I got an MFA in fiction writing from Vermont College in 1982, while working as a journalist in Vermont. I founded Vermont Woman Newspaper before I took a position as a professor of liberal studies, specializing in writing, 20th century literature, gender studies and politics. When I retired from that, I became editor of Vermont Woman again, by then a quarterly newspaper.
I wrote a novel, Second Sight, published first by the great feminist press Calyx Books and then by HarperCollins in 1999. I got a review in the New York Times, thrilling for a first-time novelist, but also deadly in its antifeminist diss. It canceled out all the other positive reviews and sales never took off. Calyx has kept the book in print.
I've written two novels since, neither published. One of them I'd like to revisit.
Although I have written and published short stories in several literary journals, what I consider my best stories, feminist and political, I can't seem to place; my theory is there are too few women's presses. If I wrote about female protagonists who suffer, maybe....but then maybe I just haven't kept up with the audience.
Part of why I've joined this site is to learn more of other women writers' experiences. Am I crazy for all but giving up on non-genre fiction?
