage of time is revealed for the comforting lie it is. It doesn’t do to dwell on these thoughts. It’s a gorgeous day, and you’ve had a peek into my creepy closet. So get out there, you, and “gather ye rosebuds while ye may.” https://www.kwergland.com/author-blog/hummingbird-books-local-author-fair monthly 0.5 2023-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1693411132719-BLE59RWX63B85YOQCK02/Local-Author-Fair-Hummingbird-Books.jpg Blog - Local Author Fair at Hummingbird Books - Come see me at the local author fair! Hummingbird Books is lovely. The door itself is a thing of beauty. And the store has an actual tree inside it. How can you miss it? Less-devoted bibliophiles may play cornhole in front of the hamburger shack, or see a movie while you peruse the books. Plus, there will be chocolate. LOCAL AUTHOR FAIR 9/14/23 6-8pm Hummingbird Books The Street at Chestnut Hill (next to Legal Sea Foods) 55 Boylston Street Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 https://www.kwergland.com/home daily 1.0 2022-07-08 https://www.kwergland.com/books daily 0.75 2024-07-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1af48531-4167-4e4a-9710-4a23d32cae2a/Silverman_audiobook_sm_2.jpg Silverman: a Literary Romance Novel - Make it stand out Audiobook TBA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/3e40b728-5bb8-4393-b836-a0f9d7bade77/Silverman_paperback_sm.jpg Silverman: a Literary Romance Novel - Make it stand out Paperback Available on Amazon https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/5f4abdd0-4a20-4da1-9306-393b5ec9789e/Silverman_Kindle_ebook_sm.jpg Silverman: a Literary Romance Novel - Make it stand out Ebook Available on Amazon https://www.kwergland.com/contact daily 0.75 2022-02-11 https://www.kwergland.com/short-stories daily 0.75 2022-08-01 https://www.kwergland.com/author-bio daily 0.75 2022-05-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/d0e4f8a2-12a0-40e0-b737-28bff1979126/K.Wergland.jpg Author Bio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kwergland.com/newsletter daily 0.75 2022-07-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/ae24786f-f4cf-4c17-95e0-8eff2db95785/unsplash-image-IAKIkREkRzY.jpg Sign Up for Newsletter from Author K. Wergland - Sign up for our mailing list and be the first to know about new books, appearances, and free giveaways. https://www.kwergland.com/silverman-media-kit daily 0.75 2022-08-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/b5895a32-593b-41d4-a710-9b80cd27c7da/Press-Release-for-Silverman-by-K.Wergland.jpg Media Kit for Silverman - Make it stand out Download press release in PDF form. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/d0e4f8a2-12a0-40e0-b737-28bff1979126/K.Wergland.jpg Media Kit for Silverman - Make it stand out Download author photo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/1653586122076-GKZ2T8RN14NMEEGZNFMX/Silverman-at-Amazon.jpg Media Kit for Silverman - Make it stand out Download high-res book cover. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/609d45e00073081171ab2a35/7b1f585b-1c56-439b-a62a-bd660892bebe/Sell-Sheet-for-Silverman-by-K.Wergland.jpg Media Kit for Silverman - Make it stand out Download sell sheet in PDF form.