comedy Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Trisha Sugarek, Author, Playwright & Poet

The Writer’s Corner… Interview with author Jo-Ann Mapson (part 2)

Part II ** Interview with Jo-Ann Mapson

Q. ‘What does the process look like…?’(continued)

A. Editing on the computer screen is entirely different than one the page. I realize that maybe due to the relative newness of computers. I wrote my first (unpublished) novel on a typewriter. It can take me a year or two to finish a book, but strangely I am writing much faster now that I am older. No reason to count the hours and the earnings, it’s never going to be profitable in all ways.

In other ways it probably looks like an older woman who is sitting on her butt, typing at the desk, frowning at the screen while the floor could really use some sweeping and dogs are racing through the house alerting the world that a bird has flown by or some such shattering news. I go what my husband calls “inward,” and everything else falls away. Once I came directly from the shower wrapped in a towel to write something important down, and hours later, there I was, starkers. Skype, you know? I am clothed these days.

The strangest part is that click of a computer key that sends it to my editor. It’s such a small thing compared to the year of work. This massive effort reduced to an electronic ping! When my editorial letter arrives, it begins to feel a little more real, on it’s way to becoming a book. I love rewriting. Just thank God for it every single day, because that is where good writing pokes its head up. Receiving cover art is another favorite stage for me. I love to see how professional people who cherish images the way I love words come up with the visual equivalent of my story.

It’s truly intoxicating seeing the transformation. I’ve been extremely lucky with my covers, haven’t I? When galley proofs arrive, I just am giddy with the thought that “that thing is done!” Yet I am generally in the middle of another book, so that moment is fleeting.

Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters ?

A. They come to me in brief images initially. I can’t quite see their faces, but I know their feelings. I see them in a place—say, in a Western bar, plain wrap rehab, sleeping under the stars, walking a greyhound, dying, arguing, crying, wherever—and I write toward that image because I absolutely, empirically have to know how they got there and what they are going to do next.

Q. What inspired your stories ?

A. I think I am most intrigued with the question: How do people go on after something tragic or life-changing occurs? I should confess, my husband is the one who actually told me this, quite recently. Had you asked me last year, I wouldn’t have been able to answer. He said, “Your life is that story, of how to go on, so it’s natural to me that you would write about that notion endlessly.” Stephen Dobyns has the most amazing poem called “How to Like It,” in the collection Cemetery Nights that for me is a perfect explanation for why anyone writes……..

Join us to read the final part III of this riveting interview with best-seller author Jo-Ann Mapson.
http://www.joannmapson.com/
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. A NEW SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner” INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and plan on featuring an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Anne Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Rhys Bowen, Robert McCammon, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, 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!
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To receive my posts sign up for my Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog“. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

The Writer’s Corner… an Interview with author Jo-Ann Mapson (part 1)

Do other writers sometimes find themselves at 4 in the afternoon still in their pajamas, writing furiously? Do all of their #2 pencils have to be sharpened before they can begin?

I thought my readers might enjoy hearing about other authors‘ writing processes. So I created a Question & Answer-type Interview. The response has been wonderful and I can’t wait to share it with you.

In this three-part post, my second interview is with best-selling author, Jo-Ann Mapson. She is one of my favorites and I always wait with bated breath until her next book comes out. Her characters, (men, women, dogs, horses), are vivid and believable and they often return in a new book. Jo-Ann takes them down the same roads we have all traveled….love, loss, grief, death, friendship; stumbling along through life, gathering what wisdom we can.
I hope that you enjoy her insights, humor and thoughts…….

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

A. I have an office in the smallest bedroom of our house. My desk is small. Objects that inspire me surround me. A felted greyhound statue, my cowboy boots, a photo of my great aunt, this wonderful print “The Land of Make Believe” that is a kind of map of childhood stories hangs above my desk. A writer needs to be able to write anywhere, though. Those kinds of constraints such as special places, complete silences, bingo tchochkees, can cripple, so I find it best to force myself to write anywhere.

Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative?

A. Oh, my gosh, waiting for creativity to visit would never get a page, let alone a book written. I work everyday, mid-morning to dinnertime. This timetable is subject to change, but not the number of hours. I’m not sure why. Some books, like The Wilder Sisters, get written in special circumstances; that particular California summer was so hot that I wrote lying down in bed with my laptop, shades drawn, fan running.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write?

A. No rituals other than a cool drink and fan blowing. I usually warm up to writing by answering a few emails. Pre-Internet, I liked to start my writing day by writing a letter to a friend. I miss that. I worry what will happen to history if letter writing goes away forever. It’s such a revealing art.

Q. What is your mode of writing?

A. I write on an iMac. Arthritis (and probably lack of use!) limits how much writing by hand I can do. I have strange handwriting, half-cursive, half-print, very hard even for me to read. Writing on the computer makes things so much easier for me. What works for you is the way to go.

Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?

A. The “zone,” that wonderful, addictive, “I am but a vessel” kind of feeling only comes when it wishes, doggone it, but I always write in pursuit of it. It’s writer cocaine.

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

A. From the moment I could hold a pencil, I was reporting on things, writing to understand things that happened, and in my head, whole stories were forming. All writing is serious.

Q. How long after that were you published?

A. Thirty plus years, with the occasional poem, short story published here and there in a journal, or newspaper. Really, for most writers, you’ve got to live a little life in order to have anything worthwhile to write about. You can’t fake the kinds of issues it takes to write a book that compels a reader. Take for instance grief. Or the highest moment of happiness you can imagine. Or something as small as a minor injustice that doesn’t sit right with you gathers weight, momentum. If you want to say anything of worth about those topics, you either have to have experienced them, pursued them, or watched them happen to someone else.

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

A. I suppose it looks like a messy, disorganized pile of research books, empty coffee cups, talismans, doodles, distractions at the start. Strangely, because writing is so ephemeral these days, it’s kind of invisible. It lives in “The Cloud,” or Carbonite, rarely in concrete pages until it’s fashioned into a book. I print out to edit by hand because I need to have that concrete format………

Biography Jo-Ann Mapson lives and writes in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her husband and three Italian greyhounds. Her 11 novels can best be described as slightly Southwestern in setting, character-oriented in execution, and edgy with humor that sometimes goes awry. Among her favorite things are dogs, Old Gringo cowboy boots, reading, making jam, green chile, and laughter with friends and family. Her second novel, Blue Rodeo, was made into a CBS television movie starring Kris Kristofferson. Several of her books have been bestsellers. Many of her books have been Indie bound and Booksense picks. She won the American Library Association’s RUSA award for Solomon’s Oak, and has been honored with awards for research and creativity at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where she is core fiction faculty in the low residency MFA Program that she created with her colleagues. Forthcoming from Bloomsbury is Owen’s Daughter, which features some of her characters from Blue Rodeo as well as the family in Finding Casey (2012). She is currently at work on a new novel.

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Part II will be featured in the February 7th blog and Part III February 12th . Don’t miss this fascinating look into a best-selling author’s writing life.

http://www.joannmapson.com/

To go to other interviews: click here

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Mr. Churchill’s Cat….research can be a joy!

Nazi codes in the hem of a dress?

I had just finished reading Susan Elia MacNeal’s Mr. Churchill’s Secretary and was inspired to write a short play about Winston Churchill and his cat, Nelson. Ms. MacNeal referred, in passing, to Mr. Churchill’s pets being allowed free rein to wander the war rooms at #10 Downing Street during Churchill’s time in office. I could clearly see the rotund, shambling figure of the Prime Minister with two pugs yapping at his heels while Admiral Nelson, the cat, silently observed the general hysteria of dogs, from high on a side table.

Churchill was a master not only in crafting the English sentence but also in the coinage of words. His tongue-in-cheek comment: “A fanatic is one who won’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.” is a favorite of mine. In a World War I speech, (1914) Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty coined the phase ‘business as usual‘. Saying the maxim of the British people is “business as usual.” Churchill gave the world the phrase: “Iron Curtain” in his speech in Missouri in 1946 when he said, “..…an iron curtain has descended across the continent.”

Having grown up during the post-war years, I knew something of Mr. Churchill. A historic figure that was a great statesman, orator and leader. But I really knew nothing of the man. And once again, (as I have mentioned before) I began a project and then started my research.

Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, (which I highly recommend) is fiction but based in fact. Ms. MacNeal was fortunate enough to have several interviews with Churchill’s private secretary before her death. The book is about a ‘typist’ who was relegated to a menial job because of her gender. She was actually educated in mathematics and cryptology and could easily have fitted in with MI-Five (British CIA) but for her being a woman. The novel’s heroine, Maggie, saves the Prime Minister from certain death by breaking a Nazi code. And this brings me to the fashion advert that actually ran in the London Times and was full of Nazi messages. All the stitching (around sleeves and hem) was Morse code for attacks at #10 Downing and St. Paul’s cathedral.

“German spies hid secret messages in drawings of models wearing the latest fashions in an attempt to outwit Allied censors during World War Two, according to British security service files. Nazi agents relayed sensitive military information using the dots and dashes of Morse code incorporated in the drawings. They posted the letters to their handlers, hoping that counter-espionage experts would be fooled by the seemingly innocent pictures. But British secret service officials were aware of the ruse and issued censors with a code-breaking guide to intercept them.” (actual advert from the London Times)

If not for my love of reading, my passion for writing, and the need for research, I would never have delved into Churchill’s life and his time in office. (my interests don’t generally take that path). It’s an unexpected delight to learn more about this amazing statesman. He was quirky, irritable, brilliant, and very funny.

And all because I had begun writing a short play about Mr. Churchill and his cat! I love when that happens!!

Recommendations: DVD “Into The Storm” starring Albert Finney as Churchill.
Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal
The Wit and Wisdom of Winston Churchill by James C. Humes (paperback)
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Start your Month Off right! with MY NEW SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner” INTERVIEWS with other BEST- SELLING AUTHORS! Early February we shall visit with Jo-Ann Mapson, best selling author of “Solomon’s Oak”, “Blue Rodeo” and new release, “Finding Casey”.
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To receive my posts sign up for my blog. Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog“. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

What does it look like? From ‘no book’ to ‘finished book’?

Recently a fellow writer and friend asked me this question: “What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?” In the new series, “The Writer’s Corner” it seems to be each featured author’s favorite question. Having also completed 16 novels I’d like to add my two cents:

I used my play script (by the same name) as my book outline/treatment. As the scenario was so current (because it was a play), I found that flashbacks were a great way to flesh out each woman’s story and it served me well.

It took me a year and four months to write and edit it. That equals 72,000 words.

I did not have a deadline and it probably would have really helped. I was my own deadline setter and that didn’t work out so well. On the other hand, I think having a publisher breathing down my neck would have stifled my creative flow. When life got in the way I wouldn’t work on it for weeks but then I would get inspired and work on it for days, weeks, non-stop, sometimes 10-14 hours a day. So I guess it all evened out. Whatever you do, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t write for a few days… although I preach that you should write something every day. But if you hit a dry spell, you’ll make up for it with better, more relaxed creative writing.

Because I inherently ‘rush’, I found that I had to watch-dog myself and be careful not to leave out important roads of the story. I was in early proofing of the final product of my novel and realized (in a countless re-read) that I had never described my female negotiator’s physical appearance. (Yikes!). Again, (if the writer tends to rush) go back and re-read your work to see where you need to flesh out a chapter or a character.

I am not structured at all. I write a new project in my head for days, weeks and then when my brain is about to burst I begin putting it down on paper (computer). I also write out of sequence and I think that’s okay. My novel’s last chapter was completed months before the middle was written.

Some writers have actually written whole books while blogging; they found it less daunting by writing in segments. At the end they had a book and then they published. If you need a deadline the days that you commit to writing a blog would serve. For me this wouldn’t work; I would feel too exposed having my rough draft out there for the world to see as I am a writer who slams it down the first time around and then edit, edit, delete, edit. Did I mention that the lettering is worn off my ‘delete’ key?

Frequently I will begin a story that has inspired me, not knowing much about the subject. It has sometimes stopped me dead in my tracks while I researched (example: hostage negotiations or building a cabin in the 1920’s). I had 8 pages of a new play about Winston Churchill written and had to stop to do research. I find that it can be done while I am writing and that is what I prefer. It’s more fun and keeps me interested. I don’t think I would do well having my research all done before I put my story down. I find that the research itself inspires my story line.

And then there is that unseen, unheard phenomenon where, with any luck, the characters take over and you become the typist. . This has happened to me time and again, and while I resisted at first (being a control-freak) I now embrace and welcome it. In Women Outside the Walls my character Alma, at sixteen, is abandoned by her promiscuous mother. Alma is befriended by the ex-girl friend of the man Alma had a teen crush on. They end up being room mates. I could never have dreamed that one up; but my characters got together and decided that this was what they would to do.

I don’t think that there is a right or wrong way to go through the process. Each writer should be unique in how they work. Instead of thinking of it as a project/deadline ‘thing’; think of it as a work of art, created just for you and by you. Where possible, let the characters lead you. They will never steer you wrong!

well, there you have it…the process such as it is and how it works for me.

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‘The Life’…..how do I know so much about it?

prostitution, research, short plays, monologues

I’ve been asked by several of my readers how can I write so accurately and make it so ‘real‘ when I write about prostitution and ‘the life?‘ Experience, my dear. How else?

Many, many years ago, I was staying on the beach in Honolulu and late one night, I went down to the hotel’s coffee shop for a cup of Joe. Across the street I noticed tall, beautiful, well dressed women, (there were dozens of them) walking up and down. Where were they going? It was close to midnight. My waitress arched an eyebrow as she informed me that ‘they were….you know….’ladies of the night‘. This was in the 90’s and ladies did not throw out words like, ‘whores‘ or’ ho’s’. So I paid for my coffee and dashed across the street and started following these high class hookers up and down Kalakaua Avenue, on Waikiki Beach. They were well dressed, provocative but not cheap. Hair and makeup was perfect. As a writer, this was my chance to observe up close and personal. But not too ‘up close’, I hoped. The part I found hysterical was the girls would pick up Asian men and take them, not to a hotel, but down the boulevard to a park bench several blocks away from the busy sidewalks. The men would sit, all lined up, and wait patiently until the girls came back and got them. Later I noticed that the girls took their ‘breaks’ in an all night ice cream shop. I followed a few in, got in line behind them and introduced myself. I told them I was a writer and I asked if I could talk to them and ask questions. They cheerfully agreed. They told me that their biggest, best paying customers were Japanese business men. I asked about the ‘johns’ lined up on the park bench. They laughed and explained that the girls stored them there until they had enough men to take to the hotel. Kind of like a holding pen. The girls actually knew a little Japanese so that they could ‘negotiate’. Which act for how much??

They seemed almost as fascinated with me as I was with them. They fired away with their questions: why do I write? (a hard question to answer) would their stories be in a movie or on the stage? They laughed so hard when I told them how much (or how little) I make as a writer. They told me, “Girl? You gotta get into the ‘life’ and make some real money!’
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In 2005 I directed “The Oldest Profession” by Paula Vogel. It is a funny, bitter-sweet story of several old (over 60) prostitutes and their long time Madame. Again, RESEARCH!! This time as a director I needed to research prostitution so that we could do justice to Vogel’s script. I Googled the Chicken Ranch, a famous (if not the most famous) bordello in Nevada and then I called the Ranch. They put me right through and the manager was kind enough to answer all of my questions. We were so cordial that by the end of the call she said she was going to send me a ‘grab bag’ of goodies for my ‘girls‘. The funniest item she sent us was a menu that the men (customers, Johns, tricks) receive while waiting to pick a girl. ‘Nuff said! She seemed entertained by our conversation and she was very curious about our end of the business, that is, portraying old hookers on stage. We had a good laugh together!! Managing a stable of prostitutes wasn’t that much different from ‘directing’ a bunch of actresses!

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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. A NEW SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner” INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!I have had a wonderful response from other authors and plan on featuring an interview at least once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Anne Purser, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Elizabeth Gilbert, Tasha Alexander, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, 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!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To receive my posts sign up for my Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

The Writer’s Corner….an interview with author, Ann Purser (part 2)

(continued from January 15th) **An interview with Ann Purser**

Anyway, to resume: My husband was asked to write a TV critic column in a show biz paper, and he said how much? and they said thirty bob, and he said “My old woman would do it for that!” And they said, “would she?” So I did, for several years, until SHE popped up again and said would I like to do a page each month, an interview with a lovely show biz person. So I did it for six years, and loved it.

Skipping lightly over a job in the village school, running an art gallery, and harbouring many pet animals, including a donkey – Now, to my first novel, this was a story of village life, and Orion took it on, and gave me a commission for six more. So I did those, and then wrote a murder mystery called Murder on Monday, which nobody wanted to publish. Then luckily, a very nice man called Edwin at Severn House Publishing, said he would do it, and that started my career as a mystery novelist. Six of these were slotted by those who like pigeon-holing, into a category called Cozies. Nuff said.

Actually, with the music playing, I am quite able to shut out extraneous other noises. I can usually work fast and have never (crossing all fingers) had writers` block. There is no telephone in Harriet`s House, and my husband (same one) keeps callers at bay.

One of your questions, about `no book` to `finished book`, had me thinking. By now, I have evolved a habit of starting a new book immediately after finishing the last. Then it gets a bit mixed up when I have copy editing etc. to do. But my present publisher, Berkley Prime Crime, Penguin US, is expert and wonderful, and so everything slots into place. At the moment I am writing two books a year.

Inspiration? There`s a thing. Who knows where it comes from? A fevered imagination in my case, probably. But with Lois Meade, there was a specific point when the wheels began to turn. My cleaning lady (with us for thirty years) said one day, half way down the stairs, “I`ve often thought I`d like to be a detective. I get to hear and see a lot of things in my job.” And there it was, handed to me on a plate.

Ivy Beasley, the elderly detective in my second series, is the only person based on a real one. She was a single lady of some years who was awkward, independent and once asked the parish council to investigate the theft of her knickers from the washing line. She is sadly now deceased, and I hope her heavenly knickers are left undisturbed.

So that`s enough about me, Trish! Apologies if I have not answered vital questions. All the best, and carry on the good work. Ann. **********

Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS continuing A NEW SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner” INTERVIEWS with other best selling AUTHORS!

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and plan on featuring an interview at least once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Elizabeth Gilbert, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, 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!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To receive my posts sign up for my blog. Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog“. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

The Writer’s Corner…an interview with author, Ann Purser (part 1)

Do other writers (like me) sometimes find themselves at 4 in the afternoon still in their pajamas, writing furiously? Do all of their #2 pencils have to be sharpened before they can begin?

I thought my readers might enjoy hearing about other authors‘ writing processes. So I created a Question & Answer-type Interview and then began contacting some of my favorite authors to ask them to participate. The response has been wonderful and I can’t wait to share it with you.

My first interview was with British author, Ann Purser. www.annpurser.com She is best known for her witty and charming (and beautifully written) mysteries in a small English village. The main character, Lois Meade and her band of ‘cleaners’ make for a sometimes hilarious but cunning read. Ann was so generous with her answers that I have made this interview into a two-parter. I hope you enjoy her fascinating journey as much as I did!

I asked questions like: Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? What is your mode of writing? Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative? Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long? When did you begin to write seriously?

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

**An Interview with author, Ann Purser**

Hi Trish! Nice of you to invite me – so here goes.

You ask me lots of questions which I will try to answer: I write in an annexe originally built for disabled daughter and called Harriet`s House. All switches at wheelchair height, and handy loo and shower. Five mornings a week, I am in there pounding away at the keyboard and blessing whoever it was who invented the computer, since the Delete button is so much quicker than a grubby pink typewriter rubber. First thing to do is find a cd – I have music playing always, since we live next to the village school, and the deafening noise the little dears make is quite remarkable!

English, born in Leicestershire. Tried my hand at many things, details of which are boringly on my website, but eventually was driven to write a book. I say driven, because at that time my eight year old daughter, born prematurely, was struggling with cerebral palsy, and I was struggling with managing her, plus two subsequent energetic little ones. My husband – a writer and critic – once Critic of the Year – got so fed up with listening to my moans that he said “Why don`t you write down how you feel, and we`ll send it to SHE magazine.”

NOW, it so happens that the editor at that time was an ex-girlfriend of said husband, and she very nicely featured my burblings on a couple of pages. There were pictures of my daughter, very delicate and heart-breakingly pretty, and of me looking vacant.

It was a start, and although I didn’t follow it up for some time, I was asked by the Spastics Society to help write a book for parents. Not technical, not preachy, just based on our experiences. Did this, and it came in pink hard covers, and some good reviews. You and Your Handicapped Child was followed by a school book with the snappy title, Looking Back at Popular Entertainment, 1901-1931. Writing this taught me a lot about research, and the nicest part was finding old photos of show biz stars from the Hulton Picture Library.

“We don`t want to know all this,” I hear you say. But the fact is, and I`m sure other writers will bear me out on this, nothing in one`s experience, whether years ago or yesterday, should be wasted. Tiny things, like Ivy Beasley`s mother`s voice in her head, float up to be remembered and used.

.……..to be continued on January 17th. Hope you’ll join us!

To receive my posts sign up for my blog. Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

Can you write?

Can you write: if your #2 pencils are not sharpened? If your desk is messy or clean? If you haven’t showered? If the wrong music is playing?

I have been writing non-stop since seven in the morning. I got up, fed the dogs and the cat, put on my pot of tea, put the dogs out, washed my face, brought the dogs in, and then sat down just to check my e-mail. It’s one o’clock in the afternoon and I’m still in my night-gown with a T-shirt hurriedly thrown over it, bare footed, , drinking cold tea, and still at it. My cat is sprawled over my desk to the left of the keyboard (for once, she’s not walking on it, adding words I don’t want, like ddddrrrrzzzzzzzzz and qqqqqqqppppbbb4bbbb.) I am in my studio surrounded by art that I love, mementos that I have collected, photos of people I love or have loved, and my siren’s song calls……..

I’m probably undiagnosed ADD because, all at the same time, I’m editing my second children’s book preparing it for audio production, writing this blog, and corresponding with my producer for the new audio-book.

These are some of my rituals as I greet each day. I thought it would be fun to read about other authors’ rituals and processes in a casual and intimate look behind the scenes into their world. The new series begins this Tuesday, Jan. 15th.

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and plan on featuring an interview at least once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser (our first interview) Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Mark Childress, Charles Bukowski, Elizabeth Gilbert, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, 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!

Auld Lang Syne…a hodge-podge of memories

It’s that time of year….Auld Lang Syne or as the Scotsman/poet, Robbie Burns would write, “old long since”. And I’m in the mood to tell a story.

Christmas Eve I was in the grocery store buying flowers for a hostess gift (big Irish family had invited me to share their Christmas dinner), some mini-cupcakes for the same event and some fruit. As I wandered toward the produce section it suddenly struck me that for every woman in the store there were at least ten men shopping. I smiled to myself as I pictured ‘Mama’ in the kitchen prepping food for the big day and realizing she had forgotten to buy some ingredient. Yelling for her husband as she dashed off a small list, he is sent off to the store with a final, “.…and hurry!”

I noticed a middle-aged man walking away from his cart which was blocking the apples, of course. Where was he going? To the scale? Who weighs out their produce anymore? Apparently this man did. As I picked out my four Fiji apples, he hurried back, smiled and moved his cart, saying, “can you believe how much it costs to eat healthy?” I laughed and remarked how the red delicious apples were so much tastier out of state. That I was from Washington and I was convinced that they shipped the best of our delicious apples to other markets. We easily fell into swapping stories. He reminisced how, as a boy in upstate New York, his family would buy a bushel of apples, cheap, from a local orchard. They would store them in their naturally climate-controlled cellar and have fresh apples the entire winter. We wished each other ‘happy holidays’ and went our separate ways.

As I drove home, in a very ‘Auld Lang Syne’ kind of food-mood, I remembered things from my long ago youth at holiday time. Especially my mother’s traditions in the kitchen. Christmas dinner was a big stuffed turkey with all, and I do mean all, the trimmings. Dinner began with a ‘shrimp cocktail’. If there was fresh shrimp (and there had to have been; we lived in the Pacific Northwest for goodness sakes); my mother had never heard of them. Canned shrimp filled two third’s of a martini glass, topped with her homemade cocktail sauce (ketchup with horseradish and minced celery). A sprig of parsley on top and the glass was then placed on a paper doilie covered saucer. On the saucer was ONE, (never two or three) Ritz cracker.

The sage, giblet stuffing was made from scratch and that means my mother saved the heels of bread loaves for weeks. I’ve never tasted dressing as good since. She would make the usual trimmings, gravy from the turkey drippings, green beans (out of a can, of course) flavored with bits of boiled bacon, baked sweet potatoes, and jellied cranberry sauce. She considered whole berry cranberry sauce savage. Home made biscuits and mashed potatoes. And then the pièce de résistance………..her oyster dressing. Heaven in a bite!

Not being a particularly religious family the blessing would be short. We would toast each other with Manischewitz wine. A wine connoisseur she was not! And I never knew why a Kosher red wine was part of her tradition. As a little girl I was served one part wine and five parts water. I felt very grown up drinking my ‘wine’.

As dishes were passed around the table, someone would always mention my mother’s off colored joke about a “boarding house reach“. It went like this: My mother, a stickler for good manners, would instruct us that a ‘boarding house reach’ was when you could ‘reach’ for something on the table and at least one cheek remained on the seat of your chair. That was an acceptable ‘reach’ and not bad manners. Otherwise, you must ask politely for someone to pass down what you wanted.

I was never certain whether she had run a boarding house or had just lived in one sometime during her 1920’s flapper, bar owner, professional bowler, speckled younger days. If she had run a bordello it would not have surprised me! Miss you, Mom!

*********************

Footnote: “Auld Lang Syne” is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song (Roud # 6294). It is well-known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight. By extension, it is also sung at funerals, graduations and as a farewell or ending to other occasions.

The song’s Scots title may be translated into English literally as “old long since”, or more idiomatically, “long long ago”, “days gone by” or “old times”.

Appearing in Your Own Ironic Little Story

Back on September 27th I wrote a post about finding inspiration for my writing in weird places…..grocery check-out lines….

to quote myself, “Well, it turned out that in front of the ‘boxes’ in his cart, and out of my line of sight, were two dozen very tiny cans of dog food. It seems that you can buy three tablespoons of dog food in individual cans for your darling pet……”

Now I am starring in my own ironic story of September 27th. You see, I have acquired a new kitten, 12 weeks old, and like a good parent (the other day) I was buying the cat food that she prefers. Fancy Feast, Classic. In a rainbow of flavors: salmon, seafood, turkey. All in adorable 3 Tablespoon sized cans. And of course another new toy for Fiona’s playtime pleasure.

I was instantly reminded of the old man whom I had observed, not so long ago, indulging his pet’s needs. Now, I found myself chuckling as I stood alone in the check out line, much to the dismay of my neighbors. Then, with relief, they realized that I was not a danger to them or their children….just some daffy old woman with her twenty cans of cat food. (They were on sale)

I had become a cliché!

What, you ask, has this to do with writing? Well, I guess I am emphasizing again to keep your ears and eyes, and particularly your minds open to the possibilities. I have found my stories in prison visiting rooms, my own relationships, reality dance TV shows, a plethora of childhood family stories, dating sites, a haunted lighthouse……..the list goes on and on.

And, who knows, maybe I was someone’s muse, an inspiration that day in the check out line. Perhaps the young man behind me will rush back to his studio and paint me, or the middle-aged woman in front will return home to write a short story about the elderly woman with the fiery red hair and her 20 cans of cat food. Wondering all the while, how many cats did I really have?

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