Events:

Magpies among the New Fiction at the
Santa Monica Library. Photo by Mel Ryane.
Santa Monica Library. Photo by Mel Ryane.
Why Magpies? You can read how Lynne got to this title over on the blog.
Dena Santoro has written an appreciation of the (bad) girls in Lynne' short stories, at Like Fire.
Laura Richardson's interview with Lynne about Magpies, plot, editing, and more is here at Sliver of Stone.
Chauncey Mabe asks: "Why does Lynne Barrett hate me?" in his review of Magpies. "If I were world dictator, Lynne Barrett would be locked in a room and forced to write one of her patented stories before being let out for brief periods of air and exercise . . . Barrett writes with such inventive insight, such respect for her characters, even the most flawed, that it comes across as clear, compassionate, and, for me at least, exhilarating.”"
Casey Pycior interviewed Lynne for his blog, The Story is the Cure. Among other things, we discuss how my story "Links" got inadvertently linked, and then delinked, online, unanticipated consequences of writing about the dot com world.
The book launch at Books & Books in Coral Gables, FL is described in this great blog by Geoffrey Philp.
This video gives you a small sampling of what the Sanibel Island Writers Conference was like: workshops, readings, music. Lynne reads one line from her story "Links."
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Events
2021 & 2020 events
The Sanibel Island Writers Conference was scheduled to take place Oct. 24 & 25, 2020, in a virtual format, and I was among the presenters on hand. National Independent Bookstores Day, originally April 27, 2020, was rescheduled for August 29, 2020.
Making Good Time,which was scheduled to be part of the festivities at Books and Books in Coral Gables, instead became a Books and Books Crowdcast event, with contributors Chantel Acevedo, Fabienne Josaphat, Sammy Mack, Thomas Swick, and Ana Veciana-Suarez reading from and discussing their stories about how we do, and don't, get around in South Florida, in the past, now, and in the future, along with the anthology's editor Lynne Barrett as emcee. You can now view the event on the Books and Books website.
2020 Events
ONLINE PRESENTATION: On June 29th I taught an online workshop on "What Editors Want" as part of the International Women's Writing Guild's Summer 2020 WRITING AS BUSINESS series on Monday evenings at 7, June 15th through August 24. You can sign up for one class ($49 nonmenber, $39 for IWWG members, 20% discount for students), or more, and there are further discounts for bundles of classes, both in this series and the full set of summer presentations, the IWWG Summer Picnic for Writers. There is also an opportunity to reserve an appointment with an agent. Full information is here on the IWWG website.
Writing your own Making Good Time story:
The Miami Book Fair offered Making Good Time: Story and the Map of Opportunity, a generative workshop for writers of both fiction and nonfiction that I taught February 8, 2020 at Books & Books in Coral Gables, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. At Books and Books (itself a crossroads), we looked at how writers use place, movement, territory, obstacles, access, boundary crossing, departures, returns, and other aspects of spatial movement to construct, shape, and give meaning to stories, whether true or invented. Short examples from published work focused on South Florida, while participants can draw on locations anywhere, real, imagined, or somewhere in between, for what you’ll write. You can get going on new writing or find a new angle on work in progress. Suitable for those interested in writing memoir, personal essay, narrative nonfiction, and fiction, from flash length to longer projects. LEARN MORE ABOUT MIAMI BOOK FAIR'S OFFERINGS: Full info. and registration via Miami Book Fair. 2019 Events
![]() Along with Jan Becker and Louis K. Lowy, I was interviewed about Making Good Time by MDC-TV in a Sept. 2019 feature. The program can be viewed online.
On April 13th, 2019 I taught an intensive class in revision for fiction and narrative nonfiction at the second annual Writers Craft Conference of the Florida Keys, held in Marathon, FL. Learn more here. I presented at Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace Conference 2019, April 5-7 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. The Muse was recently listed as #1 among the Top Ten Writing Conferences in North America by The Writer magazine. I taught workshops on "Disentangling Time" and the art of using place "Crossing Paths: The Map of Opportunity in Stories" in fiction.
2018 Appearances
I presented at Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace Conference 2018, April 6-8 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. The Muse was recently listed as #1 among the Top Ten Writing Conferences in North America by The Writer magazine. I taught workshops on "Productive Revision" and the art of handling "Secrets and Lies" to create mystery and suspense in fiction.
2017 Events
I was among those presenting at Grub Street's Muse & the Marketplace in May 2017. You can see the schedule for 2018 on their website.
I taught What Editors Want workshop on submitting your work to literary and other magazines, sponsored by The Cream Literary Alliance, at the Palm Springs (FL) Library on the morning of Saturday, April 22nd.
2016 Events
At International Women's Writing Guild Summer Conference in July 2016 at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, I taught a three-day workshop in using mystery and suspense in both literary and crime fiction.
In late June I had the pleasure of visiting a creative writing class, part of the Boston College Experience summer program for high school students.
Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, The International Women's Writing Guild's Florida in February Salon was held in Tampa, with I taught a workshop on "Very Short Forms: Exploring Micro-Literature" and Judith Huge presented on "The Page Waits: From Personal to Public(ation)."
Saturday, February 20 I gave a presentation on writing flash forms at the Mandell Library of West Palm Beach, FL.
2015
On November 11, 2015, the wonderful poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil and I read as part of "Writers in Camden," the Camden-Rutgers MFA Reading Series.
![]() Sept. 25th, 8 PM, I read, along with others, at The Cream Reading Series, at Aoli Pub in West Palm Beach. And the next day, 10-1, I taught a workshop: "What Shapes a Short Story" for The Cream Literary Alliance. July 2015
![]() July 24-31, I taught Plot & Structure at the International Women's Writing Guild Summer Conference in Litchfield, CT. Spring 2015
![]() Saturday, June 27th, I taught a one-day class for Grub Street in Boston, Crossing the Line: Using Crime to Construct Strong Stories. Learn more about their classes here.
![]() On January 19th, I was among those reading from and discussing the project at Books & Books in Coral Gables, FL. You can still see and hear the event, featuring editor Jaquira Diaz and contributors John Dufresne, M.J. Fievre, M. Evelina Galang, Geoffrey Philp, and me, via the Books & Books website. January 7, 2015, I was a guest speaker at the Carlow University Low-Residency MFA Program, in Pittsburgh. 2014
![]() At Miami Book Fair International, I was part of a reading & broadsheet giveaway to celebrate Sweat II, a collaborative project pairing South Florida writers and artists. I contributed to two of the pieces, "The Princess of Sweat" with artist Sara Stites and "The Tree Man" with artist Pip Brandt. The reading took place on Saturday, Nov. 22. in "The Swamp" a Knight Foundation-sponsored site for all things Florida within the Book Fair. More about the project, and the venue, here. ![]() Nov. 16-23, I led The Florida Book Review live-blog of Miami Book Fair International. And I was part of a reading, celebration, and broadsheet giveaway Saturday Nov. 22 at 12:30 in The Swamp, Miami Book Fair's new pop-up venue at the Street fair. Read more about the event and The Sweat Broadsheet Artist & Writers Collaborative project in this piece in the Miami New Times. ![]() I taught Plot & Structure at the FGCU Sanibel Island Writers Conference Nov. 6-9, 2014. ![]() July 27th, along with poet Weslea Sidon, I taught a writing workshop on Mount Desert Island, at the Bass Harbor Memorial Library, Bernard, ME That evening Sidon & I read from our work at the library, with a reception and signing. Using the overall theme of "Islands," the workshop drew upon topics including history, memory, myth, nature, community, isolation, boundaries and journeys. More info here. Photo, Robert Morison ![]() In May 2014, I taught two workshops, "Crossing Paths: The Map of Opportunity in Story" and "The Measure of Change: The Short Story," at the Grub Street Muse & the Marketplace Conference in Boston, MA. Information here. ![]() March 28 & 29th I read fiction and took part in a panel on Place and Crime Writing (with Vicki Hendricks and Mary Anna Evans) at the Gulf Coast Association of Creative Writing Teachers Conference in Fairhope, AL.
On March 22nd, along with Margaret Cardillo and Jim Gustafson, I taught at the 2014 Florida Gulf Coast University Creative Writing Club MiniCon. My workshop was on "Using Fairy Tales and Myths to Develop and Deepen Stories." Image: John Bauer illustration for Svenhamnen (The Swan Maiden) ![]() The Art of Eating:
M.F.K. Fisher, Pioneering Food Writer and Memoirist March 18th, 2014 I spoke about M.F.K. Fisher, ground-breaking food writer and memoirist, at the Miami Culinary Institute as part of Miami Dade College's their celebration of Women's History Month. The talk was accompanied by a tasting of some of Fisher's dishes, prepared by the students of the MDC Culinary Institute. ![]() I talked about "Masquerade Plots," gave a reading, and took part in a panel on submitting your work to magazines and contests at the Hands On Literary Festival in New Orleans (which included a masquerade ball), Dec. 30, 2013-Jan. 1, 2014. Write ups on my talk and the conference here and here. Lots more on my Scrapbook page. ![]() At the 2013 AWP Conference & Bookfair in Boston, I signed copies Magpies at the Carnegie Mellon University Press table. ![]() Photo: Sen. Bob Graham signs, while poet Stephen Kampa and I take a break, after the Miami Book Fair International Florida Book Awards panel, 2012. ![]() Answering audience questions after reading at Bookstore1Sarasota, an independent bookstore that lives up to its motto, "Joie de livres." ![]() An article by Necee Regis about The Odyssey Bookshop, published in the Boston Globe travel section on Jan. 1, 2012, included this photo from my reading there. I happened to be the writer whose event kicked-off the store's $5 event fee (with credit towards purchase given). Nobody complained. To see more pictures and learn about past events, check out the Scrapbook.
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