writing Archives - Page 74 of 82 - Trisha Sugarek, Author, Playwright & Poet

Don’t Miss an Interview with best selling author, Caroline Leavitt

My next Interview is with Caroline Leavitt, Tuesday, June 4th, 6th and the final segment on June 11th.

“While I was at Brandeis University, I took a writing course with a famous writer who told me flat out that I would never make it. He used to attack me in class, and though tears would stream down my face….”

To read the entire interview, join us on June 4th.

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create! Mark Childress was our April author. Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my posts sign up for my Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

Haiku…flower graveyard…crushed love

Forgotten Flower, forgotten love ©
by Trisha Sugarek

Crushed petal, crushed stem
Flattened flower, Trampled love
Dead and dry flower

Crushed love, crushed heart, still
Packed down against the pavement
Crushed flower, crushed stem

Forgotten love, lost
Dried between sun and pavement
pages in a book
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I left the UPS store yesterday and walked to my car. I found this carnation in the parking lot, flattened and dried perfectly, as if saved between the pages of an old book.
What would this single flower tell me if it could talk. Did a girl throw it down while in a lovers’ spat? Did a boy throw it away when the girl didn’t come to meet him? Or did it fall from a grocery store-bought bouquet on Mother’s Day? I stood in the parking lot, gazing down at it, while the world rushed around me. I am officially the crazed old lady, standing on the hot pavement looking down at a dead flower.
(photo by Trish Sugarek)

Inspiration can hit anytime, anywhere. I wrote the Haiku in the car on the way home, and then hurried into the house lest I forget the verse.
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one of them once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

Don’t Throw That Away!!

I know! I’m nagging my fellow writers about this. But, I need to convince you that no matter how much you hate what you’ve written (on any given day), and how much crap you might think it is (on any given day) and how much you might despise and doubt yourself (on any given day). DON’T THROW ANYTHING that you’ve written AWAY!

Put it out of sight so it won’t haunt you. Throw it in a drawer that you never open. I promise you, in a month, a year or even in several years you will bring it out, dust it off, edit and add to it and wonder why you ever hated it. It could be a short story that blossoms into a novel. It could be a few lines that turns into poetry.

I love what Charles Bukowski said on this subject; about pulling the ‘crap’ writing out of a box, filling it’s cavities, giving eye and ear examinations and………

my atomic stockpile by Charles Bukowski

I cleaned my place the other day
first time in ten years
and found 100 rejected poems:
I fastened them all to a clipboard
(much bad reading).

now I will clean their teeth
fill their cavities
give them eye and ear examinations
weigh them
offer blood transfusions
then send them out again into the
sick world of posey.
either that
or I must burn down your cities,
rape your women,
murder your men,
enslave your children.

every time I clean my room
the world trembles in the balance.
that’s why I only do it once every
ten years.

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This is a very funny (ironic) man and that’s why I am so drawn to him, in spite of his drunken, sexist, bigoted, misogynistic ways. Would I want him living in my house? God, NO! But would I like to go away with him for awhile to an island or a cabin in the mountains where we could drink, write, talk, yell, swear, debate, philosophize, and BE HONEST!! HELL, YES!!
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create! Mark Childress was our April author. Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter.
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The Vampires are Thirsty! A Review…Robert McCammon’s ‘I Travel by Night’

Rating: (4 out of 5 quills) “I Travel by Night”

From the first few pages the reader is catapulted into McCammon’s 19th century New Orleans, a city of shadows, indulgences, and exotic sights and smells. The descriptions are a rich tapestry of post-civil war days in the old south.

While the undead, horrific creatures, and spine chilling story telling are not exactly my personal taste in reading, I found McCammon’s style of writing captivating. I expected ‘blood and guts’ and got, instead, an attention grabbing vampire-hero who wants to redeem himself while rescuing humans. Like a fatal car crash I really didn’t want to look, but I couldn’t help but read it to the last riveting page.
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(excerpt) “…..horse-drawn carriages moved here and there in no particular hurry as if the night had no beginning nor end; piano music spilled into the puddled streets from rooms made golden by candlelight, the timeless river washed against the piers and pilings of exquisite decay, and the brick walls that had stood in the reign of the Ibervilles still stood in defiance of sun, wind, the dampness of the swamp and the hands of modern men. It was a magic and mystical city, wild in its freedoms and sacred in its charms…..”

The new story marks McCammon’s return to ‘the sort of flamboyant, go-for-broke horror fiction that has earned him an international reputation and a legion of devoted fans. The terrors of the Dark Society, and the tortured existence of the unforgettable vampire adventurer Trevor Lawson create a consuming atmosphere and will, once again, please McCammon’s loyal readers.’

‘For Lawson, the horrors that stalked the Civil War battlefield at Shiloh were more than just those of war. After being forcibly given the gift of undead by the mysterious vampire queen LaRouge, Lawson chose to cling to what remained of his humanity and fought his way free of the Dark Society’s clutches. In the decades since, he has roamed late nineteenth century America, doing what good he can as he travels by night, combating evils mundane and supernatural, and always seeking the key to regaining a mortal life.’

Released on May 31st. To read my interview with Robert McCammon click here. (review at the request of author/publicist)

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. This SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner” presents INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS!

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and plan on featuring an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Robert McCammon, Rhys Bowen,Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, Jeffrey Deaver and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create! Mark Childress is our April author. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August‘s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander.
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To receive my posts sign up for my Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

If You’re Younger than Sixty, Read This!

Mortality, death was a vague concept when I was young…..now it is a harsh truth…my days are numbered so every day has such importance. When I was young I could piss away days, weeks, months, in toxic jobs, toxic relationships, and never regretted that lost time. Never gave time a thought. After all I had plenty more where that came from. Now at seventy-one, I feel an anxiousness that I won’t get everything done….won’t get everything written….won’t finish the writing I want to do.

They say, ‘Youth is wasted on the young’….. so true because the young waste time and energy and life, just as I did, on the trivial, the mundane, the unimportant. I wish I could reach out and shake them and tell them, “Wake up! Fulfill your dreams and goals today! Before you know whats happened, you’ll be in your seventies and desperate for more time.”

You might be saying about now, “Hey, Trish. What brought on this rant? Are you sick?
Are you dying? Are you crazy? No? Then you must be reading more of Charles Bukowski. ” GUILTY as charged!!

My message is this: Begin writing, jump out of a plane, float the Amazon, climb a mountain, go fishing in Montana, buy that motorcycle or boat you always wanted, write a poem, have a child, hug your parents, start writing, go to Argentina without knowing another soul, walk the Appalachian Trail, sit in a park and watch the world go by…in Lisbon, rescue a dog or cat, say a prayer that you live long enough to fulfill your dreams!
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Small Talk (with Death) © Charles Bukowski

all right, while we are gently celebrating tonight
and while crazy classical music leaps at me from
my small radio, I light a fresh cigar
and realize that I am still very much alive and that
the 21st century is almost upon me!

I walk softly now toward 5 a.m. this dark night
my 5 cats have been in and out, looking after me,
I have petted them, spoken to them, they
are full of their own private fears wrought by previous
centuries of cruelty and abuse
but I think that they love me as much as they can,
anyhow, what I am trying to say here
is that writing is just as exciting and mad and
just as big a gamble for me as it ever was, because Death
after all these years
walks around in the room with me now and speaks softly,
asking, do you still think that you are a genuine writer?
are you pleased with what you’ve done?
listen, let me have one of those cigars.

help yourself, motherf—-, I say.

Death lights up and we sit quietly for a time.
I can feel him here with me.

don’t you long for the ferocity
of youth? He finally asks.

not so much, I say.
but don’t you regret those things
that have been lost?

not at all, I say.

don’t you miss, He asks slyly, the young girls
climbing through your window?

all they brought was bad news, I tell him.
but the illusion, He says, don’t you miss the illusion?

hell, yes, don’t you? I ask.

I have no illusions, He says sadly.

sorry, I forgot about that, I say, then walk
to the window
unafraid and strangely satisfied
to watch the warm dawn unfold.

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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one of them once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Maya Angelou, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create! Mark Childress is our April author. Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Her Majesty’s Hope’ a Review of Susan E.MacNeal’s new book

Review of Her Majesty’s Hope Rating: (5 out of 5 quills)

Yesterday Susan Elia MacNeal’s latest Maggie Hope mystery was released. It’s no surprise that I have been eagerly awaiting the release of His Majesty’s Hope by this accomplished writer.

Each of MacNeal’s books are ‘stand alone’ stories but to get the most pleasure from them, I highly recommend you read them in order. Starting with Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, we follow Maggie as she works as a lowly typist in a typing pool at #10 Downing Street in spite of her knowledge and natural ability with languages. She is a master of cryptology and codes but in the 1930’s it was unheard of for a woman to be used in that capacity.

She quickly rises in Mr. Churchill’s government and trains with the British CIA. I have to give a nod to Princess Elizabeth’s Spy because if you love the ‘royals’ (as I do) this is an amazing look into Windsor Castle when the now Queen was just a young girl. It’s a surprising and fascinating mystery.

The most current in this series takes a harsh, horrifying look at Hitler’s ethnic cleansing. Maggie is dropped into Germany as a spy and also to confront the mother she never knew and thought had died in a car crash years ago.

Seventy-five years later, the systematic destruction of the Jewish population is chilling and this gifted writer puts it in a context that is both horrifying and heart-breaking. MacNeal’s characters are full and rich with several story lines weaving through this period in our history. And then she neatly ties all the ends together, leaving you wanting more….which her fans will get with a little patience.

I was so pleased to have interviewed Susan a couple of months ago and if you missed it, click here.

(review at the request of author/publicist)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Maya Angelou, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

Do You Care about your Family history??

A recent review I offered on Maya Angelou’s book, “Mom & Me & Mom” reminded me, once again, of the importance of recording family histories and story telling.

Since man formed his first vocabulary, family and tribal news was carried from tribe to tribe, village to village by a storyteller. They would be welcomed in each cave, hut, and council house as an honored guest and nights would be spent around the fire listening to the latest news from family members living afar. Famine, a good harvest, movement of wild herds, warring tribes, births, deaths, alliances, all were carried by the professional storyteller. After a few days passed the news had been told and the storyteller, rested and refreshed, would move on to the next tribe or settlement.

While growing up in the mid-fifties my mother (certainly a modern day storyteller) would tell me the stories of her and eleven siblings growing up in the forests of Tumwater, Washington (state). The story of my mother’s sister, Ivah, cutting off her eyebrows in retaliation. When all the kids were down with seafood poisoning and a dairy cow wandered into the yard crying to be milked (milk being the remedy for stomach disorders). Another of my mother’s sisters’ panties falling down around her ankles while dancing at her first dress-up dance.

I believe that these oral histories, as told by the elders of our families will soon (if not already) be a thing of the past. Whenever I have the opportunity, whether it’s teaching a class on writing and storytelling or giving a lecture on same, I relate how important it is for each of us to record our own family’s rich history. When grandparents are gone, the stories are gone with them. My family story, whose origin began in Ireland and France, was great material for my writing. I have just published my second novel, “Wild Violets“. It is loosely based on my mother, as a young entrepreneur, flapper and owner of a speakeasy, in San Francisco in the 1920’s.

In this day of television, dvd’s, and computers with games, these stories handed down from elder to child, will be lost forever. Do YOU know some great stories that you were told as a child?

It’s a great place to begin your writing career!

(Photo of five sisters above from left to right: LaVerne, Violet, , Gladys, Ivah, & Lillas)

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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS! Join us at the Writer’s Corner!
I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Caroline Leavitt, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create! Mark Childress is our April author. Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander.
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Are you a fan of International Intrigue? A Review

I first met author, Andrew Grant, through his lovely wife, author Tasha Alexander. (Interviews with both coming later in the year) Andrew consented to an interview this winter in anticipation of his new book which will be released in 2014.

I had never read anything by Andrew but I do try to do my homework because I promised my readers that I was interviewing my favorite authors. So I ordered Grant’s book , “EVEN”.

And I am so happy that I did.

Ranking: 5 out of 5 quills A REVIEW “EVEN”

Andrew turns out to be a slick, savvy, clever, and ‘surprise you at every turn’ kind of writer. And his humor is dry as your morning toast. Which, if you know me, you know that I love me some DRY humor!

British Intelligence operative, David Trevellyan is a take action sort’a guy. At one point in the story he is forced to sit in on one of the FBI’s endless meetings and ruminates to himself: “Staying on to help Tanya fight her demons was one thing. I was thinking about time spent in restaurants, and bars, and other, more secluded places. Not in offices. Not sitting through endless meetings. Talk of corporations was a bad sign. Any mention of conspiracies and government contractors was worse. Interagency cooperation was only a sentence away. Task forces would be proposed. I knew how it would end up. If I let the FBI go down that road I’d never get away. I’d be stuck here for months.” See? Very funny man!

I will be buying more of the Trevellyan series as they are great stories. I always felt like James Bond was a bit of a spoof….entertaining especially with Sean Connery’s tongue in cheek delivery. But Andrew’s characters are very real and believable. In “EVEN” (as in getting…) Trevellyan, a seasoned operative for the British government finds himself in the crosshairs of the NYPD and the Feebs. He is their prime suspect in a murder. There is a sadistic, female villain that will give me nightmares for weeks.

This story is brilliantly plotted with lots of twists and turns and I look forward to reading more of Grant’s work. I highly recommend it.

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Don’t Miss It!! MONTHLY INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!

I have had a wonderful response from authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, Tasha Alexander, Andrew Grant, and many others.

Beware! Parents! 1.8 million teens run away every year!

It’s really been an eye opener since I began this series of short plays for today’s teenager and the classroom.
The research and the things I have learned about a teen’s world today have astounded and saddened me. Life was so much simpler when I was a teen.

But then I remembered that I ran away from home…..on my horse! ….for about four hours. I rode twenty miles into town and went to my boyfriend’s mother’s house. She was so much cooler than my mom! After discussing the whole problem with her (it must have been earth-shattering but I cannot, for the life of me, remember what it was about. I am certain that it had to do with my breaking the rules and my Dad grounding me.) I called my Mom and she told me if I could get back home, again on horseback, before my Dad woke up she wouldn’t tell him.

We galloped all the way back home!

But, I digress. It astonished me; the number of teens who run away. This from www.troubled-teen.com: ‘Some troubled teens are high risk for becoming teen runaways when they feel like they can’t handle problems at home. This is a frightening experience for parents and for teens. According to the National Runaway Switchboard, 1.6 to 2.8 million young people run away every year. Many teen runaways quickly find that running away is worse than the problems they have at home, but they may be afraid to go home.’

So I thought I’d write another play #27, for the classroom on this subject. One where teens could ‘role play’ running away (’cause we know that it has crossed most teenager’s minds to do that very thing.) in a safe environment and perhaps get a feeling for just how dangerous it is.

Synopsis: Molly is fifteen and defiant when it comes to the rules her single parent Mom has set down. When she is forbidden to see the older boy she is dating and then grounded for a month, Molly runs away. Only to find that the streets are no place to run to. This short play for the classroom or drama department offers a safe environment for teenagers to explore the risks of running away from home. 3f. 1m. Cast can be expanded.
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!

Pull the Covers Up Over your Head…an Interview with author, Robert McCammon (part 2)

Part II…… an interview with Robert McCammon (part I)

Robert McCammon, born July 17, 1952 in Birmingham, Alabama, have written nineteen books, working on his twentieth now. Some titles are SWAN SONG, MINE, MYSTERY WALK, BOY’S LIFE, STINGER, SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD, MISTER SLAUGHTER, THE PROVIDENCE RIDER.

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

A. I start work about 10 or so at night and work until 2 or 3. When I’m finishing up a book, I “double up” and work in the daytime as well.

Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?

A. “Lost” in the writing? Well…I guess it’s a matter of concentration. The harder you concentrate, the more you become “lost” in the writing, I suppose. Doesn’t happen all the time, but it does happen.

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

A. When I was about 25 and realized my job at a newspaper was a dead-end.

Q. How long after that were you published?

A. About two years later.

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

A. What does it look like? Well, it looks like extreme concentration, hard work and problem solving. Also sticking with it until it’s done. Does that answer your question, sorta kinda, or have I misunderstood it?

Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters ?

A. In my mind. I’m doing a series right now where some of the characters are ongoing, but others have to be made up from whole cloth. Still…are any characters made up totally from “whole cloth”? Probably not. They’re probably put together by the writer’s attitude and impressions of the world, people he or she have met…many influences there in creating characters.

Q. What inspired your story/stories ?

A. I like to read. I don’t write with an outline, so it’s like I’m reading my own work as it goes along. I want to know what happens. Also, I want to create a world the reader will enjoy living in for a little while.

Q. Have you? Or do you want to write in another genre`?

A. I’ve written in horror/suspense/mystery/historical. I’d like to do some “science fiction” writing, as well…whatever the definition of that might be.

Q. Anything else you’d like to share with us?

A. I was pleased to do this, and thank you for the questions. http://www.robertmccammon.com/

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Come back May 23rd when I review McCammon’s newest book, ‘I Travel the Night’

Don’t forget to sign up to receive my BLOG! It offers advice, encouragement and support to other writers.
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. The NEW SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner” INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create! Mark Childress is our April author. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author. July features Rhys Bowen. Sue Grafton is August‘s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To receive my posts sign up for my Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

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