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.
While
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 go
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.