Writergrrl Kristen Spexarth would like to announce a new website she has created to help market a book she published two years ago called Passing Reflections.

Visit her new website at www.passingreflections.com.

The book, Spexarth says, "is a collection of poems that chronicle grieving traumatic loss―learning to survive the loss of a son to suicide. Someone once told me, 'Kristen, everyone's grieving,' and I know that's true. But traumatic loss brings with it challenges that require something beyond that needed to weather the day-to-day losses we all bear. I hope Passing Reflections will be of service to those who grieve traumatic loss and will help others standing outside this process begin to understand what it is to undergo such a transformation."

Her book is self-published with a twist. Her story of how it came to be is at University of Washington's University Week. Once at the site, scroll down to May 1, 2003 to find the article on "Passing Reflections."

Writergrrl Mary Boone has written two more nonfiction books for pre-teen readers. Triumph Books released Hilary Duff: Style, Fashion, Guys, and More in April. Lindsay Lohan: Rising Star, also published by Triumph, is due out in early May. This is Mary's second book about Hilary Duff. She also wrote Raven: Star from the Start about actress Raven Symone for the Chicago book publisher. All four books are intended for readers ages 9 to 12. Boone is a Tacoma-based author.

Writergrrl Maureen Finn is now a published author, for money! Says Finn, "I recently sold an article to a magazine I've subscribed to for years called Whole Dog Journal. Finn queried for an article about canine epilepsy, something with which she has personal experience.

Members can read her story, "Don't Let It Shake You," in the May issue at Whole Dog Journal.

Adds Finn, "If anyone here is a dog lover, this is a great little mag about dog care with a holistic approach and zero advertising. It covers care and feeding, health and medical issues, behavior and training, even rates toys and equipment regularly, all with a natural approach and much "smarter" than some of the big name dog publications. You can get a trial subscription for 14 days via the website (and read my article too!) It gets a four paw rating at my house! (five year subscriber)."

Writergrrl Anne Stein recently had a very uncanny publishing experience. Last year, she read a touching story about her father's death at the Seattle Writergrrls' Holiday Party. In the audience was someone who wanted to publish the piece (more on that in a minute).

The story, in case you're wondering, is about Anne's dad leaving the family a nice sum of money the family had no idea existed. Long story short: Anne's father near the end of his illness, had trouble communicating, but kept repeating the phrase, "We have a friend of the family." He also told the family he was going to buy their mother a BMW, something the family knew was impossible considering the mounting medical bills.

While driving home from visiting her father one day, Anne heard a radio commercial for Washington Mutual, with the familiar tag line, "Where you have a friend of the family." Anne turned her car around, returned and asked her mother if her father had ever done any banking at Washington Mutual. It turned out that Anne's father had secretly invested in mutual funds at Washington Mutual and the family had a surprising nest egg.

In the audience at the holiday party was someone from internal communications at Washington Mutual. Washington Mutual members asked Anne to use her story and it was subsequently published in the company's internal newsletter. Says Anne, "It was an honor to submit it, and have it be edited, and then published."

Writergrrls win prizes The Seattle Writergrrls Steering Committee recently conducted a survey of its members. Of those who responded, members were eligible to win a series of prizes for participating in the survey. The winners were announced at the recent open microphone event at the Richard Hugo House.

Drum roll please. The winners were: Julia Henry, who won a copy of the Writer's Market. Angela Fountas was awarded a cookbook. Tricia Spicer Bekey won books from Elliott Bay Books. Patty Campbell-Whisler won a half-hour massage. Pam Mandel was the lucky winner of a Slip 'n' Slide.

Congrats to the winners! And thanks to all who participated in the survey.