female writers Archives - Page 51 of 59 - Trisha Sugarek, Author, Playwright & Poet

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

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

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 it
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 MacNeal, Mark 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An Interview with Caroline Leavitt (Part 3)

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`?

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 MacNeal, Mark 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

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….”

An Interview with Caroline Leavitt (part 2)

An Interview with author, Caroline Leavitt (Part 2)

(Me and Minnie, the turtle)

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

A. I always wrote seriously. I was sending things out from the time I was sixteen, and of course, they always came right back, rejected. While I was at Brandeis University, I took a writing course with a famous writer who told me flat out that I would never make it. He used to attack me in class, and though tears would stream down my face, I never left the class. I was in my late twenties, sending stories out every week (and getting them back every week with rejection letters) when I finally won the Redbook Magazine Young Writers Contest!

Q. How long after that were you published?

A. That contest opened up doors for me. I got an agent. I got a book deal based on the short story. I became sort of famous, and I thought it would last. But my next four publishers all went out of business. I was with two major publishers who wouldn’t take my calls or emails, and though my novels got stellar reviews, they had enough sales for me to buy groceries. When I submitted PICTURES OF YOU to my last publisher, they rejected it, saying, “I’m sorry, this just isn’t special.” They didn’t want to publish anything else of mine. I knew my career was over because who wants to publish someone who has published 8 novels and has no sales? But a friend of mine was with Algonquin and she offered to show her editor my novel. Algonquin bought it in three weeks and they did something no other publisher ever did for me: they treated me with respect. They invited me to come talk to them! They said, “We’re going to change your life.” And they did. Six months before the book even came out it was in three printings (it eventually went into 5). They got it on the New York Times bestseller list and the USA Today e-book bestseller list. It was one of the top books of 2011 from the San Francisco Chronicle, the Providence Journal, Bookmarks Magazine and Kirkus Reviews! I always tell people that I am living proof that you should never, ever, ever give up! You never know what can happen.

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

A. It looks like craziness. I’m always in between stages because I live in terror of that stage when nothing is going on. So while I am in the midst of writing one book, I’m thinking of the next book, making vague inroads. It’s much better to have a new work to focus on so you don’t drive yourself too crazy when your book comes out. So the first stage is the idea. I spend about 6 months writing up a detailed synopsis. I’m like John Irving. I have to know where I am headed for, what the character change is going to be. I liken it to creating the skeleton. Once you have that, you can add on the flesh, the hair, the clothing. Once I have the synopsis done, which is usually 30 pages, I show it to three different writer friends and they tear it apart—and I want them to. It doesn’t help me not to hear the critiques. Then I go back and keep redoing it until it feels like a story. I’m big on story structure. I know some writers “follow their pen” and find structure confining, but I feel it actually awakens creativity. And since using story structure, I’ve had my first NYT bestseller and I made the finals at Sundance Screenwriting Lab, so I think it works.

Don’t miss Part 3 on June 11th as we continue to visit with this fascinating author!
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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”

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

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”

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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Writer’s Corner…an Interview with author, Caroline Leavitt (1of3)

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”

Don’t Miss an Interview with best selling author, Caroline Leavitt

My next Interview is with Caroline Leavitt, Tuesday, June 4th, 6th and the final segment on June 11th.

“While I was at Brandeis University, I took a writing course with a famous writer who told me flat out that I would never make it. He used to attack me in class, and though tears would stream down my face….”

To read the entire interview, join us on June 4th.

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don’t Throw That Away!!

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”

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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If You’re Younger than Sixty, Read This!

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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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.

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