Category: Famous quotes

More Famous Quotes from Writers….

Neon.RMWO_cover_spine_REV84_copyI have just finished up the fourth in my series of Journals/Handbooks for the creative writer entitled REAL MEN WORK OUT…on PAPER.  The blank journal is filled with quotes that I hope will inspire the writer in you.  Since I hand picked every quote for these books, what better time to share some of the new ones I found.  This particular journal is dedicated to men who love to write.   Great gift idea!

“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.” Oscar Wilde

Continue reading “More Famous Quotes from Writers….”

A Journal for Men Who Want To Write….

Neon.RMWO_cover_spine_REV84_copy   Available Now!   This handsome journal/handbook was created especially for men who want to write.

  ‘Real Men Work Out…on Paper’

The spirited journal/handbook, intended specifically for men and your creative writing, offers over 275 lined, blank pages. Each section has instruction on ‘where to begin’, storytelling, how to write a play, and developing rich characters. Nestled in the margins of each page are more tips about writing and quotes from famous writers, actors, playwrights and poets. The bold and masculine cover can be carried anywhere!  Great gift idea!

Available  at www.amazon.com or your favorite book store

Kurt Vonnegut had a Few Rules….

Vintg.2            I am in the middle of creating a Journal – Workbook for Creative Writing.   There are six sections, ‘How to Begin’, ‘How to Write Fiction’, How to Write a Stage Play’ and more.  I also included inspiring quotes from famous authors and playwrights as well as poets.  It’s more than a journal, although the owner of the book will have well over 260 blank pages in which to create and write.

While I do not profess to be the ‘expert’ when it comes to writing I did want to share with you, in this Journal, some tools that you can use when you sit down to write. I don’t know about you, but I am so inspired when reading the work of another author that I admire, that I also included many fascinating quotes.

“I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.” Ernest Hemingway Continue reading “Kurt Vonnegut had a Few Rules….”

A Word About Censorship and Trust!

I’m a wise, old lady writer.  I’ve been knocked around a little by life, finally learned  from my mistakes, but all in all had a good life.  The biggest blessing in my years here has been my writing.  I read another profound piece by my hero, Charles ‘Hank’ Bukowski and it got me to thinking about who we should trust with our precious scribblings.  More about that later.

censorA tale of Censorship and Trust…..I recently have been trying to find just the right person to help me with my social networking, public relations and marketing my books.  A young woman answered my ad and she seemed like the ideal fit; she knew everything about social media and was working toward a career in public relations.   In the initial interview (via Skype) we were on a roll; she was ready to get to work and I offered her the job.  In the conversation we touched on women’s issues and that led me to telling her a little about one of my novels, Women Outside the Walls.  (She had not researched me or my writing before the interview).  The story is of women going to visit their men in prison…sometimes for years.  It’s a ‘gritty and truthful book’.  This young woman’s face shut down. Her next question was, “is there anything socially redeeming about your books?”  I almost swallowed my tongue to keep from saying a bad word.  Who did she think she was? Continue reading “A Word About Censorship and Trust!”

Do you have Strange Rituals When Writing? (part 2)

writing process, create, writers, grammarRemember, no ritual should ever take the place of actually getting words on the page . But they can help you shift your mindset just enough to see things in a fresh way.

In the immortal words of novelist and screenwriter Raymond Chandler:  ‘Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered potholder.’

‘What are your rituals, Trish?’  Oh, yes I did promise to share my rituals…..I wake up naturally (34 years of alarm clocks were more than enough, thank you!) sometime before 9AM, depending on what my body needs and how long I was up during the night, writing. Continue reading “Do you have Strange Rituals When Writing? (part 2)”

Charles Bukowski, as He Lay Dying

Throughout the millennium many cultures have had the tradition of writing a death poem or a death song.  In Japan the Samurai/poets would recite their death poem as they opened their own bellies with their sword. samurai Death poems are typically graceful, natural, and emotionally neutral, in accordance with the teachings of Buddha.

Like a rotten log
half buried in the ground
my life, which has not flowered, comes
to this sad end.   Minamoto Yorimasa  1104-1180

death songsNative American warriors would sing their death song as they rushed into battle.
‘When it comes time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.’ Unknown

In the collection of Charles Bukowski’s work, Pleasures of the Damned, he wrote poetry about dying as he slowly lost his battle with cancer.  Beautiful work.  Not sad, just reality, simply Bukowski.  I have read and re-read this 500+ page tome and gone from laughing at his cat and the mocking bird to mourning his passing.poet, wisdom, Charles Bukowski (below)  I have fallen in love with this wild, derelict genius and profited by him; I am a better writer for having known him.

Sun coming down © Charles Bukowski

no one is sorry I am leaving
not even I;
but there should be a minstrel
or at least a glass of wine.

it bothers the young most, I think:
an unviolent slow death
still it makes any man dream;
you wish for an old sailing ship,
the white salt-crusted sail
and the sea shaking out hints of immortality.

sea in the nose
sea in the hair
sea in the marrow, in the eyes
and yes, there in the chest.

will we miss
the love of a woman or music or food
or the gambol of the great mad muscled
horse, kicking clods and destinies
high and away
in just one moment of the sun coming down?

but now it’s my turnbukow.typwriter
and there’s no majesty in it
because there was no majesty
before it
and each of us, like worms bitten
out of apples,
deserves no reprieve

death enters my mouth
and snakes along my teeth
and I wonder if I am frightened of
this voiceless, unsorrowful dying that is
like the drying of a rose?

And I close with my own simple offering.

death comes ©  Haiku by  t. sugarek

death comes silently
death comes with a loud screaming
death at his own hand

death comes suddenly
detroit’s bright twisted metal
steam, fire, cold asphalt

boring death, sweet death
slow trip down a lonely road
lines drip, machines beep

History, stories, poets…they all contribute to this writer’s imagination and creativity.

Interview with Charles Bukowski (posthumous)
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Interviewing Best Selling Authors…looking back!

authors, writing, writers, interviewsThis is my one year anniversary of interviewing best selling authors and I’m amazed at the success of it!!  Authors have been so generous with their writing process and their time.  The interviews are on-going and currently we are booked through April, 2014.  It’s always a thrill for me when busy, well-known authors are so generous with their answers that I must break it up into ‘parts’. Continue reading “Interviewing Best Selling Authors…looking back!”

Famous Quotes….and What I Think!

Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas

“My education was the liberty I had to read indiscriminately and all the time, with my eyes hanging out.” – Dylan Thomas

“When I’m not writing, I am reading….and I think, along with many other authors, that it makes me a better writer.” Me

“I went to brush something off my cheek and it was the floor.”  Unknown.

“But it had to have been said by one of these famous drunks.  Hemingway? Tennessee Williams? James Joyce? F. Scott Fitzgerald? Bukowski?”  Me

Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway

 “There is nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”  Hemingway

“Bleeding words…..things could be worse. I live for those days.”  Me

Continue reading “Famous Quotes….and What I Think!”

“Fingal O’Reilly, Irish Doctor” A Review of Patrick Taylor’s newest book

reviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writing reviews, authors, writing     5 out of 5 Quills           A Review of Patrick Taylor’s newest release
reviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writing                                  
  ‘yer face is as long as a wet Sunday…’

 review.O'Reilly.Irish.DrOh, I’m a big, BIG fan of Patrick Taylor’s work.  I never miss buying his latest. What’s not to like….for me, the daughter of a second generation Irishman?  In 1998 I spent a month in the west counties of Ireland looking for my paternal roots.  My, my!  Did I find them!  My father’s name still appeared above ‘drapery’ shops in the small villages I traveled to.  So, for me, reading Taylor’s series called ‘Country Doctor’ is like return visits to ‘the ole Sod’.

In this newest offering Patrick Taylor seamlessly takes the reader from his early days as a young doctor (newly graduated) practicing in the slums and tenements of Dublin (in the 1930’s), to twenty plus years later where he has been a GP in the tiny village of Ballybucklebo.

If you start out with the first book, An Irish Country Doctor, and continue reading the series, you fast become one of the villagers. You know everyone and everyone knows you.  The series is the story of Fingal O’Reilly’s life, his patients, his young doctor proteges, his loves and all the people that make up the village of Ballybucklebo.

The charm of Taylor’s language is unparalleled.  “He’s about as deep as a feckin’ frying pan–and twice as dense.” and, “How’s life abusing you?” Bob asked.  “It’s good to be off work and heading to play rugby, I can tell you that for free.” Fin replied.    and
Continue reading ““Fingal O’Reilly, Irish Doctor” A Review of Patrick Taylor’s newest book”

If You are Very Lucky…Your Education Never Ends!

knowledge, wisdom, writing, growing, education            ‘Education’ is rooted in the word educare–or ex ducare— and the most important aspect of the definition is that it has two meanings.  One being to acquire knowledge, from books and study.

The second is to explore and understand that which is within us all.  A search, a journey leading to the places where wisdom lies and is crucial to who we might become.

I am a mishmash of both…formal education mixed in with a continuing search for myself, my goals and the wisdom that life wants to give me, if only I’d listen.   In the past decade I have pursued the second part:  to explore and understand what I’m all about.  It is indeed a journey and has led finally to some wisdom, which IS ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL TO WHO WE MIGHT BECOME.knowledge, wisdom, writing, growing, education

So why am I even talking about this?  Well, let’s see….knowledge leads to awareness and awareness leads to being a better writer. Wisdom, if you are so lucky to find some, leads to you writing richer characters because you now have the empathy that comes with wisdom.  The ‘journey’ in the second part of your education makes YOU a richer character and that leads to your story being fully developed, abounding with interesting characters, fascinating places and good plots.

knowledge, wisdom, writing, growing, education, famous quotesAnd if you try hard enough and have a little luck you never stop learning.  Even if the only thing that happens in your education today is that you read a new, sometimes obscure, word and have to go and look it up…you are continuing to learn.  My favorite thing!!knowledge, wisdom, writing, growing, education, famous quotes

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!       “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and plan on featuring an interview once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name:: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Heidi Jon Schmidt,  Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Caroline Leavitt, Sue Grafton, Karen Robards, Walter Mosley, Loretta Chase, Nora Roberts, Raymond Benson and many others.
So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!   Sue Grafton is August’s author with a bonus chat with Cathy Lamb.  and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is October’s author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author.
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