A foggy night, at a ferry landing, inspired me…(part 4)

ferry landing, poetry, foggy night, blogs, writing, I was sitting, late one night, at a ferry landing, waiting and watching the boats ferry back and forth until it was my turn to board.  Fog horns, misty fog, reflections on the black water, the screech of the gulls, and the silent hunting of the pelicans.

The wet air, the silence, the sound of a lone fog horn warning vessels of danger.  The fog smearing everything I looked at… I was inspired  to write poetry.  But the scene could have inspired a murder mystery writer to write about a body, weighted down, being slipped into the water;  or it could have inspired a romance writer to write about two lovers parting as the boat docked.  Never to be together again.  For me, it was poetry.  Here is an excerpt of what came out of that black night……..

FOGGY NIGHT  © 

The white orb, saturated with tidal flows 

peers through the veil, 

a ghost ship slips up the fog laden channel

 Night gulls’ sing with strident cries 

fog seeps in, the tide rolls out, 

day is gone, the night creeps on 

Trees, dressed in ebony, drift by 

water glistens, injectable methandienone online in uk gold and wet 

Night is soft and tender, edges blurred 

damp seeps into cloth, hair, bone 

Fog casts tents of light over the landing 

Hunters of the sea know not day nor night 

Fishers all, white feathers stark 

against the night shadows 

Palm trees, silhouetted against the ochre gauze, 

brushes hardened with black paint……

I raced home as I had nothing to write with in the car.  Opening my front door, I dropped my keys and purse onto a chair, tore off my coat as I sped down the hall to my studio.  Waking up my computer, my fingers flew across the key board, lest I forget the words that were born in the night.

To read more click here for the book, "Butterflies and Bullets"

 

 

 

 

In remembrance….9.11.12

I wrote this poetry (Haiku) after visiting the rebuilding site at ground zero September 2011.   The grief was still fresh but there was hope mixed in….   

Ground Zero 9.11.11

Heartache fills the chest
Terrorists murdered thousands
Pain is fresh and new

Haunts walk the gardens
Four hundred trees, firemen all
the fountain of tears

Green leafed trees stand tall
Names carved never to forget
Red, white, blue flies proud

and

Anniversary 9.11.11

I wait to exhale
will terrorists celebrate
with their big loud bang?

walking among us
to celebrate what they did
murder innocence

today, a grief day
remember a bright, fall day
ten short years ago

 

What’s your favorite word? Nostalgia is one of mine!

family, sisters, writing, blogs, women,     Were you there when the movie “Little Women” came out? Not the new (1994) version…the old version (1949, it’s on DVD)  with June Allyson who played Jo,  Peter Lawford as Laurie, Margaret O’Brien as Beth, Elizabeth Taylor as  Amy, and Janet Leigh (yes! from Psycho fame)  as Meg.   Do you go all nostalgic when you think about those simpler times with  Jo, Beth, Amy, and Meg?  I do.  Have you read the book by Louisa May Alcott?  She was writing about her family.

Part of me wishes I had a bunch of sisters, (be careful what you wish for, right?) part of me wishes that I had lived in a simpler time. I am a part of a family like the Marches.  My mother had  five sisters and six brothers.  I grew up with twelve aunties and uncles.  And so many cousins I still don’t know the number.

So I write about them.  I am much like Jo; writer, tomboy (in my younger days) outspoken and trying to be the very best at what I do…….writing.  

My suggestion to other writers is to write about your grandmother, great-aunt, second cousin, twice removed.  Write about what you know. Write about the past.  I am so very lucky to have the ‘Guyer girls’ to draw from …..I couldn’t make up the stories that they have given me out of their real lives.     family, women, sisters,

 

Do you ask yourself, “when will my writing be discovered?”

success,fairy tales, stage plays,confidence,believe     Okay, so now you have a publisher…your books will fly off the shelves or through cyberspace, right?  Au contra, it’s still going to take some time. Or at least, that’s certainly been my experience….

Samuel French (biggest publisher for stage plays)  picked me up in 2004 and has since published four of my stage plays.  I am so grateful to be in the same publishing house as  Louisa May Alcott, David Mamet, Anton Chekhov, and Tennessee Williams. And the staff is so nurturing to their authors.  But, here’s the reality: No sales the first year, a few the second year, more the third year and so on…….but, sadly, no BIG immediate discovery of this playwright!  Not like in the movies!!

So I kept writing and editing and submitting……and writing more!

I am happy to share with my readers the news that I received a nice fat check from French with reports that reflected my biggest sales period EVER, the first quarter, this year!  Over the last six months they have sold seventy scripts of mine.  Most orders were in multiple quantities which means a theatre company was buying enough books for cast and crew.  And that means that somewhere, out in the world, theatre companies are producing my work!  You might be saying to yourself, ‘that’s not so many’  but think about it.  That’s 11.6 scripts per month. And like I said, most of them were NOT perusal copies (of one) but the number that they would need to produce a show! One production in Bangor, Maine and the other in Phoenix, AZ.

This summer has been a benchmark for me.  We have created a vibrant, new, interactive web site and as of this writing August will exceed any other month on the other sales channels that I use besides my on-line store. My books are finally flying off the shelves of amazon.com (USA and Europe) after eight long years!!

So my message to you is: Keep writing, fellow writers.  When you get rejection after rejection  (as I did) let that be the spur to write more! Use private publishing. ‘Self publishing’ is not a dirty word anymore. ‘Vanity’ books are a thing of the past…or almost.  Most of us, as writers, have something important to say and vanity is far, far away from our thoughts.  With the advent of ‘print on demand’ self publishing is not the huge investment it used to be.  I self publish for less than $100. plus the wholesale cost of the finished book.  Sure your publisher takes a cut……but!  You’re published!!

Writing is a lonely business but keep at it.  I’ll believe in you if you’ll believe in me!

Who, What Inspires your Writing? (part 2)

chilren's theatre, children's plays, fairy tales, inspiration, actors    You find inspiration in the strangest places.   I was dedicated to writing scripts for the stage.   A few years back, I attended this production of my children’s play, Emma and the Lost Unicorn, outside of Boston .

After the actors had their curtain calls, the Director told them that if they changed out of their costumes and did their assigned tasks back stage, they could ‘have some time with  Trisha’.

So I found myself holding impromptu stage craft classes with these adorable young actors (age 5–18).  I was struck how serious they were about their craft.  Their questions were very sophisticated.  And then it happened……the inspiration to dare to write something completely out of my comfort zone…..a book.

The  youngest ones begged me to write the stories from my scripts in storybook form.  They wanted to have Emma, Stare, Cheets, and Stanley in their personal libraries.  Three children’s books and one novel later I have found a new outlet for my story telling.  These children, who knew no fear, gave me enough courage to try chapter books, poetry, and a novel. Experimental at times, risky at times, scary, but so rewarding.   So step out of your comfort zone and try writing in a different format… it’s very liberating and you might surprise yourself.  I did!children's theatre, plays for kids, writing, stage plays,

My Review – The Orchid House

writing, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fictionwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fictionwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fictionwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fiction

 Rating: 4 quills

The Orchid House by  Lucinda Riley  is an intricately woven story of real men and women.   How the author weaves their stories and brings them all together at the end is indeed brilliant.  From a ‘grand house’ of rural England to war torn Thailand and back again.

As a child, concert pianist Julia Forrester spent many idyllic hours in the hothouse of Wharton Park, the grand estate where her grandfather tended exotic orchids. Years later, while struggling with overwhelming grief over the death of her husband and young child, she returns to this tranquil place. There she reunites with Kit Crawford, heir to the estate and her possible salvation.

When they discover an old diary, Julia seeks out her grandmother to learn the truth behind a love affair that almost destroyed the estate. Their search takes them back to the 1940s when Harry, a former heir to Wharton Park, married his young society bride, Olivia, on the eve of World War II. When the two lovers are cruelly separated, the impact will be felt for generations to come.

When the last thread is snipped the reader is satisfied and well content with a very good read.writing, authors, review, WWII, family, fiction,love

Bambi was romping in the Austrian forest long before Disney…. [3 of 3 in series]

Classic fairy tales researchedI sure didn’t want the fury of Disney coming down on me because of copyright issues while writing “Bertie, the Bookworm and the Bully Boys“.  So it led me to do some serious research on the origins of Bambi and make certain it was public domain.  Now for you new writers, if you don’t understand what that is, write me a comment and I will share. Did you know that Bambi, a Life in the Woods  is considered one of the first environmental, ecology-minded books ever written?  Amazing, right??   Bambi, a Life in the Woods, originally published in Austria as Bambi.  Written in  1923, an Austrian novel by Felix Salten. The novel traces the life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of a mate, the lessons he learns from his father and experience about the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest. An English translation by Whittaker Chambers was published in North America  in 1928, and the novel has since been translated and published in over 20 languages around the world.

The novel was well received by critics and is considered a classic. It was adapted into a theatrical animated film, Bambi, by  Walt Disney Studios in 1942, two Russian live-action adaptations in 1985 and 1986, and a stage production in 1998.  Janet Schulman released a children’s picture book adaptation in 2000 that featured realistic oil-paintings and many of Salten’s original words. Still available on www.amazon.com.

Now a version of Bambi graces my newest children’s book,Bambi, fairy tales, fables, ecology, environment,books for kids, books for children,bullying, literacy Bertie, the Bookworm and the Bully Boys“. Rather than take the obvious route of having Snow White, Cinderella, or Beauty appear I thought it would be so much more fun for my readers to meet some of the sub-characters like the wicked stepsister, one of the dwarves, Red Riding Hood, and the little piggies….and of course, Bambi.

children's books, fairy tales, bullying, literacy, new books for kids

Writer shares a little wisdom…

writing, writer, blogger, blog, playwright, fiction, books for kids, poetry, Haiku
Going home………to Ireland 1998

Today at 4:30pm EST my wisdom (such as it is) was posted again on Care2.com with 20,000,000 members.  If you missed it in July, here it is again.Now keep in mind that I still consider myself a small town girl, stumbling through this life as best I can.  But, if I reach out and touch just one other woman and make her life a little easier, I am content.

Do you like free stuff? Read “Stanley, the Dragon” FREE

fairy tales, dragons, books for children, children's new fiction,fables          Offering a promotion to read “Stanley, the Stalwart Dragon” for FREE August 10, –August 14, 2012.  Go to Amazon.com’s Kindle KDP Select  Don’t miss this opportunity. Go to Kindle’s “Lending Library” at the link above.

Synopsis:  Stanley, a very young dragon, has run away from home. He feels that he is a failure. As dragons go, he probably is. He’s kind, soft spoken, a good friend and can’t for the life of him, breathe FIRE! The story is full of wonderful characters. A lady bug, named Persnickety is Stanley’s best friend and side kick. Emma, an earthling girl who lives on a farm and plays in the forest, with her magical friends. The loveable villain is a raven named City Slick, the Third. Thomas, the pedantic, sea turtle, and Cheets, the elf, are just a few of Stanley’s new friends.

One dark night Slick lures Stanley away from the forest and sells him to the circus. He is left chained, alone in a tent, until he breathes fire. The Queen of the Faeries gives Donald and Emma a quest; to go and find Stanley and rescue him.

While this is an adventure story full of laughter, it teaches children that no matter what, it is never a good idea to run away from home and is frequently very dangerous. The fable addresses bigotry, greed, loyalty and kindness to others. Ages: 2–12

 

 

Take a risk with your writing

homosexuality, teenagers, family, short plays, small casts, maternal love        So my series hasn’t even been on amazon.com for a week and I am experiencing sales. Why am I telling you this?  Well, it was sort of an experiment; publishing a series of single one act scripts……..
I can’t tell you how exciting this is…..’Keep it simple, stupid’ , seems to be working for me.
 
  I guess what I’m trying to do is encourage other writers to take a risk, try a new idea, challenge yourself and your writing.  What have you got to lose?  Currently there are ten of these short, one act plays.  With more to come.teenagers, new ideas, family, Billie Holiday, monologues for women, one act play, short play,teen dating violence, teenagers, high school, middle school, one act play, short plays,domestic violencebullying, bullies, high school, middle school, teens,one act, short stage play