Lawrence Coates's Blog: Boom

A group reading of my novel “The Master of Monterey” will begin on November 19, 2021. You can read along, one chapter a day for sixteen days, and follow the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #masterofmonterey

My pedagogy article, “Writing the Journey,” has just been published in the AWP Chronicle Online.

I’ll be discussing Creative Writing and the importance of place in a presentation entitled “Temporary Landscapes” on September 7, seven p.m., at the Wolfe Center for the Performing Arts at Bowling Green State University.

I’m giving a paper at ASLE’s Biennial Conference this June at Wayne State University in Detroit.  And my books will be featured at the Author’s Reception on Wednesday evening, June 21, at 8 pm.

I’m going to give a presentation at the California History Center on March 9 at 4 pm, discussing suburban space, American culture, and my novel The Goodbye House.  

I just posted a Book Group Guide for The Garden of the World.  

A nice review of The Goodbye House from Mid-American Review, 36.2.

“Each character of The Goodbye House is rendered with equal care, with intricate attention to the motivations, foibles, and ensuing actions. While the final events of the story are not expected, they do make sense, given the carefully blended behavior. Our affection for the family has grown, and we are cheering at last for their optimism as much as we’d ever cheer for our own.”

I’ll be on a panel entitled “The Art of Research” at the Ohio Library Council’s annual convention at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio on Wednesday, September 28.  My panel is at 4:15 pm.

I’ll be doing a presentation on novel writing as part of BGSU’s Alumni Summer College.  I’ll discuss taking the novel from initial conception through to completed work. The presentation will feature an outline of the seven basic plots, some exercises useful for developing ideas, and some of the questions that arise when writing.  The presentation will be on June 30, at 8:30 a.m.

Better World Books created a state-by-state summer reading challenge, and they chose The Master of Monterey as one of their three books for California.