Mass shootings are a part of our current culture. Not until now did I have something to say (write) about the mass murders that plague our nation. One day after the horrendous mass shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal building did I begin writing.
Synopsis:
This ten minute play for teens (in the classroom) is to honor and memorialize the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. It focuses on a small class of students hidden away in safety by their English teacher and what happens while they wait for the shooting to stop. But the question begs will they ever be safe again?
The murdered victims:
My character, Mr. Hale is fashioned after Scott Beigel, 35, a geography teacher and the school’s cross-country coach. He was killed after he unlocked a door to allow students in to hide from the shooter,
Alyssa Alhadeff
Aaron Feis
Martin Duque Anguiano
Nicholas Dworet
Jamie Guttenberg
Chris Hixon
Luke Hoyer
Cara Loughran
Gina Montalto
Joaquin Oliver
Alaina Petty
Meadow Pollack
Helena Ramsay
Carmen Schentrup
Peter Wang
Want to see more one act plays? Click here
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MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! April: Poet, Joe Albanese, May: Boo Walker, June: Anne D. LeClaire and July — Catherine Ryan Hyde
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BW. Persistence and butt-in-chair time hone a writer’s craft but I do believe some have an inherent ability to see life in interesting ways, which leads to the fresh voice we all crave to read.
Q. and the all-important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?
BW. I write an outline first, using Scrivener’s corkboard feature. I find I’m faster and crisper when I follow a storyline. Of course, I’m always open to following my characters if they want to take a detour. Once my outline is in place, I write each chapter without much looking back. I want to get the bones onto the page. Sometimes I feel like writing detail, but sometimes, I’m almost writing a sketch. Whatever feels like coming. Then I go back and edit and edit and edit. I add flesh and clothes to the bones.
Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing?
BW. I think a life spent behind a desk can be dangerous for writers. I have traveled a good bit in my life, and I think it helps me climb into other character’s minds with an open heart.
Q. What’s your down time look like?
BW. What’s downtime? If I do get to enjoy some of this so-called downtime, I love being with my family.
Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre`?
BW. I started out writing thrillers but have most recently been writing book-club fiction. Something about the challenge of writing page-turners without a mystery to solve or someone to chase intrigues me.
Q. I see your guitars on the wall of your studio. Tell us about your music and Nashville.
Just for fun!
BW. My first connection to the muse was when I started writing songs in college. I fell in love with the five-string banjo, and it became all-consuming for many years. I moved to Nashville from Charleston with a band called The Biscuit Boys, and we enjoyed some great success, playing with Travis Tritt, Sam Bush, John Michael Montgomery, Ricky Scaggs, The Dixie Chicks, and many other heroes. Along with playing banjo, I found my creative stride writing lyrics. My career was cut short by a hand disorder called Focal Dystonia. I moved back to Charleston and tried to figure out the rest of my life. I needed to find a more grown-up job and joined a day-trading firm. But my muse still spoke to me. That’s why I started writing novels!
Note to Self: (a life lesson you’ve learned.)
BW. Enjoy the ride.
Did you miss the first part?Click here
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MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! April: Poet, Joe Albanese, May: Boo Walker, June: Anne D. LeClaire and July — Catherine Ryan Hyde
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My dear readers and fellow creative writers, don’t forget about the wonderful journals that I have created just for you.
250+ lined, blank pages for your writings, musings, and ideas. Each blank page is embedded with an inspirational quote from a famous author, writer, actor or director. Some ‘how to’ sections (from me) to help and inspire you to get started; either writing your first short story or beginning that new novel you’ve been prevaricating about.
How To Begin That All Important First Sentence How to Choose theSubject of your Story or Play Formatting your Play How to write Dialogue How to Create Rich, Exciting Characters for your Novel Story Arc
“I wanna write!” “I’ve got a story.” “I’ve always wanted to write.” Writers write! Full stop. Period.
MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! February: Rick Lenz, March: Patrick Canning, April: Poet, Joe Albanese and May: Boo Walker, June: Anne D. LeClaire, July: Catherine Ryan Hyde To receive my posts sign up for my
Book #1 (of 10)
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We continue with part II of an interview with
Cowboy/winemaker/musician Boo Walker.
Did you miss Part I?
Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
BW. I think so much about procrastination. It gets us all. Like I mentioned, I love the Be Focused app. That and setting a word count. I have word counts that I force myself to hit, and I don’t allow myself to enjoy much more of the day until I hit my count. In other words, once I clean my room, I can go out and play! Hit the word count and the rest of the day is mine.
Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?
BW. They come to me on walks and in dreams. Often, they start as real people and begin to morph into a more exaggerated persona. I find that when I try the least to find them is when they come to say hello, and that can be any time of day. The muse is full of characters, but she waits until you’re quietly listening to share.
Q. What first inspired you to write?
BW. I read Plum Island by Nelson Demille while trekking across Ireland in the late nineties. From that moment on, I wanted to create a character as cool and funny as John Corey.
Q. What comes first to you? The Characters or the Situation?
BW. Depends on the book. I’m open to both, whatever the muse leads me toward.
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing?
BW. Totally. That’s what keeps bringing me back. If you sit long enough typing a story, you’ll enjoy such a feeling. It’s the best in the world, better than any drug. You’re writing and suddenly you’re pulled in and become the character. When I wake from this daydream thirty minutes later and realize my fingers have been flying over the keys, I know I’ve written something special. But it wasn’t me at all, was it? My best writing is when the muse is the one writing. I’m just a conduit with fast fingers holding on for dear life.
Q. Are you working on something now? If so tell us about it.
Bed head ignored. Busy writing!
BW. I can’t share much, but I’ve recently moved to St. Pete, Florida from Washington State, and I’m in love with this place. The next two stories take place in St. Pete and will be chock-full of familial dysfunction, love stories, and characters searching for meaning. I like throwing difficult circumstances at characters and seeing how they overcome.
Q. When did you begin to write seriously?
BW. Perhaps ten years ago, but what led me to becoming a pro is reading the life-changing book The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
Q. How long after that were you published?
BW. Until recently, I’ve always self-published. It took me a few years to write my first book, Lowcountry Punch. I did a lot of reading at first, learning the craft. And I interviewed the Charleston DEA and did some serious research. Then I wrote and rewrote and burned drafts. Finally, four years later, my book hit the shelves.
Q. Do you think we will see, in our lifetime, the total demise of paper books?
BW. No, I don’t think so. I suspect there will always be a place for them. How sad to think there would be a world without bookstores. But for me personally, I have gone almost entirely digital.
Q. What makes a writer great?
Don’t miss the conclusion to this wonderful Interview ~~ May 31st.
Watch for my review of Red Mountain Rising (sequel) Coming soon!
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MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! February: Rick Lenz, March: Patrick Canning, April: Poet, Joe Albanese and May: Boo Walker, June: Anne D. LeClaire, July: Catherine Ryan Hyde To receive my posts sign up for my
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PERFECTION!! A masterpiece of a story. Every word impeccably placed.
I don’t write spoilers, (as my fans already know) so I will write about the universal message of this story. It begins with the improbable friendship between Raymond Jaffe and Mildred Gutermann, two of the most unlikely people to ever meet and develop a bond. But it’s about more than that. This is a story about ‘us’ and ‘them’. About all of ‘us‘ and the kindness that runs deep in every one of us. The instinctual compassion for one another that transcends the differences, the tribalism, the fear, the suspicion.
“Oh,” you might say to yourself, “who needs another feel good book?” This book is not another feel good book. The story represents us and the unique characteristic in the human species. Empathy. An emotion that bubbles up easily or sometimes unwillingly in spite of ourselves. The message is so subtly and cleverly woven into such a terrific story-line that you don’t even realize there’s a message until the last few pages.
If I hadn’t read this book and then I discovered how good it was but wouldn’t have an opportunity to read it, I would be profoundly bereft at the loss. Exaggeration? No. It’s that good. You can’t go through life and not read this book.
I hope to announce soon that I will be interviewing this special writer…so stay tuned.
Release date: May 20, 2019 To Purchase click here
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MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! February: Rick Lenz, March: Patrick Canning, April: Poet, Joe Albanese and May: Boo Walker To receive my posts sign up for my
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How do I write a review, for this book, without giving away the twists and turns of the story and end up writing a spoiler? I can’t. This beautifully written book has plenty of twists and turns. It’s a love story sort of, a story of intrigue sort of, a story of grief, revival and survival in huge doses. The threads of this tale are so tightly woven that to write about the plot is a spoiler x ten. I just can’t do it.
The writing is superb.The characters are well drawn and I cared about every one of them. If I had one tiny criticism (and it disappeared within the first six pages) it was that it had too much narrative for my taste. But after page six, I understood how the author constructs her story. So I was immediately drawn into the story so much so that long descriptions (rather than the dialogue telling the tale) didn’t bother me.
MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! February: Rick Lenz, March: Patrick Canning, April: Poet, Joe Albanese and May: Boo Walker To receive my posts sign up for my
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TS. After picking a five-string banjo in Charleston and Nashville and then a few years toying with Wall Street, Boo chased a wine dream across the country to Red Mountain in Washington State with his dog, Tully Mars. They landed in a double-wide trailer on five acres of vines, where Boo grew out a handlebar mustache, bought a horse, and took a job working for the Hedges family, who taught him the art of farming and the old world philosophies of wine. Recently leaving their gentleman’s farm on Red Mountain, Boo and his family are back on the east coast in St. Pete, Florida. No doubt the Sunshine City will serve as a setting for a novel or three soon. Boo’s bestselling page-turners are instilled with the culture of the places he’s lived, the characters he’s encountered, and a passion for unexpected adventure.
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.
BW. I write in my dream space, my mancave in a Spanish-style house built in 1925 by an opera singer in St. Pete, Florida. I’m surrounded by guitars and banjos that constantly try to distract me.
Q. Do you have any special rituals or quirks when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)
BW. I have a pretty serious coffee ritual to start my morning and writing day. I always have a bag of single-origin, fresh-roasted beans, which I grind that morning. I measure out an exact amount with my scale, and then brew using a Chemex coffee pour-over. Once the caffeine starts to kick in, I’m sit at my desk. I’ve come to rely so much on this routine that my entire day is shot if I don’t have my perfect cup.
Depending on my mood, I most always write to music without words, be it jazz, classical, or electronic.
I also have a couple less productive rituals that are actually more like procrastinating actions. I’ve somehow come to think I need to restart my computer before ever writing session. It’s totally stalling. And then I’ll grab my guitar for a little warm-up session. Another stalling tactic. Once I’m ready to dive in, though, I use an app called Be Focused, which sets 25-minute intervals where I do writing sprints. I don’t allow myself to surf the net or answer calls or texts. The sprints are writing only. No distractions.
Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?
BW. R.D. Blackmore lingers somewhere high up in my family tree on my mother’s side. He wrote a book called Lorna Doone. He was a big inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson, among others.
Q. Do you have a set time each day (or night) to write?
BW. If I haven’t written by noon, I’m in trouble. I’m such a morning person, so only under deadline and at gunpoint can I write much in the later afternoon or at night.
Part II of this fascinating interviewposts May 24th. Click here to read my REVIEW of Red Mountain.
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MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! February: Rick Lenz, March: Patrick Canning, April: Poet, Joe Albanese and May: Boo Walker, June: Anne D. LeClaire, July: Catherine Ryan Hyde To receive my posts sign up for my
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Once in awhile I troll through bookstores online looking for an interesting author that I have never heard of. I kiss a lot of frogs but it’s worth it when I find an author like Boo Walker.
Red Mountain is a special place. It has the perfect soil and weather for growing wine grapes. And growing people too, who gravitate to the mountain, often to hide or to find themselves. Besides the interesting characters that Boo Walker has drawn, I felt as if the wine was a character unto itself. The growing, the nurturing, the fermenting, the aging and sampling the final product. Resembling what life is all about.
Boo Walker weaves a wonderful story with rich, flawed characters that you can love or love to hate. I can’t wait to read the sequel, Red Mountain Rising. And don’t miss my interview with Boo later this month.
MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! February: Rick Lenz, March: Patrick Canning, April: Poet, Joe Albanese and May: Boo Walker To receive my posts sign up for my
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The Little Teashop on Main by Jodi Thomas is a lovely story about three best friends (from cradle to grave) brought together when a play-date turns into a tea party. Their friendship is not without troubles but the light of these women’s love for each other shines through every page. Forging careers, finding love and finally the ultimate test of their friendship.
Jodi Thomas’ writing is flawless. Her stories are interesting. The characters are well drawn and the reader cares about what happens to them. The highest praise I can give a writer. This is a good summer read and I highly recommend it.
Release date: May 7th. Pre-order now!
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MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! February: Rick Lenz, March: Patrick Canning, April: Poet, Joe Albanese and May: Boo Walker To receive my posts sign up for my
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Traditional Publishers used to own the whole game. Indie authors, like you and me, spent most of our time chasing an agent so we could chase a publisher. Back in the day, ‘self-publishing‘ was a dirty word. You were putting out a ‘vanity book’. You were looked down upon.
This post is about three categories of Publishers in today’s writing world:
Traditional Publisher: Who, for the most part do not accept ‘unsolicited manuscripts’. By that they mean that you have to have a literary agent representing your work and hawking it to the publishers. Don’t get me wrong, there is a small percentage of writers out there that are able to get an agent and ultimately a publisher. They pay on a royalty only basis. If you are very good and very lucky the publisher will pay you an advance to support you while your writing the book.
2. The Publisher who asks the author to ‘invest’ in their own book : In my opinion (and it’s only my opinion), AVOID these. For the most part, these are internet publishers who expect you to pay them to publisher your book. You pay them at the front end and then if your book sells they get a percentage at the backend. They don’t do much in the way of marketing your book, outside their own website, and it ends up still being a crapshoot for the author. There is no team of editors, publicists, and publisher that you can only get with a traditional publisher.
3. You, the Publisher: Indie-publishing is, today, a respected and practical way for you to publish. There are many platforms out there that you can go on, for FREE, and build your book with the end result being that your book appears on all the major book store websites and can be ordered in a ‘stick and mortar’ bookstore. But as an indie-author you have to be your own team: marketing, editing, and publishing. You can hire out the first two services but it gets spendy. You get paid (usually) around 60% royalty for each book sold.
I know, through my interviews with best-selling authors (and friendships that have developed out of those), many best selling authors’ new books are rejected by their publisher, not because the writing is bad, but because the book doesn’t fit with their idea of what’s ‘hot’ right now. You see, it’s all about the $$$$. These best selling authors go right out and self-publish the rejected book.
Get off the hamster wheel of trying to get a publisher to look at your book, trying to get an agent to sign you so a publisher will look at your work. Trying to get an agent to sign you…being rejected by the publisher because you don’t have an agent, trying to get an agent to sign you so a publisher will look at your work…well, you get the idea. Fine, chase the agent/publisher but while you’re doing that, publish your own work. Don’t let anyone stop you. Go for it! Yes, you can self-publish while you are waiting around the for coveted agent/publisher gig!
MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! February: Rick Lenz, March: Patrick Canning, April: Poet, Joe Albanese and May: Boo Walker To receive my posts sign up for my
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