Tag: inspiration

Charles Bukowski…Tired and Worn Out

famous authors, Charles Bukowski, interviews, best selling authors
Bukowski’s ‘safe place’ when it just became too much

‘You Get So Alone at Times that it Just Makes Sense’    While I find everything Bukowski writes has something in it for me this collection has a different ‘feel’.   More down, more depressed, more complaining.  Not much fight left.

But since it was published later in his life, just eight short years before he died,  maybe the flavor of this book is just because he’s older, worn out, and sick.  His joints hurt, his liver is shot (probably), Jane is dead, the IRS is sending him letters informing him that interest is compounding DAILY and, worse, the horses are not paying off.

Don’t misunderstand, I love his work (how can there be any doubt if you’ve read my blog for any length of time) and I continue to be inspired by his insights about life, people, politics, writing and his razor sharp truth about HIMSELF. Continue reading “Charles Bukowski…Tired and Worn Out”

A Journal for Men Who Want To Write….

Neon.RMWO_cover_spine_REV84_copy   Available Now!   This handsome journal/handbook was created especially for men who want to write.

  ‘Real Men Work Out…on Paper’

The spirited journal/handbook, intended specifically for men and your creative writing, offers over 275 lined, blank pages. Each section has instruction on ‘where to begin’, storytelling, how to write a play, and developing rich characters. Nestled in the margins of each page are more tips about writing and quotes from famous writers, actors, playwrights and poets. The bold and masculine cover can be carried anywhere!  Great gift idea!

Available  at www.amazon.com or your favorite book store

“I’ll Take It”….Bukowski and Me

From his later life writings and his book, “You Get so Alone at Times that it Just Makes Sense” Bukowski wrote about how he felt bukow.typwriterhe had beaten the odds….poetry gushing faster than he could write it down and grateful that he was still alive after the hard life he had lived.

I can relate….although I had been writing since my eighth grade history class (Thank you, Miss O’Connor) I certainly didn’t consider myself a ‘writer‘.  Then very late in life, (1994) I began in earnest.  Writing my first full length play. The next one came even easier….then the next one…it’s never stopped, the ideas.

Then friends who read my plays insisted that they wanted the ‘rest of the story’.  What happened to a particular character?  Did Bill ever get out of prison?  Did Monty kill Samantha?  Did Charlie make good his escape? Did Violet get her kids back? So…now I’ve written seven novels, stage plays and countless poems. Continue reading ““I’ll Take It”….Bukowski and Me”

Blogger Declares August as Charles Bukowski Month!

It’s unofficially Charles Bukowski month because this blogger has declared it so!   Who the heck is Bukowski you might be asking. In my opinion he is one of the great writers of our time.  Known for his cutting, take no prisoners, urban poetry and musings.
It’s no secret.  I am in love with the man’s poetry.  If you love ‘bad boys’ who are shot with talent, he’s the guy for you.  I read his work every day that I write….whatever his commentary is about I am inspired to be a better writer.

Bukowski’s life was horrific by most people’s standards.  He was a raging alcoholic, womanizer, gambler and bum.  He worked regular poet, wisdom, Charles Bukowskijobs only enough to keep himself in cigarettes, booze, rent (occasionally) stamps, typewriter paper and money for the race track .  My fantasy is;  oh yes I have fantasized about him….to spend a weekend with him at my cabin, deep in the forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  In the evenings, before a fire, we would drink whiskey neat, talk of people, past and present, swear at each other and tell stories.  We would end the nights Continue reading “Blogger Declares August as Charles Bukowski Month!”

A Review…The Forsaken by Ace Atkins

reviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writing  Five out of five quills!  REVIEW    ‘The Forsaken’ by Ace AtkinsAce.index

This author and I have much in common; we both have a collection of original paperbacks by John McDonald (Travis McGee) and we both love Robert Parker (Spenser). Where we differ is Ace has achieved perfection in prose writing which I aspire to….someday.

I strongly recommend to my readers that if you are going to read stories about Ace’s main character, Quinn Colson, that you do so in order.  There is a strong story thread throughout the series and you will enjoy these books so much more.

The Forsaken doesn’t disappoint. It’s my favorite to date.  As in his other books Ace gives his readers a strong sense of the old south, Mississippi to be exact.  How do I know this?  I lived there for four years in the 70’s and since then have moved in and out of the south;  New Orleans and currently Savannah, Georgia.  Without it ever seeming like a travel log, before you are many pages into the book, you can smell the dust of the back roads, the earthy slightly rotten smell of the bayous sticks in the back of your throat.  You may have never met the ‘good old boys’ but you know them and the women who follow along.  Continue reading “A Review…The Forsaken by Ace Atkins”

Attention! All Writers Out There!

There’s a BLOG out there that is dedicated to the art of writing and honing your craft. Yep!  I’m talking about mine and this is a shameless promo.  You won’t be disappointed.

For three years now I have published my posts twice a week and it’s always something about being a better writer.  Once a month I interview best selling authors such as Dean Koontz, Sue Grafton, Jeffery Deaver, Sherryl Woods, Anne Gracie, CW.CoverRaymond Benson, Lee Goldberg, Charles Bukowski and dozens more.   My goal is to inspire other writers to write more, tell their stories, try writing a play, or maybe some poetry.

Sign up on my home page  and receive an email with each day’s post.  Delete it if it doesn’t interest you.  It’s that simple.  Recently I have developed a series of ‘creative writing’ journals with ‘How To’ tips and famous quotes to inspire my fellow writers.  https://www.writeratplay.com/category/a-writers-take/ Continue reading “Attention! All Writers Out There!”

Now Available! The Empowered Woman’s Journal

Boost.Cover  JUST RELEASED!!  A Journal for ALL Women

Available at:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=empowered%2C%20sugarek  and www.writeratplay.com/shop

This spirited journal is designed to help women open their hearts and minds to
their own creative possibilities, while honing their writing craft. Whether you are a
beginner or a more experienced writer, the shelter within these pages will empower you to
write more. You will find this journal will quickly become your constant companion.

Much more than a journal for writing down your secrets, your thoughts and dreams, this handbook provides the writer with the ‘how to’s’. Over 275 of blank lined pages for your creative writing that includes tips and insightful quotes from famous authors, playwrights, poets and celebrities.

 

Fiction mimics real life…doesn’t it?

I have realized over the years that I am attracted to writing stories based on real life experiences, whether they are mine or someone else’s.

WhileWOW.BanW._wow (2) visiting a convicted murderer (Cook County Justice) at a state prison for men I observed women waiting with me to see their men. Some of them had been coming for years.  What was that like I asked myself.  How do they survive on the outside?  What are the stories that brought them to this place?  Were they married to monsters, gang members, killers?  Or just regular guys who had made some very stupid choices?  (Women Outside the Walls)

The most rewarding effort has been writing about what I know of life.  Confronting the challenges that life throws at all of us and then  goJohn.Songof YUkon 001 on to deal with it with some sort of grace under fire.  That’s how “The Ash Can” was born.  An experience very close to me where a person threw away everything  in a blink of an eye.  Deciding to take irrevocable actions and leaving heart-break and tragedy in their path.

 

Continue reading “Fiction mimics real life…doesn’t it?”

Now Available! A Journal for Women, Kids, Men

Boost.Cover   NOW AVAILABLE!   A complete journal for the woman writer.  Each page has a famous quote nestled in the margins to inspire your thoughts, dreams, and writing.  Over 275 blank, lined pages await your journal entries.

You will find helpful instructions and tips, should you want to try your hand at writing fiction, story telling, writing a play or maybe some poetry.  Come on, you know you’ve always wanted to try…..

  You can order your copy by clicking here:     http://www.amazon.com/Empowered-Womans-Journal-Handbook/dp/1500497967/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405452160&sr=1-1&keywords=empowered+woman%2C+sugarek

 

Book Design and Cover by David White

My Interview with Dean Koontz! (part 2)

dean2photo_9Q: When did you begin to write seriously?

A: While I was in college. I sold my first short story when I was a senior, and the same piece won a prize in the college-writing contest Atlantic Monthly conducted at that time. I wasn’t very good for a number of years, but I kept selling. Later, I recovered the rights to all that early stuff and deep-sixed it, mostly science fiction and Gothic novels.

Q: What makes a writer great?

A: Writing truth, I think. By which I don’t necessarily mean entirely realistic settings and story lines. Any genre allows for the writing of truth. To do it means to write stories that are more than plot, to write characters that feel like real people, and to avoid writing ideologically. These days, a great deal of fiction is ideological, and that approach virtually ensures a limited lifespan for the work. Resist the temptation to be swept away by current
“issues” in your work and write instead about timeless human values and hopes. Ideologies sooner or later collapse due to the tendency of ideologues to ignore all manner of realities in the fashioning of their ideologies.

Q: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book,” look like? Continue reading “My Interview with Dean Koontz! (part 2)”