Deirdra McAfee

"Bull's-eye: How Two Women Beat the Odds, Built a Book, and Found a Publisher"—the story of Lock & Load: Armed Fiction

"The Whole Shooting Match: Everything You Wanted to Know about Building a Literary Anthology (and Why You Should Do It Anyhow)"

Alumna BettyJoyce Nash signs Lock & Load at Mary Washington Alumni Weekend

CLICK TO WATCH How We Built Lock & Load and Why

Richmond, April 30

Lunch, followed by audience's gun histories. Intro was terrific, discussion lively, audience thoughtful.

Lock & Load contributor Gale Walden joined us in reading to a great crowd, followed by lots of give-and-take, wonderful Q&A—and cake.

• Greedy Reads, Act II: the four banditos discussed and read at Greedy Reads, Fells Point's newest bookstore. In response to a question about the editorial process, an editor ’fessed up about Mavis and Lakshmi.

• “Always Loaded, Never Safe: Guns on the Page and in the Streets”
April 14, 1:30-2:30, University of Baltimore
William H.Thumel Business Center, BC 143

Reading and discussion, including contributors Patricia Schultheis and Daniel Cox, before an engaged audience on a pressing subject.

It's not about the title, the salary, the stuff.
It's about knowing what you're hungry for: knowledge, skill, mastery.
It's about feeding and schooling that, and pouring it out in the world.

A reading from Lock & Load to kick off what wasn't the get-a-job-and-conquer-the-world pep talk but the find-your-calling-and-work-to-be-good-at-it discussion.

Editors talk about gathering, editing, and publishing anthologies.
March 28, 6 p.m., Firehouse Theatre, Richmond

Robust audience full of excellent questions.

Kicking off the Virginia Festival on DAY ONE!
March 21, 2 p.m., New Dominion Bookshop, Charlottesville:
“The Short Story: Moments of Truth.”

Standing-room-only crowd despite surprise snowfall. Warm reception and wonderful questions

• AWP Conference, Tampa, March 7-10: Lock & Load shows up, signs, meets, and greets, writers, readers, mentors, publishers, editors. Crowds gather, word spreads.

The New School, New York, February 22: Publication Party

Books in the Bay, Richmond, February 15

Audiences were engaged, amused, entertained. We heard from them, we read the hair-raising and enchanting bits. And we signed!

Meet the book, hear the stories in Charlottesville, Richmond, Greensboro, and points south and west.

Lock & Load, an extraordinary collection of literary fiction, includes work by such American masters as
Annie Proulx, John Edgar Wideman, Rick DeMarinis, Pinckney Benedict, Jim Tomlinson, and Bonnie Jo Campbell, as well as a host of fresh new voices.

Beautiful, surprising, and thought-provoking all the way through.

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Begin!
Start with fiction classes at the Visual Arts Center.

• Developmental editing—
Before it's a book, it's an idea, a set of notes, an outline, a bunch of pages.
Developmental editing takes your project from these beginnings to a completed manuscript,
paying special attention to:
-structure
-content
-plot
-beginning and ending

• Copyediting—
The editor helps the writer make sure the work is
-correct
-clear
-grammatical
-not wordy
-factually accurate
-readable
-meaningful

• Manuscript evaluation—
-Is it good?
-Is it ready?
-What now?
• General Editing—
-grammar
-spelling
-syntax
-usage
• Substantive Editing—
-organization
-coherence
• Submission guidance—
-What to send
-Where to send
• Consultation—
Proven, experienced guidance finding the right
– MFA program
– fellowship
– residency
– grant
• Informed, sophisticated help—
-Crafting better applications
-Improving chances of success