Creative Writing Archives - Page 45 of 56 - Trisha Sugarek, Author, Playwright & Poet

More Motivational Moments…for Writers! #8

Writers! Jump-start your day with more Motivational Moments!

“….you have to be willing to write crap. You have to write all the time whether it’s any good or not. You can always delete or revise or rewrite but if you wait until it feels perfect, you’ll never accomplish anything. You have to fill up pages with words and keep moving forward…”

My interview with bestselling author Robyn Carr began yesterday ( she was so generous with her time and thoughts it became a 3 parter) and she said this in the context of the post. I couldn’t have said it better so I borrowed it! Thanks, Robyn!

“Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.” Kurt Vonnegut

“To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to do.” Kahlil Gibran

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” Edgar Allan Poe

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‘As a writer, I marinate, speculate and hibernate.’ Trisha Sugarek

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! A long awaited interview with Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House) Best selling author, Robyn Carr is July’s author. Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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An Interview with Bestselling Author, Robyn Carr

TS: Although Robyn’s earlier novels were historicals, she found the voice that has resonated with readers by writing a blend of contemporary romance and women’s fiction—books that not only entertain but also address sensitive issues, such as domestic violence, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, workplace burnout and miscarriage, anything that can compromise a woman’s happiness because she’s female. There have been standalone novels—and wildly popular series.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space

RC. I work in an extra bedroom that has built-in desktop, drawers and bookshelves to the ceiling. I really outgrew it years ago – I’ve been in this house and office for 17 years. I share the space with my husband who takes care of all our family business and attempts to help me with my business and since he tends to stack things, it’s become small and messy. I have the half with the desk and desktop computer – he has the half with the file drawers, not that he actually files. My desk is cluttered with everything from checkbooks to unanswered mail. Given our computerized and internet lives, most of the unanswered mail remains unanswered. If I can’t do it on the computer, it’s just impossible to get to. This office that houses two people and a million books is only 10X12. But it’s where I’m most at home. The chair is curved to my butt and the screen is exactly the right distance from my eyes. All the letters are worn off the keyboard because I like the keyboard. Continue reading “An Interview with Bestselling Author, Robyn Carr”

A Chip Off the Old Bukowski Block

My efforts have lain elsewhere of late…re-energized with my most ambitious novel, Song of the Yukon and maintaining a blog that is a never ending job.

But this poetry came to me, as it often does, with no apparent rhyme or reason. I had just been reading some Bukowski and he always inspires
me. I don’t suggest that I am even on the same planet as Hank, with regard to poetry, but I do admire his harsh, poetry reality.
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A Chip Off the Old Bukowski Block © by Trisha Sugarek

i sit here on the toilet
looking at the cane by my side
when did this happen?

its pronged feet could, at any moment,
scamper into a tidal pool, so much does it
remind me of a robotic crab

my mornings now consist of pills,
shuffling to the next room,
with the aid of my robotic crab
to pour cereal
then work up a shit before I can
leave the house
When did this happen?

bodily functions take priority as
I can no longer trust this body not
to embarrass me in public
when did this happen?

my knees are shot to hell
my bowels rumble and twist
my arthritis tears at me with sharp little teeth
my vision is perfect, cataracts
blasted away by another robot
when did this happen?

the other day my mind went on a holiday
leaving me behind, confused and blank,
frightened
is this a harbinger of what’s to come
when did this happen?

Have you discovered my regular postings: Motivational Moments…for Writers?

“An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.” Charles Bukowski

My INTERVIEW with Bukowski
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! In April, a long awaited interview with Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House) Michael Saad, Canadian author, was June’s author. Robyn Carr is July’s author. Check out Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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More Motivational Moments….for Writers! #7

Writers! Jump-start your day with more Motivational Moments!

You know a story has been rattling around in your brain. TODAY is the day you will find time to sit down and write the first sentence, the first page, the first chapter. Don’t worry about what will follow. The story will lead you. If you are very lucky your characters will take over and tell you their story.

‘It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.’ William Faulkner

“Writing is a Tryst with the imagination and a love affair with words.” Unknown

“The reader, the book lover, must meet his own needs without paying too much attention to what his neighbors say those needs should be.” ~ Teddy Roosevelt

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‘As a writer, I marinate, speculate and hibernate.’ Trisha Sugarek

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‘Wild Violets’, a Historic Romance Set During the Roaring ’20’s

It’s the roaring twenties in San Francisco, a decade famous for hot jazz and icy gin.

Violet has left her small home town in the Pacific Northwest to pursue a basketball career in the City by the Bay. Eventually, with her earnings, she buys a bar and grill, becoming a ‘flapper’ in every sense of the word; working all day and dancing all night. While her teenage daughter raises her seven year old son, Violet is out on the town with her latest man de’jour. Dressed in her signature red dress, she is the toast of the town, and finally, the owner of a speakeasy where she hosts the cream of San Francisco’s society, city politicians, bishops, and Hollywood celebrities.

But there is an underbelly of corruption, grifters, the mob, excess, and neglect in Violet’s life. Her two children are an afterthought and she chooses her men over their well-being time and time again. Their childhood needs are always trumped by her self-indulgent desires. The two children are possessions that she can put down or pick up again on a whim, showing them off to her current beau or friends and then forgotten. And when they get in her way, she gets rid of them.

A Review ~~ D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

‘Readers can expect to both love and hate as they follow Violet’s paths and choices. Violet is determined and gritty, often selfish, and is focused on appearances and achieving success even if it comes at the cost of family and friends. She purposely uses her beauty to manipulate those around her and her passions too often overrun the interests of others, be they beaus, authority figures, or her own children.

Despite this, reader can’t help but be intrigued as Violet charges through her 1920s San Francisco world with the ambitions and determination of an unstoppable Amazon. Perhaps part of the story line’s realistic feel is because it stems from the author’s own family stories. Or maybe it’s because Violet’s world evolves beyond her self-centered pursuits to embrace family and support systems that succeed alongside Violet’s efforts to realize her own dreams.

As the story evolves and Vi’s life moves full circle, readers interested in a blend of romance and historical backgrounds will appreciate her evolutionary process, and will find that the circumstances and determination of her world lend well to an absorbing read suitable for beach reading or a leisure choice.’

Available at www.amazon.com, e-books, and at all fine book stores.
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Motivational Moments…for Writers! # 6

Writers! Jump-start your day with more Motivational Moments!

Don’t worry about a story that you haven’t finished. It’s okay to let it ‘rest’. There have been times when I have had three books waiting for me to finish. Just the other day I pulled up my GAN (great American novel) and realized that it had been ‘resting’ for over a year. Life and other stories had gotten in the way.

The good news is that it’s only about 50-75 pages from being a completed first draft. And, I am looking at it with fresh eyes. What a difference that makes. It’s almost like reading someone else’s work and I am revitalized and eager now to complete it and begin rewrites.

BTW, I am calling Song of the Yukon my great American novel; not out of ego but very much with tongue in cheek. Rather it is my largest effort to day and took the most research, blood and sweat.

“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business.” Henry David Thoreau

“It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.” W. Somerset Maugham

“Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.” Confucius

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Conclusion…an Interview with author, Michael Saad

Part III My interview with Canadian author, Michael Saad

Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing?

MS. Yes, absolutely. I know exactly what that means. A few of my fictional stories have literally ‘written themselves.’ It’s hard to explain, but I think many experienced fiction writers can identify with that. I can think of two stories in particular that I’ve published where I’ve looked back and asked ‘did I really write that?’ and ‘where the heck did that come from?’

Q. Who or what is your “Muse” at the moment?

MS. I have many. Right now I am totally into musical artists like Hozier, Rachel Platten, and Virgina to Vegas. Their lyrics and sounds speak to me in their various messages of hope and optimism or, in Hozier’s case, the exact opposite. In the past year these artists have been an inspiration not only to my writing but also for my teaching, as I see how many of our young people today have had to be resilient in the face of adversity. Exploring the natural world is certainly another muse. Many stories and ideas have come to me just standing in the outdoors, on a mountaintop, in a stream, or watching a bull moose feed in a pond.

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

MS. Probably 18 years ago (in 1998), when I first started my teaching career. I knew I needed a bonafide hobby. I had been playing a lot of sports and going to the gym, but I felt I needed a constructive interest that exercise couldn’t quite fulfill. I need to create, and I had always had in the back of my head that I wanted to write stories and articles, so that was the direction I decided to go.

Q. How long after that were you published?

MS. I was published two years after that. I have had many short stories, novellas, and historical articles published since then. Incidentally, I’ve also had hundreds of rejection letters in that time. Only a fellow writer would appreciate that last statistic!

Q. What makes a writer great?

MS. I may have a different answer for you 20 years from now, but today I would say having the ability to display resonance with your reader. Only the very best writers can do this with as many readers as possible. Notice I state ‘with as many readers as possible’ and not ‘every, single reader who’s ever read their work.’ There’s a reason for that, and it’s the very reason why you’ll hear many people praise the Stephen Kings and Shakespeares of the world as literary geniuses, while others condemn them as laughable and boring. Some writers connect with certain people and others don’t. It’s that way with all art, not just literature. It’s all about resonance for me, and for every reader that’s different.

Q. …and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?

MS. Well, for All the Devils Are Here it was a step-by-step journey in the truest sense. It started off as a short story assignment I did 25 years ago in a class called Writing 11. My English teacher at the time, whom I dedicated the novel to, gave me good feedback on it, but told me it was incomplete, and challenged me to delve more into the main characters’ story lines. This soon became one of my ‘back-burner’ projects while I ventured into other pursuits like university, history, teaching, and sport. About 10 years ago, I encountered my English teacher again in a chance meeting, and we conversed and he asked me about my story. I decided to turn it into a novella, taking his advice from 25 years ago to heart. From there, I still found myself with unanswered questions about the main characters, and so then turned it into a full-fledged novel, which I now realize was what my teacher was steering me towards all along.

Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing?

MS. I have encountered drugs and drug use in my time, and have seen and experienced the cycle, agony, and destruction that addiction can bring. That subject has been a big part of my fiction writing now and in the past. Life experiences are very much an influence for my writing – I would best describe them as the thread that weaves in-and-out of the fabric of my work. All of my characters and plots are imaginary, but there are elements of them that are reflective of various experiences I’ve encountered in my trials and tribulations of life. Like everyone, I am not perfect and have my fair-share of demons in the closet. Every now and then I turn some of them loose in my writing.

Q. Have you? Or do you want to write in another genre`?

MS. Yes, I have written science fiction and horror stories. My science fiction carries explicit warnings and themes, whereas my horror stories are more subtle in their message. I have always been drawn to the serious stuff, and that includes all other types of media – video games, movies, television, theatre.

Q. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

MS. Yes. [Haley Joel Osment] I see dead people. Kidding… 😉 See, I can be funny−or maybe not.

Did you miss any of this in-depth interview? Click here

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! A long awaited interview with Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House) May’s author was Jordan Rosenfeld. Best selling author, Robyn Carr is July’s author.

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Motivational Moments for a Writer! #5

One of my most challenging skills, as a writer, was to understand and implement POV. Point-of-view. My editor pointed out a lot of ‘head hopping’ (the expression for telling your reader what everyone is thinking and feeling) when in each chapter the writer should try to stick to one point of view. But, even very successful, best seller authors like Nora Roberts is guilty of this.

Action, thoughts, & dialogue establishes the character’s POV.

I’ll be candid here….the jury is still out for me on strict POV writing. When I’m reading (and I do a lot of reading) and become aware of an author ‘head hopping’, it doesn’t distract or annoy me. When I catch myself doing it, as I write, I don’t see where it detracts from my storytelling.

‘The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.’ Dorothy Parker

‘The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.’ Charles Du Bos

‘I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God’s business.’ Michael J. Fox

‘As a writer, I marinate, speculate and hibernate.’ Trisha Sugarek

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS!

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Interview with Canadian writer, Michael Saad

An Interview with………Michael Saad has been writing almost his entire life. He is about to release his first full length novel, All the Devils Are Here. He lives in Lethbridge, Alberta. A teacher by day, a writer by night, this is a fascinating journey of how Mike fits it all into 24 hours.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.

MS. I write in my ‘man-cave’ as my family so affectionately calls it. It is my own, customized room in the house filled with items that fuel my imagination. Everything from Star Wars posters & memorabilia (yes, I’m a wannabe Jedi – I’m totally a child of the 1980s…), historical paintings, nature portraits, my favorite books, and hockey artifacts. Every writer needs his or her own, customized work space, whatever that is, and it needs to be tailor-made by the writer, and for each writer that’s different, but it’s so important.

I didn’t always have my man-cave. In the past, as a university student, my writing was best done in a little cubicle in the basement of my old university library. It wasn’t customized and was quite drab, but it was my space and I did my best writing there. Continue reading “Interview with Canadian writer, Michael Saad”

Motivational Moments….for Writers! #4

Writers! Jump-start your day with more Motivational Moments!

If you are a relatively new writer, start by writing about something you know. Maybe a family story. Talk to your grandparents about their life experiences. My mother and her 12 siblings have been an endless reservoir of stories for me. The length doesn’t matter when you first begin to write. Be a good storyteller.

“A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a
good children’s story in the slightest.” ~C.S. Lewis

If I hear an adult chuckle when reading my children’s books, I know I’ve done a good job.

“I dream my paintings, then I paint my dreams.” ~ Van Gogh Dream your story and then write it!

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” ~ e e cummings

‘As a writer, I marinate, speculate and hibernate.’ Trisha Sugarek
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