Mary Lowry Guest Post and Giveaway

Today I am very excited to announce a guest post from the marvelous Mary Pauline Lowry! :D

I’m excited to be guest posting on THE LIFE OF FICTION. Like Carole, our awesome blog host, I once taught small children. It was the hardest job I’ve ever done, I swear. Harder than being a forest firefighter or apprentice carpenter. I tried really hard, but I didn’t have the gift with the little ones. And so I really admire people like Carole who do have the gift.

That’s gotten me to thinking about JOBS and employment in general. Like most aspiring writers, I always had to have a job to support my writing habit. I tried to think of my DAY JOB as a shelter for my writing life. Here’s a list of my top favorite jobs I’ve done while writing fiction.

• Forest firefighter on an elite, Type 1 HOTSHOT crew
• Open water lifeguard at Barton Springs Pool in Austin, TX
• Advocate at a domestic violence shelter
• Production coordinator for film shoots
• Hollywood screenwriter

Being a screenwriter was definitely the most glamorous, but being a forest firefighter was the most fun! I loved hiking through the woods and sleeping in the ash and having my best friends be big burly guys. I want women and grrrls who are aspiring writers to know it’s okay to have a varied career path. You can try out all sorts of jobs to pay your bills. As long as you remember to show up at your keyboard or notebook every day and put down some words!

The Earthquake Machine by Mary Pauline Lowry

The book every girl should read, 

and every girl's parents hope she'll never read.

The Earthquake Machine tells the story of 14 year-old Rhonda. On the outside, everything looks perfect in Rhonda’s world, but at home Rhonda has to deal with a manipulative father who keeps her mentally ill mother hooked on pharmaceuticals. The only reliable person in Rhonda’s life is her family’s Mexican yardman, Jesús. But when the INS deports Jesús back to his home state of Oaxaca, Rhonda is left alone with her increasingly painful family situation. Determined to find her friend Jésus, Rhonda seizes an opportunity to run away during a camping trip with friends to Big Bend National Park. She swims to the Mexican side of the Rio Grande and makes her way to the border town of Milagros, Mexico. There a peyote- addled bartender convinces her she won’t be safe traveling alone into the country’s interior. So with the bartender’s help, Rhonda cuts her hair and assumes the identity of a Mexican boy named Angel. She then sets off on a burro across the desert to look for Jesús. Thus begins a wild adventure that fulfills the longing of readers eager for a brave and brazen female protagonist.

About the Author

Mary Pauline Lowry has worked as a forest firefighter, screenwriter, open water lifeguard, construction worker, and advocate in the movement to end violence against women. Due to no fault of her sweet parents, at 15 she ran away from home and made it all the way to Matamoros, Mexico. She believes girls should make art, have adventures, and read books that show them the way.

Giveaway!

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