A Poem From the Book

My heart is like an ocean
That is many days wide,
To sail it you must love the sea
And know that it is me.

My love is pure as purest gold
But warm like silky furs,
That bundle us when the world is cold
In femininity.

If I were you and you were me
We would both feel the same,
Our love is like a pretty clam
Reluctant to show its pearl.

I know you are the one for me
And I the one for you,
So be so kind to keep your love--
Innocent and pure.

My Grandfather and Great Grandmother, and my Dad.

My grandfather used to tell me stories about his hunting expeditions in the deep woods of South Dakota, stories that would keep me on the edge of my seat for an hour. Not once would I complain "Oh grandpa, you're taking too long." They were such a joy to hear.

My great grandmother was a published poet. I later found out, way after her death, that she wrote with the same Welsh style that I used in my poetry. I thought I was looking at one of my own poems when I found one of her poems in an old bible of my grandmother's.

My dad used to tell us kids stories of growing up on my great grandparents turkey farm in the dust bowl days on the plains of Colorado. His stories were so rich in detail. But he was my dad, and I was sometimes more eager to play with my friends than hear an interesting tale. Now I throughly enjoy his stories. These three people influenced me to become a writer, and I'm proud to follow in their footsteps, as storyteller, and as poet.

What Is It Like To Be a Trans Writer?

I suppose that in some ways it's like being stuck half-way between being a woman and still having some male features. People think that you know nothing about women, and that you know too much about men. You'd be surprised what you find out about men being a trans. In one of my stories there is a trans-person who calls herself the ridiculous mermaid, she's half woman and half something fishy. It seems that we are just now being noticed by the world. This is a good thing I think. It gives writers like me a chance. Did being trans have anything to do with my book contract? I honestly don't know, but I'm so happy that my book is being published. Maybe in a few years we'll see a trans-gender play a trans-gender role in film.

Thirty-One Years Later

I started writing seriously at age 24. My first serious poem was a poem about the war between good and evil, it was in rhyming couplets. Milton was my big influence at that time. I never finished the poem, and it was over twenty pages long. My next serious poem was an allegorical story about Snow White. It was funny to me the last time I read it, which was over four years ago when I still lived in Colorado. From there I started writing ballad forms, and much shorter poems to be sure. I wrote primarily poetry for a number of years, and I got some good feedback from the editor of Poetry magazine in Great Britain. He was a student of T.S. Eliot. I was eventually published in the Orphic Lute, Soapbox, The Shyness Network, and a few newsletters whose names I don't remember. Then in the late 80's I took a correspondence course on writing children's stories. It was taught by published authors, and was very helpful. This was when I started getting the occasional written letter from editors saying that they wanted to put me on their possible author's list, or rewrite this and we'll publish it, only to find out when I sent it back that the person who wanted it had left and the publisher was no longer interested in the traditional fantasy story. In 1999 I wrote my first full length novel, and I have written seven novels since then, five of them were lost when I moved to New York three years ago, but because of the kindness of relatives I got two of these back. I submitted these books to a variety of publishers, but it was not until this year that I finally got my first book contract. I hope you will all stop by on a regular basis to hear more about my little novella The Girl, the Moon, and the Melon.

Progress On the Book

The first book "The Girl, the Moon, and the Melon" is out and available from amazon.com and barnes&noble.com. The second book "The Story of Josephine," is now available at this presale site http://sbpra.com/renadunsworth/.

"The Girl, the Moon, and the Melon" is being sold to libraries, many friends have bought the book and are looking forward to the second book in the series. I hope you will check it out too, it's only $10. Come back soon for more updates about the second book in the series. A series that I'm thinking about calling "The Chronicles of Henrietta," or possibly, "The Books of Diana."

Rena's Upcoming Book

Hello, and welcome to Rena's Upcoming Book Blog. The name of the book is The Girl, The Moon, and the Melon. It's going to be published by Strategic Book Group.This is a fantasy book about a man named Henry who wants to become a girl so bad he prays to God, the Angels, the Gods, and Mother Mary to please make him into a girl. God hears his prayer and since he was supposed to be a girl in the first place he sends an angel to change him into a girl. So Henrietta is born, Henrietta Bloom. It takes the pushy tactics of her landlord Mrs. Walsh to get her to go into the North Woods in Central Park so that she can find out who she really is. It takes the love of her lesbian lover Amy to get her to see that she has a purpose on earth. Will she fulfill it before the devil ensnares her, or worse? Will love win out over temptation? These are the questions that Henrietta must answer.