Giving Away 3 Signed Copies of Moving (a life in boxes)

The new paperback version of Moving (a life in boxes) is out, and I'm eager to get it into the hands of readers.  To start, I'm going to do my first Rafflecopter giveaway of three signed copies.  I've never used this application before, so we'll have to see how it goes. In theory, it's supposed to be easy (for both you and me).

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a Rafflecopter giveaway



I want to share what a few of my fellow writers and friends have had to say about the book:

What Others are Saying about Moving (a life in boxes)
“When you’re always in motion, where does the heart come to rest? Patrick Gabridge’s latest novel brilliantly illuminates a relationship that’s forever looking over the horizon — and what happens when two people who’ve always grown together may now be growing apart. Insightful, compelling and beautifully detailed, Moving is that rare book whose effect on the reader is exactly described by the title.”     –Mike Cooper, author of Clawback



“In Moving (a life in boxes), Patrick Gabridge has rendered a story brimming with passion, humor, and irony as it rides the inner roller coaster of one unconventional couple’s marriage in modern times. Be prepared to take sides and don’t be surprised if you change your mind.”    –Jessica Maria Tuccelli, author of Glow




“In Moving (a life in boxes), Patrick Gabridge unpacks the fascinating history of a peripatetic marriage, defined by eighteen years of moves, open houses, real estate brochures, and a stash of marked-up cardboard boxes awaiting their next journey — until the couple come to a crossroads. Artfully plotted, emotionally stirring, and often laugh-out-loud funny, Moving bravely explores the mysterious terrain of modern marriage, and offers an intimate look at a family who will take up residence in your heart.”   –Diana Renn, author of Tokyo Heist

“With a playwright’s eye for telling detail and ear for crackling dialogue, Patrick Gabridge’s Moving (A Life in Boxes) vividly captures the complexity of modern marriage. After eighteen years and eighteen moves, Lila and Jed have finally settled down. But what does it mean to stay in one place when your life has been built around moving and change and the next new experience? Is it possible to let go of your dreams without losing who you are? Gabridge creates a lyrical and unexpected love story about a man escaping his present only to be drawn back to the family he adores.”  –Laura Harrington, author of Alice Bliss and winner of Massachusetts Book Award



 

My novel, Moving (a life in boxes), is now an ebook!

My newest novel, Moving (a life in boxes), has just been released as an ebook.The story is about a married couple, Jed and Lila, who are compulsive movers. For them, moving boxes, packing tape, and open houses are the ultimate aphrodisiacs. They meet on a moving day, Jed proposes on a moving day, and they end up moving 18 times in 18 years. They move for fun, to recover from tragedy, and for new opportunities—until Lila decides she wants them to put down roots, in Boston.  Her decision pushes their marriage to its limits.

This is a novel about a marriage challenged by wanderlust, regular old lust, obsession, infertility and adoption, and race. Really, it's a book for grown-ups about marriage and what happens when you and the person you married aren't the same people you were at your wedding.

Moving (a life in boxes) is available from Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble, for $2.99.  (You don't need to have an e-reader to read the book--at Smashwords you can buy a pdf that you can read on your computer, or you can read Kindle books on your PC with a free app.)

I hope you'll check it out and help spread the word.  Any actions you take--rating the book on Amazon or Goodreads, reviewing the book on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords, or mentioning it to your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter--will help this book find an audience.  Word-of-mouth from my friends and colleagues will be the single most important factor in the success of this book.  The word started going out yesterday, and I'm already grateful for the responses I've gotten.

My Current Juggling Act

Juggling takes a lot of focus, whether it's clubs or writing projects.

Now that farming season has ended, my writing season has picked up full speed.  I've got a whole bunch of projects that I'm juggling at the moment, as well as upcoming productions.  Here is some of what I'm up to:

• My latest novel, Moving (A Life in Boxes), will be coming out as an ebook in about two weeks.  I've got make sure people know about it and finish getting it proofread and formatted.
• I'm about to do revisions on the book for a musical (a commissioned work) adaptation of Penny Noyce's novel, Lost In Lexicon.
• I just finished a first draft of a new full-length play, Distant Neighbors, and am working on it in Rhombus and in the New Voices @ New Rep program.
• We start rehearsals for Fire on Earth with Fresh Ink. on Monday, and I'll be making revisions fairly steadily until we open on February 1 at the Factory Theatre in Boston.
• I have a couple short plays in the One-Minute Play Festival coming to Boston Playwrights Theatre. Rehearsals start soon, but revisions are quick on short plays.
• I'm supposed to write a ten-minute play, set in a garden, for production this spring in London by a small company there.  (They performed Pumpkin Patch last year.)
• If I can clear the decks a little, I'm ready to finish the next draft of an historical novel about Civil War hero Robert Smalls.
• And I have two short plays in the upcoming New Works Festival at the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport (but shouldn't have to do rewrites on them).

It's a good thing I'm not farming over the winter.  It seems like a lot of balls to have in the air, but I actually find myself more productive when I'm juggling a lot of projects at once.  It forces me to stay disciplined.  And one thing I've learned over my years writing is that I never know which project might suddenly catch fire and find the right people at the right time and have a chance to leap forward to find a larger audience.  Maybe it'll be one of these.  Maybe it'll be the next one.  Or the one after that.

And sometimes I miss a ball and they all come crashing down for a while.  But like in juggling, it's just a matter of picking them back up and starting over.

Yep, every juggler drops the balls sometimes. There's nothing to do but pick them up and start over.

first look at Moving (a life in boxes) cover

My novel, Moving (A life in boxes), is set to come out as an ebook in about three weeks, but I've got the cover now.  I'm super excited about it--it's just what I had in mind.  Much thanks go out to Keary Taylor of IndieCoverDesigns.com for all her hard work and patience, and to Katie Walt for her photography.  One of the best things (and also most challenging) about self-publishing is that the cover is really up to me.  In this case, I had a very specific image in my head, and thanks to Keary and Katie, I was able to get it.