nanci lee Profile

I am writing full time after retiring from community college teaching where, over the years, I published several textbooks. I just spent four years on a novel, Tears and Trombones, and am actively searching for a home for it. T & T tells the story of a depression-era kid who wants to be a classical musician. Working against him is poverty and a vodka swilling, blue collar father who is embarrassed by his son's ambitions. When ridicule and humiliation don't work to dissuade young Joey to abandon his musical dream, cruelty is the next step. Working for Joey are talent, a mother's love, and a dream that won't die. Music is the thing that sustains him through a miserable childhood, marriage to the wrong woman, and a painful divorce. I also write poetry and short stories. I love reading (of course), photography, travel, live theatre, movies, and especially, opera. My poetry and the first chapters of Tears and Trombones have won awards at the Jack London Writers' Conference, the San Francisco Writers' Conference, and the Sacramento Library's annual contest.