Tag: storytelling

‘Bertie, the Bookworm and the Bullies’ FREE on Kindle today and tomorrow!

children's story books, fairy tales, bullying, literacy, new books for kids    FREE TODAY AND TOMORROW!!!  Click here to get yours: 

Available on your Smartphone, Kindle, Nook!

 

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. Pansy, the pixie is a new character in this third of the Fabled Forest series. She is a defender of reading, truth, and Bertie. Cheets, our beloved elf from past books joins the wrong crowd and his friends are worried that he will become the newest member of the Bully Boys.

Continue reading “‘Bertie, the Bookworm and the Bullies’ FREE on Kindle today and tomorrow!”

New Year’s Resolution for Writers!

authors, writing, writers, interviewsOkay…here’s some tough love!   Get your butt in that chair and write something………..or finish something !!!      You’ve read my interviews with famous, best selling authors for about a year now.  And the recurring theme is DISCIPLINE!!

Forget what others might think of your scribbles…they’re yours and they’re PERFECT!  And what if they aren’t perfect?  So What!!??  If I thought I was going to get perfection when I first began writing, I would never have written a word.  All I hoped for was to grow as a writer and keep growing with every new project.  Still not perfect………….

Write a short story.  Write a poem in prose. Write a play.  Finish your novel.  WRITE SOMETHING!!

Now, here’s the tough part.  You have to be selfish to be a writer.  You have to tell your spouse, or kids or friends that you aren’t going to be available for a couple of hours.  And mean it!!   Then go lock yourself in a room and WRITE!!   Then tomorrow (or this weekend) do it again. Continue reading “New Year’s Resolution for Writers!”

An Idea..A New Mystery Series! “The World of Murder”

Texas, comedy, stage play, Trisha Sugarek, murder
Production photos from “Cheatin'”

I can’t believe that it was just this past September that I wrote this blog about an idea becoming a one act play and NOW I’m writing my fifth book in the World of Murder mystery series.  The first four novels are available here and on amazon.com and now are audio books at audible.com  So I am thinking it is worth posting this again to let my fellow writers see how an idea can grow into something pretty damn amazing!!

If you missed the story here it is again:

Let’s see….I think it was 2005 and we were in rehearsals for “Cheatin'” in Port Aransas, Texas.  I was the director and we had pulled together a terrific cast.  The title pretty much tells you the story line but the fun part and what made it so funny was it was set in….where else?…… Texas and was filled with good ole’ boys and girls. It was the highest grossing play for that theatre in many a year and won Best Production and Best Set Design (thanks to Janis Johnson’s contribution).  I was very proud of the cast and crew!Texas, comedy, stage play, Trisha Sugarek, murder
Continue reading “An Idea..A New Mystery Series! “The World of Murder””

Wishing you the Best Holiday Season and Happy New Year!

I ran through this bush and it came home with me
I ran through this bush and it came home with me

My two Golden Retrievers, Gus and Rocky and cat, Fiona (dog dressed in a cat suit)  and I want to wish you the happiest of Holiday Seasons!!

These photos are from many family/dog albums of people who have discovered the special love and devotion that only a dog can give you….especially a Golden.

My three (to date) Goldens were rescued and I adopted them from “Grateful Goldens“, a tri-state rescue organization.  They vet YOU thoroughly and they have vetted the dog you are going to bring to its ‘forever home’.

Continue reading “Wishing you the Best Holiday Season and Happy New Year!”

‘Brave’…Brilliantly Written…an Overdue, Alternate Ending to Prince Charming

braveI don’t really know why I’m writing about this topic…could it be because the writing for “Brave” was so exceptional?...filled with double entendre like the Mama Bear fighting to protect her ‘cubs‘.  Once in awhile I enjoy a good Disney animated film. And I hadn’t seen the advances of animation in a long time, so I rented ‘Brave’.

We all know the timeless, underlying theme, the girl is looking for her Prince Charming.  Her Prince finds her, usually rescues her and they live happily ever after. Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Snow White, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Robin Hood, The Little Mermaid, the list goes on and on.

God knows that’s how I was raised; that my Prince Charming would come someday and I too would live happily ever after.  After all, when all was said and done, every movie (in my days of growing up)  had an underlying story with this result and girls of my decade pretty much sat back and waited for HIM.  Now, fifty  years later and three husbands ago, I finally achieved some wisdom and the fact is there are NO Prince Charmings  and all three men that I married were just as human as I was. What a huge expectation I put on them! Continue reading “‘Brave’…Brilliantly Written…an Overdue, Alternate Ending to Prince Charming”

My Interview with Best Selling author Heidi Jon Schmidt (part 3)

Heidi.Style

The final segment of my Interview with this fascinating author!

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

A. I guess references to the Jonestown Massacre would be inappropriate? For some people it’s a pretty orderly process. I envy them and I try to be more orderly with every book. But I also think it’s important for the writer to be on a quest of his own, to be trying to understand the story in a million ways, and learning new things through the whole process of writing. When the writer figures something out, about the characters or the story– that generates real excitement for the reader. I’ve generally needed an editor at the end, the way one needs an obstetrician at the end of a pregnancy. And sometimes the editor has needed forceps.

Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters ? Continue reading “My Interview with Best Selling author Heidi Jon Schmidt (part 3)”

‘Art of Murder’ Goes Live in AUDIO Books

Working successfully with an illustrator  Now in AUDIO books !   Book 1 of the series,  ‘The World of Murder‘

This short novel is available at www.audible.com TODAY and at www.amazon.com and iTunes.com 

Monty is a struggling, unknown artist, living in Soho in New York. From his third floor walk up, he watches his beautiful neighbor as she comes and goes. Too shy and reclusive to ask her out, he paints her again and again. Suddenly the police are at his door.

Detective O’Roarke and his partner, Stella Garcia sift through the forensics, motives and physical evidence. At first glance it seems that all the evidence points to the strange artist who is obsessed with the beautiful actress. But, as time passes, several other suspects come to the attention of the two murder cops and the case is now not so open and shut. As the detectives immerse themselves in her life, it turns out that she has more than one secret.

Also in Audio books:  Art of Murder
                                       Dance of Murder
                                        Act of Murder
                                                                                              Angel of Murder
                                                                                              Taste of Murder
                                                   Coming Soon!                 Video of Murder  

Narrated by Daniel Dorse

 

 

 

How Do those oysters get to your Dinner Table? Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt (1of3)

best selling author, interview, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Cape Cod     My Interview with best selling author,  Heidi Jon Schmidt

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

A. I write in bed. It started during a chaotic childhood when my bed was pushed into the quietest corner of the house, a safe place to withdraw to and think, imagine, write. And now that I have my own house, family, garden, life….it’s still the place where I feel most connected to my imagination.

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.)

A. The minute my daughter walks out the door for school, I take a cup of coffee up the stairs. And I don’t do anything else until I’ve gotten a day’s work done.

Q. What is your mode of writing? (long hand? Pencil? Computer? Etc.) Continue reading “How Do those oysters get to your Dinner Table? Interview with Heidi Jon Schmidt (1of3)”

A Rebuttal….Wiz Kid encourages ‘Progress writing’. This author Doesn’t!

blogging, blogger, wisdom,interviews, author quotesPeter Armstrong, co-founder of LeanPub,  recently lectured on UTube about writing a book (in progress) on line….in a blog or on UTube or on your web site.  This is called ‘progress writing’ or ‘progress publishing’.   He claims you will get great reader feedback and gain traction for your final, finished book.

And this might be right for you.  It may give you the stimulus, the poke in the rump that you need to either start writing or to continue writing.
Here’s how I feel about it:

‘Progress writing’ makes it too easy for someone to steal your idea/story.  Even if you have covered yourself with a ‘poor man’s copyright’ like I’ve told you how  to do or even if you’ve sent it partially written to the Library of Congress, your idea can be plagiarized and you may never know it.  And what if the person who took your idea for a story gets it finished before you do.  They are published and now you look like you ‘borrowed’ their idea. Continue reading “A Rebuttal….Wiz Kid encourages ‘Progress writing’. This author Doesn’t!”

Writing and then ‘Hearing’ Wild Violets

NOW AVAILABLE in AUDIO BOOKS!!!    “Wild Violets”

fiction, women, flappers, prohibition, San Francisco, roaring twentiesFrom the author:  It was great fun writing this book about a young woman so ahead of her time.  Basketball star, speakeasy owner, flapper who literally worked all day and danced all night.  The story about her red evening gown is true and her friends would make her change into it before going out on the town.  The story about playing poker with a Catholic Bishop is true.  She ultimately had five husbands, but always said the first one didn’t count as they never consummated the marriage.  She went on to be the champion women’s bowler in California.  She had three kids which she didn’t take very good care of.  She was human with many flaws, she was selfish and generous in turns, she was wild and ladylike……she was my mother. Sometimes I ask myself:  ‘did the apple fall very far from the tree?’

Writing it was fun but hearing her ‘voice’ and that of the other characters was amazing.  When you hire an audio professional the author remains in control (quality) and can ‘proof’ ever word.  It’s crucial that you hire the right narrator as your book sounds different from the written page. It’s important that the narrator is willing to work with you on edits, add on’s, and you can ask this upfront before you choose from the audition pieces that you receive.

Continue reading “Writing and then ‘Hearing’ Wild Violets”