DON’T MISS PART 3 of this entertaining interview with bestselling author Caroline Leavitt
Tuesday, June 11th
Excerpt: “I can’t go on without a good first chapter because often, when I am in the middle of the book, and I feel it’s a mess, I need to go back and say, “Well, I wrote a really great first chapter, I can’t give up now, can I?” And I don’t.
Then comes the writing. I write and rewrite, sometimes up to 30 drafts….”
Dorothy Parker famously said: “I hate writing. I enjoy having written.”
‘Don’t we all? We love the end result, the feeling of accomplishment and creative fulfillment. But the hardest thing for most writers is the simple act of getting started. ‘ (copyblogger.com)
‘NO! Not true! Or at least that’s not how I feel about the art of writing. I can’t wait to see where my characters will lead me. I don’t force it. I don’t tell myself ‘I must write today’ or ‘I must write for two hours every day’. Sometimes I don’t write at all and sometimes (thankfully most times) I will write up to 3,000 words at one sitting.
You don’t have to be a tortured, guilt-ridden, flagellating soul. Go to your writing as if you are meeting up with a great friend. Go to your writing as if you are thirsty and have found a crystal clear pool of mountain water. Go to your writing as if you are being re-united with a lost love. Go to your writing as if it is the next breath you need.
I believe that if you dread it, procrastinate, hate it, you are writing the wrong thing. Put it away for now. Start something you are excited about. Write something you love writing about.
Find that something to write that makes you ‘hate’ the time it takes to shower, eat, sleep, do errands. You can shower, eat, sleep do errands, later. WRITE!’ ~~ Trisha Sugarek
“It’s simple. You just take something and do something to it, and then do something else to it. Keep doing this, and pretty soon you’ve got something.” ~~ Jasper Johns
“Nothing is exciting if you know what the outcome is going to be.” ~~Joseph Campbell
“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.”
~~Chinese Proverb 
“If my doctor told me I had six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.” ~~Isaac Asimov
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Tomorrow join me for Part 2 of my interview with best selling author, Caroline Leavitt
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”
I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, 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! Mark Childress was our April author. Robert McCammon was our May writer. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
This is a wonderful and rich Interview with prolific author, Caroline Leavitt.
I had not read Caroline’s work until she granted me this interview. I just finished “Is This Tomorrow” and can now highly recommend her as an author. This story kept me guessing throughout. The characters were real and well developed. I liked them and cared about what happened to them.
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?
A. My husband and I were really lucky to buy this 1865 three-story brick row house. We use the whole top floor for our offices (we can wave to each other across the hall.) I love my office. It has a fireplace, a couch for naps (mostly my husband takes them), my desk, of course, two big windows that look out on the city and all sorts of things that have meaning to me, including a big pair of white feathery wings I bought when I was writing pictures of you, a painting of Istanbul that my husband gave me, and various toys.
It’s a wonderful thing to have an office with a door. At the end of the day, we can leave work behind. And the commute to work is so easy! (I’ve done it in my pajamas.)
Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)
A. Nope. I just have to sit down at my desk and stay there. Though usually I want coffee in the morning, something I just discovered two years ago. I couldn’t believe what it did! I knew it made your more energized, but I didn’t know it boosted your mood! Now I can’t live without it, though it is starting to make me a little nervous.
Q. What is your mode of writing? (long hand? Pencil? Computer? Etc.)
A. I’m a Mac girl, all the way. Sometimes, I will take printouts with me and scribble on them if I am going someplace on the subway, but because my handwriting is so atrocious, I don’t usually do that.
Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative?
A. I am at my desk every morning by nine or ten and I don’t stop writing for four hours or longer. I never wait until I am feeling creative because some days, many days, you simply don’t feel that! I feel like so much of writing has to do with the subconscious and by sitting down and writing every day, you are priming the pump, so to speak!
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?
A. When the writing is going well, I do. Usually for four hours. Those are the moments you live for. I love being “in the zone” when you aren’t aware of anything else. There is a joke in my family that someone could shout out “FIRE!” and I wouldn’t hear it because I would be so lost in this other world. Of course, that also happens to me when I am reading.
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Bio: I’m the author of Girls In Trouble, Coming Back To Me, Living Other Lives, Into Thin Air, Family, Jealousies, Lifelines and Meeting Rozzy Halfway. Various titles were optioned for film, translated into different languages, and condensed in magazines. Her ninth novel, Pictures of You, was A New York Times bestseller, it was also a Costco “Pennie’s Pick,” A San Francisco Chronicle Editor’s Choice “Lit Pick,” and was one of the top 20 books published so far in 2011, as named by BookPage. Pictures of You was also on the Best Books of 2011 lists from The San Francisco Chronicle, The Providence Journal, Bookmarks Magazine and Kirkus Reviews. Her new novel, Is This Tomorrow, will be published May 2013 by Algonquin Books. Cruel Beautiful World will be out sometime in 2014-2015. Her essays, stories, book reviews and articles have appeared in the New York Times (Modern Love), Salon, Psychology Today, The New York Times Sunday Book Review, People, Real Simple, New York Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, Parenting, The Chicago Tribune, Parents, Redbook, The Washing ton Post, The Boston Globe and numerous anthologies.
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Don’t miss Parts 2 & 3 of this interview on June 7 and 11th.
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”
I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, 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! Mark Childress is our April author. Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
I know! I’m nagging my fellow writers about this. But, I need to convince you that no matter how much you hate what you’ve written (on any given day), and how much crap you might think it is (on any given day) and how much you might despise and doubt yourself (on any given day). DON’T THROW ANYTHING that you’ve written AWAY!
Put it out of sight so it won’t haunt you. Throw it in a drawer that you never open. I promise you, in a 
month, a year or even in several years you will bring it out, dust it off, edit and add to it and wonder why you ever hated it. It could be a short story that blossoms into a novel. It could be a few lines that turns into poetry.
I love what Charles Bukowski said on this subject; about pulling the ‘crap’ writing out of a box, filling it’s cavities, giving eye and ear examinations and………
my atomic stockpile by Charles Bukowski
I cleaned my place the other day
first time in ten years
and found 100 rejected poems:
I fastened them all to a clipboard
(much bad reading).
now I will clean their teeth
fill their cavities
give them eye and ear examinations
weigh them
offer blood transfusions
then send them out again into the
sick world of posey.
either that
or I must burn down your cities,
rape your women,
murder your men,
enslave your children.
every time I clean my room
the world trembles in the balance.
that’s why I only do it once every
ten years.
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This is a very funny (ironic) man and that’s why I am so drawn to him, in spite of his drunken, sexist, bigoted, misogynistic ways. Would I want him living in my house? God, NO! But would I like to go away with him for awhile to an island or a cabin in the mountains where we could drink, write, talk, yell, swear, debate, philosophize, and BE HONEST!! HELL, YES!!
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”
I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, 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! Mark Childress was our April author. Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter.
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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!
Rating: (4 out of 5 quills) 
“I Travel by Night”
From the first few pages the reader is catapulted into 
McCammon’s 19th century New Orleans, a city of shadows, indulgences, and exotic sights and smells. The descriptions are a rich tapestry of post-civil war days in the old south.
While the undead, horrific creatures, and spine chilling story telling are not exactly my personal taste in reading, I found McCammon’s style of writing captivating. I expected ‘blood and guts’ and got, instead, an attention grabbing vampire-hero who wants to redeem himself while rescuing humans. Like a fatal car crash I really didn’t want to look, but I couldn’t help but read it to the last riveting page.
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(excerpt) “…..horse-drawn carriages moved here and there in no particular hurry as if the night had no beginning nor end; piano music spilled into the puddled streets from rooms made golden by candlelight, the timeless river washed against the piers and pilings of exquisite decay, and the brick walls that had stood in the reign of the Ibervilles still stood in defiance of sun, wind, the dampness of the swamp and the hands of modern men. It was a magic and mystical city, wild in its freedoms and sacred in its charms…..”
The new story marks McCammon’s return to ‘the sort of flamboyant, go-for-broke horror fiction that has earned him an international reputation and a legion of devoted fans. The terrors of the Dark Society, and the tortured existence of the unforgettable vampire adventurer Trevor Lawson create a consuming atmosphere and will, once again, please McCammon’s loyal readers.’
‘For Lawson, the horrors that stalked the Civil War battlefield at Shiloh were more than just those of war. After being forcibly given the gift of undead by the mysterious vampire queen LaRouge, Lawson chose to cling to what remained of his humanity and fought his way free of the Dark Society’s clutches. In the decades since, he has roamed late nineteenth century America, doing what good he can as he travels by night, combating evils mundane and supernatural, and always seeking the key to regaining a mortal life.’
Released on May 31st. To read my interview with Robert McCammon click here. (review at the request of author/publicist)
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. This SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner” presents INTERVIEWS with 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: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Robert McCammon, Rhys Bowen,Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, Jeffrey Deaver 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! Mark Childress is our April author. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August‘s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander.
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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!
Mortality, death was a vague concept when I was young…..now it is a harsh truth…my days are numbered so every day has such importance. When I was young I could piss away days, weeks, months, in toxic jobs, toxic relationships, and never regretted that lost time. Never gave time a thought. After all I had plenty more where that came from. Now at seventy-one, I feel an anxiousness that I won’t get everything done….won’t get everything written….won’t finish the writing I want to do.
They say, ‘Youth is wasted on the young’….. so true because the young waste time and energy and life, just as I did, on the trivial, the mundane, the unimportant. I wish I could reach out and shake them and tell them, “Wake up! Fulfill your dreams and goals today! Before you know whats happened, you’ll be in your seventies and desperate for more time.”
You might be saying about now, “Hey, Trish. What brought on this rant? Are you sick?
Are you dying? Are you crazy? No? Then you must be reading more of Charles Bukowski. ” GUILTY as charged!!
My message is this: Begin writing, jump out of a plane, float the Amazon, climb a mountain, go fishing in Montana, buy that motorcycle or boat you always wanted, write a poem, have a child, hug your parents, start writing, go to Argentina without knowing another soul, walk the Appalachian Trail, sit in a park and watch the world go by…in Lisbon, rescue a dog or cat, say a prayer that you live long enough to fulfill your dreams!
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Small Talk (with Death) © Charles Bukowski
all right, while we are gently celebrating tonight
and while crazy classical music leaps at me from
my small radio, I light a fresh cigar
and realize that I am still very much alive and that
the 21st century is almost upon me!
I walk softly now toward 5 a.m. this dark night
my 5 cats have been in and out, looking after me,
I have petted them, spoken to them, they
are full of their own private fears wrought by previous
centuries of cruelty and abuse
but I think that they love me as much as they can,
anyhow, what I am trying to say here
is that writing is just as exciting and mad and
just as big a gamble for me as it ever was, because Death
after all these years
walks around in the room with me now and speaks softly,
asking, do you still think that you are a genuine writer?
are you pleased with what you’ve done?
listen, let me have one of those cigars.
help yourself, motherf—-, I say.
Death lights up and we sit quietly for a time.
I can feel him here with me.
don’t you long for the ferocity
of youth? He finally asks.
not so much, I say.
but don’t you regret those things
that have been lost?
not at all, I say.
don’t you miss, He asks slyly, the young girls
climbing through your window?
all they brought was bad news, I tell him.
but the illusion, He says, don’t you miss the illusion?
hell, yes, don’t you? I ask.
I have no illusions, He says sadly.
sorry, I forgot about that, I say, then walk
to the window
unafraid and strangely satisfied
to watch the warm dawn unfold.
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”
I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one of them once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Maya Angelou, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, 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! Mark Childress is our April author. Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
Review of Her Majesty’s Hope Rating: (5 out of 5 quills)
Yesterday Susan Elia MacNeal’s latest Maggie Hope mystery was released. It’s no surprise that I have been eagerly awaiting the 
release of His Majesty’s Hope by this accomplished writer.
Each of MacNeal’s books are ‘stand alone’ stories but to get the most pleasure from them, I highly recommend you read them in order. Starting with Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, we follow Maggie as she works as a lowly typist in a typing pool at #10 Downing Street in spite of her knowledge and natural ability with languages. She is a master of cryptology and codes but in the 1930’s it was unheard of for a woman to be used in that capacity.
She quickly rises in Mr. Churchill’s government and trains with the British CIA. I have to give a nod to Princess Elizabeth’s Spy because if you love the ‘royals’ (as I do) this is an amazing look into Windsor Castle when the now Queen was just a young girl. It’s a surprising and fascinating mystery.
The most current in this series takes a harsh, horrifying look at Hitler’s ethnic cleansing. Maggie is dropped into Germany as a spy and also to confront the mother she never knew and thought had died in a car crash years ago.
Seventy-five years later, the systematic destruction of the Jewish population is chilling and this gifted writer puts it in a context that is both horrifying and heart-breaking. MacNeal’s characters are full and rich with several story lines weaving through this period in our history. And 
then she neatly ties all the ends together, leaving you wanting more….which her fans will get with a little patience.
I was so pleased to have interviewed Susan a couple of months ago and if you missed it, click here.
(review at the request of author/publicist)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”
I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Maya Angelou, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, 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! Mark Childress is our April author. Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
I first met author, Andrew Grant, through his lovely wife, author Tasha Alexander. (Interviews with both coming later in the year) Andrew consented to an interview this winter in anticipation of his new book which will be released in 2014.
I had never read anything by Andrew but I do try to do my homework because I promised my readers that I was interviewing my favorite authors. So I ordered Grant’s book , “EVEN”.
And I am so happy that I did.
Ranking: 5 out of 5 quills A REVIEW “EVEN”
Andrew turns out to be a slick, savvy, clever, and ‘surprise you at every turn’ kind of writer. And his humor is dry as your morning toast. Which, if you know me, you know that I love me some DRY humor!
British Intelligence operative, David Trevellyan is a take action sort’a guy. At one point in the story he is forced to sit in on one of the FBI’s endless meetings and ruminates to himself: “Staying on to help Tanya fight her demons was one thing. I was thinking about time spent in restaurants, and bars, and other, more secluded places. Not in offices. Not sitting through endless meetings. Talk of corporations was a bad sign. Any mention of conspiracies and government contractors was worse. Interagency cooperation was only a sentence away. Task forces would be proposed. I knew how it would end up. If I let the FBI go down that road I’d never get away. I’d be stuck here for months.” See? Very funny man!
I will be buying more of the Trevellyan series as they are great stories. I always felt like James Bond was a bit of a 
spoof….entertaining especially with Sean Connery’s tongue in cheek delivery. But Andrew’s characters are very real and believable. In “EVEN” (as in getting…) Trevellyan, a seasoned operative for the British government finds himself in the crosshairs of the NYPD and the Feebs. He is their prime suspect in a murder. There is a sadistic, female villain that will give me nightmares for weeks.
This story is brilliantly plotted with lots of twists and turns and I look forward to reading more of Grant’s work. I highly recommend it.
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Don’t Miss It!! MONTHLY INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!
I have had a wonderful response from authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, Tasha Alexander, Andrew Grant, 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! Mark Childress is our April author. Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
It’s really been an eye opener since I began this series of short plays for today’s teenager and the classroom.
The research and the things I have learned about a teen’s world today have astounded and saddened me. Life was so much simpler when I was a teen.
But then I remembered that I ran away from home…..on my horse! ….for about four hours. I rode twenty miles into town and went to my boyfriend’s mother’s house. She was so much cooler than my mom! After discussing the whole problem with her (it must have been earth-shattering but I cannot, for the life of me, remember what it was about. I am certain that it had to do with my breaking the rules and my Dad grounding me.) I called my Mom and she told me if I could get back home, again on horseback, before my Dad woke up she wouldn’t tell him.
We galloped all the way back home!
But, I digress. It astonished me; the number of teens who run away. This from www.troubled-teen.com: ‘Some troubled teens are high risk for becoming teen runaways when they feel like they can’t handle problems at home. This is a frightening experience for parents and for teens. According to the National Runaway Switchboard, 1.6 to 2.8 million young people run away every year. Many teen runaways quickly find that running away is worse than the problems they have at home, but they may be afraid to go home.’
So I thought I’d write another play #27, for the classroom on this subject. One where teens could ‘role play’ running away
(’cause we know that it has crossed most teenager’s minds to do that very thing.) in a safe environment and perhaps get a feeling for just how dangerous it is.
Synopsis: Molly is fifteen and defiant when it comes to the rules her single parent Mom has set down. When she is forbidden to see the older boy she is dating and then grounded for a month, Molly runs away. Only to find that the streets are no place to run to. This short play for the classroom or drama department offers a safe environment for teenagers to explore the risks of running away from home. 3f. 1m. Cast can be expanded.
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!
I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, 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! Mark Childress is our April author. Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
Author and Embalmer, Amber Winckler, is interviewed
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?
A. My writing takes place all over. I am a memo book writer from way back and I have them everywhere: my purse, my locker at work, beneath the seat of my car… I often text or email ideas and thoughts to myself via my phone, so I don’t forget them. As any writer knows, good ideas tend to float away if you don’t quickly trap them in real time, dragging them from the abyss and converting them into words.
Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)
A. No consistent rituals. I do need to be alone. Sometimes I listen to music if I am writing a piece that needs to be colored by a particular emotion. Some entire scenes from my books have been written to a single song looped over and over for hours. Having my cat around is always nice.
Q. What is your mode of writing?
A. Long hand is still my first choice, but I am slowly converting my brain (and hand) over to the keyboard. Still, writing with a good, heavy pen that rolls smooth and easy is the way my thoughts flow best. After the accumulation of memo books and notes becomes too overwhelming, I begin converting them over to my computer.
Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative?
A. I am not a disciplined writer. I find that a set time brings out my innate need to rebel. I choose not to make my living through writing. In my mind, I earn my daily bread as a mortician. I write for me. That is how I try to protect my writing from becoming spoiled or tedious. When I have been on a schedule, my writing stalls. I also need lots of time in between writing to read. Reading 
classics inspire me, and I need to be exposed to men and women who string together words like music. Reading helps me remember why people write. It is glorious.
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A note from a fan, Lori S: An impressive creativity is found throughout the writings of Winckler. Plots are fascinating although disturbing and show an underlying wash of disgust. This is something one cannot just “put down” and read later. Those with an iron stomach and vivid imaginations will benefit most from the outrageous and bold detail the writer supplies. Witnessing a train wreck could compare. You want know about it, you don’t want to look — but you do anyway.
The writer offers a compelling combination of life experience to her writing with her background in embalming and working for a 
coroner, it lends her the ability to recognize every gory detail that would usually go unnoticed by a layman. One of her stories must be finished in its entirety, while you are sitting on the edge trying to determine how the tale will unfold. It is hard to distinguish a genre for these writings and in conclusion, it is believed that the reader determines that. For now it’s fiction for definition, but is it really?
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Don’t miss Part 2 on Wednesday, April 24th!
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”
I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, 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! Mark Childress is our April author. Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter.
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