About

I’m Marylee MacDonald, writer, caregiver advocate, former carpenter, and mother of five. I’m the author of a memoir, Surrender, the novel, Montpelier Tomorrow, Bonds of Love & Blood. Body Language, The Rug Bazaar, and The Big Book of Small Presses and Independent Publishers. When I set up this website, I intended to review books. As time went on, however, I found that I particularly enjoy interacting with folks who share my passion for writing.

I wish I had time to look at individual manuscripts. Honestly, I’d love to read your work. However, I’m aware that at my age–almost eight-one–time is of the essence. If I want to complete my own projects, I must stay focused on getting work out of my drawer into the pages of a book. That’s why I’m moving my blog over to Substack. It’s tons easier on the technical side. Maintaining a WordPress blog wore me out.

That said, I know you’ll enjoy what I’m posting on Substack. I have years of experience. I know how to write fiction because I’ve spent time learning. All of this knowledge will go to waste if I don’t pass it on. My ultimate goal is to make your journey easier, and that site allows me to be far more interactive.

I not only want to help you write the best book you can write, I want you to get it published, too. In my monthly newsletter, I share information about writing techniques, marketing info, and the barriers emerging authors face as they try to get their book out into the world. Below, you can read more about some of the awards I’ve won.

Prize-Winning Author

Montpelier Tomorrow won a Gold Medal for Drama from the Readers’ Favorites International Book Awards. The novel was also a finalist for the Bellwether Prize, the Next Generation INDIE Book Awards, and the Eric Hoffer Prize. On Goodreads, the novel was #1 on two Listopia lists: “Non-Chicklit Books for Women” and “Books You Need Tissues to Read.”

Bonds of Love & Blood was a Finalist in Foreword Reviews‘ INDIEFAB Book Awards and a Silver Medalist in the Readers’ Favorites’ awards. The Big Book of Small Presses and Independent Publishers won a Silver Medal from Readers’ Favorities, and Body Language won a bronze medal for short stories.

My short stories have been published in American Literary Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Calyx, Folio, Four Quarters, New Delta Review, North Atlantic Review, River Oak Review, Ruminate, StoryQuarterly, Superstition Review, The Briar Cliff Review, The Chattahoochee Review, the Yalobusha Review, and many other magazines.

I have a Master’s in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and a Certificate in Novel Writing from Stanford’s School of Continuing Education. I’ve been a Writing Fellow at Arizona State University’s Piper Center for Creative Writing. At their “Desert Nights, Rising Stars” writers’ conference, I’ve led workshops and taught classes on writing fiction, literary editing, writing memoirs, and issues of work-life balance. I hope Substack will allow me to continue interacting with other authors and that it will remove some of the technical challenges of maintaining a WordPress website.