Tag: storytelling

‘Women Outside the Walls’ by Trisha Sugarek

 Many years ago I visited a state prison for men in Illinois. My first time ever, in a prison, doing research for one of my plays. I was there to see a confessed murderer, Bill, and was writing his story. (Cook County Justice)  I sat in the reception area, very nervous and scared; much like Kitty in the beginning of this story.

I was deeply moved by the nameless women around me who had come to visit their men. One woman told me that she was visiting her son and had been coming once a month and every holiday for thirteen years. During another time in her life she had faithfully visited her husband for fifteen years while he served out his time. Many of the children I saw had spent their growing up years in a visiting room behind bars.

The entry process that I write about [and went through] is accurate in this story. Most notable about the visiting room was the frustration, anger and fear, thick in the air.  In the visiting room, the rage and disappointment emanating from inmates was palatable.

There seemed to be two types of prisoners; ones like Bill who kept their heads down, caused no waves, and spoke in a monotone. Or the other type who were aggressive, ‘in your face’ bullies and troublemakers. Always running a hustle. As I sat there interviewing Bill, I was struck on a visceral level about how these women coped year after year. How did they come to be here? Was it a simple matter of choosing the wrong men? Did they grow up with the same dreams most women have about living with a good husband and raising wonderful children? As I sat there, I wondered: where did it all go so terribly wrong?

Praise for Trisha Sugarek

Women Outside the Walls~~ ‘Step inside the sisterhood of the women with men behind bars. These women all come together in the waiting room and then visitor’s room at the prison while waiting to visit their men. They all have one thing in common and that’s the fact that they love their men. This is an honest book, which means that it’s not always a happy book. It will touch your heart in ways that you wouldn’t expect and is a book well worth spending the time to read. You’ll come away with a new respect for women in this situation and a bit more understanding of why they continue supporting the men they love, no matter what.’ ~~ Fresh Fiction

 ‘Love can see people through the roughest times. This novel, Women Outside the Walls, from Trisha Sugarek takes the reader along as she explores the nature of women outside the prison walls who are trying to get by as their men are serving time. Finding an unusual friendship through their tough time, more plight comes their way and challenges what they have left as independent women as one of their daughters goes missing. Women Outside the Walls carries a positive message, and shouldn’t be overlooked, very much recommended.’ ~ Midwest Book Review

Available at: Amazon.com and all fine book stores

Available in e-books 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DON’T MISS BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   And my weekly blog about the craft of writing and related subjects.

To receive  my  blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  sign up on the home page and enter your email address.  I love comments!  Take the time to write one at the bottom of the post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interview With Author, Jordan Rosenfeld

JOrdan.Watercolor-Headshot TS.  I met this writer on Facebook and was instantly intrigued by her wacky photos and obvious joie de vie.  She writes fiction and also non-fiction on the subject of writing.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.

JR. I do have a wonderful office in my home that I painted in bright bold colors that reflect me. I write there most often, though I’ll write wherever if need be.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, Jordan (Medium)sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

JR. No, for me personally, rituals often detract from just getting down to business. Unless you count eating corn chips by the handful?

Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?

JR. I dropped out of Acting school but made it all the way through beauty school, go figure.

Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative?

JR. I write whenever I have time. Waiting for the muse leads to a lot of waiting for me. Perhaps in the luxurious leisure time of my twenties I “waited” for inspiration, but I had no real distractions other than books at the time so the wait was short.

Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?

41RTW4v2OsL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_JR. Write one sentence. Continue reading “Interview With Author, Jordan Rosenfeld”

Time For More Famous Quotes

1a.Headshot.TS.259x300It’s been quite some time since I gave my readers some of my favorite quotes from famous writers…those people that inspire me to be a better one.  Maybe this weekend, after reading these, YOU will write something new or go back and rewrite something old or write a piece of poetry that you were afraid to lay down on paper.

Or maybe these quotes will just make you smile…

Kipling‘I keep six honest serving men. (They taught me all I know); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.- Rudyard Kipling  (I can’t let this go by without commenting on Kipling’s colloquial term of ‘honest serving men’. He spent decades in India.)

‘I have this feeling of wending my way or plundering through a mysterious jungle of possibilities when I am writing. This jungle has not been explored by previous writers. Istaffordt never will be explored. It’s endlessly varying as we progress through the experience of time. These words that occur to me come out of my relation to the language which is developing even as I am using it.’- William Stafford (I am particularly fond of this quote.)

‘In Ireland, a writer is looked upon as a failed conversationalist.’- Anonymous

Reade‘Make ’em laugh; make ’em cry; make ’em wait.’- Charles Reade

‘No tears and the writer, no tears and the reader.’Frost– Robert Frost

Bukowski.
take a writer away from his typewriter
and all you have left
is
the sickness
which started him
typing
in the beginning. ~Charles Bukowski
13100851_981224385260025_1889747640246000883_n

Elizabeth Barrett Browning ‘Many a fervid man writes books as cold and flat as graveyard stones.’- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

‘This morning I took out a comma and this afternoon I put it back again.’- Oscar Wilde

 

green‘Thought flies and words go on foot.’- Julien Green  (this is why I type 80 words a minute)

 

‘What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers.’- Logan Pearsall Smith
‘Writers aren’t exactly people, they’re a whole lot of people trying to be one person.’
– F. Scott Fitzgeraldfitzgerald

‘The truth is, we’ve not really developed a fiction that can accommodate the full tumult, the zaniness and crazed quality of modern experience.’- Saul Bellow

‘Writing is one of the easiest things: erasing is one of the hardest.’- Rabbi Israel Salanter

Bukowski.
‘The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.’ – Charles Bukowski

 

1.Creative.Write.BookCoverImage
Journal/Handbook by Trisha Sugarek

 

and I’ll finish with a not-so-famous quote:
‘As a writer, I marinate, speculate and hibernate.’   Trisha Sugarek
……that is, when I’m not beating up the writer in me with a large stick in the shape of a pencil. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DON’T MISS BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   In April, a long awaited interview with Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House) May’s author is Jordan Rosenfeld.  Michael Saad, Canadian author, will be June’s author.

To receive  my  blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  sign up on the home page and enter your email address.  I love comments!  Take the time to write one at the bottom of the post.

 

Page 1 on Google! The Reward…After Four Years!

‘believe in what isn’t…as if it were…until it becomes…’

Four years ago my web site designer, Leon Adato, designed my web site and insisted that if I wanted to be any kind of viable force in cyber-space that I would have to write a blog. He said the results wouldn’t be over night and might take years, but my work would be noticed.  It seems silly now, as I write this, but my first reaction was:

‘No!  I don’t wanna!  It will take me away from my writing.  I have nothing to say.  What would I write about?’  I threw a tantrum, basically.  But it turned out that I had something to say….about the craft of writing.  And then I discovered chatting with other authors was a hoot and began interviewing them (some very famous ones).  And then I received requests to review books…and so it went.

The reward.   Continue reading “Page 1 on Google! The Reward…After Four Years!”

An Interview * Author, Kathleen Grissom

Grissom.studioTS. It took me awhile but, with a little perseverance, I finally caught Kathleen Grissom with a few free moments and she gave me the interview I have been nagging her for.  Grin!  Glory Over Everything, the sequel to The Kitchen House has just been released so this is perfect timing to visit Kathleen while she writes.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?

KG. I have a writing room above my garage, separate from the house. It is a wonderful space with lots of light, desks and bulletin boards galore.Writing.Grissom.Desktop pic There, along with pertinent reminders, I post pictures of my research that shed light on my work in progress.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

KG. For my first draft I always begin with a stack of fresh legal pads from Staples and a stash of Paper Mate mechanical pencils – my favorite. A glass of water is always at my side.

Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?

KG. I once raised Cashmere goats. I meant to spin the cashmere, but I had no idea how difficult and time consuming that was to do. After we sold the farm, the goats went to live on another farm with my goat mentor, a woman who knew more about goats than anyone else I have ever known. But I still have some fiber stored away in bags.

Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative?

KG. I would not write a word if I waited for the creative spark to strike. Continue reading “An Interview * Author, Kathleen Grissom”

Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom ** A Review

reviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writingreviews, authors, writing 5 out of 5 quills     A REVIEW
Glory Over Everything by Kathleen GrissomGlory.Everything.book

Volumes have been written about America’s Civil War and we have been led to believe it was ALL about slavery.  In this writer’s opinion, when it comes to politics it’s never that simple or pure.  Power, economics, global presence also played a part in our civil war.

Little has been written about the southern states and slavery that is so profoundly beautiful as The Kitchen House and now, the long awaited, Glory Over Everything.

We join Jamie Pyke again and watch his struggle with ‘living white’. The natural son of a plantation owner and his kitchen slave. How does one conciliate oneself to the deception when all about them is the horror of slavery?  It all comes tumbling down when Jamie is compelled to keep a promise and travels back to the South that he had once escaped from.  Will he be so lucky a second time?

Recently, as I prepared my interview (coming later this month, April) with this stellar writer, I commented to Kathleen that her writing was pure prose.  She replied, “Thank you.  My mentor was a poet.”  Continue reading “Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom ** A Review”

Cursive Writing. A Thing of the Past?

My brother, Jack, (84) recently reprimanded his great grandson for his terrible penmanship. He complained that he couldn’t read what the boy had hand written. Jason’s reply was, “Paw-Paw, I don’t need to know how to write, everything iscursive.hand done on the computer. My brother was outraged. But, it got me to thinking, is cursive writing a thing of the past?

If you are over forty, you remember you had classes in penmanship and spelling.  Those are not classes offered or required in many schools. It’s hard to get my head around this. A beautiful ‘hand’ (penmanship) was the benchmark of a well educated person, a refined person. And it doesn’t matter anymore. Okay, I can’t remember when I last received a hand written letter, I’ll admit.
Educator Weston Kincade, English teacher at the Akron Digital Academy, weighs in on the cursive writing debate to offer his opinion on why such instruction is not needed in the classrooms of today’s society. To Kincade, cursive writing instruction is outdated and therefore a waste of time. “The technological revolution that started in the 1970s and ’80s brought many new types of written communication: email, texting, Continue reading “Cursive Writing. A Thing of the Past?”

Writers, What To Do When You Get a Bad Review?

book.reviewWhat you don’t do is contact the Reviewer to debate with them why.  No matter how much the review stings, no matter how much you disagree with it, NEVER, NEVER contact the Reviewer.  Put your big-person panties on and DEAL with IT! When you do respond to a review; complaining about the unfairness of the review, how the Reviewer got it wrong, and how you are the best writer since sliced bread, YOU simply come across as an AMATEUR!

What you should do is learn from the critique.  Take the criticism to heart and see how the Reviewer’s points can make YOU a better writer.  Sure, we’d all like only rave reviews all of the time, a couple of best sellers and loads of money.  But that just ain’t how it works, folks.  As writers we must be open to suggestions, criticism, and growth no matter how painful.

I recently interviewed a very interesting writer and following the interview I reviewed her book.  An honest opinion (by me) about how the book could be better.  Here is her response in an email: Continue reading “Writers, What To Do When You Get a Bad Review?”

Pack Saddles & Gunpowder by Susie Drougas ** A Review

PackSaddles.scanwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fictionwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fiction                                       2 out of 5 quills
Pack Saddles & Gunpowder  ** A Review

This book has potential.  But it’s a trilogy…and unfortunately not in a good way. It is:  1) A mountain horse packing guide book.  2) A treatise about the ongoing struggle between the environmentalists and horsemen with regard to how the high country wilderness should be used and protected.  And finally: 3) an underdeveloped mystery. The story is not moved forward by the first two. It would have been much more interesting to weave the trails and lakes more into the story, almost as an after thought. There was a missed opportunity to write a chapter where the environmentalists and horsemen debate the issue with some scintillating dialogue.

More research should have been done with regard to crime scene investigation.  When the helicopter arrives to pick up the surviving victim and perps, a detective would have been on board. They would have insisted on interviewing everyone right away, even the young girl, traumatized or not. They would hardly have allowed Cassie to ‘ride off into the sunset’ just because she was an attorney in the city.  She was after all the one who shot one of the perps to death. The investigator would also have wanted to see the site of the shooting (a potential crime scene; lawyers kill too) and preserve all evidence until justifiable homicide or homicide was determined.  This would also have provided an interesting investigative/forensics chapter.

It barely affected me that the nice all-American family had been hunted and attacked.  A chapter with the family back at home with Mom, perhaps, getting ready for the hiking trip,would have helped invest the reader and, once again, was sadly missing. Continue reading “Pack Saddles & Gunpowder by Susie Drougas ** A Review”

Edit Thyself, Writers!

char.analysisI just finished reviewing a poorly written book and it demonstrated the fact that writing a book is not all glory and self satisfaction at seeing your name on a book, as its author.

Far from it!  It’s grueling, damn hard work. Any one of you out there can write, the trick is writing well. It’s being willing to rewrite and rewrite some more. And then edit: does this word, sentence, chapter move my story forward?  Would my character say this? Sound like this? Behave like this?

Then there’s the delete anxnst.mousekey. Horrors!  Delete some of my brilliant writing?  Yes.  You better be willing to give up some of those self-proclaimed brilliant words and be happy about it.  Because when it’s said and done your book will be better for it.

How do you get from writing that first sentence to a finished book?  In my opinion, there is no right and wrong way to prepare.  I write my first draft from the seat of my pants; with just an idea that’s been rattling around in my head for days. No plot line, no story line, and in the case of my true crime series, I often don’t know who my killer is until later.  I will let my characters take me on their journey and the killer will always revel themselves to me.
I marinate, speculate and hibernate. Continue reading “Edit Thyself, Writers!”