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You are at the virtual home of pre-published author Karen DiEugenio,
and I'm so happy that you've stopped by to learn more about me and my writing.
A bit about me...
I can't ever remember not wanting to be a writer, not knowing that it was
what I was meant to do and where I would find my happiness. From the time that I was in third grade (and my mother was
called into school for a conference with my teacher, during which she was instructed to stop writing my book reports for me)
I have loved putting words on paper that make people smile and say, "hey, that's good."
I spent most of my youth and too much of high school scrawling poems and would-be song lyrics into
spiral notebooks, and writing features or columns for my high school paper. In college, I majored in Creative Writing,
focusing on poetry and creative nonfiction.
After graduation I became absorbed by motherhood and rarely thought about writing, except when I'd
run into my favorite professor in the grocery store and he'd pursue me through the aisles asking, "So, what are you writing?"
Two years ago, I finally committed myself to the terrifying task of writing my first novel. I
joined two critique groups to keep me motivated and began what has been the adventure of a lifetime. Never did I imagine
what an illuminating, exasperating, and surprising process this would be.
I have finished the manuscript and now embark on the next exciting (and slightly nauseating) leg of
this journey...finding a publisher!
A bit about my book...
When the body of beautiful and benevolent Ilsa Rainier mysteriously
lands in a neighbor's backyard, it triggers a chain of tremors along faultlines previously undetectable in her carefully crafted
world. Set in a small, hillside community along the coast of Southern California, Circumstance follows the
lives of three characters who find themselves at the heart of a media maelstrom. In a story that echoes recent high-profile
cases like O.J., Jean-Benet Ramsey, Elizabeth Smart and Scott Peterson, the novel examines the sensational nature of our justice
system today and the effect that the media has on it. Far from the average mystery, Circumstance seeks not
to answer the traditional “who done it?”, but asks, instead, in this era of trial-by-tabloids, “Does it
really matter?”
Read an excerpt from Circumstance here...
What's next?
- While continuing work on revisions of Circumstance, I am excited
to begin writing the first book in a Young Adult Series that I'm imagining as one part CSI, one part Sixth
Sense, with a healthy dose of Scooby Doo. Custom tailored to the tastes of my super-smart, super-creative, wanna-be
rockstar 12-year-old son, these books will be hip, funny, and scary while addressing important social concerns without preaching
or treating the reader like a child.
- I am continuing to build my collection of short stories, writing, workshopping, and
occasionally submitting to contests or editors. Currently I have seven that I consider in finished form, and loosely
connected on a thematic level.
- I've also been working on proposals for a couple of nonfiction book ideas: a
cookbook collaboration with my husband (formerly a professional party host) and a gardening book
with my father (a Master Gardener in Southern California).
- In my quest to grow as a writer and improve my craft, I am teaching myself to write a screenplay
this year by adapting a short story I wrote a while ago (as a challenge to myself to try my hand at romantic
comedy). The story was so engaging it quickly outgrew the short story form, and just seemed to want to
be a screenplay.
Get in touch with me at:
writethere@lycos.com
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