Writers! Do You Know the Basics of good grammar?

15 Grammar Goofs That Make You Look Silly
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Are you like me?  Even though I know it’s ‘its‘ that I want, my fingers type ‘it’s‘ when what I really meant was  ‘its’.  Just this morning I caught myself using ‘whose’ when what I really meant to say was ‘who’s’.  Thank goodness for grammar check!  It surprises me every time I see someone who doesn’t know the sometimes subtle differences between nouns, verbs, and adjectives and the infamous dangling participle.  For writers who want to present themselves as professional this is the kiss of doom.  Your reader will be jarred and thrown off  ‘the cadence of reading’ by your goofy grammar.  I loved this article and graphic offered by copyblogger.com.  Really a good one to save!
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  DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!    Join us at 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 MacNealMark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Caroline Leavitt, Sue Grafton, Karen Robards, 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!  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is November’s author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year.
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To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  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 birth of CSI …an Interview with Rhys Bowen (part 2)

    I SAT DOWN WITH Rhys Bowen (wish that were true) and HERE IS PART II of my INTERVIEW WITH HER.

Catch up with Part I of this great interview!

 

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

A. I write historical mystery series so I come to a new book knowing a lot about my main character, a lot about her background. So I am not starting from a blank canvas each time. I usually start from a setting, an environment. I know I’d like to send Molly to an enclosed convent in search of a missing baby. I have no idea what will happen there or who I will meet until I start to write it. My books always go in directions I hadn’t suspected.  (sound familiar?)


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

A.With Molly Murphy I knew I wanted to write a feisty first person female who didn’t know when to shut up. With Lady Georgie I wanted to write the most unlikely sleuth I could think of—royal but penniless.

Q. What inspired your story/stories ?

A. The Molly books were conceived because I visited Ellis Island and was so emotionally overcome by what I saw and felt there, I just knew I had to set a story there. The Royal Spyness books started from wanting to write something fun and funny and about British aristocrats in the 30s.

Q. When is your next book coming out? (or) What are you working on?Rhys Bowen, best selling authors, best sellers, writing

A.March 5.  It’s a Molly book, The Family Way. My next Royal Spyness book will be out on August 6, called Heirs and Graces. (reviewed here in August).  I’m currently writing the 13th Molly book, called City of Darkness and Light. It takes place among painters in Paris.

Q. As a fan of your work I am currently reading “Royal Blood” (from the Royal Spyness series).  What inspired the story line? Had you visited ‘Bran Castle’? Met royals? Attended a royal wedding, perhaps?

A. I wrote Royal Blood because vampire novels were suddenly so popular that I wanted to write a spoof on all things vampire.  I haven’t visited Bran castle but I have been to plenty of similar castles in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic so I had a good feel for it.

I have met plenty of real royals… all English. I had tea with the current queen. I was presented to the queen mother. I met Princess Margaret and saw Queen Mary when she was very old but still so regal and stately.  But alas, no royal weddings. I’d have liked to be at William and Kate’s.

Q. Have you? Or do you want to write in another genre`?

A. I suppose like all writers I’d like to write that one definitive literary novel.

Rhys.photoClick here to read Part I of this interview
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A review of Bowen’s “Oh Danny Boy”, another Molly Murphy mystery.
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring 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 . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name:: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNealMark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Karen Robards, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Caroline Leavitt, Heidi Jon Schmidt, 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!  July features Rhys BowenSue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha AlexanderJeffrey Deaver is November’s author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year.
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To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  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…Trisha Sugarek’s “Song of the Yukon”

           alaska, homestead,adventure, lesbian, gay, best seller, fiction, fiction for womenMIDWEST BOOK REVIEW ~~  ‘Song of the Yukon  is a powerful historical novel that opens in the Yukon in 1923 where LaVerne’s new cabin is being erected by a team of helpful neighbors and friends, and tells of one strong woman’s long-held dream of homesteading and how the Homestead Act led her to build a new home, sweetened by her discovery of gold on her property.

In the next instant readers are transported to 1921 Washington State, where LaVerne shares a single room with her sisters in a crowded farmhouse and longs for something different in her future. It is here that her dream of a better life in Alaska evolves: an uncrowded life offering opportunities to ‘rule and obey’, and plenty of space.homestead, Alaska, fiction, Song of the Yukon

Song of the Yukon begins with this dream and works outward as it follows LaVerne’s efforts to hone and realize her desires upon discovering that the Alaskan frontier offers her a unique opportunity to “…chase your dreams there, be whoever you want to be…no one telling you what to do and what not to do…”

From boat rides on the Yukon River to encounters with native tribes to filing homestead papers and working the land, LaVerne uses newfound frontier wisdom as a basis for expanding both her music and her perceptions: “No man owns what Mother Spirit does not freely give.” Joe replied.  What a charming folk tale, LaVerne thought. And Joe seems to believe it. I could use the story in one of my songs.”Alaska, fiction, homestead, Song of the Yukon

It is here she encounters her first real friend and learns the realities of frontier life and homesteading: experiences that will shape her life, help her create music, and lead her in directions no woman has explored before.

But Sugarek in her third novel, Song of the Yukon, covers more than music growth, more than homesteading in the wilderness, and even more than testing one’s abilities against a foreign environment. Most of all, it’s about one woman’s determination to achieve her dream against any odds – and it provides readers with not only a solid background in frontier experiences, but a sense of self and accomplishment that heroine LaVerne learns through hard Alaska, fiction, homestead, family histories,best sellersexperience.

It is a commanding saga recommended for a range of readers. Thank you for the opportunity to look at your fine title! ~~ Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review ~~

Tip: You can find legitimate book reviewers to review your book BEFORE you publish.  This is important because then you can use a tag from the review on the front or back cover.  Example: “….A commanding saga…” Midwest Book Review.  I know you’ve seen these tags on book covers and they are powerful marketing tools.
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Estimated release date Fall, 2013.  Look for it wherever you buy your books and here in my bookstore!
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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 . 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, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Caroline Leavitt, Heidi Jon Schmidt, 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 blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  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!

Inspiration Mixed with Research = New Novel! (part 2)

alaska, northern lights, fiction, best sellers, alaska, Yukon,            I am taking a small break this morning from writing. I have written 37,000 (of 75,000) words of my new novel,  “Song of the Yukon”.  One of the Guyer sisters, family stories, writing, journaling, story telling, Alaska, research, sisters,LaVerne, has run away to  Alaska to write her music. (far left in photo)  This novel was inspired by the true story of my auntie living in Alaska and the poetry of Robert Service. By the way, have you read anything by him? It’s worth it, I promise!

I wanted to talk about research for a moment.  Just fifteen years ago research for this book (set in the 1920’s in Alaska) would have meant hours and hours in the library and a mountain of reference books. NOW?!!??

It’s just two clicks of the mouse and I can find anything I need on line. How long to sail from Seattle to Anchorage in 1922? Was there rail service to Fairbanks in the 20’s? Was there river travel from Fairbanks to Tanana where my story will take place? What was the name of the trading post in Fairbanks back then? AMAZING!!!

I have even been able to research the languages of the Upper and Lower Tanana native Alaskan.

Then I got a bright idea!  My heroine is writing music, right? So the very least I should do is have some of her lyrics in my story.   I am not a musician other than singing in the shower.  So I called on my dear friend, Ben Rafuse, who is a professionally, trained pianist and composer.  He is collaborating, with me, on the music that LaVerne writes and with luck, we will end by publishing the sheet music for Ben’s original songs  in the back of the book and even offer a download.  I’ve mentioned before how much I love to collaborate with others.

So, if you can’t reach me…..it’s because I’m deep in the wilds of the Yukon….at least on the inside!
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NOW Available!  My new novel,  Wild Violets”  for sale here and on www.amazon.com
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!    Join us at the Writer’s Corner! I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNealMark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Caroline Leavitt, Sue Grafton, Karen Robards, 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!   Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author.  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander.  Later this year we will feature Andrew Grant and Karen Robards.
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To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  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!

‘You Have to Lay Down like an Animal Until it Charges….’

Charles Bukowski, writing, creating, writers           I had not worked on my novel for several days and I was getting itchy.  I have learned that it’s okay…not to write.  I have several good ideas rattling around in the attic and I am reading voraciously and writing my blog.  It’s a recurring theme, from me to my readers,  about not forcing it, not to beat yourself up because it is not coming.

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent it with the man in my life….poet, Charles ‘Hank’ Bukowski.  God!  I love that man!  And the best thing about having an imaginary playmate is that they always agree with you.  LOL  He wrote this beautiful metaphor about laying down and waiting for the inspiration and creativity to come to you.

And you know what?  This can apply to how you live your life too.  Don’t push it!  Wait!  Be patient and good things will come.

in the center of the action
by Charles Bukowski

you have to lay down like an animal
until it charges,  you
have to lay down
in the center of the action

lay down and wait until it charges then you
must get up
face it, get
it before it gets you

the whole process is more
shy than
vulnerable so

lay down and wait sometimes it’s
ten minutes sometimes it’s years sometimes it
never arrives but you can’t rush it push itfamous quotes, famous writers, Bukowski, Churchill, famous men
there’s no way to cheat or get a
jump on it you have to

lay down
lay down and wait like
an animal.
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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 . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNealMark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Caroline Leavitt, 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!  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 blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  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!

An Interview with Caroline Leavitt (Part 3)

Caroline Leavitt, best sellers, best selling authors, interviews  Part III.  Caroline was so generous with her time in this interview.  Following is the final segment.       Enjoy!!          (click here for Part I)

 

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

Once I have the synopsis, I write a first chapter. 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. And I show it to about 4 different readers. Then it goes to my agent, and she usually wants some rewrites. Then it goes to my editor who always wants rewrites. But I love the rewriting process. To me, that’s the real creativity.

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

A. I do a lot of character work. I make maps about the characters trying to figure out what’s haunting them? Where are their hidden scars they need to heal? What is it they want and how is it different from what they really need? (That’s my Rolling Stones method of writing!)

Q. What inspired your story/stories ?

A. Usually it’s a question that has been haunting me for years. How do we forgive the unforgivable was the question that sparked PICTURES OF YOU, though I was also mulling over my phobia about driving. To me, the worst thing in the world would be to kill someone in an accident, and so I began to write about it, thinking I could heal myself that way. IS IT TOMORROW asks the questions, how do we become a part of a community that doesn’t want us? I was thinking about what an outcast I was as a child because I was Jewish, asthmatic and very smart, in a community that was Christian and working class and suspicious of anyone different.

Q. When is your next book coming out? (or) What are you working on?

A. IS IT TOMORROW is coming out May 7, 2013 and CRUEL BEAUTIFUL WORLD will be out sometime in 2014 or 2015. I sold it on the basis of a first chapter and a synopsis, so I have a lot of work to do!

Q. Have you? Or do you want to write in another genre`?ITT

A. I don’t like the word genre because I think it compartmentalizes women. I refuse to use the term women’s fiction, commercial or literary. I tend to think a good book is a good book is a good book!

Thank you so much for these great questions!
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BIO: Caroline won First Prize in Redbook Magazine’s Young Writers Contest for her short story, “Meeting Rozzy Halfway,” which grew into the novel. The recipient of a 1990 New York Foundation of the Arts Award for Fiction for Into Thin Air, she was also a National Magazine Award nominee for personal essay, and she was awarded a 2005 honorable mention, Goldenberg Prize for Fiction from the Bellevue Literary Review, for “Breathe,” a portion of Pictures of You. As a screenwriter, Caroline was a 2003 Nickelodeon Screenwriting Fellow Finalist, and is a recent first-round finalist in the Sundance Screenwriting Lab competition for her script of Is This Tomorrow.

Caroline has been a judge in both the Writers’ Voice Fiction Awards in New York City and the Midatlantic Arts Grants in Fiction. She teaches novel writing online at both Stanford University and UCLA, as well as working with writers privately. Caroline has appeared on The Today Show, Diane Rehm, German and Canadian TV, and more, and she was featured on The View From The Bay. She lives in Hoboken, New Jersey, New York City’s unofficial sixth borough, with her husband, the writer Jeff Tamarkin, and their teenage son Max.
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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 MacNealMark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Caroline Leavitt, 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 blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  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!

Tuesday, June 11….Part 3. Interview with Caroline Leavitt

DON’T MISS PART 3 of this entertaining interview with bestselling author Caroline Leavitt

 

Caroline Leavitt, best sellers, best selling authors, interviews                              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….”

 

Caroline Leavitt, interviews, best selling authors

You Don’t Have to be a Tortured, Guilt-ridden, Flagellating Soul!

writing, Dorothy Parker, famous quotes, famous authors      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

Joseph Johns, famous quotes, famous authors                 “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 Campbellfamous quotes, famous authors,

 

“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.”
~~
Chinese Proverb famous quotes, chinese proverb, writing

famous quotes, famous authors, Isaac Asimov  “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 MacNealMark 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 blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  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!

If You’re Younger than Sixty, Read This!

death, Charles Bukowski, poetry, life, dreams          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.”after life, death, Charles Bukowski,

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,Charles Bukowski, cats, poetry, death
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.death2

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 blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  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!

Do You Care about your Family history??

A recent review I offered on Maya Angelou’s book, “Mom & Me & Mom” reminded me, once again, of the importance of recording family histories and story telling. 

shaman, story telling, cave dwellers, family, tribe, historySince man formed his first vocabulary, family and tribal news was carried from tribe to tribe, village to village by a storyteller. They would be welcomed in each cave, hut, and council house as an honored guest and nights would be spent around the fire listening to the latest news from family members living afar. Famine, a good harvest, movement of wild herds, warring tribes, births, deaths, alliances, all were carried by the professional storyteller.  After a few days passed the news had been told and the storyteller, rested and refreshed, would move on to the next tribe or settlement.

While growing up in the mid-fifties my mother (certainly a modern day storyteller) would tell me the stories of her and eleven siblings growing up in the forests of Tumwater, Washington (state).  The story of my mother’s sister, Ivahfamily stories, writing, journaling, story telling, cutting off her eyebrows in retaliation.  When all the kids were down with seafood poisoning and a dairy cow wandered into the yard crying to be milked (milk being the remedy for stomach disorders).  Another of my mother’s sisters’ panties falling down around her ankles while dancing at her first dress-up dance.

family stories, writers, family history, story telling

  I believe that these oral histories, as told by the elders of our families will soon (if not already) be a thing of the past.  Whenever I have the opportunity, whether it’s teaching a class on writing and storytelling or giving a lecture on same, I relate how important it is for each of us to record our own family’s rich history.  When grandparents are gone, the stories are gone with them.  My family story, whose origin began in Ireland and France,  was great material for my writing.   I have just published my second novel, “Wild Violets“.  It is loosely based on my mother, as a young entrepreneur, flapper and owner of a speakeasy, in San Francisco roaring 20's, flappers, new fiction, Wild Violetsin the 1920’s.

 In this day of television, dvd’s, and computers with games, these stories handed down from elder to child, will be lost forever.   Do YOU know some great stories that you were told as a child?

 It’s a great place to begin your writing career!

(Photo of five sisters above from left to right: LaVerne, Violet, , Gladys, Ivah, & Lillas)

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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!    Join us at 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 MacNealMark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Caroline Leavitt, 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.
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