Tag: inspiration

The Medicine Bag – Poetrysoup.com Featured Poem

Dear Trisha,
Congratulations, this is just a quick notice to let you know that your poem
The Medicine Bag is one of the poems being featured on the PoetrySoup home page this week. 
Thanks again and congratulations. 
Sincerely, 
PoetrySoup 

The Medicine Bag © thJX3QXAPB

March the centuries on, 
the talisman wraps and 
clings to the collar bone. 

The medicine bag cups holy 
bones that speak of the 
future, flint and stone to
 make magic fire 

strong medicine in the 
feather of the eagle
a tooth of the wolf when the 
spirit guide is he
 
Should the moon's cycle be
the guide. an agate stone 

Antler bone, its spirit 
sacrificed, meat and juices 
hiss into the fire on a wintry 
night 

Amulets forever worn 'round 
the neck touched by hands 
to reassure 

Fear, pain and loss subside 
Joy celebrated stroked in 
thanksgiving, always there, 
a comfort 

To lose it was to lose one's 
self 
 
The medicine bag still adorns 
the educated, the modern 
the agnostic 

Turquoise of a native people
rosary beads for a strict and 
vengeful God
a locket filled with a 
beloved's hair 

hippy beads from the time of 
peace signs and Haight-Ashbury 

a gold chain dangling stones 
ripped from the earth 

David's star shining over
centuries of darkness
 
A shark's tooth from the icy, 
indifferent depths 

silver charms jingle and talk of 
life's landmarks 

the gold cross celebrating a 
vicious torture 

worry beads from a 
mysterious and ancient cult 

a modest grain of sand 
coated with oyster spit 

the ashes of one that can.t 
be let go, lest it diminish the 
life that remains 

Medicine bags…all
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!      Grant Blackwood (Tom Clancy) in Sept. and Julia London in October.
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Interview with Prolific Playwright

Headshot.TS.259x300TS: Adam Szymkowicz, a published playwright and employed by The Juilliard School, asked to interview me, while wearing my playwright hat.  I was happy to oblige and hope that you will visit his blog to read the entire article.  Most of all, I hope it entertains you.

INTERVIEW * Trisha Sugarek, Playwright, director, actor * by Adam Szymkowicz

AS: What are you working on now?

Transgendered teensA ten minute play, for the classroom, about transgender teens. I have written 26 of these scripts addressing real life issues in a teen’s life such as, Bullying, running away, drugs, teen dating violence, cutting and suicide.

 AS: Tell me, if you will, a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a writer or as a person.

As a writer: I grew up, before television, at my mother’s knee. She told wonderful stories of her growing up, in the wild forests of Washington state, with her 13 siblings. I have written 3 stage plays and 2 novels based on these true stories. Continue reading “Interview with Prolific Playwright”

My Momma Always said, Life is Like A Box…. (part 7)

Words.….a Box of Words.  this popular series is for all of you out there that love the English language as much as I do.  Especially stumbling over a word I have never heard or used.  I am fascinated with the origin of words such as:

 

Forest Gump, WordsCracker,  I’ve only heard it used as a derogatory term for Caucasian people. To imply an ignorant hillbilly or worse depending upon who was using it. (Well, yes, the obvious generic term for those tasty, crunchy squares that we can’t resist.)     When in fact it is an endearing term used for the COWBOYS of Florida (past and present)  who are adept at the use of a whip.  The cattle in Florida are trained to obey the ‘crack’ of the cowboy’s’ whip and hence the term ‘cracker’.  Did you know that Florida has the largest number of cattle in the USA?  You’d of thought, Texas.  But you’d be wrong.

Beeline, “I made a beeline for the car, Continue reading “My Momma Always said, Life is Like A Box…. (part 7)”

INDYFEST Magazine Interviews This Author

INdyFest MagazineWriter At Play: A Talk with Trisha Sugarek
By Raphael Moran

Here at Indyfest, we try to put the spotlight on some of the most unique voices in the indy publishing universe. Trisha Sugarek is one of those voices. With four decades worth of writing credits to her name, she has a huge diverse line of works on her resume, ranging from plays to mysteries to children’s books. She’s done it all by herself and has been blazing through the publishing world. She also runs a successful website dedicated to the art of writing. Plus, she’s interviewed some of the biggest names in the publishing industry. I had a chance to pick her brain a little to find out about her success in self-publishing, and all matter of other things.

IM: What are some of your major hardships in self publishing?

TS: No major hardships. I have complete artistic control with content and the cover artwork. Exposure is difficult when my true crime mysteries (for example) are competing with a half-million other mysteries. Social media can be the best marketing tool in an author’s toolbox. Self-publishing used to be a dirty word… Continue reading “INDYFEST Magazine Interviews This Author”

Time to Take a Breath…Time For a Little Poetry

crazy ladyWhat a week!  Wrangling with a small so-called, publisher and their poorly written contract, (which I turned down). Writers! Beware of scam artists that call themselves publishers!  A week of being in the clutches of an editor (just kidding…it’s a wonderful experience, writers, you should try it) and trying to survive record-breaking summer temps in Savannah.

I said to a friend, just today, (when she said she was taking a few days off but would continue to work from her mobile.)  ‘BALANCE’,  turn your phone off. Continue reading “Time to Take a Breath…Time For a Little Poetry”

Shakespeare…The Gift that Keeps on Giving

William ShakespeareThe ‘naked truth‘ is, I’ll bet you can’t count the number of times you use one or more of these euphemisms in your every day conversation.  I doubt old Will realized where his words would travel to and for how long.  We writers just hope someone will read what we write. But, to have one’s words live on, after we’re ‘dead as a doornail‘ and not ‘vanish into thin air’ decades or centuries later, well, the possibility makes my ‘hair stand on end‘.

Yeah, I’m playing with you.

William Shakespeare wasn’t born (1564) famous… Continue reading “Shakespeare…The Gift that Keeps on Giving”

FREE Audio Book: “Bertie the Bookworm and the Bully Boys”

fairies, books for children, literacy, reading, bullying, bullies, elves,
A story book with full color illustrations

FREE!!  Have you got a child, grandchild or great grandchild under the age of ten??  FREE audio-book of “Bertie the Bookworm and the Bully Boys”  (Five lucky winners and One per family)

And I would like to share this with you…..first come, first serve.  Sign up for my blog and leave a comment on my site Code: ‘Bookworm’. and I will send you the code and the instructions on how to get your copy.

Listen to Sample of the book by clicking here

Bertie, the bookworm is the fabled forest’s elder and teacher. Every week he has a spelling and reading circle where everyone is welcomed. Slam, the badger and his gang of bully boys are forever teasing, disrupting, and bullying Bertie and the group of faeries and woodland creatures.
Continue reading “FREE Audio Book: “Bertie the Bookworm and the Bully Boys””

When Characters Come A’Knockin’…Are You Home?

writing, process, writers, styleI’m certain that there are writers out there that do a thorough story plot, get all their characters in a neat little row, know how their story is going to end.  And that’s all before they write a word of their tale.

I, as a writer, would probably frighten some.  I just sit down and start  typing.  Yes, the story has been bubbling, in my head, for days.  There comes a point where I have to empty it before smoke seeps out of my ears.  Many of my chapters are not numbered because I don’t know yet exactly where they will fit.
And much to my eternal delight (and gratitude) characters just keep showing up.  Many of them I never planned.  When they made their appearance, I had to shape the story around them….because once they show up, they are NOT leaving!  Let me give you some examples. Continue reading “When Characters Come A’Knockin’…Are You Home?”

Nostalgia…and Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski, drunk, reprobate, genius
‘Hank’ with his beloved Remington typewriter

It’s a well known fact that I have an on-going love affair with Charles Bukowski, poet, drunk, homeless bum, reprobate, genius.  We haven’t been back to visit with him lately and it’s way past time.  If you search my posts you can enjoy my other thoughts about his writings and poetry.  My favorite is an interview I conducted with him…posthumously.  Yes, nineteen years after his death.  If that seems crazy to you…then let me be insane.  But, read it before you judge.

 

magic machine ©  by Charles Bukowski

I liked the old records that
scratched
as the needle slid across
grooves well
worn
you heard the voice
coming through
the speaker Continue reading “Nostalgia…and Charles Bukowski”

Beneath the Surface of a Writer’s Life

Writer Iceberg
I stumbled across this wonderful graphic (by Sudio Sudarsan) of a ‘writer’s ice berg’.    Not many people, aside from we who write, know this world.  It’s lonely, scary, humiliating, and painful.  It’s also uplifting, soul filling, mind stretching and wonderful.

I count myself the luckiest of women that I developed my craft and didn’t give up when people said, ‘no’.  I am the most fortunate of writers to have realized that the process has to be planted in good soil, watered, and given lots of sunshine. Even when I am writing from a dark place.

We writers should never sit back and say, ‘I have arrived. I don’t need to grow anymore.  I am at the top of my game.’   If you’ve read any of my interviews with really famous authors, they aren’t smug….far from it…they are striving to be better just like you and I are.  Continue reading “Beneath the Surface of a Writer’s Life”