Category: Wordmaster

Cape Cod, the Outer Banks…My Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt (part 2)

best sellers, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Cape Cod
What a view to be greeted with every morning!

Part Two…my Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt

HJS:  “Procrastination is the way of avoiding the suffering involved in seeing that what you write doesn’t live up to what you CAN write.”

 

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

A. Outer Cape Cod, or my own imaginary (but carefully mapped) world based on Outer Cape Cod. Place has always been terribly important to me. The other pole of my childhood was the thick countryside I lived in, among dairy farms in Connecticut. We were miles from civilization and we were often without a car. I spent hours and hours walking in the woods, the fields, following the brook that ran through that area, just paying attention to every bit of it. I’d try to draw a tree with every leaf exact. It was a deep, deep comfort.

Now I’ve lived out here for 30 years, and this is the place I know best–I’m lucky because it’s inherently a fascinating place. Provincetown has been the wealthiest and the poorest town in Massachusetts over the last two hundred years. There are layers and layers of history here, and in the winter when the tourist life fades away, there’s a community of very different people who live together in an unusually intimate way. I could write a novel about it…oh, wait, I did! Continue reading “Cape Cod, the Outer Banks…My Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt (part 2)”

Don’t Miss Part 2 of my Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt

Heidi Jon Schmidt, best sellers, interviews,
Photos from Heidi’s album

Part two of this writer’s world will appear on my blog on Tuesday, Dec. 10th and the final installment on Thurs. Dec. 12th

DON’T MISS IT!  

 

Click here if you missed Part I

 

Heidi is a beautiful, thoughtful writer.  Her characters jump off the page and remind us that we are all so…so human. heidi.oyster Continue reading “Don’t Miss Part 2 of my Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt”

How Do those oysters get to your Dinner Table? Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt (1of3)

best selling author, interview, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Cape Cod     My Interview with best selling author,  Heidi Jon Schmidt

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?

A. I write in bed. It started during a chaotic childhood when my bed was pushed into the quietest corner of the house, a safe place to withdraw to and think, imagine, write. And now that I have my own house, family, garden, life….it’s still the place where I feel most connected to my imagination.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

A. The minute my daughter walks out the door for school, I take a cup of coffee up the stairs. And I don’t do anything else until I’ve gotten a day’s work done.

Q. What is your mode of writing? (long hand? Pencil? Computer? Etc.) Continue reading “How Do those oysters get to your Dinner Table? Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt (1of3)”

A Rebuttal….Wiz Kid encourages ‘Progress writing’. This author Doesn’t!

blogging, blogger, wisdom,interviews, author quotesPeter Armstrong, co-founder of LeanPub,  recently lectured on UTube about writing a book (in progress) on line….in a blog or on UTube or on your web site.  This is called ‘progress writing’ or ‘progress publishing’.   He claims you will get great reader feedback and gain traction for your final, finished book.

And this might be right for you.  It may give you the stimulus, the poke in the rump that you need to either start writing or to continue writing.
Here’s how I feel about it:

‘Progress writing’ makes it too easy for someone to steal your idea/story.  Even if you have covered yourself with a ‘poor man’s copyright’ like I’ve told you how  to do or even if you’ve sent it partially written to the Library of Congress, your idea can be plagiarized and you may never know it.  And what if the person who took your idea for a story gets it finished before you do.  They are published and now you look like you ‘borrowed’ their idea. Continue reading “A Rebuttal….Wiz Kid encourages ‘Progress writing’. This author Doesn’t!”

Writing and then ‘Hearing’ Wild Violets

NOW AVAILABLE in AUDIO BOOKS!!!    “Wild Violets”

fiction, women, flappers, prohibition, San Francisco, roaring twentiesFrom the author:  It was great fun writing this book about a young woman so ahead of her time.  Basketball star, speakeasy owner, flapper who literally worked all day and danced all night.  The story about her red evening gown is true and her friends would make her change into it before going out on the town.  The story about playing poker with a Catholic Bishop is true.  She ultimately had five husbands, but always said the first one didn’t count as they never consummated the marriage.  She went on to be the champion women’s bowler in California.  She had three kids which she didn’t take very good care of.  She was human with many flaws, she was selfish and generous in turns, she was wild and ladylike……she was my mother. Sometimes I ask myself:  ‘did the apple fall very far from the tree?’

Writing it was fun but hearing her ‘voice’ and that of the other characters was amazing.  When you hire an audio professional the author remains in control (quality) and can ‘proof’ ever word.  It’s crucial that you hire the right narrator as your book sounds different from the written page. It’s important that the narrator is willing to work with you on edits, add on’s, and you can ask this upfront before you choose from the audition pieces that you receive.

Continue reading “Writing and then ‘Hearing’ Wild Violets”

What this Blogger is Thankful For…

Thanksgiving, family, food, thankfulIf you’re an American, this Thursday, you will sit down with family and friends to some rendition of a Thanksgiving dinner.  Or you might decide to give Mom/Dad (whoever the cook is) a break and go out to eat this year.  If you are carnivores you will consume great quantities of turkey, ham, giblet dressing, oyster dressing, stuffed deviled eggs, and football.  If you are vegetarian you will consume delicate, beautiful, tasty dishes made with all the food groups except those that had faces.  Football optional.

A bit of trivia:  Historical records strongly suggest that shellfish, geese, ducks, swans, and venison were the meats of the first Thanksgivings....then referred to as the Fall Harvest Celebration which traditional lasted 3 days.   Here’s how Edward Winslow described the first Thanksgiving feast in a letter to a friend:
Continue reading “What this Blogger is Thankful For…”

Research Is a Beautiful Thing! (part 3)

NYPD Homicide Detective
NYPD Homicide Detective

So… I pride myself in knowing a little about police procedure (not through personal experience, thank goodness!), forensics, and crime scenes.  And that’s what led me to write “The Art of Murder” the play, and now the novella.  And to create a murder mystery series called,  ‘The World of Murder‘.  With the Internet most answers are a couple of clicks away.  But as my stories are getting more involved (I am writing Book 2,  “The Dance of Murder”)  I was quick to realize that I didn’t have all the answers!  LOL

So here’s what I’d like to share with you about doing research.  My first story takes place in Manhattan, NYPD,  fifth precinct.  My second book is about a serial killer whose crimes jump from precinct to precinct.  Oh no!  Would my two murder cops be assigned to a crime out of another precinct?    So I had to try to find someone who could answer these types of questions.  I needed a mentor, of sorts, if I was to continue this series with any accuracy.
Continue reading “Research Is a Beautiful Thing! (part 3)”

My momma always said, Life is Like a Box of Chocolates’….or words (part 6)

words, dictionary, writing, writers               My Random House Dictionary weighs at least seven pounds and  it takes both my arms to lug it around.  Its copyright date is 1966 and I think I bought mine in about 1970. Forty three+ years ago.  Its pages are ‘paper-thin’ (pun intended) and very fragile.  It is my reference book when I write this series:  Words being my box of chocolates.
Continue reading “My momma always said, Life is Like a Box of Chocolates’….or words (part 6)”

The Grande Dame of Historic Fiction was so much More!

romance, historic, fiction, Barbara CartlandYes, the snobs of the literary world might have scoffed at her pink signature Chanel suits, her poofy hats, her Pekinese dogs, and her silly romantic stories.   But, they can’t quite get around her fifty plus years of writing, resulting in over 1,000 million books sold, or the fact that she spent her life  making the world a better place.

Her name was Barbara Cartland.  I know I must have started buying her books somewhere around 1972 because one of her letters to me was dated 1975.  So I have been reading her historic, romantic fiction up until about ten years ago.  Collecting hard covers when I could find them!  I would send them to her and she would autograph them and always, always send a nice note and a little gift back to me.  Most treasured gift was a gold-gilded oak leaf from an oak tree on Barbara’s property.   The “Deer Oak”, which is said to have been planted by Queen Elizabeth the First in 1550, at the spot where she killed her first deer, is on the estate.

Continue reading “The Grande Dame of Historic Fiction was so much More!”

Do YOU Learn Anything from History or Make the same Mistakes…Again?

famous quotes, famous writers, history, poetry, Bukowski, Churchill          I looked up this quote to be certain I quoted it with accuracy and low and behold!  Today is the day that Winston Churchill  (you all know how much I love him)   and Charles Bukowski (you know I am obsessed with him) meet. Considering it’s my blog I guess it was inevitable.  

Winston Churchill was one of the greatest ‘coiner of phrases’ that the world has ever seen.  He said, ‘those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it’ back in the early 1900’s.  Not much has changed and it seems that we are, indeed, doomed to repeat and repeat.

Ironically, Bukowski wrote this prose back in the early 1950’s.  It could have been written yesterday;  we’re still at war, the politicians still suffer from the malady of greed and power. Government still disregards the weak, the old, the impoverished, the helpless……..famous quotes, famous writers, Bukowski, Churchill, famous men

putrefaction ©  (Bukowski)

of late
I’ve had this thought
that this country
has gone backwards
4 or 5 decades
and that all the
social advancement
the good feeling of
person toward
person
has been washed
away
and replaced by the same
old
bigotries.

we have
more than ever
the selfish wants of power
the disregard for the
weak
the old
the impoverished
the
helpless.

we are replacing want with
war
salvation with
slavery.

we have wasted the
gains

we have become
rapidly
less.

we have our Bomb
it is our fear
our damnation
and our
shame.

now
something so sad
has hold of us
that
the breath
leaves
and we can’t even
cry.

‘Oh no!’ you cry, ‘Trish is going all political on us’.  Not at all.  It’s still about the writing and the wordsmiths of our time.
I just found it so poignant that these two great men,  so very different in their calling and their craft would come to the same philosophical place decades apart.  One man was a great statesman, a world leader and a wordmaster at the highest level. The other man, a dissolute, drunken, promiscuous, wild genius of a writer.  One pronounced wisdom in a pedantic, clear statement, leaving nothing to interpretation or misunderstanding. The other’s rantings makes you see it, breath it, taste it, feel it.

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

In addition to my twice weekly blog I will also feature an interview with another author once a month. These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Tasha Alexander, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Raymond Benson, Andrew Grant, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, 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!   Jeffrey Deaver was October’s author and Patrick Taylor will join us in November.  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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