T H E W R I T I N G P O R C H

"Legally Blonde" and "Freaky Friday" script writer interview

2010-08-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

As the City of Stars, Kilgore's racking up some more candidates.
Former Kilgore area resident Jason N. Hearne is up for an Emmy this week forhis work as an animation director on the National Geographic show, "AlienEarths."
The son of Kilgore attorney Nick Hearne and Carolyn Fox-Hearne, an artinstructor at Kilgore College, Jason Hearne is nominated in the "OutstandingAnimated Program" category, along with Dana Berry, the show's creator director/producer and Dave Jerrard, another animation director.
The show's more-than-lifelike animated effects depicted Super Novas andexploding planets.
"The show I work on turned out to be the dark horse in the category it was nominated in - we're up against The Simpsons, South Park, the Ricky Gervais Show and Disney's Prep and Landing," Hearne said. "It just so happened toget picked up and to share the limelight with those big cartoons. We're upagainst some heavy hitters."
The Creative Arts Emmys will be held in a week, on Aug. 21 - that's one weekprior to the Primetime Emmys.
Technically a multimedia designer, Hearne received his BFA in studio artfrom SMU and his MFA in studio art from The Art Center College of Design. He was co-owner and senior director of Video Box Studios, an animation studio in Los Angeles that was recently purchased by one of the largest postproduction companies, Point 360, where he is now executive creativedirector. The group, Point 360 Eden FX, has provided visual effects forshows like Lost, Fringe, Ghost Whisperer, Chuck and Benjamin Button.
The National Geographic show had its own unique challenges, Hearne said.
"We're using a lot of techniques to replicate Hubble telescope photographywith incredibly high resolution, amazingly dense footage that we create.That's really pushing the envelope," Hearne said.
His role in the series, which aired in 2009, was to oversee the team toproduce the footage the director needed, as well as rolling up his sleevesto get on the computer and animate the footage himself.
"My goal is to get it the way the director wants it to look," he said. "We're going into high bitmapped images and all kinds of things. Thesoftware can do what it can do, but you have to really push it to get thekind of imagery NG expects. They expect incredibly realistic footage as ifit were being photographed by the Hubble telescope itself," Hearne said.
The Los Angeles resident is part of a dynamic domestic duo. His wife,Heather Hach Hearne, is a writer who penned the script for the LindsayLohan-Jamie Lee Curtis movie "Freaky Friday" and the libretto for the smashBroadway hit, "Legally Blonde: The Musical."A graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Heather Hach Hearne gother start in magazine journalism before leaving Colorado for Los Angeles.
"If you want to be serious about it, you've got to be here," she said. "I just loved movies more than I, quite frankly, love anything. I needed tochange my life and I just decided to go for it," she said.
She had done some troupe comedy work, and applied that love of fun to her work.
"The things I love are movies and comedy put it together and that's a script writer, isn't it?"
Heather was approached by the producers of the Broadway musical version of"Legally Blonde" and hired as the librettist (script writer) about the sametime the lyricist and composer were brought on board.
"They saw 'Freaky Friday' and thought I might be a good fit," she said.
As a writer, she quickly discovered the differences between stage and screen when it was time to "cut" and change locations, quick movie turnaroundsthat can't be replicated on stage.
"It was a different animal - but at the same time, a story is a story. Soyou just tell the story as well as you can," she said.
It was the second adaptation for the "Legally Blonde" franchise, with ElleWoods' travails taken from a novel into movie format first.
The same was true for "Freaky Friday," which she co-wrote with Leslie Dixon.That had already been adapted from a novel to a 1970s film.
Her new movie script, "What to Expect When You're Expecting," will go todirectors next week. (Think recent ensemble movies, like "Valentine's Day" and "Love Actually" but this one's about couples getting pregnant. And not unlike "He's Just NotThat Into You," it takes a non-fiction self-help book and transforms itthrough plot and character.)
Hearne said she enjoys the adaptation process. "I like having the bare bones of the story and then giving it my own flavorand my own spin," she said.
Jason and Heather Hach Hearne have a daughter, Harper, and a son, Drake.

Author Q&A with John McMullen, "The Inwood Book"

2010-03-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

Meet John McMullen

John F. McMullen, "johnmac the bard", is a poet, author, journalist, technologist, college professor, consultant, and denizen of cyberspace. He is a graduate of Iona College and holds two Masters degrees from Marist College. He was an executive of two major Wall Street firms, an officer of three consulting firms (including his own), and has taught at NYU, The New School for Social Research, Marist College, Westchester Community College, and Monroe College. The title poem of his first poetry collection, "Cashing A Check," won third place in the 2009 Writer's Place National Poetry Contest. "Cashing A Check" was followed by three more collections, "Writing In My Head," the chapbook, "With A Chip On My Shoulder," and "New and Collected Poems". He is the author of "The Inwood Book", an omnibus containing poems, short stories and a novel, "Offering It Up", and the co-author of "Microcomputer Communications - A Window on the World" and was a contributor (with Esther Dyson, Ray Bradbury, William F. Buckley, Jr, Thom Hartmann, Steve Wozniak, John D. MacDonald, and many others) to the well-ahead-of-its-time "Digital Deli," the author of over 1,500 news stories, articles, columns, and academic papers, and the editor of "Web 2.0 The Magazine." He also maintains a blog, “johnmac’s rants”. He is a native of the Inwood section of Manhattan Island and resides in Jefferson Valley, NY, with his wife Barbara E. McMullen, an educator and entrepreneur. He may be reached at johnmac13@gmail.com and at Facebook and on Twitter.

About “The Inwood Book”

The novel portion of “The Inwood Book," “Offering It Up” had been running around in my head for over seven years. I began to get serious about it when I began to write poetry. Both were a departure for me as all of my published writing had been non-fiction about technology. A lot of my poetry revolved around the New York City Irish Catholic / Jewish neighborhood, of my youth, the same setting for the novel, so they fed each other. Once I completed the novel, it made sense to make it part of a “package” with the poems about the neighborhood and some short stories also Inwood-centered.

How did you get your start in writing?

I’ve been writing all my life. I wrote a piece in the seventh grade about Joe DiMaggio that was so good that the teacher accused me of copying from a sports magazine. In sophomore year in high school; I put myself in the first person of Joseph of Arimethia to turn a boring religious assignment into a short story and I was a sports columnist for the high school paper. I got sidetracked in college by beer and basketball and by the fact that I couldn’t type (I still can’t). After college, I spent 20 years in the Information Technology field, writing only business memos. It was only after starting my own consulting business, building a name as an expert with microcomputers, and latching on to an Apple II (allowing me to type, mistype, and edit) that I was able to write for publication when I was asked to do a piece for Popular Computing Magazine. This piece led to fifteen hundred articles, columns, and news stories. I never made enough writing “to pay the rent” but it was always the portion of my professional life that enjoyed the most -- I covered computer crime cases, trials, a suspected murder related to high-tech theft and wrote a lot of opinion pieces. Now, I’m trying to make writing my primary career (my son is a Hollywood screenwriter who has never done anything else; his success gives me something to shoot at).

What does my writing routine look like?

It’s too haphazard to be called a routine. I always have notebooks and my iTouch and T-Mobile G1 with me so ideas or full poems get written down immediately. I spend a lot of time at my local Barnes and Noble and usually have a Netbook with me and write quite a lot there. At home, my primary computer is a Macintosh – so the most current material is always on a USB drive around my neck for transfer to whatever computer that I’m about to use. – the USB also serves as a backup for the work. I don’t yet have a regimented schedule for writing – and I know I should. When I interviewed Mary Higgins Clark years ago, she told me that she got up at six each morning and wrote until lunchtime and Stephen King, in his wonderful “On Writing”, posits the need for a routine – so I know I should have one; I just haven’t gotten there yet.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why:

I read a great deal and admire many writers for different reasons. Ray Kurzweil and the late Pierre Teilhard de Chardin boggle my mind because they are so bright and their brilliance comes through in everything they write. I love the way that Pete Hamill and Jimmy Breslin turn a phrase. Andrew Greeley’s ear for language is an inspiration to someone writing about “neighborhood people” while the bizarre humor of a Christopher Moore, Tom Robbins, or Christopher Buckley cracks me up and the tight dialogue of Robert Parker or Elmore Leonard is to be admired. Finally, I read a lot of mysteries and really enjoy Lawrence Block, Max Allan Collins. Linda Fairstein, Robert K. Tannenbaum (really his ghostwriter), Patricia Cornwall, Michael Connolly, Sara Paretsky, Ed McBain / Evan Hunter, Dorothy Sayers, Robert Crais, Kathy Reichs, Jeffrey Deaver, and Sue Grafton. – I could go on; when I’m reading mysteries, I usually do one or more a day; I’m very lucky that I read very rapidly (unlucky that I spend more on books than many small town libraries).

What are you working on next?

I have some poems in the safe, I’ve begun a sequel to “Offering It Up, and I’ve outlined some short stories that, depending on the timing, will either stand alone or be packaged with the novel.

What challenges did you face with this book?

Getting serious enough to write enough to let the characters take over and finish it for me. Hopefully, that will not be a problem with the sequel.

Writing Porch Author Q&A with Amy Cohen, Author of The Late Bloomer's Revolution

2009-08-05T06:42:00.000-07:00

Meet Amy Cohen:
Amy Cohen was a writer/producer on the sitcoms 'Caroline in the City' and 'Spin City,' a columnist for the New York Observer, and a correspondent for cable TV's New York Central. She is the author of 'The Late Bloomer's Revolution', which was on the New York Times bestseller list. The movie rights have been sold to Sarah Jessica Parker (It’s so exciting, she can’t believe it either). She has been published in Vogue and The New York Times Modern Love section. She has appeared on The Today Show, The CBS Morning Show, and ABC News. She lives in New York City near her family, who still have a lot to say about everything.
About 'The Late Bloomer's Revolution':
In quick succession, Amy Cohen lost her job writing sitcoms, her boyfriend (with whom she'd been talking marriage), and her mom, after a long bout with cancer. Not exactly the stuff humor thrives on, is it? But filtered through Amy's worldview, there's comedy in the most unexpected places. In this unforgettable, engaging memoir, she recounts her (seemingly) never-ending search for love, her evolving relationship with her widowed dad, and her own almost unintentional growth as she stumbles through life. Filled with observations sweet, bittersweet, and laugh-out-loud funny, 'The Late Bloomer's Revolution' will be irresistible to anyone who believes her greatest moment is yet to come.
How did you get your start in writing?
I've always written since I was a little girl. I was never sporty or good in school, so writing books was my thing. My dad traveled a lot when I was a kid and I would write and illustrate books with subtle titles like "Look! Look! I'm over here!" with a little girl on the cover who looked exactly like me. Clearly, It was my way of coping with feeling that we didn't know each other very well. I think writing has always been my way of communicating and apparently, coping.
What does your writing routine look like?
It always involves coffee and at least a little agonizing (or more likely a lot). I try never to check the internet (which is hard for me) and always turn off my phone. For awhile I worked late at night into the wee hours, but I started to feel like a vampire waking up at 11 a.m. every day, so I switched and started waking up at 6 a.m. and working until 1 or 2, but now I'm feeling as if I have to shake things up again.
Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.
I tend to love writers who can be both funny and touching.
David Sedaris, especially his book "Naked" and in particular "Ashes," which is the hilarious and absolutely heartbreaking story of his mother's battle with cancer. Zoe Heller -- incredibly funny in the most audacious, bitchy, delicious way, but also very poignant and real. Barbara's description of loneliness in "Notes on a Scandal" -- how the brush of a conductor's hand on the train is her only human contact -- always haunts me. Lorrie Moore. I love that she can make you laugh out loud but punch you in the stomach on occasion (as she does in one of my favorite stories, "You're Ugly Too.") I also adore Richard Yates, and in particular "Eleven Kinds of Loneliness" and "Revolutionary Road." He can be incredibly sad and sobering, but he's always worth it.
What are you working on next?
Right now I'm trying to figure out what I want to write about for my next book (now I know how much work it takes and how devoted you have to be to your ideas), so in the meantime I'm working on TV projects.
What made you decide to write this memoir?
I'd been wanting to write a memoir about my Mom dying of cancer. I thought that's what I was going to write about and for almost a year, that's what I did, until I realized that wasn't the book I was meant to write. I really needed to write about the fact that I was waiting for this life I thought I was going to have (marriage, children) instead of living the life I had (no marriage, no children). I kept thinking, "where's that book? That's the book I really want to read right now, " so I wrote it.
What challenges did you face with this book?
I think one of the biggest challenges for me was to get the sitcom voice out of my head. In sitcoms, the pace is fast and you need a certain amount of jokes on every page. But also, you get in the mindset that the only currency that matters is "funny," with occasional realness, but in prose there are no rules. You can make your own. Funny has a place, but too much funny can seem both forced and like you're hiding something. My first drafts tried way too hard to be funny and there was a kind of desperation to them. Finally a friend said, "You don't sound like that." And I started to use my real voice and the kinds of jokes I made in life to cope with everything that was going on. I also started revealing things I thought I never could (I had always been an incredibly secretive person). And then revealing even more. That was the turning point.
What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
First of all, everything is material. That's one of the great things about writing. Screwed up childhood? Write it. Fascination with vampires? Don't mind if I do. My advice is very "Nike ad" which is "Just do it." I cannot even begin to tell you how many rotten drafts I went through in order to start discovering my voice. When I took a break from tv writing, I took a couple of local classes. They were very "Memoir 101," which got me writing every week and getting feedback.You definitely can't just want to write, I really think you have to need it in some way if you're going to do it professionally because it's just too hard. There are so many walls and breakdowns and lonely days where you feel as if that's it. So if after all that, you're still in? Then keep going and don't stop. My whole book is about coming into your own later in life (and by "later" I mean after 25). Maybe you weren't the prodigy who published fresh out of college (I wasn't, although I desperately wanted to be). Maybe for you, it's your late thirties (like David Sedaris), forties or sixties (the late great Frank McCort was a wonderful example of this.) Maybe you're a late bloomer (telling yourself this really works -- hey, it worked for me.)

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006. Her short story 'Mum in Decline' won third place in the Smoking Poet's annual short fiction contest. Larson is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

The Writing Porch Author Q&A with Jeremy Duns, author of 'Free Agent'

2009-07-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

Trade publications and fellow thriller-writers are raving about the debut novel from Jeremy Duns, FREE AGENT (Simon & Schuster UK, Viking Penguin US), with William Boyd, author of Restless, describing it as “a wholly engrossing and sophisticated spy novel… fascinating and compelling,” and Jeff Abbott, author of Panic, raving “Jeremy Duns offers an entirely original and fascinating take on the classic spy novel in this provocative, fast-paced thriller,” calling him a “compelling new voice in suspense fiction.”

Book blurb on 'Free Agent' by Jeremy Duns.

Meet Paul Dark. In 1945, the British agent took part in a top-secret mission to hunt down and execute Nazi war criminals. But all is not as it seems. Almost 25 years later, a KGB officer turns up in Nigeria, where the Biafran war is underway, wanting to defect. His credentials as a defector are good: he has highly suggestive information indicating that there is a double agent within MI6, which would be a crippling blow to an organization still coming to terms with previous betrayals. Dark has been largely above suspicion during MI6’s years of self-recrimination, but this time he’s in the frame. Desperate to save himself, the morally complex and unforgettable Dark heads to Nigeria to confront the KGB officer—with fellow agent Henry Pritchard in hot pursuit. All too quickly it becomes apparent that everything he has believed about the events of 1945—which has formed the basis of his life’s work—has been a lie. This is especially devastating because the bulk of these lies center around a tangled web involving the only woman he has ever loved, and the death of his father.

FREE AGENT is a gripping spy thriller that combines the adrenalin-pumping suspense of a Jason Bourne film with a deeply researched Cold War background. It’s a novel of innumerable cliffhangers, all set within a constantly evolving moral universe, and the twists and turns will keep readers guessing—and sweating—until the last page. It is the first in a trilogy featuring Paul Dark.

Free Agent was published in the UK in May and will be published in the US, Canada, Australia and elsewhere next month.

How did you get your start in writing?

I was a journalist for several years, but this is my first novel. I’ve wanted to be a novelist since my teens, but somehow I could never get around to it. Finally, one day, I decided it was time I should.

What does your writing routine look like?

I get up at 8 o’clock most days, and take the kids to school. After that I settle down and try to work until five, with a break for lunch. I do that five days a week, but I also work in the evenings and on weekends, depending on how fired up I am. In a way, though, I’m always working, because I can be doing something else entirely and thinking about the book.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.

I write spy novels, and am a great fan of the genre: favourites include John le Carre, Len Deighton, Eric Ambler, Graham Greene and Elleston Trevor. I also love Lawrence Durrell’s novels. His style takes some getting used to, but I love the texture of his language and the rich worlds he built. The Alexandria Quartet and The Avignon Quintet are like the greatest BBC costume dramas that haven’t yet been made. I’m also a big fan of the American travel writer Kate Simon, who I think had a brilliant eye for detail – her books have been a great help to me in my research, but they are also beautifully written.

What are you working on next?

I’m just starting work on my third novel, which is the final part of my Cold War spy trilogy featuring British agent Paul Dark.

What made you decide to write this novel?

In my twenties I started reading a lot of spy novels, and something about them struck a chord. I thought if I wrote one it might give me a structure that would stop me from being too self-indulgent. I started researching tentatively, just as a bit of fun, but then got more serious about it and as the ideas started coming together I became pretty obsessed with it.

What challenges did you face with this book?

Free Agent is set in 1969 and I was born in 1973, so getting all the period details right took a lot of work. And it’s also largely set in a war, which was – as wars tend to be – very complex, and I wanted to get that right, of course. Finally, it’s told in the first person by a character who is difficult to empathise with in many ways, but I wanted readers to empathise with him. So the voice took me a while to develop.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?

Keep going, even if you think what you’ve done isn’t any good. I spent a lot of time on the first few chapters worrying about every word. You will edit it dozens of times anyway, so try not to get bogged down with tiny details and just push on until you’ve got a complete draft. Nobody needs to see the bad drafts but you.

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006. Her short story 'Mum in Decline' won third place in the Smoking Poet's annual short fiction contest. Larson is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

The Writing Porch feature: Waxahachie writer stays friends with mentor, 100

2009-07-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

By J. Louise Larson

Friendship spanning a generation and a world of experience has united two writers and their work.

In life’s twilight, multiply published author June Wetherell Frame turned 100 last month.

A generation and then some behind her, writer Pat Pratt is still collaborating with her mentor.

She visits Frame three times a week in the Trinity Mission nursing home in Italy.

The two women published a novel three years ago, the PublishAmerica romance “On With the Dance.” And they’re still working on character sketches. Plot ideas. Short stories.

And that keeps June Frame’s own personal storyline going.

“We talk about what we might write together, what to do about what we’ve got. Otherwise, I don’t know what’s going,” she said Thursday. “I don’t make for stimulating conversation.”

June Wetherell Frame grew up in a newspapering home. Her parents worked in the newspaper business in Washington state, her mother as a reporter and her father as ad manager for the Bellingham Herald, where young June Wetherell got her start writing – although her first appearance in print was in a photo when, as a toddler, she rode a stuffed elk in a parade in her native Bellingham, Wa. (Her father was a leader in the BPOE Elks fraternal order)

“Instead of drawing pictures that they put up on the refrigerator, I wrote stories," she recounted in an earlier interview.

She wrote feature stories for the paper, graduated from the University of Washington and was an editor at Family Circle. She and her late husband had two sons, and she launched her fiction-writing career.

Her first book sold in 1941 to a little-known publisher for the princely sum of $150. She and her husband spent it on a trip to New York.

Her husband helped her with her historical novels. Having taken fencing, he lent some credibility to her swashbuckling scenes.

She was willing to try her hand at anything.

"Science fiction – that was hard," she said. "It came out pretty well, but a reviewer said it was very poor science fiction."

By the time she was 80, it got too hard to find agents because they had doubts about what she could produce and promote.

Clearly, they didn’t know June Wetherell Frame.

Frame’s writer’s mind that cranked out potboiling novels by the dozens in her day is still sharp, still looking for that perfect word. Even now, at the century mark, her blue eyes are still bright but focused, sometimes, on that fading light.

Frail and curled up in her bed, her hours and days tend to blur together, and some days, the dreams win.

“When you come here, at least I know it’s real,” she told Pratt.

“Her body’s just 100 years old, so it’s wearing out. It’s frustrating for her, her mind wants to do things, and her body won’t let her,” Pratt said.

“I help her stay in this world. Otherwise, she can go into her own little world after a while. It’s important to keep her frame of mind in the right place. Some days, neither one of us is a very good conversationalist,” she said with a bit of a smile.

“Some days we’re able to talk about whatever comes up. Anything to keep the conversation going, to keep her in reality. Sometimes we read. Sometimes I come down and have lunch with her.

“It’s nice to be able to visit with her but sad to watch her fade away,” Pratt said. “Her body’s just 100 years old, so it’s wearing out. It’s frustrating for her, her mind wants to do things, and her body won’t let her,” Pratt said.

“I just don’t think I have another novel in me,” Frame told her.

So they work on short stories.

What would June do?

So what would an oft-published writer give a writer just working on getting into print?

Here’s a century of writing advice from a 100-year-old writer, culled from several interviews:
"Selling it is twice as hard as writing it, to me," she said. "Maybe it will sell, maybe it won't sell, but it's done. Don't go into novel writing to make a living. You've got to do it because you love it. It's no way to earn a living.

“Just do it – don’t talk about it so much. For God’s sake, write it.

"Writing comes first – everything else in life has to work around it," she said. "When I had little kids, I wrote when they took naps, and I'd find time to write. When they went to school, then I had time to write.

To generate ideas, she has kept a leather-bound notebook, now tattered with age, filled with thumbnail character sketches – people she meets, people she imagines.

"I make up the people, get a setting and figure out where it is going," Frame said. "I put them in different situations. I've never been able to start with the plot. I'm not strong on plot – my books are character driven. When I'm writing a book, they just come right on through.

"Put your character in a situation and make the reader want to see how it's resolved."

Pat Pratt echoes her mentor’s sentiments.

"Making time to write – that's something June always stresses. ... I've learned to 'write in spite' – of everything and everyone around you. I have learned that although age may diminish our physical abilities, it does not need to diminish our capabilities. Age is not an excuse," Pratt said, borrowing Frame’s catch phrase for her writing philosophy: “Write in spite (of).”

Denouement

After years of writing and newspaper work, Pat Pratt has found the courage to go out on a limb and self-publish. Her recently released “Finding Peace” (PublishAmerica) is a dramatic novel with elements of the supernatural. It’s based on a character sketch she developed.

“I was inspired by June to write this book. I never would have been able to get through this one … You are, in great part, responsible for me getting this done,” she told Frame.

“I was so excited when June asked me if I’d help her write, and three years later when we saw it in print, that gave me the courage to finish mine.

“I probably would have still been worrying over it had I not been working with her on her other book. She made me believe I was a real writer,” said Pratt, who shepherds the Ellis County writing group, Write On!

Pat Pratt feels, and sometimes sees and hears, her mentor letting go of earthly ties. And that makes her a little sad.

“It’s hard to think of coming to see her three times a week and watch her fade, but it would be harder to not come and see her, knowing she has so few days,” Pratt said.

“She’s been a great inspiration to me – that’s what I want to give back to her. I come to see her to inspire her to keep going, as long as she can.”

For one thing, Pratt made sure Frame’s portable electric typewriter sits at the ready in its sacred spot on a small desk, a tabula rasa – blank slate - waiting for Frame’s arthritic fingers to wreak magic from the QWERTY keys once more.

"That's as modern as I get," Frame said in an earlier interview. "Picture Charles Dickens sitting there with pen in hand. I don't see how he'd have written all those books."

Once in a while, Frame will greet her faithful old typewriting friend as she passes by.

“Hello, old friend,” she’ll say. “Well, it didn’t growl at me, so I guess it’s not too mad at me.”

The invitation is still there, the paper white and fresh and inviting, neatly coiled in the carriage, awaiting her expert hand’s tap of the carriage return. Any time, it seems to say. Any time.

“She’s slowed down a lot, but she’s still got a lot of ideas. If she feels the urge, she can still get up and type,” Pratt said.

The urge to control the written word remains. Curled up, her skin faded nearly to alabaster translucence, June Wetherell Frame is still self-editing at 100, with her trademark wry sense of humor.

“Polish me up a little. I hope you make something of me,” she tells her interviewer.

Blogmistress for The Writing Porch, J. Louise Larson contributes to WNI News papers, and is managing editor of the Ennis Journal. Her novel, At High Tide, is in revisions. Again.

Sam Harrell's no victim - a top HS football coach and father of recordbreaking QB Graham Harrell, he says he's the luckiest man alive

2009-07-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

Sam Harrell believes he may be the luckiest man alive.

Even though he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2005 – a diagnosis he and wife Kathy shielded from friends and family until recently - the Ennis Lions football coach counts his many blessings.

In 2005, Harrell first noticed the vision in one eye was going blurry, which would get worse with heat and exercise.

An eye specialist referred him to a neurologist, and three tests all pointed to a devastating diagnosis: multiple sclerosis. His immune system was ravaging itself, eating away the myelin sheath surrounding the nerves.

“Heat plays a huge role. If your body gets hot, through weather or exercise, your nerves start firing faster. When you have MS and your nerves start firing faster, then your symptoms start going faster – your symptoms, balance and coordination, walking – all that just escalates,” he said.

Multiple sclerosis is a very individualistic disease; each case is unique and often unpredictable. Since Sam’s symptoms weren’t always apparent, the Harrells kept to business as usual and decided to keep the diagnosis to themselves.

“We chose to keep it quiet for several years. We didn’t even tell our boys, because we didn’t want them worrying about it. They had an idea something was wrong - I didn’t ever go out and shoot baskets with them any more, I didn’t play tennis with them, I can’t mow the yard, I can’t do anything you ought to be doing. They had an idea … we never told them exactly what Dad had,” he said.

“I wasn’t in denial – I knew I had it, but it would kind of come and go. My hope was that it would go more often than it would come,” he said.

This spring, the Harrells decided it was time to tell their sons, and Sam went to the school board and told them.

“I feel like our school board’s a great group of people, but also my bosses, and I didn’t want them hearing about it and not knowing something about it. I told our players and our coaches – all those groups are special to me and close to me and I wanted them to hear it from me,” he said.

While he looks like the same Sam Harrell – and he feels like the same Sam Harrell – the moment he tries to jump rope or jog like he did in the old days, that normal feeling subsides quickly, he said. He’s been on medication since the disease was discovered, and careful management can keep symptoms at bay to some degree.

“The thing that’s kind of disappointing is that the neurologists here have nothing that really gives you much hope. All they can do is say keep on this medication and hope it slows down, hope it doesn’t overtake your whole nervous system before they find a cure,” he said.
Looking ahead, Sam Harrell says he is encouraged by accounts of medical advances being achieved outside of the U.S. strict regulatory environment.

“Outside the U.S. some things are being done that people have had phenomenal results with, and that’s been encouraging. I really think there’s going to be a cure for it. That’s what I’m hoping for. It’s been encouraging to hear those stories and talk with people,” he said.

“I really think I will go outside US and do something. I’ve heard of two different procedures I really think I’ll try,” he said.

One procedure being done in Costa Rica involves the use of adult stem cells by American doctors.

“It’s very expensive, but that’s a hurdle I can try to tackle for hope of a cure,” he said.

“I get excited when I talk to those people who have gone outside the country, because they’ve come back with a story of hope,” he said, recounting the story of a young father who left the country requiring a scooter for mobility, and returned able to walk on his own and play with his young boys once again.

“I’m still hopeful for a cure … I’m serious about that. These people who have tried some of these things, they don’t feel better – they feel cured. That’s what I’m hoping for. Then I can still live in Texas,” he said.

“I just don’t see myself going anywhere but Texas, even though the weather would be a relief and would allow me to do a little more. It’s sure hard to take the Texas out of me,” he said.
Harrell says he’s adamant about one thing he has never asked for: sympathy.

“People don’t die from MS … I don’t want to make is sound like ‘Poor pitiful me’ - .. a lot of people are facing tougher things than that. It takes away the things you do, but it doesn’t take away your life,” he said.

Counting blessings

Sam Harrell’s office is filled with memorabilia of years of coaching success – evidence of back-to-back 4A football state championships – and three state prizes within five years. He was named to the Gordon Wood Hall of Fame, he got to coach his own sons on great teams. He was elected to coach the All Star team in 2002, and last year, he was elected president of the Texas High School Coach Association.

These are the blessings he counts, on a daily basis.

“Kathy and I were talking about that just this weekend. I still feel like one of the luckiest guys in the world. When you think about how blessed we’ve been with families and careers and things that have just happened – the good Lord’s just blessed us. I don’t think I’d trade places with anybody,” he said.

As a father of three sons and a mentor to many young men and other coaches, Sam Harrell sees ahead a golden opportunity to practice what he has always preached.

“That’s just part of life. There’s going to be some good things and there’s going to be some tough things. How we handle the tough things is probably a reflection of how we see the good things. All those good things, family or job, that I’ve been so blessed with – I didn’t do something to deserve those. They were just blessings from God.

“You get those good times come and the tough times. Now, do you give up and start crying, ‘Oh, poor pitiful me?’ No you don’t. You just keep going on trusting, that’s just part of life. And all of us, some time in life, are going to have some tough times,” he said.

“We tell our kids all the time, ‘Hey, don’t give up – you’re going to get some adversity. Never give up. Stay strong.’ You say all those things, but then you get a little adversity and you collapse or you quit? No, we’re not going to do that. I’ve been dealing with this since 2005, and I’m going to keep dealing with it. I get a chance to walk my talk, right there,” he said.

And for now, life goes on, pretty much as usual – with some modifications: the use of a golf cart to get around quicker, focusing on the teaching side of coaching.

“No, I’m not deathly ill, I’m not quitting coaching. Things are not going to be much different. We’re going to keep coaching and keep going,” he said.

The Harrells have settled into their adopted home town.

“Kathy and I feel like years here in Ennis have been so enjoyable and special. We’ve had opportunities to leave, but the people here are good and we like it here,” he said.

He is quick to reiterate that there’s nowhere he’d rather be, no one’s shoes he’d rather walk in, because it’s all about focusing on the blessings.

“You just think about some of those things. I may be the luckiest guy in the world, you know,” he said. “I don’t want sympathy. I don’t know that I’d trade places with anyone.”

This article by J. Louise Larson originally appeared in the Ennis Journal and the Waxahachie Daily Light.

Writer/designer Deborah Gaslin's Fourth of July Picnic Essay and Recipes

2009-07-04T03:10:00.000-07:00

Summer time is here and this presents us all with the perfect opportunity to pack up our meals and head outside with friends and family for a picnic. What is the allure of eating outside? Nostalgia for the days of the cave or some civilized triumph over nature that we bring our indoor dining outdoors. Whatever the case, Americans of all backgrounds embrace the idea of the summer family picnic.

And these families are not what we see in those glossy gourmand food & lifestyle magazines. I personally feel out of touch looking at those slick choreographed families. Everyone is so neat and tidy and the children are wearing white! The “homemade” picnic is presented like sculpture as if everyone had a personal chef. Let’s get real. That’s not what family summer picnics are really like.

Family picnics are like hog piles. Everyone arrives en mass to the agreed meeting place bringing their picnic contribution. And so begins a mixing of tables, linens, baskets, and coolers as everyone negotiates a spot. Most everyone has picnic traditions within their family that get passed down and on from older generations to newer generations. These traditions take the form of classic recipes, seasonal beverages, kitschy picnic linens, picnic baskets of all kinds, and favorite summer games. Throw in the odd assortment of lawn chairs, lounge chairs, stadium stools and various blankets spread all over the ground for the young and old to lounge around on while meals are being prepared.

There is no rhyme or reason to this activity and no need for any. Everyone makes their way around and we all know as the day wears on, sated by food and drink, picnickers get mellow and relax. Picnics have no rules. Picnics are where you can let it all hang out. Let your inner goof loose and play tag with the kids or endless rounds of Corn Hole. Or maybe this will be the year you beat your grandpa at cribbage. Picnics allow for people to do the things they do not give themselves the time for during their everyday lives.

The heart of the picnic is the food. When I picnic with family, I look forward to eating lots of bratwurst, beans and weenies, deviled eggs, potato salad, & ambrosia. Mind you, I never eat this fare or feed it to my family at home. But take us to a summer picnic and we are all over these delicacies like white on rice. This is the picnic food of our family’s generations before us– a mix of Norwegian, English, Austrian, Scottish, and Irish palettes. When sharing stories at friends’ picnics, I have learned of food and meals for summer picnics that have passed down from their familys’ generations before them. Mouth-watering offerings of whole-roasted BBQ pigs cooking in oil drums for hours, dolmas on the BBQ, chicken curry salad on saffron rice in large metal camping bowls, and tamales in a Dutch oven over a campfire.

Learning of others’ picnic traditions has inspired me and my family to “borrow” those ideas and bring them into our summer picnic repertoire. We’re sure our children will continue to share our family summer picnic traditions to future generations. America is forever a continuous melting pot of people, ideas, culture, and, best of all, food.

Gaslin Urbane Farm Potato Salad
(This is a make-a-day-ahead salad)

6 medium potatoes, scrubbed and peeled
2 stalks celery, chopped small
4 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped fine
1/3 cup scallions, chopped – just the green parts
1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup sour cream
1 TBS apple cider vinegar
2 tsps Dijon style mustard
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
6 hard cooked eggs, peeled and chopped.

Cook potatoes in boiling water until just tender (20-25 minutes). Drain well. Peel and cube. In a large bowl, combine celery, bacon, scallions, mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper. Add potatoes and eggs, (after they have cooled slightly). Toss to mix. Cover and chill for 6-12 hours. Makes 12 (1) cup portion servings.

Stuffed Burgers for the Bar-B (Adapted from Rachel Ray’s Kid Food Cookbook)

1 lb lean ground beef
Onions or scallions to taste Makes 4 burgers
4 shakes of worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp allspice
½ tsp cumin
Pepper to taste
Cheese - choose what you like – the stinkier the better – cut into chunks
1 tomato
Lettuce
Burger buns or Kaiser rolls or ciabatta

Mix beef, onion, Worcestershire sauce, allspice, cumin and pepper in a bowl. Choose a patty-size of beef and form it around the cheese chunk. Patties should be no more than ¾” thick. Repeat for a total of 4 patties.

Cook burgers on medium hot BBQ for 5-6 minutes each side. Meat should be cooked thoroughly and cheese melted. Tell children cheese will be hot! Salt to taste. Put in buns or rolls and top with tomato, lettuce and condiments. Serve with chips, potato salad or green salad.

Short story, 'Mum in Decline' wins third in Smoking Poet's annual contest

2009-06-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

My short story, Mum in Decline, won third place in the Smoking Poet's annual short story contest. Check it (and some other good stuff) out here: http://www.thesmokingpoet.net/id3.html

Writing Porch Author Q&A with Harley Jane Kozak

2009-06-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

About Harley Jane Kozak:

A sometimes actress, and full time author, Harley Jane Kozak lives with her family in California’s Conejo Valley. Her debut novel, "Dating Dead Men," won the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. Its sequel was "Dating is Murder," followed by "Dead Ex" (coming out in trade paperback at the end of June, 2009) and "A DATE YOU CAN’T REFUSE." her short prose has appeared in Ms. Magazine, Soap Opera Digest, The Sun, The Santa Monica Review, and the anthologies Mystery Muses, "This is Chick Lit" and "A HELL OF A WOMAN."

What made you decide to write this book?

Well, the contract was a big factor! "A Date You Can't Refuse" was the 4th book in a series, and nothing helps a book get written like a deadline. On a more artistic level, I wanted to give my heroine an espionage-like adventure, because I've been a lifelong fan of James Bond and the books of John Le Carré, the Cold War era spy genre, so this was my homage to that. It was a lot of fun for me to stretch the classic cozy boundaries and make Wollie, my protagonist, a spy.

What challenges did you face with this book?

For Wollie, a greeting card artist, to go undercover and deal in a world of international political intrigue, required some mental footwork, to keep it credible. I try in all my books to make the plots absolutely possible, if not entirely . . . normal. What I aim for is for the reader to be nodding, reading along, thinking, "okay, I'll buy that, I'll go along with that," and only later think, "Wow. This is really wacky."

How did you get your start in writing?

I began taking courses at Santa Monica Community College, and later at UCLA -- too many courses to count. I was working at my day job -- acting -- while writing my first book, "Dating Dead Men." I took 10 years from the time I began writing until I saw it published. Along the way I had essays published here and there, and a play I wrote was workshopped, but my first novel was really my big break.

What does your writing routine look like?

It varies from year to year, following the schedules of my 3 kids. When I sold my first book, I had a 2-year old and infant twins, so I wrote when they napped. Now they're in school (whew!) and so my writing day is their school day. Although summer is coming up, and summer camp has shorter hours, so I'm already nervous.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.

I loved John D. MacDonald, for his hero Travis McGee . . . I love Nelson DeMille, for his laugh-out-loud humor in the midst of his thrillers . . . and Robert Ferrigno . . . yes, I realize I'm talking about men. I'm reading a lot of tough guys right now; I don't know why. I go in spurts. My old favorites, the books I reread when I have the flu, or need comfort, or miss my mom, are Georgette Heyer and Mary Stewart. I never grow tired of rereading them. The combination of romance and humor in the case of Heyer, and romance and gothic suspense, in the case of Stewart, are incomparable.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?

Write, write, write. Whatever keeps you going back to the computer keyboard (or paper, if you're really old school) long enough to finish the project, do it. For me it's a combination of a writers group, coffee, chocolate. Earlier in my career it was those classes. And books on writing. Anne LaMott's "BIRD BY BIRD," for instance. Anything that's inspiring. Perseverance can be the toughest piece of the puzzle. I've seen talented writers give up because the rejection is so hard to take, when lesser talents with thicker skins or more stubbornness simply hang in, and get published.

Links:

http://thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com/the_lipstick_chronicles/

http://www.harleyjanekozak.com/

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Kelly Abell

2009-06-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

Author Kelly Abell lives in Florida with her family and a dog named Snickers. She holds a masters degree in adult education. Her new book, "Sealed In Lies" is a romantic suspense story that deals with spies, abuse, betrayal, and finding true love. The two main characters are very unlikely companions and eventually form a bond out of necessity. Read the first chapter free at http://www.kellyabellbooks.com/

When did you first think about writing and what prompted you to submit your first ms?

I wrote a lot in high school but stopped shortly after that. I’ve always had stories swimming around in my head but never really thought about writing an entire novel. I was a manager for an insurance company and I was conducting a performance evaluation with one of my employees one day when we starting talking about hobbies. I told him I’d always wanted to write a novel. I mentioned a book on writing that I had seen at Barnes & Noble called "The Weekend Novelist" by Robert J. Ray and how I’d thought about buying that book. The next day he brought in a Barnes & Noble gift card and gave it to me with instructions to use it only for that one book. I was deeply touched and I wrote my first novel that summer. It took a while for me to get published but "Sealed In Lies" is a direct result of that Barnes & Noble gift card and Chuck’s encouragement.

How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing?
I would say there is a mixture between my real life and experiences and fiction. The majority of my characters are made up but do contain some personality traits of people I really admire or people I know. I never totally copy someone I know as a character. Most people are not as interesting as those you make up in your head. I do a lot of research to make sure my character’s experiences are authentic. Whatever you do you should be true to your character all the way through the book. Don’t have them do something that is inconsistent with the personality you’ve built for them. Your readers will lose interest.

What's your writing routine like?

I really wish I could have a set schedule. I have to go with the flow but generally I get in at least an hour or so a day either before my day job or in the evening. I usually tell my family that from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm is my writing time. I can do more on the weekends and that is usually done early in the morning before anyone gets up. Once I start a book I generally do a thorough character analysis on the characters. I lay out their physical description, their personality traits, and what it is they want in respect to the story. I list their goals and the obstacles that they will encounter along the way and how they might overcome them. Then I write my back cover. There is a great set of books by various authors called "Writing Great Fiction" that gives you great advice and that is where I got the idea to write the back cover first. It really helps give me direction. Sometimes I do a chapter outline with a brief paragraph or two about each chapter but generally I'm not much of an outliner. I may do some research ahead of time but most of it is done through the course of the book. Then I set a goal to write so many words per day. I even have a spreadsheet where I keep track of the words I do per day in comparison to my goal. It's a great motivator. I got this from an author friend named Kelley St. John. What is important is the discipline to write every day.

Where do your ideas come from?

My ideas come from a variety of places. Most come from true news stories. "Sealed In Lies" came from a news story about a burglar who broke into a prominent Virginia Senator’s home not realizing whose home it was. He was caught by the wife and he kidnapped her. I read things like this and wonder what if??? Then the stories just flow. I also base stories on events that happen to my friends and family. They don’t usually know this of course. Sometimes, and you’re going to think this is weird, I dream my ideas. I keep a notebook by the bed and I have recorded multiple dreams for books later on. The problem is not getting the ideas, it is getting the time to write them all down.

Whose work do you admire?

I have a few favorite authors that I follow but my all time favorite is Nora Roberts. She is a machine when it comes to writing and her characters are so real and alive for me. I also like thrillers so I love to read Dean Koontz –a master of alliteration, and James Patterson.

What would you say to an aspiring author?

Patience, my dear, patience. It can take a long time to get published and you cannot be afraid of rejection. What is one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, so don’t give up. Make sure your work is complete, thoroughly edited, and ready before you submit to an agent or a publisher. Don’t be afraid to try some of the e-publishers. Be careful and do your research. The e-book is becoming more popular and developing quite a following. It can lead to more opportunities down the road. My publisher Hearts On Fire Books is a great one. Check it out at http://www.heartsonfirebooks.com/

What are you working on?
A young adult paranormal book about a teenage girl, Sam, who discovers she’s a medium and ends up having to rescue the most popular girl in school, Amy, when a particularly nasty spirit arrives with some furniture to Amy’s house. Amy’s boyfriend begins to have an interest in Sam which leads to all kinds of teenage drama.

Favorite links:
http://www.kellyabellbooks.com/
http://www.heartsonfirebooks.com/
http://www.amazonkindle.com/
http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/
http://www.fictionwise.com/

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

The novel as journey: an odyssey in words, not geography

2009-06-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the most interesting thing that happened to me on the journey to Dan's wedding (outside of the whales and bears and the 11-hour air trip, following the 9-hour bus ride, after the 15-hour ferry that followed the 3-hour drive) is the phone call I received from Susan while waiting to begin my odyssey at DFW airport.

She told me my novel has made it through the ranks at her publisher and is under consideration.

It occurs to me that the path to getting published isn't unlike the journey I have just taken to a wedding in the northern reaches of British Columbia - reaches so northern that Alaska was just 40 nautical miles away.

Between constantly combing the horizon for whales and bears and the dynamics of interacting with siblings and friends, I feel I am light years away from where I started on May 30, a perception that is echoed in the book writing process.

Embarking on the 50,000-plus word journey toward a completed book is even more of an odyssey. Though the personal changes required are not geographical in nature, they are revolutionary in nature.

Writing Porch Author Q&A with Jenny Gardiner, 'Sleeping With Ward Cleaver'

2009-05-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

Jenny Gardiner is the author of 'Sleeping With Ward Cleaver.'

Her work has been found in Ladies Home Journal, the Washington Post and on NPR’s Day to Day. She likes to say she honed her fiction writing skills while working as a publicist for a U.S. senator. Other jobs have included: an orthodontic assistant (learning quite readily that she was not cut out for a career in polyester), a waitress (probably her highest-paying job), a TV reporter, a pre-obituary writer, and a photographer (claim to fame: being hired to shoot Prince Charles--with a camera, silly!). She lives in Virginia with her husband, three kids, two dogs, one cat and a gregarious parrot. In her free time she studies Italian, dreams of traveling to exotic locales, and feels very guilty for rarely attempting to clean the house. Her humorous memoir, 'Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Demented Bird Determined to Kill Me' (think David Sedaris meets 'Marley & Me' with a really sharp beak) will be published by Simon Spotlight in spring 2010.

Tell us a bit about your book, 'Sleeping With Ward Cleaver' (Dorchester, 2008)

It's the funny yet poignant story of a woman at a crossroads in life, who years earlier married a man who swept her off her feet, but now finds that her Mr. Right has evolved into Mr. Always Right, and the only sweeping going on in her life involves a broom and a dustpan. As her dreams collide with reality and the one that got away shows up trying to worm his way back into her heart, she must decide if her once charmed marriage is salvageable, and if so, how she's going to go about saving it.

"A fun, sassy read! A cross between Erma Bombeck and Candace Bushnell, reading Jenny Gardiner is like sinking your teeth into a big frosted chocolate cupcake...you just want more." -New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot

How did you get your start in writing?

I probably started writing because I was so bad at math. By fourth grade I realized the only way I was going to pass math was by writing extra credit reports so I fine-tuned my writing skills by avoiding D's and F's ;-)

What does your writing routine look like?

Slightly schizophrenic. Actually I feel most productive in the morning but it doesn't always lend itself to writing. I've got 3 kids and so often times I have to work my schedule around getting them to and from places.Over the past two months when I was working on a tight deadline, I actually dropped my kids off at school and made my way to one of a number of favorite coffee shops in town, where I would hunker down with my headphones blocking out chatter with iTunes cranked, and write until it was time to pick up my daughter at soccer practice at 6 pm. But that intensive writing schedule becomes exhausting after a while, and more realistically I'd say I try to focus in the morning for a few hours when my brain feels fresh.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.

Wow, so many. I think I got my love of writing first person POV from reading Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Also with Jean Shepherd ('In God We Trust All Others Pay Cash' --LOVE this memoir). I tend to love strong voices, and also prefer smart alecky ones. Even my new recent find, Victoria Dahl, is that; Jaquie D'Alessandro as well. I love Meg Cabot's voice and I love her crazy pop culture sensibility--I relate to this a lot, being a child of the Brady Bunch generation. I really enjoy Jonathan Tropper's writing ('Everything Changes' is a great book).

What are you working on next?

I have a humorous memoir coming out in March titled 'Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Bird Determined to Kill Me.' It's sort of Jen Weiner meets Marley & Me with a deadly beak. LOL. My agent is also shopping a novel I've written called 'Slim to None' about the nation's premier food critic, who is outed on Page Six of the NY Post and everyone now knows she is fat, thus cannot hide herself to remain incognito to continue reviewing restaurants. Her editor gives her six months to slim down or ship out. I love this book so hope we find a house for it soon.

What made you decide to write this book?

I love to explore relationships and the evolution (or devolution) of marriages in particular. I've probably always been like that because my parents' marriage crashed and burned in a big way so I hyper-analyze these things. But I wanted to make it funny as well as serious, which is sort of tricky.

What challenges did you face with this book?

It's a bit smart alecky--my protagonist is a strong personality and she was a hard sell to editors. I feel so fortunate that Chris Keeslar at Dorchester happened upon my manuscript for the American Title III contest because he finally "got" it, and without his championing it, it might never have made it into the competition, eventually winning.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?

Believe in yourself, and don't let the rejections get you down. It's a tough business and the last writer standing gets the publishing contract!

Favorite Links:

http://www.megcabot.com/

http://www.thedebutanteball.com/

http://www.thedebutanteball.comwww.blakesnyder.com/

www.jennygardiner.net

www.jennygardiner.net/blog/

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Congratulations to QueryTracker on turning 2 - love this tool to find representation / related contest

2009-05-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

There's a cool and relatively new tool online for finding representation - I really like QueryTracker, which allows writers to browse for agents and keep track of their connections. It gets all the information in one place for a very modest fee, and it has been an excellent resource for me.

There is a free versison as well, but I ponied up the few extra bucks per year to get more and it's a service Frugal Me is happy to pay for. There are so many sites and services hoping to get a piece of my little financial pie - this is one of the few that I consider worth it.

Congratulations to QueryTracker on their Two Year Anniversary Celebration. The Carnvial starts today, with several fun contests spread out over three weeks. Check them out! There are some darn fabulous prizes, including a Web site design - got to love that.

The first two weeks they will be announcing the contests and taking entries. On the third week, they will award prizes for each contest (one each day), and culminate with the grand finale prize on Friday, June 5.

Tuesday, May 19 - Purple Prose ContestContest Details Submit Your Entry
Thursday, May 21 - Anagram Contest

Check back with them at http://www.querytracker.net/ at the beginning of each week for details.

Contest winners will be announced in the first week of June, and on June 5 they will draw the name of the grand prize winner. Every time you enter, your name gets into the hat for the random Grand Prize drawing for a custom-designed writer's website to showcase your craft.That's a $600 value provided by Purple Squirrel Web Design. Purple Squirrel is a web design company that focuses on writers and the writing industry. You already know their work because they are QT Blogger Carolyn Kaufman, and Patrick McDonald, the creator of QueryTracker.

Good luck!

Writing Porch Author Q&A with Carola Dunn, author of 'Manna From Hades'

2009-05-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

Author Carola Dunn was born and raised in England, where all her books are set - although she lives in Oregon.

When her son was young her part-time and temp jobs ranged from childcare and market research to construction, building design and proof reading and writing definitions for a dictionary of science and technology.

"Thirty years ago I wrote my first book, and I've been at it ever since," she said.

Her latest book - her 50th - is Manna From Hades, the first of a new mystery series set in Cornwall in the 1960s. An IMBA bestseller, its main character is Eleanor Trewynn, a widow in her 60s who has done global work for an international charity. Now she's retired to Cornwall, bought a cottage in a fishing village, and turned the ground floor into a charity shop.

In Manna, she finds the body of a scruffy youth hidden in the back of the stockroom. Other major characters are her niece, Megan Pencarrow, a police detective, and Megan's irrascible superior, DI Scumble; the vicar's wife, Jocelyn Stearns, kind, charitable, efficient, but bossy; and Eleanor's next-door neighbour, an artist, Nick Gresham.

How did you get your start in writing?

After several years of part-time and temporary jobs, I was faced with the prospect of looking for a "proper" job with career prospects. My reaction was to sit down at the kitchen table with a pile of lined paper and a ballpoint and write a Regency. Having to my amazement, completed it, I typed it and shopped it around, and was lucky enough to sell it. I wrote 32 Regencies in all, though now I'm only doing mysteries. I've written 18 books in my Daisy Dalrymple series set in England in the 1920s. The next, Sheer Folly, will be out from St Martin's in September.

What does your writing routine look like?

Writing is my job. It pays all my bills. I work 6 days a week (Sunday is laundry and gardening day), about 6 hours a day at the computer. But it's really a 7/24 job as you can't turn off your brain and stop plotting. Ideas come at 2 in the morning, or when walking by the river, or at the grocery store...

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.

The writers I like make you care about their characters, not just about what's going to happen next. I read a lot and can't even begin to start making a list, but two I return to over and over again for sheer pleasure are Jane Austen and JRR Tolkien.

What are you working on next?

I'm presently in the middle of the second in the Cornish mystery series, tentatively titled A Colourful Death.

What made you decide to write this book?

Well, to be practical, I have a contract for a second Cornish mystery ;-) As Eleanor is very good friends with the artist next door, Nick Gresham, I decided to put him in the spotlight with the death of a fellow artist.

What challenges did you face with this book?

I know next to nothing about art--I'm one of those "I know what I like" ignoramuses. Luckily, like Eleanor, I have a good friend who is an artist and can point me in the right direction.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?

One of my favourite quotations is from Somerset Maugham, the famous British novelist, who said something like this: There are three rules for writing a novel. The trouble is, no one knows what they are. In other words, don't take lists of rules too seriously. One other bit of wisdom: Becoming a published author takes three qualities, Talent, Luck and Persistence. You can get away with just two of the three. The only one you control is Persistence.

Favorite Links:

my website: www.geocities.com/CarolaDunn/

my blog: http://tinyurl.com/66q19u

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Michael Dickel, author of "The World Behind It, Chaos"

2009-05-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

EDITOR'S NOTE: This Q&A is the exception to several Writing Porch rules. We don't usually review eBooks. And generally, we're about novels and nonfiction. And our entries are much shorter.

However, I wanted to post this gem (which reads like he's talking to me over coffee) from Michael Dickel for my friends, poets Grace Vermeer and Brenda Riojas.

Michael tells me his trouble is with focus and cutting. I had no trouble focusing on what he was saying, but alas, I had trouble cutting it. In the words of my old editor Jack King, (who flailed his arms like a windmill when he lamented the long, LONG, pieces I'd turn in on occasion) "Who's ever gonna read all this stuff?" Enjoy, Grace and Brenda - and everyone else willing to dig through this long, LONG and delightful post.

Michael Dickel teaches English academic writing at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he also is co-editor of an annual poetry anthology, open to anyone who writes in English, called "Voices Israel." He is also working on an as-yet unnamed invitational anthology which explores the role of art and writing in contested territory. "I hope to gather Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Palestinian, Israeli, Arab, Druze, Bedouin and other voices from the area—not just writers, but also artists, thinkers, activists—to speak not just to the situation here in the Middle East ... not just war and peace, but meaning, interpretation and response. And I want to explore throughout the collection the question of what do art and literature signify in the midst of conflict. Once again, this raises questions of what can and cannot be articulated (either in art/writing or in our lives," he said.

His own writing reflects those same themes, he says, "and art’s desire to understand and express what we don’t seem to have the ability to articulate, or speak."

What made you decide to write this book?
Some of the story of this book begins as long as ten years or more ago, when I wrote many of the poems (or their first drafts). My concerns (obsessions?) then, as now, centered on the process of making meaning, the space between the idea or image as sent out by the writer and as received by the reader, and expressing what is just barely beyond articulation.

A few years ago. I was working on another manuscript of poems related to these themes, but from both political and mystical perspectives rooted in Judaism, the Kabbalah ... I started working with incorporating photos and digital artwork into that manuscript, and liked the results. When I finished the project, and while negotiating with a publisher (in the end, unsuccessfully) about publishing it, I returned to these older poems. I revised some of them, added some new poems I’d written recently, and sent it in to why vandalism? (wv?) to see if they would be interested in it for their eBook series.

Wv? had published a number of my poems in their literary and art journal, so I thought perhaps they’d like this book. I expanded it to include my poems they had published ... The editorial board came back with some suggestions about the manuscript that helped tighten it and to focus it more—both removing several poems and rearranging what was there. I took most of their suggestions, and went a little further.

Excited by the interaction of visual images with the poetry of the other manuscript with the Jewish theme, I asked them about including images in The World Behind It, Chaos. They were very enthusiastic, so I worked with my photos and digital art to develop a coherent manuscript. The fact that I like to work, in my poetry, at the edge of articulation leads naturally to a collaboration between my visual art and my writing. The poems and graphics reflect and complement each other. Or, at least, I hope that they do. The feedback I’ve received so far is that they do this well. And, I think that these combined expressions are at the heart of this book and my concerns / obsessions: exploring the gaps between experience and expression, feeling and articulation, words and body.

Why did you decide to publish the book as an eBook?
Two reasons. First, this is what why vandalism?, the publisher, was doing. They’d liked both my poetry and visual art well enough to publish it in several of their issues, so I hoped they would want to publish my book (and, all along, I hoped to include the visual art). However, practically, eBook publication allows the inclusion of graphics so much more easily and less expensively than print. While some of the images are in black and white, most are in color. The costs of printing color alone would have made publishers less willing to take the risk and would have sent the cost of the book through the ceiling. At best, I would have been restricted as to how many images, what size, how many color images—all of that. So, the eBook format allowed me freedom to use images as I wanted. I would like to go further, doing work like Maria Damon and Miekal And do, or like Adeena Karasick, that incorporates more interaction, more media (such as animation, pop-ups, audio, and other things computers can do that a printing press cannot), and less linear sense ... In some ways, I’d like to explore both directions—traditional print and the new possibilities of electronic media. (Perhaps I could include an interactive CD or DVD with a printed book?)

Why did you decide to offer it for free?
The policy of why vandalism?, as I understand it, is to be totally free from commercialism. There are no ads on their site, and they don’t charge for anything they do. It is a work of love on their part, so far as I can see, a desire to put the art and the poetry out to the world, free of constraints other than the editorial board’s judgment. For my part, I think it could work for me something like it does for emerging bands that have been putting their music up as free downloads for years now. This develops an audience, listeners for the bands who will then buy a CD or pay for an album download in time—certainly pay for concert tickets, that sort of thing. I hope to develop an audience, readers (viewers) for my work.

In reality, I wouldn’t expect to make much money from selling a book of poetry. I’d rather have readers. I read in the International Herald Tribune just the other day that the novelist, Cory Doctorow, offers free eBooks online the same day his hardcover books go on sale, to entice new readers. Doctorow is less worried about losing money to free downloads or internet piracy than he is about obscurity. He wants to be read. And, so do I.

What does your writing routine look like?
Routine? I’m supposed to have a routine? Oh, yes, I’ve read that many writers have even severe routines and schedules. I don’t work that way, but perhaps that means I’m not writing as much or as well as I could. I tend to read, to discuss, to watch movies, to take photographs, to listen, to think, to hike, to enjoy the company of my wife, to have coffee with friends, to read some more.

When something comes, I write at full tilt, usually, whatever flows forth. Often a rhythm or sound sparks the next words, sometimes word play or twisting a meaning leads to the next, often image leads to image, story to feeling or feeling to story, so that the writing comes from itself as much as anything. I pour it out on the page. Then, I go over it. I know that Ginsberg said something like “first thought, best thought.” At times, I agree—I try not to mess with what works. However, at other times, revising helps (for me, cutting in particular). I don’t like to overwork a poem, so that it starts showing its craft or becoming muddied by its sense of self or my sense of self. However, I do like to revise to hide the craft, to focus, to develop something of the felt sense that never quite emerges in the words. Striking a balance between “first thought” and “revise, revise, revise” is, for me, my routine, I guess. If such an off-balance attempt counts as a routine.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.
I’m going to start away from poetry. Recently, I’ve been reading Jonathan Safran Foer and Umberto Eco. Both authors work with some of the same philosophical issues that I try to reflect in my work: the nature of experience and memory; how history and the past reflect and shape the present, and how the present shapes and reflects itself back on the past; the way we construct identity and meaning rather than discover them, and meaning and identity, in turn, construct us; and, yet, how all of this sits in a real world—that we only seem able to know partially and imperfectly—but that has real political and historical impacts on our lives.

I mix this kind of reading in with Kabbalistic writings, Torah, and commentaries on Torah to inspire my own writing. These far-out ideas, some of them converging with theoretical science, epistemology, ontology, mysticism, and experience of the world, also influence my pleasures in poetry.

I trace my own influences as reader and writer from Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass is one of those books that sat prominently on a shelf in the dining room of my parents’ house) through William Carlos Williams, to Langston Hughes, to the Black Mountain School, to the Beats (particularly Ann Waldman and Allen Ginsberg), to contemporary writers like: Robert Bly, Caroline Forché, Claudia Rankine, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Julian Spahr, Sharon Olds, Philip Levine, Gloria Anzaldua, Leonard Cohen, Adeena Karasick, Gary Lundy, Jamaica Kincaid and Joy Harjo, among many others. There is a similarly long list of international poets that I could name—Lorca, Akhmatova, Yehudai, Ali are just the tip of that particular interstellar iceberg.

The long list of poets I read contains very different poets and poetry—reflecting my eclecticism, I suppose. What they have in common, for me, is their engagement in the world, the ideological, the concrete, the political, the historical, and the spiritual in such a manner as to stop readers from easily assuming clarity and order. The poets I like best break through superficial sensibility, commercial skins, and plastic-surgery facial expressions to show the cracks on our beliefs, our world, our lives.

To paraphrase Leonard Cohen, everything has cracks, but that’s also how the light gets in.

In fiction, I have read, re-read, and been influenced by Leslie Marmon Silko, Salman Rushdie, Stephen Dixon, John Fowles, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth and Tom Robbins, again among others, for very much the same reasons as the poets I read. Margaret Atwood I admire for these reasons, and for her ability in both fiction and poetry (I also write some fiction, on occasion).

What challenges did you face with this book?
The main challenge was focus. Originally, at some point a few years ago, I had a much, much longer manuscript. A friend of mine suggested cutting it into parts. I had divided the original into sections, which made possible places to divide it into separate manuscripts. This was hard for me, in that I saw echoes and motifs throughout the whole, repeated themes in the different sections. I gravitate toward complexity and convoluted lines of exploration.

What I learned, through my friend’s careful reading and help, was that the motifs were likely separate manuscript themes. So, I had to take poems from different sections and move them around, reorganize them. I ended up with something like three manuscripts with a few poems left over. (I also pulled poems from the long work to create Jerusalem Imagined and Recalled—the Jewish-related project I mentioned earlier that has yet to be published—thus creating a fourth manuscript that went beyond the first, too large one.)

When I sent the manuscript for this book, what became The World Behind It, Chaos, to why vandalism?, and they suggested even more cutting and rearranging, I could see that their ideas really helped the book become a “book” somehow, more than just a collection of related poems. I used their ideas, made some modifications to their suggestions (that they, in turn, liked). I put back one or two poems that were related to some left in the manuscript, took out one or two that belonged with those taken out, changed the name (they suggested leaving out the poem that had the line for the earlier name, and I agreed), and did a little more re-ordering of the poems. This was fun and good work, but also quite challenging.

It is often easier for me to write a poem than to figure how to put poems together so that the reading of them as a “work” or “book” coheres. In the end, the poems that came out of the manuscript in this process had their own type of focus, so now I have yet another manuscript with these poems, although more of a chapbook than a full-length poetry book.

What advice would you have for others wanting to publish eBooks?
Don’t be afraid to do it. Consider how to use the electronic medium to enhance the book experience, not simply to replicate a printed book. I don’t think I moved in that direction very much, other than the inclusion of so many images. There used to be a book called The Macintosh is Not Just a Typewriter, something like that. It was early in the days of the Macintosh interface (even before Windows, if I remember correctly), and all about the formatting stuff you could do with a computer word processor and how to create, essentially, typeset documents. Of course, many of us now find this routine. However, I’ve thought, as an extension of that idea, that the computer is not just a printing press, either. It offers so much more than paper. We see this clearly on the web, with multi-media and hypertext providing a different viewing / reading experience than the linear one that paper requires.

Some decry this change in literacy, lamenting the type of reading we did before; but I think it would be interesting to embrace it, to write interactive texts with hyperlinks, pop-up images, movement, animation, comments, all of that which we see on blogs and web pages. I don’t mean we should also give up traditional forms of reading and writing, but that we should not only live there. How can poetry embrace this hyper-poetic possibility? How can fiction embrace hyper-narrative potential? What sort of new forms could emerge? Perhaps they are already there.

As one thinks of electronic publishing, perhaps it’s worthwhile to think of all the possibilities and play with them, use them, find new ways of constructing and understanding knowledge, images, sensibility and identity with them. For writers, it means giving up much of our control over the reader’s experience of our words. On one hand, how much control do writers really have over the reader’s experience, even in the printed word? On the other hand, it seems like a very exciting direction to take our cultural production of meaning(s).

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
The same advice everyone has, I suppose. Read. Write. Listen to yourself. Listen to others. Let the words carry you. Revise as needed (but don’t overwork). Write. Write. Write. Read. Read. Read. Write from experience. And play—play with words, ideas, images, and meaning. Find the erotic pleasure of the words, the text, the poem, the story.

Favorite Links:
Anti- http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides
Beehive Magazine http://theebeehive.com/
How a Poem Happens http://howapoemhappens.blogspot.com/
Iota Magazine http://www.iotamagazine.co.uk/
Lit Up Magazine http://litupmagazine.wordpress.com/
Maria Damon and Miekal And
Monkey Puzzle http://www.monkeypuzzleonline.com/
Omega http://homepage.mac.com/miguel_cervantes/
http://joglars.org/literature_nation/litnat/index.html
pleasureTEXTpossessionhttp://joglars.org/pleasuretext/pleasuretext.html

Rain Taxi http://www.raintaxi.com/
Ravenswood Books Blog http://chibooks.blogspot.com/
Sketchbook http://poetrywriting.org/Sketchbook4-1Feb09/0_Contents_Sketchbook_4-1_February_2009.htm
The Cartier Street Review http://thecartierstreetreview.blogspot.com/
The Drunken Boat http://www.thedrunkenboat.com/
why vandalism? http://www.whyvandalism.com/

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Janet Spurr, of Beach Chair Diaries

2009-05-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

About Janet Spurr: "After being in sales for over 15 years, I had a calling to be a writer. I had never written before and started taking courses and attending conferences."

About Beach Chair Diaries: Beach Chair Diaries is a collection of short humorous essays about summertime. From learning to surf in Maui to boogie boarding in Maui. Spurr independently published her 172-page book in May of 2008, through Lightning Source, which is owned by Ingram.

Why did you write this book? I started writing fiction, children's books, screenwriting and finally figured out that short essays work for me because of my full time sales job and trying to do too much.

In one course, a British woman said that I should write a book about summer time, sailing and yacht clubs. And I thought, I could do that.

What did I love about it? The fact that now I can go on any beach vacation and tell people that I'm doing research.

Also, when I do book signings, I ask people where their favorite beach is and we talk about beaches.

Why did you self-publish, and what has helped you be successful at self-publishing?

I had a dishonest agent and a book contract; the editor of the small publishing company suggested that I fire the agent because she was so difficult to deal with. I was able to get my second agent, who didn't have the passion for Beach Chair Diaries that I did, so I had to let him go. A best-selling author told me that every author has three agents. Since I had been in sales, selling women's accessories to stores throughout New England, everyone said that I should sell my book to the stores that I already sell to. I did and now a year later I've sold over 2,100 books and had over 20 events.

What does your writing routine look like?

I'm laughing. I have no routine, because I travel to so many different places for my sales job. When I write I usually do while away from home and/or on the beach.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.

Mitch Albom, who wrote Tuesdays with Morrie. I hope someday to write a book about my dad and if I can make a difference as Mitch's book has done, then that would be the greatest. Bill Bryson. I want to be the Bill Bryson Babe of the Bookshelf. Doris Kearns Goodwin. I just finished Team of Rivals. I have a relative who was in the Boston Tea Party, that might be my fourth book.

What are you working on next?

Beach Chair Diaries 2, but that won't be the title. It should be out next spring.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?

Believe in your dream not matter what happens. Never forget your dream. I think a lot of people get out of college and then forget that a dream takes 4-8 years. So go for it. There is nothing more amazing. There was a 95-year-old woman who graduated from college. If she can do it, anyone can.

What would you say to others thinking of self-publishing?

Go with Lightning Source. The upfront costs might be higher, but the wholesale cost makes more profit. Most importantly, what I didn't realize was that once you publish a book with Lightning Source you are then listed with Ingram. Many times I would call a book store and they would order my book right away because I was with Ingram. This was a very important fact that I didn't even realize until after I had published. I was only turned down by two bookstores because I was self published.

Favorite Links:

http://www.beachchairdiaries.com/ http://www.manakai.com/

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Jerry Hunsinger, 'Axe of Iron' series

2009-04-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

Author Jerry Hunsinger (the Axe of Iron series, Vinland Publishing) spent most of his adult working life as a commercial pilot, and pursued writing novels as an avocation after retirement.

How did you get your start in writing?
My writing was sporadic until 2004. My wife Phyllis made me believe in the story that I had held inside for my entire adult life. Without her support and advocacy, I would not have begun, completed, or published this first novel of my series. It is the most difficult undertaking of my life. She pushes me just enough and I need a push on occasion, to get the job done. Ultimately, this effort led to publishing after I wasted one year seeking a literary agent to pursue publication of my work through a large publishing house. So today, I both write and publish. How long that will continue is impossible to estimate at this point.

What does your writing routine look like?
My day begins not later than 0700, after coffee and the newspaper, and typically continues until the evening hours. I found that I had to factor composition into the day—I have a schedule I try to adhere to--or all I did was promote and socially network for visibility. I do try to write daily, but that is not always possible given the myriad business details that come up that must be attended to. I have written only historical fiction novels. My first novel, Axe of Iron: The Settlers was published August 1, 2008. It is the first in the Axe of Iron series. These books are a continuing tale about a medieval people whose lives are surprisingly like ours. They have the same basic desires for happiness, love, food, and shelter that has dominated the thoughts of generations of cultures the world over. These character-driven, historical fiction books tell the adventures of Greenland Vikings as they struggle to establish a settlement in North America 1000-years ago in the face of hostile native opposition.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.
Historical fiction is my favorite genre. Our bookcases sag under the volumes that we have retained. For pleasure, I read everything that Wilbur Smith and W.E.B. Griffin write. I also own every book written by C. S. Forester, Alexander Kent, and Ayn Rand. Sir Winston Churchill’s History of the English Speaking Peoples is an excellent reference work. Ken Follett is another favorite. His Pillars of the Earth was superlative. The works of the aforementioned authors have been read repeatedly because they are able to spin a tale that is engaging, entertaining, and realistic.

What are you working on next?
Axe of Iron: Confrontation is in the edit process and is scheduled for release in June 2009. The series is five or six books and the release of each volume will follow at the rate of one per year until I have told the tale.

What made you decide to write this novel?
I have had a lifelong interest in the medieval Norse people. That interest is focused on the five hundred year history of the Norse Greenland settlements. The mystery surrounding the abandonment of the two known settlements and the disappearance of every single person living therein has captured my imagination. Years of research has led me to believe that they did not disappear, rather they assimilated with the natives of North America. My series of books tell a plausible tale in support of that contention. No other author has ever treated the subject the way I have. Axe of Iron: The Settlers is my first novel. It is a character-driven, historical fiction book. My characters tell the story and the reader sees the events through their eyes.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
The entire process has been a nightmare because of the time and money wasted while I learned the business. I wish I could say that there is lots of help out there for the newbies, but actually, the reverse is true. You are prey swimming in the shark’s pool—take heed. Do your homework, believe nobody, and get everything in writing, research, research, and research.

I have seen many aspiring writers take one class after another in the hopes that this acquired knowledge will pave the way for them. I, too, took many writing classes. If you spend all your time worrying about plot, voice, POV, etc. you will never actually take the plunge. In the final analysis I can say the classes helped, but what I finally found was, ‘In order to learn to write, you must write.’ You must have a story to tell, find someplace where you can do so without interruption, and set down and get at it. You will make mistakes, certainly, but you will learn your craft in the process. Another piece of advice for you: if you do not own a recent edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, buy one; it is the bible of the industry.

We write because we must; we have a story to tell. Now that I have actually gotten the process going with one book published, I derive satisfaction from telling my tale to others. I expect that feeling to continue as the Axe of Iron series unfolds. The entire writing/publication process was difficult and expensive. There are two major downs to writing and both are part of the learning process. With high expectations, I presented my rough draft manuscript to an editor—wrong approach—forget the expectations. I got my masterpiece picked apart, marked up in red, and seriously in need of correction and rewrite. My response? I dropped it in the trash. Phyllis to the rescue! She made me see the error of my ways and pushed me to do what all writers must do at this stage, dig in, and do your job. I cracked up the editor by telling her that she had said that ‘my baby was ugly.’ Actually, it was ugly, so I had to fix it, and I did. Hire professional editors to edit everything that another person will read, especially the final draft of your manuscript. An English teacher is not an editor and you cannot edit your own work, so hire someone. Your professionalism will determine whether you ever make the grade. A shabby cover letter on your submission packet will guarantee its demise.

Do your homework on the submission guidelines before you query. All agents will have their own guidelines; adhere to them absolutely. Do not ever send a manuscript unless it is requested. Agents and publishers are busy people and they have no time to waste on people who do not follow their submission guidelines. Dealing with agents is the most disheartening undertaking for a writer. Agents act like the writer exists because of agents, when in fact it is the other way around. I wasted a year trying to find an agent from among those professing to have an interest in my genre only to find that there are not any in existence.

Favorite Links:
http://www.vinlandpublishing.com/,
http://www.vinlandpublishing.blogspot.com/, http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/02175.htm/,
mailto:jahunsinger@vinlandpublishing.com

Author Q&A with Luigi Morelli, 'Revolution of Hope'

2009-04-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

Author and trainer Luigi Morelli says his faith in social change from a cultural perspective has evolved through a combination of training, education and unique personal experience. He teaches “Non-Violent Compassionate Communication” based on Nonviolent Communication as developed by Marshall B. Rosenberg. In 2003 he was a founding member of the Wavecrest /Friends of L’Arche community for the disabled (part of the international federation of L’Arche communities), in Orange County, Callifornia, in 2004. Morelli holds a masters degree in environmental sciences, and has lived in Europe, South America and Africa. He has resided in the US for the last 22 years. His book, Revolution of Hope is due out momentarily from Trafford at www.Trafford.com.

How did you get your start in writing?
I am originally more of a researcher than a writer. English is not my first language so I need an editor. As a researcher I am someone who has a passion for asking questions that matter … I ask questions and then dig under every stone to find leads, and new answers leading to larger questions.

My first question leading to a book came to me on a warm spring day along the banks of the Delaware in Philadelphia at what is called Penn’s Landing. I love Philadelphia and its historical background and that day my attention lingered on a tall bronze statue of the Native American Tamanend (St. Tammany). The caption at the foot of the sculpture said he was patron saint of the colonists, and his festival was celebrated on May 1. I was inspired and tickled to death by the idea that a Native American could be a patron saint for Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. I thought I would just find a nice book that would explain it all. I ventured into libraries and bookstores asking for something that I thought everybody knew. Not so, in spite of (the statue) standing in front of everybody’s eyes in Philadelphia. I started digging out information about St. Tammany and living with this image in my mind and heart. Two other similar questions came my way about related topics: one through a movie (Squanto), the other through a Native American legend (the Iroquois legend of the White Roots of Peace). This led to my passion for writing and to the first book Hidden America.
What does your writing routine look like?

Writing, reading, musing at images, legends, biographies, reflecting at life questions that have accompanied me for more years than I can tell … I help myself with notes, I draw connections. If it is a myth or a legend I make sure I read it slowly and fully; read as many versions of it as possible; let the images live vividly in my imagination; let them converse to me on a daily basis. Depending on how large the question this process can take from months to many years; I don’t have control over the length of it. At other times it is a matter of living through some life experience, especially socially transformative processes which are what I am most interested in.
When the material starts to settle I generally start thinking of an artistic form to give it, something like a thread or a structure that can give the reader added interest and that helps me organize the material in a way that offers me support, creativity and fun. This is the most creative part. After that it’s a matter of iterations; going through the parts and making sure that the material is organized coherently; returning to the whole and see if the parts add up coherence; returning to the details and polishing them, etc.

I can do this while working on more than one project at a time since I don’t give myself deadlines.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.
Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner) for an inspiring book written by a first time doctor-turned-author. It is thoroughly engrossing, a page turner. At the same time it is universal.

Atwater, P. M. H. (Beyond the Light: The Mysteries and Revelations of Near-Death Experiences) for sound common sense and for taking on daringly original perspectives, casting light on the fascinating topic of near-death experiences.

Nicanor Perlas (Shaping Globalization: Civil Society Cultural Power and Threefolding) for wresting a coherent image of hope from a world in which I could see little.

Brown, Juanita and Isaacs, David. (The World Cafe: Shaping Our Future Through Conversations That Matter) for a book that is a delight of originality, practicality, stimulus for thought.

Greaves, Helen. (The Dissolving Veil, Testimony of Light, The Wheel of Eternity) She writes of her own spiritual experiences with sobriety and discernment, avoiding sensationalism and self-aggrandizing.

Wheatley, Margaret J. (Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World) for an engaging synthesis of natural scientific discoveries and what they mean for social science, particularly leadership.

What are you working on next?
I want to continue the work I started with Spiritual Turning Points of North American History with a sort of twin volume about South America. The first work places in parallel historical research with myths and legends of North America about a figure that is known from all of North and Central America, a civilizing hero of the Americas who is known as far south as Patagonia.
The book will be an attempt to show that the Western scientific mind can be reconciled with the Native American consciousness; in essence that the natives know what they talk about when they speak about their history in the language of myths and legends. Now that I’ve done the first part for North America I want to do the same for South America, taking Peru as the starting point, since this is where we can find the largest historical and mythical record. This is exciting because I am partly Peruvian by my mother and because I know many of the places and legends that I am exploring, plus have a natural passion particularly for the legacy of the Incas and for the Native culture of the Peruvian mountains (particularly Cuzco and the high plateau of the Titicaca).

What made you decide to write this book?
Of all the questions I wanted to write about those I confront in A Revolution of Hope are the ones I initially wanted to answer for myself alone. I had been a social activist from my early youth, and the questions of social consciousness, right livelihood and spirituality have accompanied me lifelong.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
Trust that your life questions are important. Let them lead you to the goal and give them the time that they need, not the time that you need. It doesn’t matter if a book takes ten years while another may take six months. You can write more than one in parallel.

Trust that you will have access to artistic creativity in the process. You don’t need to be a ‘Ulysses’ Joyce or Shakespeare, but you can still find ways to render your material interesting, and discover resources you didn’t know you had.

Your own growth is what matters: don’t measure yourself up to unrealistic yardsticks.

Favorite Links: http://www.cnvc.org/.

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is ALMOST finished with her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

The Writing Porch Author Q&A with Frankie Y. Bailey

2009-04-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

Frankie Y. Bailey is an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany (SUNY). She specializes in crime history, and in crime and mass media/popular culture. She is the author or co-author of a number of non-fiction books, most recently (with Alice P. Green) "Wicked Albany: Lawlessness & Liquor in the Prohibition Era" (The History Press, 2009). Frankie is also the author of a mystery series featuring Southern crime historian Lizzie Stuart in four books, including "You Should Have Died on Monday" (Silver Dagger, 2007). Frankie is a member of Sisters in Crime (SinC), Romance Writers of America (RWA), and Mystery Writers of America (MWA). Frankie is the 2009-2010 Executive Vice President of Mystery Writers of America.

Her book, "African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study"
(McFarland, 2008, 271 pp) examines the works of modern African American mystery writers in the context of the long history of African Americans writing about crime and justice. The first section provides historical context; the second focuses on issues such as sleuths, settings, victims, and offenders; the third section includes the results of a survey of readers and interviews with mystery writers and scholars.

How did you get your start in writing?
My parents allowed me to sign up for the Famous Writers School correspondence course when I was a teenager. Then later at college, I had a double major in English and Psychology, both provided me with an opportunity to write. The first time I actually sat down and tried to write a book was when I was in the Army (between college and grad school). I was living in Seattle, where I was assigned as a food inspector. I came home every day, had dinner, and spent the evening pecking away on my typewriter. I managed to produce two romantic suspense novels that would require a lot of editing before they could be sent out. But I did prove to myself that I could write a book. I wrote my first non-fiction book around 1989-1991 when I was living and teaching in Frankfort, Kentucky. The book was about black characters in crime and detective fiction, and to my utter disbelief was nominated for an EDGAR.

What does your writing routine look like?
It more or less depends on the day. On some days, I don't write at all.
Instead, I spend the time preparing to write by doing research or just thinking. Or procrastinating. I generally write my mysteries at home -- or in a hotel room when I'm really stuck and need to focus. I like to write late at night. That works when I don't have to get up the next morning. But if I'm really tired, I go to bed and get up early the next morning and write until around 11. Sometimes I get my best ideas when I wake up and stagger to the computer and write while I'm still almost in a dream state. I like to wake up while I'm writing. Since I don't drink coffee, it's sometimes my substitute for caffeine.

With the non-fiction writing, I spend afternoons/early evenings in my office at school most days. Because U Albany is a public research university and I teach in a grad school, I spend a lot of time doing research and writing in my area of specialization. I do much of my non-fiction research and writing in my office. However, if I'm pushing a deadline, I will work at home so I don't have to drive home in the middle of the night. But, psychologically, I can focus best on fiction at home, non-fiction at the office.

The only caveat to this is that my own research as an criminal justice professor often yields the true crime cases that inspire the plots in my mysteries. So, often when I'm doing research, the fiction and the non-fiction research will overlap. Of course, I also need to go "on location" for the mysteries to get the settings right. So the last book, I spent time in Chicago, Wilmington, NC, and New Orleans. This past fall, I spent time in Maine and on Eastern Shore Virginia doing research for the book I'm working on now, "40 Acres and a Soggy Grave."

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.
I admire many of my mystery writer peers. I think that modern mystery writers are masters at both character and plot. They also often deal with social issues while providing their readers with great page-turning entertainment. However, since I can't mention all my favorites, I won't mention anyone by now. I'm also a fan of historical romance, and one of my favorite writers is Mary Balogh. She is one of those writers who can keep me up all night turning pages.

If I could take only one book with me to a desert island, it would be my worn, tattered "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare." I did three quarters of Shakespeare as an English major and I am still in awe of his ability to create characters that live and breathe. I love some poets for the same reason. For example, Edwin Arlington Robinson. His "Richard Cory" was the inspiration for a character in one of my books. Actually, I'm completely scattered when it comes to reading. I will read almost anything if it grabs my attention. I have more books piled up on tables then I will ever be able to read.

What are you working on next?
My next Lizzie Stuart mystery, "40 Acres and a Soggy Grave." The first book in a new historical mystery series set during World War II. A non-fiction book with the working title, "Strip Search," about clothing, crime and impression management. And (with Alice Green) a book about African Americans in Albany, 1919-1965.

What made you decide to write this book?
"African American Mystery Writers" is really the sequel to the first non-fiction book I wrote back in 1991, "Out of the Woodpile: Black Characters in Crime and Detective Fiction." That first book came out just as what has been called a "renaissance" of black mystery writers began.
Although African Americans began publishing in the genre at the turn of the 20th century, it wasn't until the late 1980s/early 1990s, that more than one or two at a time began to be published. So, now that there are enough of these writers to allow analyze of their works -- and because I had an invitation from the editor at McFarland to submit a proposal -- I decided to write another book.

What challenges did you face with this book?
I went astray in writing my first draft because I didn't realize until it was done that I needed to go back to the beginning and provide historical context. I started again and added another section to the book that began with African Americans as slaves or ex-slaves writing about "crime" and "justice." Of course, having to take additional time to do this research and write another section of the book meant that I missed my original deadline and the one after that. I was grateful to have a publisher willing to wait until I felt the book was done rather than demanding that I get it in on time or else.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
Write only about a subject you love or would love to learn more about. Books take a long time to write. Writing about something that bores you silly or that is simply alien to who you are is a recipe for frustration.

Favorite Links:
http://www.frankieybailey.com
http://www.mcfarlandpub.com

http://www.mysterywriters.org

http://www.theedgars.com

http://www.mysterywriters.org/http://www.theedgars.com

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is ALMOST finished with her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

The Writing Porch Author Q&A with Margot McDonnell

2009-04-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

Margot McDonnell is the author of Torn to Pieces (Delacorte Press, 2008) and has been nominated for an EDGAR award in the young adult category. She lives in Arizona.

About 'Torn to Pieces':

When her mother disappears, Anne learns that everything she once believed true about herself is a lie and she is in grave danger.

How did you get your start in writing?
As a kid, I was always an avid reader with a big imagination. By twelve I had written two books, a collection of short stories, a musical comedy, and a drama. I think I liked to show off because my teachers always picked my stuff to read to the class. The first published book, 'My Own Worst Enemy,' Putnam, 1984, materialized when my sons were teens. They and their friends were so amusing that I used them as inspiration.

What does you writing routine look like?

First, as an online college instructor, I read and evaluate lessons. Shortly after, I take a walk and think about my current writing project. Back home, it's straight to the computer for several hours. If I can't get past a snag in the plot, I sleep on it, and the problem usually resolves itself. Once in a while I take a few days off and make a quilt.Some writers whose work I admire. William Faulkner is the kind of mystery writer ('Light in August' and 'Absalom Absalom') who buries clues in all those dense sentences worth wading through. I also admire Harlan Coben's books. He's got it going with crisp prose and irresistible mysteries I can never quite figure out. Laura Lippman's well-thought-out psychologically focused plots and excellent characterization make her books fascinating.

What are you working on next?

Another mystery, but I never talk about a current project although I think about it constantly.

What made me decide to write this novel?

'Torn to Pieces' began when I saw a guy play with the hair of the girl in front of him in my English class. I wrote a few pages, then challenged myself after retiring from high school teaching to finish the thing. At first, the book explored young girl's issues at a large high school. When I kept falling asleep from boredom, it morphed into a mystery. With no idea where it was going, I put obstacles in my character Anne's path and let her figure them out. It really annoyed her.

What challenges did you face with this book?

I had to take out some stupid content and rewrite the whole manuscript because no editor liked it. Then, when an offer came, my editor requested two major (and I mean MAJOR) plot changes. I almost cried, but changing the book actually made it better. The hair playing part is still in it.

What advice would I have for other writers/would-be writers?

Today, the book business is tough, writing is tough (what else is new?), and getting a foot in the door is tough. So a manuscript must be finished, topnotch, and free of errors, at the least. But first it has to tell a gripping story. Readers other than family members who are known for their honesty should read the manuscript and critique it. They should be brutal and blunt. This can help find rough spots and fine tune the work. Then comes the query letter. I worked on mine every day for a month and secured an agent in a few days. In short, the writing and the approach to finding a publisher must be professional, and that includes reactions to requests for revisions by the agent and editor. Both have the writer's best interests in mind, and it's not productive to balk.

Where can someone find my work?

'Torn to Pieces' is available on almost any online bookstore and in dozens of public libraries. I am excited to see it in so many libraries because my focus is to write stories for kids who might not care to read but pick it up, enjoy it, then read another by someone else, and another...

Favorite Links: http://www.mysterywriters.org/http://www.theedgars.com/

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

The Writing Porch Author Q&A with Caron Goode

2009-04-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

Dr. Caron Goode is the author of Raising Intuitive Children: Guide Your Children to Know and Trust Their Gifts (2009, New Page Books) and The Art & Science of Coaching Parents (2007). A licensed counselor and psychotherapist in Fort Worth, Texas, Goode has written 10 books. Her 15-year psychotherapy practice served dozens of people considered to be intuitives. In 2003, she founded the Academy for Coaching Parents International, which provides training and certification for professionals to run parent-coaching businesses.
Her co-author is a certified coach for parents of intuitives, Tara Paterson of Round Hill, Virginia.

How did you get your start in writing?
In fourth grade, my teacher, Mrs. Mendenhall said that if any students wanted extra credit, we could complete a writing project. I went home that Friday afternoon and spent six hours writing a child's poetic accolades to Catholic figures: "Dear Mary, dressed in blue. I love you." I woke up early saturday morning and rode my bike across town to deliver my book of poetry. I surprised her at her brunch, but she was gracious and accepted my efforts. In high school, creative writing classes kept my interest alive. And my employers always encouraged my writing creativity at work. I started writing professionally for others besides myself when I worked for Special Olympics International and interviewed athletes, collected research, but mostly was inspired by the success stories of the athletes. Thereafter I authored my own books in the educational an trade fields. As recently as 2003, I started ghostwriting for others, again fascinated by human history and people's stories. I've complete forty ghost-written projects, mostly nonfiction, parables, and several family sagas.

What does your writing routine look like?
I write six days a week. I am "creatively compulsed" at this phase of my life.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.
I admire Danielle Steele because of the intricacy of her plot details. I love Taylor Caldwell's story telling ability because I felt I was there in her scenes.

What are you working on next?
I am currently writing 'Kids Who See Ghosts' for a fall, 2009 release.

What made you decide to write this book?
I determined to write this book about four years before I actually did. I had always taught the special needs children who might have been intuitive, right brain thinkers, or learned differently from the left-brain oriented educational models. Then as a psychotherapist, I seemed to attract families who had sensitive children, psychic children...in some way intuitive. Over the years this model developed, and I felt Raise Intuitive Children would provide insight for parents about how their child learned and how to nurture and encourage those sensitives and intuitives who break the mold for educational and traditional parenting models.

What challenges did you face with this book?
Knowing when the time was right. I couldn't think this book...it evolved in its own time, and when birthed, was sold overnight to a publisher who also saw that the time was right.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
Work from intuition, that is where I find the passion.

Favorite Links:
www.parentingintuitives.com
www.academyforcoachingparents.com
http://www.raisingintuitivechildren.com/

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is revising her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Darrin Doyle, 'Revenge of the Teacher's Pet: A Love Story'

2009-03-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

Darrin Doyle grew up in Michigan, although he has also lived in Osaka, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Manhattan (Kansas, not the other one). His short stories have appeared in Puerto del Sol, The Long Story, Cottonwood, Alaska Quarterly Review, Night Train, Harpur Palate, Laurel Review, The MacGuffin, and other journals. He has received fellowships and scholarships from the Sewanee Writers Conference and the NY Summer Writers Institute. In the fall of 2009, he will begin teaching fiction writing at Central Michigan University.

His first novel, Revenge of the Teacher’s Pet: A Love Story, has been released by LSU Press. His second novel, The Girl Who Ate Kalamazoo, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in 2010.

About the book:

Revenge of the Teacher’s Pet: A Love Story, 208 pages, LSU Press (Yellow Shoe Fiction Series), 2009.

How did you get your start in writing?
I’ve always enjoyed reading. As a kid, my parents read me Where the Red Fern Grows and A Wrinkle in Time, and this is when I first became conscious of how powerful a story could be. On my own, I started reading Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and Piers Anthony. I can recall reading Jack London’s story, “To Build a Fire,” aloud to my 7th grade class – I don’t know what the occasion was – but that’s a long story! I’m still surprised that I did this, and also that the teacher let me do it!
I wrote lots of stories in high school, all absurd, crazy stories like “Mother Micah and her 47 Sons” and “Little Timmy Toob.” My good friend and I would exchange stories in the hall between classes, always trying to outdo one another and make each other laugh. These were intended solely as escape from the doldrums of school, and to this extent, they worked wonderfully.
It wasn’t until I was a 26-year-old senior at Western Michigan University that I heard (from the great poet/teacher William Olsen) that I could go to school for an MFA in creative writing, and that I could potentially get an assistantship, teach classes, and have my schooling paid for. This was a major revelation. I immediately applied and was accepted – an event that changed my life. Initially, I wrote both poetry and fiction, but eventually, I became more comfortable with fiction and made it my focus.
I published four short stories in literary magazines after graduating, lived in Japan, traveled around Southeast Asia, returned to Michigan, worked at a few jobs that were unsatisfying, and then decided to go back to school for my PhD. That’s where I wrote my first novel.

What does your writing routine look like?
I tend to write after 10pm, when there are no distractions. I attempt to write every night, but knowing that this is unrealistic, I allow myself a broad definition of the word “write.” Therefore, lots of nights are spent reading and re-reading my in-progress stories. Some evenings, I do nothing more than change a comma here, a word there. Still, I consider this writing since it requires ‘living in’ the story, keeping myself tethered to its characters, its conflicts, and thinking about where it might go. When I’m really busy, I like to write longhand in a notebook. For example, when I was teaching four sections of freshman composition in 2006, I grabbed every moment I could during the day to scribble in my notebook. This is pretty much how I wrote my second novel, The Girl Who Ate Kalamazoo.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.
I admire Flannery O’Connor for her psychological insight, her amazing ability to jump from one point of view to another, and her humor.
I admire Franz Kafka for being the most original writer in history; nobody has come close to Kafka as far as uniqueness of vision. And ultimately, it is our uniqueness of vision that defines us as writers. I will never come close to Kafka, but I can keep trying.
I admire George Saunders, Sam Lipsyte, Judy Budnitz, Christine Schutt, Kathryn Davis, Lorrie Moore, and Chris Bachelder for being exciting, restless writers who surprise me and make me laugh.

What are you working on next?
I continue to work on short-stories in the hopes of someday publishing a collection, or at the very least, continuing to be associated with some of the many fine literary journals currently available. Recently, I have written a number of so-called short-shorts that are surreal and lyrical, all based around body parts. I have also begun work on a novel, tentatively titled Bad Luck Buttercup. That’s all I’m at liberty to say.

What made you decide to write this novel?
I was writing a short story with these characters, Mary Ann Tucker and Dale Portwit, two middle-aged, elementary school teachers. I enjoyed jumping between their points of view, and I enjoyed writing in the voices of characters that were very much unlike me. Once the story hit twenty-some pages, I realized that it wasn’t even close to being done. That’s when I said “screw it” and decided just to write as much as I wanted, with no regard for length. I had no plan, no plot. I simply had a setting and two clear characters whose voices I heard with amazing clarity. I wrote 300 pages in a four-month period – an incredible output that gave me symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome and inspired me to invest in a nice chair with armrests.
I had such fun writing that first draft – following the voices, the manias, the desires, of these characters – that it really felt like the story “wrote itself,” if I can use a cliché.

What challenges did you face with this book?
The main challenge was the revision. My 300-page novel was raw, manic, and full of what Mark Twain would call “surplusage.” Fortunately, I had two amazing mentors named Brock Clarke and Michael Griffith who gave me advice on how to turn this unwieldy – if spirited – story into a focused book. I chopped the first 75 pages. I made elaborate lists of the main events in each chapter. I wrote timelines and character sketches. I researched limb removal and prosthetics, as well as the psychological effects of limb loss. 18 months later, I had a new draft that was ready to send to literary agents.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
My advice can be boiled down to one word: persist. You must love what you do, and you must do it relentlessly and consistently, even in the face of repeated failure. You must, of course, love to read and write (this should go without saying), but if you believe in what you do, and you are writing for the joy it provides you, you will see your work in print. It will most likely take a few years, however, and a few ulcers, to get to this point.

Favorite Links:
http://www.darrindoyle.com/
http://www.waccamawjournal.com/
http://www.h-ngm-n.com/
http://www.nighttrain.com/

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Meredith Cole, author of "Posed For Murder"

2009-03-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

Meredith Cole directed feature films and wrote screenplays before writing mysteries. She won the St. Martin's/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery competition in 2007. Her book, "Posed For Murder," was published by St. Martin's Minotaur in February 2009, and her short story “Exercise is Murder” was in the June 2008 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America NY board, and she blogs at www.thedebutanteball.com

What's your book about?
Lydia McKenzie, an art photographer who recreates historic murder scenes, finally has a show in a Brooklyn gallery. But when someone starts killing her models just like her photographs, she has to catch the killer before she becomes the next victim.

How did you get your start in writing?
I started out writing screenplays and directing films. But when my son was born, I knew that I wouldn't be going back on the set anytime soon. I started to write a mystery novel set in my neighborhood (Williamsburg, Brooklyn). In my first manuscript, I did almost everything wrong. I had tons of backstory, and the action really didn't really start until page 65. But I loved the characters. So I wrote another book with the same heroine and most of the same characters. But this time the stakes were much higher, and the story was a lot scarier.

What does your writing routine look like?
I take my son to school, go for a swim, and then come back and sit down at my laptop to write. If I'm under deadline, I sometimes get up early (before my family) and write for an hour or so. And I'll sometimes write after my son is in bed.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire.
I really enjoy reading Ruth Rendell, Laurie King, Rex Stout, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Jane Austen, Rumer Godden and so many others. I'm a voracious reader, and I panic if my TBR pile gets too small.

What are you working on next?
I just finished the second book in my series with Lydia McKenzie, "Dead In The Water." Lydia has begun taking portraits of prostitutes when one of them ends up dead--a floater in the East River.

What made you decide to write this novel?
I love my neighborhood and thought it made an interesting setting for a murder mystery. My husband is an artist, so I know a lot about the art community. I enjoyed writing in the mystery genre, and thought it was interesting to have a sleuth who was a photographer. I liked the idea of looking through a lens to find clues.

What challenges did you face with this book?
I wrote the book in a year, and then began to look around for an agent. When I had no luck, I entered the manuscript in the St. Martin's/Malice Domestic Best Traditional First Mystery competition. The prize is publication, so I was thrilled to win.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
Write every day, read as much as you can, and be patient. Success does not come overnight (no matter how many stories you've heard). Get a writing group if you can, and listen carefully to criticism. When you get the opportunity to show someone your work, you want to be ready with your best stuff. And writing good stuff takes a lot of time and revisions.

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Artsville, Texas: Carl Block’s jug heads on the auction block

2009-03-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

An oldie but a goodie: this is a December 2007 blog I did for the North Texas NPR outlet, KERA's Art+Seek blog.

Leafing through an online catalog of 885 lots of folk art auctioned with the collection of Academy Award-winning film director Jonathan Demme that were auctioned recently, it was easy to miss one North Texas gem.
Tucked away amid the naïf works billed as self-taught art masterpieces, the African American quilts and decorative arts and the rest of the Southern folk pottery, Carl Block’s Two-Face Devil Jug and Mini Jug were classic examples of the artist’s work. Bearing multiple fearsome eyes and grimaces showing evidence of an undeniable need for an orthodontist, they are what’s known to some as Southern face jugs.
In Waxahachie, where Block makes his home along with Flatland Pottery, the Webb Gallery cultivates quirky and unusual American folk art. The gallery’s Web site describes his design as “mirroring his own fun and bold self.”
Director Demme is reported to have one of the largest private collections of Haitian artwork in the U.S. With his taste for folk-flavored pieces, it’s perhaps easy to see why Block’s bold work might have appealed to him as well. The artist’s “60 Eye Jug” on the University of Texas-Tyler Web site may recall for some images of the shades and forms of Mexican pottery, an influence that might stem from the time Block’s family spent traveling Mexico during his formative years. Its many eyeballs peering out from the green glaze are perhaps not unlike Demme’s famous Hannibal Lecter garage in Silence of the Lambs.
Then there’s the casual cool of the gap-toothed guitar player in a Hawaiian shirt. A University of North Texas graduate, Carl Block is a seriously pedigreed potter who often doesn’t take his subject matter too seriously at all.
Snakes and alien faces merge into primitive patterns on the glazed earthenware that has been displayed at Edith Baker Gallery in Dallas and the William Campbell Gallery in Fort Worth, among many other places.
Like many creatives, Block’s artistic bent has a musical outlet as well. He’s half of the Waxahachie group Baithouse Stompers. He and fellow musician Neel Brown have a regular Wednesday evening gig at the College Street Pub in Waxahachie, and their adoring fans proudly call themselves Baitheads. On MySpace, they are billed as Americana/Reggae/Psychedelic. It was just a matter of time, perhaps, before the Stompers’ wheel came full circle to Block’s artistic roots and put out a CD comprised of songs like “The Creation Stomp” and “Flatland Wabi Blues,” pieces that wax harmoniously full of metaphors about clay and the potting process, flavored with a gritty Texas sound and a sort of 1970s optimism.
And if Carl Block’s face jugs are anatomical misfits, the kind of Picassoisms into which you could read all manner of subliminal messages, his figurative wares represent “all the little things that make my eyes and soul jam,” he says on the UT-Tyler site. “Fear, hate, confusion, humor and other emotions arise in my work.”
And you can’t put that up for auction.
To see Carl Block’s work online, click here:http://www.uttyler.edu/studioart/borders/block.htm http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/4-Carl-Block-TX-Two-Face-Devil-Jug-and-Mini-Jug_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ28217QQihZ009QQitemZ190160934865QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
To listen to the music of the Baithouse Stompers, click here:http://profile.myspace.com/%20…%20(click%20to%20see%20full%20link)

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Louise Ure, Edgar-nominated author of 'The Fault Tree' and 'Forcing Amaryllis'

2009-03-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

Author Louise Ure spent a quarter of a century in advertising and marketing in the U.S., Singapore and Australia before finding her true love: writing crime fiction. Her debut mystery, 'Forcing Amaryllis,' won the Shamus Award for Best First Novel. The second book, 'The Fault Tree,' (January 2008 release in hardcover, March 2009 release in trade paperback, St. Martin’s Press) is a finalist for the Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award. A third stand alone, 'Liars Anonymous,' will be out in April 2009. Although she’s a San Francisco resident now, all her books to date have been set in her home state of Arizona. “I don’t see things clearly until I’ve lost them,” Ure says

About 'The Fault Tree':

When Cadence Moran, a blind auto mechanic in Tucson, Arizona hears a murder happen just down the street as she leaves work, she unwittingly steps into the crosshairs of a killer who thinks he’s been seen and now wants to stop the only witness.

“I wanted to take Audrey Hepburn’s Wait Until Dark and update it for the 21st century, with a heroine who is as courageous, inventive and capable as women are today," Ure says.

How did you get your start in writing?

I started writing on a dare. I was having drinks with a girlfriend not long after the September 11 attacks and she said, “If it all ends tomorrow, what will you most regret not having done?” Writing, I told her. She dared me to fulfill that dream so I enrolled in a night class at a local bookstore the next day. Five months later I had finished 'Forcing Amaryllis.'

What does your writing routine look like?

I can’t even think clearly until I’ve done at least two crossword puzzles, so that’s the beginning of my day. Then I’m in my office by 7:30 and stay there until about 4, with a half hour off for lunch. When I’m writing the first draft, my goal is 2000 words a day. If I get that accomplished before four o’clock I use the rest of the day for emails, promotion planning and catching up on blogs. It’s a seven-day-a-week proposition for me. I lose too much steam if I take weekends off.

What are you working on next?

My third book, 'Liars Anonymous' comes out in April. It’s another stand-alone set in Arizona, this time about a roadside assistance operator who has to unravel the mystery of a murder that she hears on a late night call. She’s a damaged hero, as many of my characters are, carrying the burden of knowing that she, too, committed murder several years ago.

The next book, 'Doing Hadley Time,' is in its gestational stage now so I don’t want to jinx it by saying too much about it.

What made you decide to write this novel?

I’m the only writer I know who starts with titles. When I saw a gardening tag about how to force an amaryllis bulb to blossom I thought “Hmmm … 'Forcing Amaryllis.' That’s a great title. I wonder what the book would be about.”

The same is true for The Fault Tree. In February 2003, I was listening to the radio report of the crash of the Colombia Space Shuttle and the NASA scientist they were interviewing said they would do a fault tree analysis on the data. “It’s one of the best methods of identifying and graphically displaying the many ways something can go wrong,” he said.

That was a book I wanted to write: a study of all the ways that things got so bad, and why they went so wrong. Of course, my “fault tree” would be a real one – a eucalyptus in the backyard where the young protagonist was sent for punishment – rather than an engineer’s flowchart.

What challenges did you face with this book?

The most difficult challenge was to write the book from the point of view of a blind person, and have no avenue to describe anything visually. But the farther I got into the story I more I realized what a wealth of sensory information a blind witness might be able to convey. Maybe she smelled antifreeze from a leaky radiator. Maybe she knew he was wearing corduroy pants because she heard the wales rub together as he ran past.

And to make sure I got the details right, I did everything I asked my blind protagonist to do, although I did it with a blindfold on. (You really can do a tune up on your car with no sight.)

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?

For me, the self-censor is a powerful force. I’m always questioning whether the idea is big enough, whether the writing is good enough. And some days those doubts make it difficult for me to keep writing at all. The best advice I got to counteract that self-censor came from author Gillian Roberts who said, “Today is the worst writing you’re ever going to do. Why would you want to put that off for another day?” It was somehow freeing to know that tomorrow’s writing could only be better. And it gets me another 2000 words down the road.

Where can we find your work?

My books are generally available in all major retail bookstores, libraries and online booksellers, but I have a special place in my heart for the independent booksellers who do so much to help introduce new authors to their customers.

For information about Mystery Writers of America and the Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award nomination: http://www.theedgars.com/
Louise Ure’s website: http://www.louiseure.com/
Louise Ure’s blog site: http://www.murderati.com/

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Jeannie Ralston, author of The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming

2009-03-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

Jeannie Ralston’s book, The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming, was published in May 2008 by Broadway Doubleday ( 254 pages).
A story of growth and maturation, both the personal and botanical variety, the book follows the development of Jeannie’s lavender farm in Texas through droughts, grasshopper plagues and other agricultural set backs, and details her parallel evolution, as she reluctantly sheds her Manhattan persona and truly learns to bloom where she’s planted.
The book has been praised by the New York Times and was recommended as a great read by Good Morning America and publications as diverse as The Dallas Morning News and Fortune Small Business.
Jeannie’s lavender life has gotten a second wind in Mexico, where she lives with her family and consults for a lavender project near Dolores Hidalgo, which is helping a poor pueblo to become self-sufficient by growing lavender as a cash crop.

How did you get your start in writing?
I was always writing little poems and ditties growing up. In junior high, I was named the editor of the annual and in high school I was editor of the school newspaper. I then went into journalism school and had four internships with various publications while in college. I ended up at McCall's magazine in New York City after graduation and began writing for McCall's and then various other magazines, mostly women's magazines, but almost always stories with a news slant. For about 10 minutes, I was the editor of my own magazine (called TeenAge) and eventually I started freelancing for Time Magazine and Life too. Since then I've been a contributing editor at Allure, Ladies Home Journal and am currently a contributing editor at Parenting. I've also written for National Geographic and travel magazines. I've never had a intense interest in writing a book (I didn't think one subject could hold my attention for the amount of time a book required), but after I had run a successful lavender farm for five years, I realized that my story might resonate with readers.

What does your writing routine look like?
The best way to talk about my routine is to talk about how I write anything I'm working on--from short essays to this book. I always do 3 drafts. My first draft is just to get something on paper. I give myself permission to be stupid and write terrible cliched phrases and to commit all kinds of writing sins--anything is OK as long as I get something on paper. That way I have something work with and I can see if the story that is playing itself out in my mind actually holds together once it's on paper (or computer screen, nowadays). My second draft is about getting the structure right and filling in any gaps in my research or actually looking up the quote I had used in a certain place to get the exact wording. So the second draft is the nuts and bolts draft. It's where a lot of the heavy lifting is done, I think. My third draft is devoted exclusively to the language. This is where I focus on making the words sing, making sure no cliches have made it through the other two drafts, finding new ways to express and describe. It's terribly important for me to work in this way so that I can compartmentalize--work on only certain things with each draft--rather than trying to conquer the whole piece or chapter or book at once. That's too overwhelming, I believe.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.
I really admire writers who can be funny yet at the same time touch a deep emotional chord. I'm thinking of David Sedaris. Or someone who can report the hell out of a story and also be able to describe something so perfectly or with such a fresh eye that I stop and think, "God, how did she think of that?" I'm thinking of Alexandra Fuller in this case. I also have to admit that some of my favorite recent books were the Harry Potter series, which I read with my oldest son. I also adore anything by Jane Austen and could read her books over and over. And do.

What are you working on next?
Right now I'm writing articles for magazines again as I try to decide what type of book I'd like to do next. I'm not sure I want to do another memoir--at least not right now. It's hard to put yourself out there like that, exposing yourself and your emotions and your mistakes to the world. I'm also watching the publishing industry to see how it's going to shake out. I feel over the next year or so there are going to be enormous changes and I want to make sure that if I have an idea for a book that it has the best chance of being received well and selling well.

What made you decide to write this memoir?
I started working on this book in 2005, after what I suspected would be my last lavender season. It seemed to be an ideal time to reflect on the lavender business—how I got into it unexpectedly and how it had changed me and my world view. I could see a real arc to the story, and I thought that the ending was not what a lot of people would expect. Most people who pick up this book, I believe, will presume that it will end when I’m happily busy with my thriving lavender farm. But of course real life isn’t always like that. In the end, my husband pushed me once more—testing my resolve and our marriage again.
But probably the main reason I wrote this book is that whenever I told my story to the visitors at our lavender farm—which was very often—people seemed truly fascinated. Not only by the agricultural aspects but by the major life changes, struggles and compromises I made to get to a truly happy position in life. What I think people were responding to was the idea that you can’t plan for happiness. You can think you know what you need to be fulfilled, but when life takes you down a completely different track, even if you’re far from where you thought you’d be professionally or personally, you can still find contentment.

What challenges did you face with this book?
The main challenge I think was to write honestly but not hurt people who are part of the story. I'm mainly referring to my husband, who was the engine for a lot of the things that happened in the book. He's such a wonderful man, but he's restless and has an enormous number of ideas. Sometimes his ideas and his personality can be exhausting, but I wanted to make sure I conveyed all the wonderful aspects he has along with those qualities that are harder to swallow. Also, we are like any married couple. We've had our ups and downs and I wanted to make sure I was fair to him while describing the journey we made together. He's been a real trooper about all this scrutiny. Fortunately, he's thick-skinned. Sometimes he has asked me why I needed to include this or that, referring to moments that were not our best as a couple, and I've told him that I wanted the story to be real. I wanted people to be able to identify with the struggles we've had, because everyone has something they have to get through. How often do you really get a true portrait of someone's marriage? I knew that if the book was about how great our marriage and life were not only would it not be true, but it would have no tension, no real plot. Plus, it would be sickening. Who wants to read that?

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
At this point I would say blog. I did a weekly blog for a year before I wrote my book and I was surprised how much that improved my writing. To write regularly for an audience and get constant feedback regarding what was working and what wasn't, really prepared me for writing my book. Obviously, I had lots of training before that--writing for magazines. But the regular nature of writing about my life for my blog readers pushed me along that much more.

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Charles Barber, author of 'Comfortably Numb'

2009-03-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

Charles Barber is the author of COMFORTABLY NUMB: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation (Pantheon Books), which was released in 2008 to national media attention, including appearances on The Early Show and Fresh Air. Vintage Books published COMFORTABLY NUMB as a paperback in 2/2009. His work has appeared in the The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Nation and Scientific American Mind. He has taught nonfiction writing at Wesleyan University. He is currently a senior executive at The Connection, a social services agency, and a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. He lives in Connecticut with his family. Barber was educated at Harvard and Columbia and worked for ten years in New York City shelters for the homeless mentally ill. The title essay in his first book, SONGS FROM THE BLACK CHAIR (University of Nebraska Press), won a 2006 Pushcart Prize.

How did you get your start in writing? I wanted to be a writer from about the age of 14. Throughout my twenties and early thirties, I was always reading and writing, but I kept all my scribblings and musings on scruffy pieces of paper that I usually lost. I didn’t get serious about writing until my late thirties when I wrote a memoir, Songs from the Black Chair.

What does your writing routine look like?

I still work in psychiatry and mental health, and writing is not all that I do. So I write when I can – which is usually the evenings and when I’m stopped at a red light and whenever I have an hour or five minutes or three minutes. I’m surprisingly productive this way. Even if I have the whole day ahead of me, I can only write effectively for four hours a day. Writing is exceedingly hard work. That’s why a lot of people talk about doing it but few people really do.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.

John Cheever, Walker Percy, James Agee, Tom Wolfe, A.S. Byatt, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ignazio Silone, Flannery O’Connor, Truman Capote, Harper Lee, Dorothy Day, Andre Dubus, William Styron, V.S. Pritchett, William Trevor, Evelyn Waugh, Raymond Carver, William Finnegan, Graham Greene, George Orwell, PD James, Donna Tartt, TV writers like David Simon and David Chase, and on and on. A mixed bag, I know. I am drawn to: great stylists in the Anglo tradition, elegantly done books about social issues, Catholic writers, and highly literary mystery or crime writers.

What are you working on next?

A novel – a sort of mystery with a psychiatric theme.

What made you decide to write COMFORTABLY NUMB: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation?

I worked in psychiatry and mental health for many years and witnessed the psychiatric medication revolution during the 1990s. I thought there were extreme parts to the rapid acceptance of psychiatric meds in American society, and I wanted to say something about it.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?

- Don’t write on scruffy pieces of paper! If you want to get published, be disciplined, resourceful, and focused.

- Once you submit something, don’t think about it again until you hear back.

- The law of threes: always have something you’re working on, something that is soon-to-be published, and something that you’ve submitted and are waiting to hear back about. With three things going on at once, you don’t agonize as much about any one of them.

- Write what you know.

- Either say it well or say it originally. One or the other will do. Doing both is rare.

- Network. I always thought that writers were eccentric people who didn’t talk much to people. That may have been the case way back when, but to get things noticed these days you have to advocate for yourself and be social and hopefully be charming.

- Listen to rock’n’roll or classical music while writing. I do.

Where can we find your work?

Through my website, http://www.charlesbarberwriting.com/, or through the websites of Vintage Books, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Nancy Cohen, author of the Bad Hair Day mystery series

2009-03-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

Nancy J. Cohen is author of the popular Bad Hair Day mystery series featuring hairdresser Marla Shore who solves crimes with wit and style underthe sultry Florida sun. KILLER KNOTS and PERISH BY PEDICURE are the latest titles in this humorous series. Author of thirteen published novels plus a novella, Nancy has served as president of Florida Romance Writers, and as secretary for the Florida Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Several of her books have made the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Bestseller List.

How did you get your start in writing?
I’ve been writing ever since I can remember. Even in high school, I submitted my work which consisted of short stories and poetry. I began writing novels in 1975. I wrote three practice books before discovering Florida Romance Writers in 1988. Joining that organization and participating in a critique group improved my writing so that I obtained my first agent at FRW’s annual conference. Each year, I sent this agent a new book, all romantic suspense. None of those sold. Then a member of my critique group, Marilyn Campbell, inspired me to write a futuristic romance. Switching genres brought me success. CIRCLE OF LIGHT was my first book that sold and winner of the 1995 HOLT Medallion award. I went on to write a total of four futuristic romance novels underthe name Nancy Cane. At that point, my stories contained mysteries, so I decided to write a straight mystery novel. And that’s how my series was born.

What does your writing routine look like?
I wake up early, around six, drink coffee, read the newspaper, then take my poodle for a walk. By 8 a.m., I’m usually at the computer. I do my best writing in the morning and spend the afternoon on promotional activities.

Tell us whose work you admire and why.
Heather Graham, because she writes several books a year in different genres, has five children, and always looks gorgeous.

What are you working on next?
A new mystery series based in Winter Park, Florida.

What made you decide to write this novel?
My latest release is Killer Knots. This is the ninth title in my Bad Hair Day mystery series featuring hairstylist Marla Shore. The story takesplace on a cruise ship. Marla and her fiancé sail away on their first Caribbean cruise with a killer on board. Having been on over twenty cruises myself, I wanted to share the experience with readers.

What challenges did you face with this book?
I researched on board the Navigator of the Seas and the Norwegian Spirit, took copious notes in the ports, and visited all the places in mystory. I wanted the details to be as authentic as possible.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
Have faith in yourself, work at improving your craft, and believe inyour success. Follow the 3 P’s: Practice, Persistence, and Professionalism.

Website: http://nancyjcohen.com/

Blog: http://mysterygal.bravejournal.com/

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Carolyn Turgeon, author of "Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story"

2009-03-15T18:14:00.000-07:00

Carolyn Turgeon was born in Michigan and grew up in Illinois, Texas, Michigan and Pennsylvania. After graduating from Penn State, she earned a Master's in Comparative Literature from UCLA, and spent several years in New York working as a writer and editor. Her first novel, Rain Village, was published in 2006 by Unbridled Books (320pp). Her second, Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story, was published in March 2009 by Three Rivers/Crown in the US and Headline in the UK (288pp), and has been optioned for film by Random House Films/Focus Features. She's currently working on her third novel, a retelling of the the original little mermaid story.

Where is home for you?

I was living in New York City and working full-time at a non-profit until last spring, when I quit my job and began my career as a full-time gallivanting authoress. Now I go between State College, Pennsylvania, and New York City and Cornwall, New York, and I’m probably heading to Berlin this fall.

Where can we find your work?

You can buy my first novel, Rain Village, online at Barnes & Noble and Amazon and Powell’s, etc., and my second novel, Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story, which just came out two weeks ago, online and in almost any bookstore.

How did you get your start in writing?
I’ve been writing since I was a little kid. I was always a dreamy, bookish kid, and wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. I wrote my first book when I was 8, “Mystery at the Dallas Zoo,” about a group of kid sleuths searching for a stolen tapir.
As for how I got my start officially, I took writing workshops in college, I spent many years turning a story from one of them into my first novel, I started sending out query letters to agents and I also contacted my old writing professor Paul West, who passed me onto his agent Elaine Markson, who offered me representation, and then, eventually, I got a publisher. I didn’t publish short stories first the way a lot of writers do. Rain Village was my first fiction publication.

What does your writing routine look like?
I would like to have a more disciplined routine, but for the most part I’ve written in fits and starts and up against deadlines, even if they’re self-imposed. But lately I’ve been better about getting up early in the morning, heading to a coffee shop, and writing until lunchtime.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why.

I admire so, so many writers, but here are a few:

- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, because he’s the perfect storyteller and writes the most wonderful tales.

- Patricia Highsmith, because she’s clean and elegant and precise and there’s this perfect sense of creeping dread in everything she does.

- Daniel Woodrell and Francesca Lia Block, two totally different writers with insanely unique, wonderful voices.
- Michael Cunningham, because his sentences are so gorgeous, and there’s a weightiness and profundity to his descriptions of even the most mundane things.
- Mary Gaitskill, because of the way she deals with pain and sex and desire.
- Jennifer Belle, for the flat, dry humor that infuses everything she writes.
- Jeffrey Eugenides, for the crazy, jam-packed mastery of Middlesex and the hushed elegant weirdness of The Virgin Suicides.
- Alice Hoffman and Isabel Allende, for their lush prose, their magic realism, and their ability to be both hugely commercial and literary at the same time.

What are you working on next?

For my third novel, I’m working on a retelling of the original Hans Christian Andersen little mermaid story. I’m telling the story of the princess—the one the prince falls in love with and marries instead of the mermaid, and who only appears briefly in the original story—as well as the mermaid. It’s set in the middle ages and it’s all gloom and ice and castles and convents. Sort of The Other Boleyn Girl-ish, but glittery and sad and with mermaids. It’s called The Sea Queen.

What made you decide to write this novel?

I wanted to work with an established story, a gorgeous old fairytale, and play with it, I guess. Cinderella is about as lovely and well known a story as I can imagine, and I liked the idea of telling the fairy godmother’s story—the one whose task is to swoop in and get this sad, abused, orphaned girl ready for the grand ball. I mean, once you really look at what she had to do, it seems a pretty impossible task, doesn’t it?

What challenges did you face with this book?

I was living in New York and working full time when I wrote Godmother, and that is certainly a challenge—making the time for it, finding the discipline, saying no to friends and turning off Law and Order. Plus it took me a long time to really figure out what story I wanted to tell. I wrote at least 100 good pages that I ended up not using, maybe more.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?

Two of the most important things are this, I think: 1) Don’t be intimidated or overwhelmed by the idea of writing a novel, just break it down and tackle it bit by bit, scene by scene, page by page. And: 2) Have absolute confidence and faith in your vision and work. I have no idea how anyone could get through writing a whole novel without that. You have to have an unshakable belief that it will be worth it.

Favorite Links:
http://devotchka.net/
http://www.etsy.com/
http://crudethings.com/
http://www.andrewhamiltoncrawford.com/
http://www.parkeharrison.com/
http://www.josephcornellbox.com/
http://www.bindlestiff.org/
http://www.girdlebound.com/
http://kittywigs.com/
http://www.beautyandthebook.com/

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Elizabeth Baines, author of 'Balancing on the Edge of the World'

2009-03-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Baines is a writer of prose fiction and prize-winning plays for radio and stage. She has been a teacher and is also an occasional actor. Her collection of short stories, 'Balancing on the Edge of the World,' was nominated for the Frank O’Connor International Prize for the Short Story. She writes the critical-commentary blog Fictionbitch (http://fictionbitch.blogspot.com) and also has her own author blog (http://elizabethbaines.blogspot.com)
Her book, 'Balancing on the Edge of the World' (Salt Modern Fiction, 2007, 108 pages) includes stories about power and powerlessness, and those moments when the balance of power - between a violent father and his daughter, between a doctor and his smug patient, between an unsuspecting teenager and the dangerous world around him - can subtly or dramatically change forever...
Where do you call home? Manchester UK where I live, South Wales where I was born, and my old writing desk in the attic where I work. (Also Ireland, where my dad came from and where, whenever you go there, everyone keeps saying you’ve ‘come home’.)
Where can we find your work? It can be ordered from bookshops (Salt have UK, US, Australian and NZ distributors) and it’s available online from Amazon or The Book Depository, or direct from my publisher http://www.saltpublishing.com/books/smf/9781844713943.htm .
How did you get your start in writing? I began writing short stories and was published in literary magazines: I simply wrote one and sent it off and it was accepted. I had lots of stories published in magazines but getting a collection published was much harder. I went on an Arvon course here in the UK at Lumb Bank, Ted Hughes’s Yorkshire home, and my tutor the (now sadly deceased) novelist Martin Booth sent some of my stories off to his own agent, who immediately took me on. However, the agent said short story collections were impossible to sell, and he asked me to write a novel, which I did. I’d published two novels and had broadcast many radio plays before the market for stories opened up with the advent of independent publishers like Salt, and I felt it was worth trying for a collection again.
What does your writing routine look like? Boring from the outside, I guess! If I’m at home all day I just go up there to the attic at nine in the morning and work until about 1.30. I write by hand and if I’m on a deadline, or eager to finish something, or if I’m writing a novel, I’ll go back up after lunch and do some typing up.
Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why. WG Sebald for his unusual take on the world, and his air of getting right to the truth of things. Will Self for his verbal fizz and brilliant ideas. Margaret Atwood for her ironic yet lyrical sensibility and her wonderful vivid prose.
What are you working on next? I have a novel, 'Too Many Magpies,' coming from Salt in October, and I’m working on a new collection of short stories which they will publish next year.
What made you decide to write this book of short stories?
Like most of my writing, the stories in this book are fired by my sense of the need to air those experiences and viewpoints which aren’t always acknowledged – the flip side of things. There’s the homeless man, the Other Woman, the auxiliary nurse who knows what the Professor of Medicine doesn’t, the unheard children and children being made to suffer by adults.
What challenges did you face with this book?
I think there’s always a challenge in putting a collection of stories together – deciding which ones to include, which order to put them in, especially which ones to begin and end with, as I think these are the stories people tend to read when they browse. I chose a comic one for the start about a bunch of drunken pizza-parlour ‘philosophers’, and I hope I got it right…
What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
Be prepared for failure, but don’t accept failure. Keep at it. If your work is rejected, take a good look and if you think it needs it, work on it again. If you honestly think it doesn’t, bang it off again, and quick!

Author Q&A with David Hewson, author of 'Dante's Numbers' and 'Semana Santa'

2009-03-14T12:12:00.001-07:00

David Hewson is published by Bantam Dell in the US and Pan Macmillan in the UK, as well as a wide variety of publishers around the world in translation. His current paperback, 'The Garden of Evil,' was voted best mystery of 2008 by the American Library Association. A former journalist with the London Times and Sunday Times he lives near Canterbury in the UK. His current hardback release (out March 24) is 'Dante's Numbers.' His first book, 'Semana Santa,' was made into a movie with Mira Sorvino. 'Dante's Numbers' is his thirteenth published novel.
Where can we find your work? In book stores generally around the world - I was in twenty different languages last time I counted (you stop after a while).
How did you get your start in writing? In a way I’ve always been a writer since I left school at seventeen and became a journalist. I saw writing as the only possible career given that I’m allergic to manual labour.
What does your writing routine look like? Like a job, which it is. I spend three months on the road for promotion, a month or two in Italy for research, and the rest of the time at home writing, planning and editing. I generally work a five day week, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, except when I’m on the road when it becomes more flexible.
Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why. Robert Graves' I Claudius and Claudius the God were two wonderful books that turned me on to Rome and history. I’m also a big admirer of Somerset Maugham, MR James and Arthur Machen. Over the years I’ve grown to love Ed McBain for his use of an ensemble cast among other things. I like writers who don’t fit easily into categories or attract labels. The whole genre thing is a turnoff for me frankly.

What are you working on next? I’m currently working on the ninth Nic Costa novel. After that I intend to finish a short story collection set in Venice which I’ve been slowly working up for some time, and there are a couple of scriptwriting projects that may or may not come to fruition. But Nic Costa is a regular in my diary - one book a year, the way a series should be.
What made you decide to write this novel? Dante’s Numbers is the seventh Nic Costa book, and a bit of a departure in that my cast get on a plane for the first time. The story starts in Rome then shifts to San Francisco where the opening theme, about a movie set around Dante’s Inferno, becomes muddied with Hitchcock’s Vertigo. It’s important for series authors to stay fresh and one way I do this is by trying to write an entirely different kind of book each time. Each one has to be completely separate from the previous, though to continue the underlying story of the relationships between my varying characters. Taking them out of their home environment, Rome, from time to time allows me to see them in a different light.
What challenges did you face with this book? Making sure that it was America seen through the eyes of foreigners, not an American novel. Also trying to introduce some subtle thematic links between Dante’s Divine Comedy and Hitchcock’s Vertigo, which aren’t obvious but are there waiting to be brought to the light.
What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers? Read lots of books, work hard, be patient and always attempt to be original. Me-too books never work in the long run. And don't do this because you want to become some filthy rich celebrity. Herman Melville couldn't make a living out of writing - he spent the last couple of decades of his life working as a civil servant to make ends meet. Success in writing isn't measured in dollars, but in what you write.

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Joe Nick Patoski, author of "Willie Nelson: An Epic Life"

2009-03-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

Joe Nick Patoski is the author of "Willie Nelson: An Epic Life," Little Brown (497 pages) published April 2008, trade paperback out this April. Joe Nick Patoski has authored and co-authored biographies on Selena and Stevie Ray Vaughan and the coffeetable books Texas Mountains, Texas Coast, and Big Bend National Park, all published by the University of Texas Press. A former staff writer for Texas Monthly, he has written for the National Geographic, People magazine, Field & Stream, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and others. In 2003-4, he recorded the oral histories of B.B. King, Clarence Fountain of the Blind Boys of Alabama, Memphis musician and producer Jim Dickinson, Tejano superstar Little Joe Hernandez, and 15 other subjects for the Voice of Civil Rights oral history project, some of which appeared in the book My Soul Looks Back in Wonder by Juan Williams, published by Sterling, and rode on the The Voices of Civil Rights bus tour, a 70 day journey across the nation where personal oral histories on civil rights were collected for the Library of Congress.
How did you get your start in writing? Getting good grades in junior high English composition inspired me.
What does your writing routine look like? Ugly. My desk and office are perpetual messes. I try to write in the morning, but my main inspiration is the deadline.
Tell us some writers whose work you admire and why. Nick Tosches, Lester Bangs, Paul Theroux, mainly because they think outside the box and are interesting to read regardless of whether or not I care about the subjects they write about.
What are you working on next?A history of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, which is my museum, having attended pre school classes there as a four year old.
Why do you like writing non-fiction? Why mess with fiction when real life is this bizarre?
What challenges did you face with this book? With the Willie book, the main challenge was figuring out the story because Willie moved around a lot, and separating fact from fiction, since so much of his story is steeped in legend.
What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers? Write. The best way to figure out how to do it is to keep doing it. I also keep close the advice my editor at Texas Monthly, Greg Curtis, used to impart: Write it like you talk it.
Related links: http://www.joenickp.com/
EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Kane X. Faucher, "Tales Pinned on a Complete Ass: Journey to Romania"

2009-03-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

Kane X. Faucher is author of the humorous book, "Tales Pinned on a Complete Ass: Journey to Romania."
What's your book about?
The book is a humorous semi-autobiographical account of my brief travels through Romania. I suppose the style adopts the perspective of Hunter Thompson mixed with P.J. O'Rourke. The somewhat satirical poke at ethnographic and travel writing does belie my actual admiration and respect for Romanian culture, and as well marks a significant departure from my previous books which are mostly bleak, dystopic, impenetrable experiments for a very niche literary audience that can actually sit through the entirety of Joyce's Ulysses and "get it". Instead, I decided to push into print that other mode or register of my writing practice that seems to have garnered a great deal of mirthful attention; namely, my absurdist streak where I go about talking about connecting myself to electric jellyfish or dispersing crowds with air horns - that sort of thing.
Why do you call it "semi-autobiographical"?
Fictionalizing oneself, even under the most seemingly objective reportage, is an inevitability. How we represent ourselves is always incomplete - a vignette of projected ego. In the case of this work, the events did not always happen as I report them, but are rather embellished or nuanced for narrative humor effect. The trick of satire is to employ the occasional hyperbole or absurdist chain of narrative sequence.
Where can we find your work?
My publisher gave me dim indications about placing them in various stores around the Pennsylvania area, but mostly the storefront is a virtual one: Amazon.com., the great churning mill where lazy marketers shill to lazy buyers.
How did you get your start in writing?
I began, like so many, writing bad high school poetry, moving on to fiction, and developed a conceptually top-heavy practice that involved a critical engagement with polemic narrative, themes borrowed from poststructuralism, as well as an incorporated development of authors I have always held dear such as Jorge Luis Borges, Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Samuel Beckett, William H. Gass et al.
What does your writing routine look like?
That has changed drastically over the years. A decade ago, I was a night owl and would haunt the pubs and bars, writing feverishly in notebooks and packing away jug after jug of beer. At times, I'd work through to the early morning, keeping myself on my sharp pins with the aid of copious amounts of coffee, good vodka, and endless cigarettes. Cliche? Perhaps. I hardly stick around long enough to worry about such things. Nowadays, I'm up near dawn, suffusing myself with coffee, cigarettes, and eventually (once the midday line is breached) beer. I used to do all my work in pubs, cafes, and bars since I needed the white noise and the intervention upon the senses of those random snatches of conversation that briefly arrest one's attention and diverts the flow of written discourse. These days, I work primarily at home, on my MacBook, surrounded by my security blanket: a wall of books, piles of paper, thousands of pages of scribbled notes, an overflowing ashtray, dirty coffee mugs, empty beer bottles, and my feverish tapping punctuating the rhythm of the music I have on - which is generally ambient experimental stuff like Zoviet France or Boards of Canada. As pedestrian as it might sound, I think marriage has made me a better writer in many ways. Gone may be the days of wild and surreal nights of bizarro adventurism and uncanny encounters, but my focus and production seems to excel in times of stability and love. I no longer worry about next month's rent, for example, and so I am free to indulge my writing passion. More importantly, my wife keeps me honest, and I respect her opinion above anyone else's when it comes to what I write.
What are you working on next?
That's a rather large question since I split my time between academic and literary matters, sometimes blurring the line between the two. I have several modes of writing making my practice somewhat versatile and eclectic: I can move from Gonzo humour to literary fiction to journalistic copy to aesthetic reportage to poetry to satire to jargon-laden academic articles in a matter of seconds. I completed my Jonkil Calembour dystopic cycle with the release of Jonkil Dies by BlazeVOX last September, but I am working on a novel that resurrects his image in a plot that involves the corporatization of the modern university and the devastation of the humanities. I am also working on another book entitled Crackle which would be akin to a Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels narrative concerning, of all things, that neglected medium known as radio. There is also a few Nietzchean-style aphorism books, a few poetry volumes, an experimental post-code poetry collaborative project with Matina Stamatakis and John Moore Williams, and another few humour books. At the moment, I am in process with a book-mystery manuscript involving an infinite library with lots of medieval ciphering, as well as a book of Borgesian-style short stories. I hope to use the book-mystery book as the launching text for its sequel that I have been tooling with for over twelve years concerning a fiendish doctor who uses art to excite a mass unconscious desire for atrocity. Academically, I hope to rewrite my metaphysical book on metastasis, as well as a collaborative reappraisal of Louis-Ferdinand Celine's use of narrative.
What made you decide to write this novel?
Overwhelming egotism. Actually, I merely wanted to give voice to that absurd streak within me while at the same time poking fun at ethnography. It was a good way of justifying my rather random decision to go to Romania.
What challenges did you face with this book?
Publishing delays, mostly. Putting the book together from a series of scribbled notes was rather easy.
What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
Don't bother with pricey workshops, seminars, or "how to get published" books. Stop worrying about how others dictate things like craft and form. Find your voice or multiple voices, and start projecting. Of course, publish often and keep actively and currently engaged in what has happened and what is happening in writing. Experiment freely in writing without sabotaging yourself with premature thoughts on its publishable merit. Not all experiments succeed, and not everything you churn out has to be stellar. Learn to embrace those ebbs and flows of creativity, for it is the natural process of development.
Favorite Links:
Tales Pinned on a Complete Ass: Journey to Romania, and other books by Kane X. Faucher:
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=Kane%20X.%20Faucher&search-type=ss&index=books&page=1
Kane X. Faucher's webpage:
http://www.geocities.com/codex1977/
Past interview of the author:
http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2005winter/faucher.shtml

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

Author Q&A with Martin Avery, author of The Devils Wear Bauer (Not Prada)

2009-03-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

Martin Avery is the author of two new books out about the #1 bad boy of the NHL, the hockey player they call the Superpest and the King of the Agitators. And the guy in the Gap ad that People magazine said is one of the sexiest men alive.

The Devils Wear Bauer (Not Prada) is the unauthorized biography, describing where he came from and how he got kicked out of the NHL. Sean Avery: Hope And Change: The Comeback of the Rocky of Hockey is about his return to the NHL.

Where can we find your work? You can find it at Lulu.com: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3176762

How did you get your start in writing? I started out in the little literary magazines and later went to Vermont College for an MFA in Writing.

What does your writing routine look like? I write fast and I write a lot. I listen to what I've written on my computer. I love novel marathons like NaNoWriMo and the Muskoka Novel Marathon.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire. Wally Lamb was at grad school with me in Vermont. His first novel was great. I'm reading his latest right now.

What are you working on next? Book three in the Sean Avery trilogy is about the New York Rangers "Cinderella" season. After Avery's return, they turned around, got out of a bad slump, and sprinted for the play-offs.

What made you decide to write this novel? I've been following this hockey player's career since they played Junior A and this year he turned into the best story in the NHL so I felt I had to get out a book or two.

What challenges did you face with this book? Dealing with publishers is the biggest challenge.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers? Do it!

Favorite Links: The Bleacher Report http://bleacherreport.com/articles/117764-the-devils-wear-bauer-not-prada-the-sean-avery-movie

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'
---

Author Q&A: Tom Cain on 'No Survivors'

2009-03-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light, and she has received the top award for series writing in Texas, the Texas APME, as well as a silver from the Parenting Publications of America. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and is seeking representation for her new novel, 'At High Tide.'

What's your book about? 'No Survivors' is about Samuel Carver, the protagonist, who is a hired assassin, paid to remove dangerous individuals who are beyond the reach of the law.

As it says in my first book about him, 'The Accident Man,' he does very bad things to even worse people. Specifically he creates accidents that make their deaths deniable. His victims have it coming – with one very significant exception that provides the story of 'The Accident Man' - but even so, Carver is profoundly conflicted about his work, morally and psychologically scarred by the corrosive effect of violence and death. His greatest hope of redemption lies in the love he has for his Russian lover Alexandra ‘Alix’ Petrova, but both their circumstances and their characters complicate matters, to put it mildly.

Plot-wise the story of 'No Survivors,' which is set in 1998, involves missing Soviet nukes, a Texan billionaire with a longing for The Rapture, the rise of al-Qaeda and the conflict in the former Yugoslavian province of Kosovo. Fundamentally, though, it’s about Carver, Alix and the twists and turns in their relationship. Even in a thriller, all the action, excitement and tension in the world mean nothing if you don’t care about the man and the woman at the heart of it all.

Where can we find your work? I sincerely hope you can find it in your local bookstore! And if not, you can certainly find it on Amazon.

How did you get your start in writing? I’ve been a professional writer since I was 19 – which was a LONG time ago! – and have done most of my work as a magazine editor and newspaper journalist in London.

What does your writing routine look like? Day-by-day I start work at 10.00am, but tend to do my best writing between about 4.00-8.00pm. In terms of the Carver books, I start thinking of them in the early months of the year … gradually accumulate research and ideas through the spring and early summer (all the while working on other assignments and projects) … start writing in about August … begin to panic in October because I don’t have anything I like … knuckle down again … gradually pick up speed and deliver in mid-January.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire. Among thriller, crime and adventure-writers … Ian Fleming, Raymond Chandler, Alistair MacLean, Wilbur Smith, Mario Puzo, Dennis Lehane, Michael Crichton, Dick Francis, Lee Child, James Lee Burke, Stieg Larsson, David Chase (creator of the Sopranos), Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow (the creators of 24) … all those classic British murder queens: Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, PD James, etc … and in other genres I’ll throw in Tolstoy, Jane Austen and Anthony Powell. Shakespeare had a pretty dab hand with plot and dialogue, too, come to that!

What are you working on next? I’ve just handed in the third Carver novel, Assassin, to my publishers and am starting on No.4 soon. What made you decide to write this novel? Contractual obligation!

What challenges did you face with this book? Well, there was the general second-novel challenge, which is that you fill your first story with a lifetime’s worth of good ideas, and then you’ve suddenly got to do it all over again, and almost certainly much more quickly. Specifically, I had the problem that 'No Survivors' follows on directly from 'The Accident Man,' which ends with Carver in a pretty bad way (I won’t say more for fear of spoiling it!), with the result that he’s incapable of action in the early stages of 'No Survivors.' Having a semi-vegetative protagonist, it transpired, was a very, very tricky proposition when writing an action-thriller. But I hope I overcame that difficulty!

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers? Keep going. Don’t let rejection and failure get you down. Learn to sort the useful element in any criticism from the nonsense that surrounds it. Obsess about the structure of your books: getting that right is far more important than worrying about fancy prose. Create believable, interesting, multi-faceted characters. And never forget that you write at the service of the reader. Yes, you should express yourself. Yes, you must follow your own passions and instincts. But writing means nothing if it does not communicate.

Favorite Links: http://authorsplace.co.uk/tom-cain/ (This is a British site, but it’s the best place to find out about me). http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=654275624 (I’m always interested in making new Facebook friends) http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Tom+cain&x=0&y=0 (Because you’ll want to be buying the books, right?)

Author Q&A: Jill Williamson

2009-03-09T15:30:00.001-07:00

EDITOR'S NOTE: J. Louise Larson, blogmistress for The Writing Porch, interviews published authors. To be considered, email her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. Larson's work has been published in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Dallas Morning News and Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the managing editor of the Ennis Journal and a contributor at the Waxahachie Daily Light. She co-authored a nonfiction career guide for FabJob Publishing in 2006, and has just finished a novel, At High Tide.

Jill Williamson is the author of Darkness Hid: The Blood of Kings, Book One (April 1, 2009 from Marcher Lord Press)

A freelance editor, the Eastern Oregon resident loves to read and started Novel Teen Book Reviews (http://www.novelteen.com/) to help teens find great books to read.

"We review books for ages 8-12, 12-16, and 16 and up. Our site has a search box that helps readers find books by age, genre, or gender. I also run http://www.teenageauthor.com/, a website devoted to encouraging young writers," Williamson said.

Teenage Authors has a yahoo critique group where teens can post their work for review. Williamson's husband has worked as a youth pastor for eleven years, so the John Day, Oregon native has had lots of experience working with teens.

What's your book about?

By Darkness Hid is a medieval fantasy novel about a "stray" named Achan. "Strays" are property ranked lower than slaves. Sometimes Achan has feelings about things before they happen. Sometimes he senses when someone intends to abuse him.

One day Sir Gavin, famed hero of the Old Kingsguard, offers to secretly train Achan in the ways of knighthood. Since Achan senses kindness from the Sir Gavin, he accepts his offer, eager to make a new life for himself. Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent, Vrell’s mother is under pressure to marry her off to an evil lord. Vrell dons men’s clothing to conceal her identity and uses her mental communication ability to vanish into the world of men. Forces of darkness have become aware of Vrell and Achan’s gifts and seek to seize their powers. While Vrell knows how to use her gift, Achan’s gift is unstable and could be used to overthrow the world.

Where can we find your work?

You can read a sample chapter and endorsements on my website. My articles have appeared in Brio, Brio & Beyond, Devo’Zine, and Shine Brightly. I also have a children’s missionary book that will release from Beacon Hill Press in 2010.

When did you get your start in writing?

At first I wanted to be a speaker. I discovered that sometimes, people will hire a speaker based on articles in a magazine, so I looked into writing articles. Somewhere in there I started a teen fiction novel. It was so fun that I lost interest in speaking and writing articles. When a writer’s conference came to town, I signed up right away. I couldn’t believe how much I had to learn. When I got home, I did everything that the conference speakers had recommended.

What does your writing routine look like?

When I’m brainstorming something new, I tend to carry a notebook around with me everywhere. I just think and think and jot down ideas. Eventually I flesh that into a rough outline, then sit down and try to write the whole book as fast as I can. It usually takes me about a month. The first version is always a bit of a mess, but rewriting is my favorite part. Once I’ve written that first draft, I know my characters much better. Sometimes I need to sit down and brainstorm some more to fix plot holes or work on characters who weren’t quite developed enough. So I’ll carry my notebook around some more until I’m ready to fix those things. Once I’m fairly happy with my rewrite, I start feeding chapters to my awesome critique group. Once the whole book has been read by them, I do another rewrite and it’s pretty much done. Sometimes it helps to set it aside and work on another book. Then I come back to it later and read it. This way I can catch things I might not have seen before.

Tell us some writers whose work you admire.

Ted Dekker, Eric Wilson, Frank Peretti, John Olson, Bill Myer, and Anthony Horowitz for the genres I like to write. Jane Austen, Jenny B. Jones, Lisa Samson, Francine Rivers, Melody Carlson, Megan Whalen Turner, and Cathy Gohlke for other genres that I enjoy reading.

What are you working on next?

I am working on the second book in the Blood of Kings series. I also have a Christian spy kids series and a mad scientist series that I’m working on sequels to.

What made you decide to write a fantasy novel?

I just really like them. The more I started brainstorming, the more excited I was to begin. Plus, I felt that there was a short supply of edgy Christian fiction for older boys to enjoy.

What challenges did you face with this book?

Researching medieval medicine/healing was the hardest. When I really started looking, though, it was fascinating. I know my scenes are much better because of all the research I did. The sword fighting in my book also improved greatly as a result of my research.

What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?

Just write that book. Make yourself do it until you finish the whole thing. Then write another one. The more you write, the more you learn. Then you can go back and see what needs rewriting. Read a writing craft book every so often and read other fiction novels in the genre you like to write. I have a list of writing books on the “For Writers” page of my website.

Favorite Links:

Author site: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/

Book review site: http://www.novelteen.com/

Teen Writers site: http://www.teenageauthor.com/

Blog for teen writers: http://www.thepurplepen.wordpress.com/

Jill Williamson http://www.jillmwilliamson.com/http://www.novelteen.wordpress.com/

Website: http://www.jillmwilliamson.com/

My new novel, 'At High Tide' is done. Seeking one great agent ...

2009-03-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

Open letter to an agent:

'At High Tide' is a novel about a woman whose family's plate tectonics are shifting rapidly with a patriarch's descent into dementia. Texas transplant and newspaperwoman Keely Haydn Hunter returns to her iconic family home, High Tide, to help her family cope with grief and loss and change. However, as the tide goes out on Vancouver Island, it leaves behind all kinds of unexpected things – and it takes away other things that permanently disappear, hidden in the ocean depths. When Hunter comes back to the beach town of Haven Bay, she expects to encounter a certain amount of family baggage. What she doesn't expect is that a chilling family secret from her childhood will threaten life as her already fractured family knows it.

Terse, descriptive, poignantly funny – I believe this book will appeal to readers who have appreciated the work of writers like Karen Joy Fowler (The Jane Austen Book Club, Wit's End) and character-driven literary fiction in general. Additionally, I think the theme of dealing with dementia is something more and more readers can identify with as we live longer and become more fragile. I really like the characters in this book, and I believe readers will love them, hate them, and want to read more about them.

AUTHOR BIO – J. LOUISE LARSON

J. Louise Larson is a Texas-based writer and the editor of a weekly newspaper in Texas. Her first nonfiction book, The FabJob Guide to Become a Party Planner (co-authored with Jenn James and Craig Coolihan) was published in 2006 by FabJob Publishing. She has contributed to magazines and newspapers, including The Dallas Morning News, Entrepreneur Magazine, AirTran's Go Magazine, Smart Business Magazine, Midwest Airlines' MyMidwest Magazine, DS News, Pasadena Magazine, and others. She has successfully started a small magazine group and a weekly newspaper. She is a member of The Author's Guild and the Writers League of Texas.

In 2000, she was awarded the highest journalism award in the state of Texas for feature series writing, the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors award, first place. In 2002, she won a silver award from the Parenting Publications of America. 'At High Tide' is her first novel. It incorporate the two very different places she has spent the majority of her life: Vancouver Island, British Columbia and Texas.

She can be reached at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com.

Author Q&A: Liz Funk, 20, speaks out on "Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls"

2009-03-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

Liz Funk is the 20-year-old author of “Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls,” a new non-fiction book about the pressure on young women to be perfect and please everyone, being published by Simon and Schuster on March 3rd. She is a journalist who writes about Generation Y (particularly gender, social class, and education) and has been published in USA Today, Newsday, the Christian Science Monitor, CosmoGIRL!, New York magazine, the Nation, the New Jersey Record, the Baltimore Sun, the Huffington Post, Tango, and Girls' Life. She writes regularly for Ypulse.com, where serves on the youth advisory board. Her web-site is lizfunk.com, where she also writes a blog on Generation Y and whatever else crosses her caffeine-addled mind.
Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls Touchstone/Fireside, March 3, 2009. 256 pages.
http://www.amazon.com/Supergirls-Speak-Out-Inside-Overachieving/dp/141656263X
In the tradition of bestsellers, such as Ophelia Speaks and Quarterlife Crisis, Liz Funk’s Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls sheds a disturbingly bright light on a condition that is spreading quickly from Generation X to Y—and even to little girls. Funk calls this being a “Supergirl,” i.e., a girl who believes that in order to be happy, she must excel at her job or career, have the best grades, wear the coolest clothes, date the best-looking boy, and have the perfect body size.
Drawing from investigative research, candid interviews, personal anecdotes, and medical evidence, Funk discusses the dangerous effects of the phenomenon. Her book reveals ambitious, stressed-out women whose drive overwhelms every aspect of their lives: their body image, diet, exercise, school schedule, career choices, romantic relationships, and interactions with family and friends. By closely following five girls and interviewing almost a hundred more, Funk explains the root causes of the phenomenon, illustrates how it is affecting society at large, and shows other Supergirls how they can recover from their overzealous tendencies and habits.

Where did you get the idea for this book?
I’ve been thinking about the pressure on girls to be perfect my whole life. In high school, I observed that the girls who got the most attention and the most positive reinforcement were well-dressed, pretty, skinny, self-effacing, mild-mannered girls who got great grades, but made it all look easy. Obviously, this is a terribly high bar to set for all the other girls in school, and I wanted to see if this was the norm everywhere and what it was doing to girls. It was so eye-opening and interesting to talk to girls from around the country and hear about the pressures that they faced and the consequences of their frightening drive to overachieve. And because this book is partly investigative journalism, I had a blast traveling and intimately observing 5 young women’s daily lives, as well; these five girls are a central focus of the book.

What do you love about this book?
Although I know that I’m going to take some heat for it, this book has a very youthful, rather informal tone. I wrote the bulk of this book when I was 18, and I think that a teenager’s narrative voice really comes through in the writing; I was also really careful not to censor my teenaged and twentysomething sources and to convey their slang and jargon and occasionally sexually explicit ideas on growing up girl in Generation Y.

What is one of the nicest things someone has said about this book/your writing?
Getting the blurbs for this book was honestly one of the most flattering and exhilating experiences of my life. Some of my favorite authors—Leslie Bennetts, Laura Sessions Stepp, Jance Erlbaum, Abby Ellin, Leora Tanenbaum, Gloria Feldt, and E. Jean Carroll—gave me some really wonderful advance praise.

What writers do you like and why?
I really like Jonathan Franzen; he writes the most spectacular novels of social criticism. His book Strong Motion is my favorite book. I also really like Alexandra Robbins (who wrote Quarterlife Crisis and the Overachievers); she’s someone whose career I’ve tried to model mine after. I’m a big fan of Maureen Dowd, the New York Times’columnist and author of Are Men Necessary? I think she strikes the perfect balance between being feminine and stylish, and also being a serious political journalist. She’s so cool! Also, I really admire Dan Brown; the amount of research that he clearly put into the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons is positively staggering. Actually, “Angels and Demons” made me think very deeply about religion and my life, and I really applaud Dan Brown for bringing such deep books to the mainstream.

What is some of the best writing advice you have received?
In terms of writing fiction (which is the next project I’m working on—a novel), one of my college professors encouraged me to take the scenes that I was struggling with illustrating and write them as scenes from a screenplay. I’ve found that to be endlessly helpful. In terms of writing non-fiction, I can’t think of any advice that I’ve received from someone specific that was particularly prophetic, but what I can recommend is buying the book “Getting Your Book Published for Dummies.” It’s the best $15 I’ve ever spent in my life! It’s how I initially learned the ins-and-outs of this industry.

What advice would you give to writers hoping for success?
It sounds cliché, but really, if you want to be a published writer, don’t give up! There were three specific instances that I can think of where I was like, “Forget this. Writing full-time is so hard, I’m just going to be a French professor/ bed and breakfast owner/ tanning salon owner and read for fun and write for fun on the side.” Obviously, I’m so glad now that I stuck with writing. So my advice to writers would be to find your niche, build your brand, and stick with it.
http://www.lizfunk.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Supergirls-Speak-Out-Inside-Overachieving/dp/141656263X
http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Liz-Funk

J. Louise Larson is the author of The FabJob Guide To Become a Party Planner (FabJob Publishing, 2006). She is seeking representation for her novel, High Tide. She is the managing editor of a weekly newspaper in Texas, and has contributed to major magazines and newspapers.

Larson features Q&As with authors on her blog, The Writing Porch. To inquire, contact her at jackielarsonwrites at gmail dot com.

YA author Rhonda L. Davis helps young readers manage dark topics

2009-01-05T21:20:00.000-08:00

This article originally appeared in the Jan. 1, 2009 edition of the Ennis Journal and the Jan. 4, 2009 edition of the Waxahachie Daily Light.

With the success of supernatural teen and young adult series like the Twilight and Harry Potter series, American authors are discovering a new niche.

The author of four books and an audiobook, Ennis High School teacher Rhonda L. Davis is finding a place for her own work within that niche.

Stepping into the realm of fantasy provides a chance for young readers to safely manage dark topics, she said.
“They’re very intense – they deal with issues people deal with in a world that’s not as confrontational,” she said.

“These are dark things children have to deal with. This is a way they can fit in and change the course of humanity.”

Davis’ books are family-friendly, she said. She has been careful to leave out cuss words and other material that might be objectionable.

She comes by her talent honestly. Her mother was an editor at the Stephenville Tribune, and her uncle an editor-in-chief. And her late father was a storyteller who wrote novels and poems who encouraged her budding creativity, she said.
“He worked on me – he thought he could make a writer out of me, with painting and poems. He had these characters he would talk about – the Daredevil Girls from Bunker Hill. He was always trying to get me to tell the Daredevil Girls stories in book form,” she recalled.
After he died, she found a letter from her father, asking her to write a book.
“He gave me the beginning of it – it started out with a teacher with red hair,” she said.

She was also inspired by a game she learned in childhood called the Courage Game – you take a colored stone you’ve chosen that represents yourself, and you carry it into dark, scary woods, walking until you’re too scared to continue, and that’s where you drop the stone.
Playing the Courage Game with modern teens, she has noticed a generational change, Davis said. “I’ve found today’s children are very desensitized to fear,” she said.

Following the path her father started her down, Davis penned “The Daredevil Girls from Bunker Hill,” which follows the story of Nancy Jordan, a teacher at a small town middle school in Texas who lives a safe, uncomplicated adult life until her youthful past comes back to haunt her.
When her students find out she was once a member of the famous Daredevil Girls from Bunker Hill, a group of young people who fought evil supernatural beings in the 1980s, she is asked by the principal to share stories at an assembly – and things escalate from there.
In a sequel, “Faces of Darkness: The Daredevil Friends,” Jordan is the new principal at her school. She teams up with the Daredevil Friends, a new generation of supernatural crime fighters, to take on some of the “faces of darkness.”
In Body of a Horse, Heart of a Man and its sequel, Return to Concorde Valley, modern and ancient times collide and modern young mortals gets caught up in the lives of Greek gods.
“I’m afraid I have the ancient Greeks rolling over in their graves, but that’s how it goes,” Davis said with a chuckle at a recent book talk/book signing event.

Rhonda L. Davis has some advice for up-and-coming writers:

Have a support group. Her audio book was done with the help of her husband, composer and musician Stephen O. Davis, and Ennis High School teacher Barbara Webb.

Delegate what you can.

Don’t be afraid to self-publish. “When somebody owns your book, they own it. I’m first of all a teacher. If the big guys get me, they own my life.” To that end, she has formed her own small publishing company called Splendor Books.

Be prepared to do your own footwork. Davis was startled to learn she had to write her own author’s bio, and her own summary, for example.
“He said he lies for a living – you make the facts up as you go along,” she said.

Take advantage of what you know. “I know something about physics – why not mess with it?” said Davis, who teaches physics.

You’ll need to make the time to write. “Mostly it’s found by not watching TV,” Davis said.

Be prepared to revise, revise, revise. Davis says she’s not a writer – she’s a rewriter. A book that takes her a month to write takes two months to rewrite.

And, perhaps most importantly, take courage. “I was scared the first time I got published. If I could have dropped that stone long ago, I would have,” she said with a smile.

Gridiron Red Carpet: NFL world to become a reality for Graham Harrell

2008-10-30T19:48:00.000-07:00

http://waxahachiedailylight.com/articles/2008/10/30/sports/doc4908a6735e891271565934.txt Graham This Harrell article from the Ennis Journal also appeared on the front page of the Waxahachie Daily Light

ENNIS — Who knew?
When Sam and Kathy Harrell recently moved into a new home in Ennis' Oak Creek subdivision, Kathy ran across her son Graham's favorite poster from his childhood days.
It was the shape of things to come.
At the bottom of the huge picture of Joe Montana, the fourth-grader and future Texas Tech record-setting quarterback had stuck a home-made label that read: "Graham Harrell – the next Joe Montana."
"I remember thinking, 'Bless his heart, he thinks he can play in the NFL!' I didn't want to burst his bubble, but I kind of felt a little hurt for him," Kathy Harrell said, unconsciously putting her hand up to her heart.
That was a dozen years ago.
Little Graham Harrell is all grown up, standing within reach of that boyhood goal.
He's the nation's leading passer with 393.4 yards per game, moving into fourth place on the NCAA career passing yardage list with 13,829 yards. He has set school career marks in touchdown passes (117) and career touchdowns responsible for (129) and is the nation's active leader in both categories.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation's National Offensive Player of the Week, Graham Harrell accounted for six touchdowns in Saturday's win in Kansas, leading the Red Raiders to a 63-21 win.
Long-time family friend Bud White of Ennis has watched his adopted grandson's football career with pride.
"He's so underrated, it just makes me furious," White said with a chuckle that belied the intensity of his words. "Of course, I'm biased. … He's my Grahamster."
White was in College Station three weeks ago when Graham Harrell scored to win the day with 59 seconds to go.
He cites Graham's modest demeanor as one of his best assets, right up there with the eye and the arm of what could be one of college football's best products ever to go into the draft.
When a trash-talking Aggie fan sore about the loss bitterly started in on Harrell, Bud White got his attention.
"I looked him in the eye and said, 'You're talking about my grandson,' " he recalled, remembering with a grin the Aggie's flustered and apologetic admission that Harrell was the best college ball player he'd ever seen.
Not that any of the Harrells are slouches. Winning at football's a celebrated and hard-earned blessing – but a familiar one – in the Harrell household.
Dad Sam coaches the Ennis High School Lions, where each of his three boys cut their teeth on the pigskin – and where he coached three teams with three different quarterbacks to state football championship glory in 2000, 2001 and 2004.
Oldest son Zach coaches receivers at Denton-Ryan High School and youngest son Clark plays football at Abilene Christian.
"Every week, I have four teams to keep up with," Kathy Harrell said.
Good thing she was a cheerleader in high school.
"I've been a cheerleader my whole life – I'm still a cheerleader. I just don't wear the short skirt," she said with a grin.
Jerry Maguire moments
Already technically graduated, former Ennis Lion Graham Harrell is currently enrolled in graduate-level courses at Texas Tech while breaking Red Raider records.
Meanwhile, the annual football clock is ticking louder and louder. Marking its time, a succession of sports agents have found their way into the Harrell family scene, hoping that maybe Graham Harrell will become one of the stars in their firmament, perhaps even the brightest one.
Red carpets have come rolling in from all directions.
"Numerous ones have contacted us, but we didn't want to meet with them all," Sam said.
"The first time someone called and started talking to us, I thought this was crazy – it was surreal," Kathy said.
In the Metroplex for a Cowboys game for some other client or prospects, an agent will call to say they'd be in town for the Friday night lights of an Ennis Lions football game.
In many ways, many of the agents have come across much like the big screen prototype, Jerry Maguire.
Charismatic.
Personable.
Not too "salesman-y," if they know what's good for them in a town where an ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure.
Kathy said she's had to work on being guarded – easy-going, the Travis Elementary reading recovery teacher's first instinct is to trust everyone.
"I assume off the bat that people are sincere," she said ruefully.
Together, the Harrells maintain an attitude of tempered enthusiasm. It would be easy, they say, to get star-struck by the flattery of it all – and easy to focus on short-term rewards instead of Graham's long-term prospects, which must include a post-game plan.
What they're looking for is someone with integrity, someone who has their son's future – not just a possibly-fleeting NFL career – at heart.
"The average lifespan of an NFL career is three years," Sam said. "He has to be prepared for that."
"The little span of an NFL career is not reality. No matter how good you are, it's going to end," Kathy said. "There's going to be life after football."
THE way to see America
The middle child of the Harrells' three boys, Graham has demonstrated a strong aptitude for being able to negotiate his way without a lot of guidance. That's a character trait that should help him in the NFL, his parents hope out loud as they thumb through glossy presentation books that feature their son as the star.
"The 2008-09 Quarterback Market" gives them the scoop on what the NFL has going on, right now, this week.
Who's a quarterback, who's on the bench. Blue is for rookies, red for free agents.
Who's about to retire.
Who's a rising star.
"Preparing for the NFL" is a personalized roadmap from December 2008 to May 2009. It takes a prophetic tone.
"Come January, Graham will embark on a wild, four-month journey that will culminate with him being selected in the 2009 NFL Draft. Before the end of his collegiate eligibility arrives, Graham should begin to prepare for the next stage of his football career," the caption under a picture of a bearded Texas Tech No. 6 Graham Harrell reads.
The path to the draft is care- fully metered out: There are the critical bowl games of January where the recruiting starts in earnest; Graham is expected to head out on a whirlwind winter tour.
There's the NFL Pre-Draft Combine in Indianapolis, a series of meetings for draftees from the end of February to the beginning of March.
There, Graham will be subjected to everything from drills to drug tests to the fast-moving Wonderlic test, designed to assess his aptitude for learning and problem-solving. NFL quarterbacks need to be able to think on their feet and then some.
He'll return to Texas Tech to work out. Come early April, after NFL owners' meetings, a handful of teams are likely to bring Graham to their cities so he can check them out and interview with various team officials.
Media interviews in mid-April will show his ability to – once again – think on his feet.
It all leads up to one thing on April 25 and 26.
The "Draft."
There, his agents will go to battle for him in the war rooms of the NFL to procure a deal, so he can use May to transition into his new team and new home, along with the other rookies.
If nothing else, it's certainly a fabulous way to see America.
Surreal blessings
Sam and Kathy Harrell have never been ones to speculate on their son's NFL prospects, preferring to cautiously enjoy the blessings he has reaped at each and every step of his football career.
"I know his passion for the game and I know he's worked really hard, so I assumed he'd play in college because of that," Kathy said.
But being courted by agents and hearing that general managers are watching their son's last college games?
"I call it a blessing; Kathy calls it surreal," Sam said with a smile.
The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree. The same modest, measured approach Sam Harrell takes when he's asked about the Ennis Lions' successes has been picked up like a sure-thing pass by his son, who's not known for talking smack.
"He doesn't have an air of 'I'm all that,' " Sam said.
There was the spring game, Graham stood with coaches, patiently signing autographs into the wee hours from around 8 p.m. to after midnight.
It's enough to give a cheerleading mom pause.
"Seeing him sign autographs, seeing so many kids wear his jersey – it makes me a little nervous … he's just my little boy," Kathy Harrell said Monday night over salad at Wendy's on Ennis Avenue.
"It's exciting, but, when you put people on a pedestal, they're going to get criticized and, even if it's favorable attention, that adoration makes me a little uneasy," she said.
But that uneasiness takes a back seat on the brand new big screen TV in the Harrells' new home, where college and high school games have been front and center, but broadcast NFL games hold a whole new significance.
Meanwhile, on the cusp of NFL Draft greatness, Graham Harrell remains a good ol' boy from Ennis, Texas, whose favored ways to pass time range from shooting hoops to pest control patrol at a golf course in Lubbock, where he and his buddies hunt rabbits with blow darts.
"He's leading the nation in passing calls and he's talking about hunting rabbits on the golf course," Sam said with a chuckle. "That's just Graham."
Editor's Note: ESPN College Gameday will broadcast Saturday from the Texas Tech campus. The show will air prior to Texas Tech's showdown with in-state rival No. 1 Texas. Saturday's game marks the highest combined rankings of Tech and an opponent to play at Jones AT&T Stadium. Both teams are 8-0 overall and 4-0 in Big 12 Conference play. Texas Tech defeated No. 18 Kansas, 63-21, in Lawrence on Saturday, while Texas knocked off No. 8 Oklahoma State, 28-24, in Austin.
E-mail J. Louise Larson at jackielarsonwrites@gmail.com

An hour well-spent on O. Henry's porch

2008-10-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

When I decided to spend an hour on O. Henry's porch, I think I was hoping to acquire by osmosis some of that magical irony and those delicious twists so present in the work of the famed Austinite who earned his place in the pantheon of authors as America's most beloved literary felon.

He died, the docent at his home at 409 E. 5th Street tells me, not rich - but popular in his own time. Not such a bad epitaph, I think, hoping just a bit of that spirit will waft my way on the late October breeze, finding its way to the dilapidated wicker chair I sit on and into my writer's brain. Surely, I thought, William Sidney Porter once perched on this porch and sipped lemonade, calling on the view of old downtown Austin for inspiration for The Gift of the Magi.

And certainly he was nowhere near as ADD as me. My inner observer was at its crowy, distractable worst, noticing anything at all that made a sound or sparkled. The passing blue taxi, a succession of orange-clad UT fans hurrying to the crucial game. Dogs - an elderly golden retriever, a short-legged and cocky mutt of dubious dachshund parentage, a white shitzu leading his owner on a leash.

But it was the squirrels that held my attention best. Muscular, big for a member of the Sciuridae lineage, built like a very small quarterback. All that was missing was a tiny orange helmet with two holes for his alert ears. He stepped onto the porch, his black eyes like what Stephen King would call two oil drops, his shiny gaze fixed on mine. He stood upright on his hindquarters just eight feet away, his athletic heart pounding visibly, rapidly in his chest - but that must be normal for a squirrel, because this was one cool cucumber. It occurs to me, if only for a fleeting moment, that maybe he's preternaturally calm because he's rabid, and I look at his neatly-groomed and pointy snout for the froth of hydrophobia. It wouldn't do for my literary excursion to turn into Old Yeller.

Next yard over, at the family home of Alamo survivor Susannah Dickinson, a derelict stone chimney can be seen through a glassless window. I see what appears to be the diminutive quarterback's Mrs. She's timid, or perhaps just reserved, and she hangs back before hurtling to dig for acorns at the base of what appears to be an oak of some sort. I note the difference between Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel - while she bolts from one place to another, he seems to saunter. Not in a hurry, no place to go, rather just watch. And I think that maybe, on this treadmill of life, we're either bolters or saunterers, and that while physically I may saunter, mentally I bolt.

It occurs to me that the non-chalant way the quarterback squirrel claims his place on the gingerbread-clad porch might mean something. Mr. and Mrs. W.S. Porter reincarnate, perhaps - William and Athol, watching over their charming restored golden-hued Victorian rancher, barred from entering their old digs but planning perhaps to attend the evening's outdoor O'Henry Film Fest to see what's been made of the pieces O'Henry penned, well, in the PEN on embezzlement charges. He wrote some 14 stories in the clinker after returning from abroad to see his dying wife - and to face charges he'd denied but fled earlier.

I remind myself - not aloud, lest the furry author think I talk to myself, that I'm a Christian and believe in the opposite of reincarnation - that we get but one bite of life's apple. Not that it kept me, while scattering my dad's ashes at a fish hatchery, from saying, a bit loud and defiant like a child who's safe enough distance away to taunt a bully, "If you come back, next time be nicer to people!"

I try to look a little closer, to see if the squirrel is wearing the wire-rimmed glasses typical of turn-of-the-century authors.

No, sometimes a squirrel is just a squirrel.

My time on O. Henry's porch passes too quickly for me to read even a few pages from the collection of his short stories I bought inside (around the corner from his Original Drafting Table and Drafts of Old Austin Composed By William Sidney Porter Himself).

But I feel a sense of energy from being where one of my favorite writers wrote, and I think, "I will do this again." And a sort of resolve not to repeat his mistakes - sloppy accounting, drinking yourself into cirrhosis. And I review a mental list of his better ideas: Making good use of time in one place. Coming back as a squirrel.

And I saunter off to my class at the Writer's League of Texas, where my mind bolts once again.

There it goes now.

Gritty, oddly-named Vietnam memoir would make a good movie

2008-10-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

The Ennis Journal / The Waxahachie Daily Light
http://www.ennisjournal.com/ http://www.waxahachiedailylight.com/

Not war, not miles, not even years can break the bonds of friendship for two Vietnam veteran Ennis High School grads.

Ray E. Jackson of Emery, Texas has chronicled his experience in the military – and that of his best running buddy Jimmy Swindell of Ennis – in a new memoir just out.

Self-published by Jackson through Bloomington, Indiana-based iUniverse, the book’s deceptively plain name, “Military Police Protection in Southeast Asia,” just skims the surface of both the tragedy and comedy of war found in its gritty pages.

An Ennis native, Jackson graduated from Ennis High School in 1967. “I went into the military in October of 1967, along with about half of my senior class,” he recalled.

He went to Germany and then to Vietnam, arriving in country July 4, 1969.

Rising to the rank of sergeant (E-5) in the Army’s military police, Jackson had more than one “worst moment.” “There were several close calls. I got hit by a concussion that threw me into a building in a mortar rocket attack, and I had a 45 shoved in my face involving one of our own troops,” he said in an interview Monday.

But the most devastating and lingering wound of all was the horrific after-effects of Agent Orange, which was only recognized years later for the lasting damages it did to U.S. troops. “It was a mixture used to kill the foliage, but there was something in that chemical that affected us. They sprayed it out – sometimes in choppers, mostly from C-131s,” Jackson recalled.

Both in the Army’s 101st Airborne division, 10,000 miles from home, unbeknownst to each other, EHS running buddies Jackson and Jimmy Swindell were stationed within a few miles of each other. Jimmy was at Camp Eagle, and Ray at Phu Bai – and never knew it until Swindell, on leave in Australia, heard from his mom, who was in contact with Jackson’s mom. Jimmy hitched a ride into the MP operation at Phu Bai and went to see his friend, who was nodding off at the time. “I shook his toe a second time, and he sat up like he was going to hit me,” Swindell recalled with a grin. When Ray realized it was one of his best running buddies from home, the friends had a big reunion. “Jimmy was more like a brother than a friend,” Jackson said.

Swindell agreed.“I can’t explain to you how it felt to see him there, in the jungle. We were best friends, we played baseball together when we were kids, we ran together – and there we were,” he recalled.

Jimmy’s Story

Almost 40 years later, Ennis resident Swindell’s account of Vietnam became part of author Jackson’s book.“There’s quite a bit in the book about Jimmy,” Jackson said. In fact, a whole chapter is devoted to a frank recollection of Swindell’s R&R hijinks. If it was a movie – and it might make a fine movie, in the tradition of M*A*S*H – Jackson’s book would be rated R. “It was pretty informative about things that actually happened – but it’s got some personal stuff in it,” Swindell said. “He talks about going to massage parlors and all kinds of things. Ray just wrote the truth, and that’s what people want to read, I guess.”

Swindell doesn’t talk much about his “365 glorious days” (his words) in Vietnam. He was drafted in 1969 after dropping out of Abilene Christian after a year. "When I first got over there, I was in a platoon of 30 guys, and until I got used to the country and what went on over there, I was scared to death. I was just a kid,” he remembered. “Then they asked for volunteers to be snipers, and I volunteered.”

Considered special ops, the snipers went out in five-man teams in the jungle for a week at a time. They would rappel down lines dangling from helicopters, disappearing into elephant grass that was as deep as they were tall. Their assignment: hunt down the enemy, the Viet Cong, who sympathized with the North Vietnamese. If they found a group of less than five, take them out. More than five, call for support. And stay alive. “It was kill or be killed. You had to have that kind of attitude or you wouldn’t make it home. You couldn’t be passive.”

One time, it rained down on his unit, huddled under their rain capes pitched as tents, for 11 days, straight, non-stop. They might go for days or even a month without spotting the enemy – and then all hell might break loose.

Swindell believes the move to the sniper unit actually saved his life. “The company that I had been with were up on a mountain and I could hear people talking on radios.“They got into a fire fight, and I started recognizing voices – that was the platoon I was in. You could hear the sheer terror – they were screaming for more body bags,” he remembered. Across the valley, Swindell’s sniper unit watched, thunderstruck, as Phantom jets zoomed in to drop barrels of napalm – on impact, they split open and the gelled gasoline burst into long-lasting flames. There were American casualties dying in agony under that American napalm. “It burnt up some of the guys. I would have been close to the front of the squad, in a position where the napalm hit, and the first five guys got burnt up,” he said soberly.

Exactly 365 days after arriving in country, Swindell headed back to America.

For all its terrible loveliness, even in wartime, he has mixed emotions about Vietnam. “It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been – I’d never want to go back,” he said.

Four decades later, now a Union Pacific railroad engineer back home in Ennis and married to his sweetheart Nancy, when he sees a returning soldier in uniform, he has a singular response: “I shake their hand and tell them ‘Thank you,’” he said, a tear welling up.

Swindell found that while his buddy Jackson’s book exposes some of his own rawest and most personal memories of the war, it was still fascinating. “For the most part, the book is pretty true to life … it captivated me once I started reading it – it kept me going … I like the way he wrote – he skipped back and forth, from different stories at different times, and then he’d come back to the story later,” he said.

Ever After

Jackson lives with his wife Barbara in Emery, Texas. His life to date has been good, but not perfect by any means. He is fully disabled because of health conditions attributed to Agent Orange, including permanent damage to his kidneys from uncontrolled diabetes. “We lost our baby in a car wreck in 2006,” he said. “I dedicated the book to him, to Kyle.” He still has his oldest son, Todd, and daughters Courtney and Tonya.

A first-time author, Jackson is experiencing the joys and travails of publishing with “Military Police Protection in Southeast Asia.”“It was my first book, so I was going to make a few mistakes … To make those words mean something takes a while. You have to revise it, and edit it, and read it yourself, before it makes sense to you or to someone else,” he said.

He started in January, finished in June; the book was published in September. “Military Police Protection in Southeast Asia” is finding a welcome in his home town. The American Legion in Ennis is going to sponsor his book and a book signing, Jackson said. “This way people can drop by and I can visit with them,” he said. “Any exposure I can get will be well appreciated.”

And once again, his own experiences are taking him toward writing – this time about loss and survival. “The book I’m writing now is based on a true story about family love, from happiness to heartache,” he said. “It’s about when you begin a family, how happy you are, and when you add kids to equation gets even better – they’re the apple of your eye. Then one day, you wake up and you start losing them, or something happens. It’s a challenge that a family has to overcome, to lose that loved one. You have to be very close to God, and keep that loved one in your heart. You never get totally over it – you get through it, but you never get over it.”

Author to sign book at Autumn Days SaturdayVietnam veteran and Ennis native Ray Jackson will be at Autumn Days in Ennis on Saturday from 10 a.m.-12 noon to meet friends and visit about his book.Military Police Protection in Southeast Asia by Ray E. Jackson, $22.95, 316 pages, perfect-bound softcover 6x9. ISBN: 978-0-595-52301-6 For information about buying Ray Jackson’s book, e-mail him at coachrays1044@verizon.net or leave a voice message at 903-473-8092, or order it at www.iUniverse.com.

Karen Joy Fowler: Writing Porch Author Q and A

2008-10-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

Note from The Writing Porch's J. Louise Larson: Although Karen Joy Fowler came to Mesquite to talk about Ray Bradbury and Fahrenheit 451, this piece is an author profile, so it's about Fowler. If Bradbury will respond to my emails, I'll interview him, too. Now THAT would be science fiction ... jl

Meet Karen Joy Fowler, whose book 'The Jane Austen Book Club' was turned into a movie with Emily Blunt and Jimmy Smits.

Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club, the newly-released Wit's End, and tw0-time Nebula award winner, is not Gwyneth Paltrow's favorite author.

At least, she doesn't think she is.

Once introduced as being cited as favorite author on Paltrow's website, Fowler was distracted for much of that presentation as she tried to figure out how she had come to be the famed actress' favorite author for her book 'Sarah Canary.' The short of it? She realized it was a mistake - she is cited on the website of Gwyneth JONES as favorite author - and only shame for her own distraction kept her from coming clean about the mix-up mid-presentation.

"Gwyneth Paltrow does not read my books, as far as I know. Sadly, and oddly, the whole thing made me think less of Gwyneth Paltrow. I feel like there's bad blood between us," Fowler deadpanned with a sort of wounded sigh Tuesday night at a presentation sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Writer's Garret and the City of Mesquite.

One of the rare few authors who have succeeded in both literary fiction and science fiction, she was in town on an NEA-sponsored tour of Fahrenheit 451, talking about Ray Bradbury and science fiction and censorship and dystopias and the McCarthy era and the year 1953.

But the Q&A after Tuesday's event gave an audience heavily salted with writers an opportunity to pick Fowler's writer's brain.

While she credits her long-time editor for making everything she does better, Fowler grins as she recalls her literary-fiction editor's recoil at the news that Fowler's science fiction work had earned a prestigious Nebula award. It was as if, she said, there was a "don't ask, don't tell" policy in place - and the perception that a writer had to choose between the two genres, not slip from one to the other and back.

"It's as if my editor spends her whole life trying to clean the science fiction off me, and I just head straight back to the trough," Fowler said. "(Of the first Nebula win) she said, 'Is there any way we can keep that quiet?'"

By the time Wit's End was published, Fowler won another Nebula -- and the more than grudging respect of her converted editor.

Karen Joy Fowler recalls a longing from childhood for the promised Jetson future of space-pack travel and robotically-driven vehicles and heads that evolved to accommodate larger brains.
"The future is just not what it used to be, in my opinion," she said, evoking chuckles from the group in what felt like a writing salon. "We were told we were moving into a time of enormous leisure ... I was quite looking forward to that ... and if you think I'm bitter about the jetpacks, you have no idea how bitter I am about the leisure."

Her own childhood, she admits, was a particularly flawed background for a writer in that it was a remarkably happy one that didn't lend itself to "tortured artist" status.

Something of a role model for other women who put their professional life on hold to concentrate on raising a family only to prepare to jumpstart it when the kids reach school age, Fowler recalled breaking the news to her husband that instead of becoming a breadwinner, she was going to become a writer.

Like her favorite character in children's literature, the mournful Eeyore, her husband took her announcement in stride. "Like Eeyore, when you tell him his hopes and dreams are going to be crushed, he's not surprised, because he never really thought it would work out anyway," she said. The one fly in the ointment? The classic work-at-home dilemma - people think you have time to spare.

Fowler talked frankly about the writer's tendency to self-censor out of fear that a beloved parent will read harsh material and think less of their adult child. She recounted presenting her busy 31-year-old son with an audio version of her "Jane Austen Book Club." He declined to finish listening to it, telling his mother that while he was aware writers sometimes drew from their own experiences and he hoped she'd never experienced sexual abuse like her character in the opening pages, as his mother's child, he wasn't ready for it. "I really don't want to think you'd make something like that up," he said, apologetic.

Although she showed early promise in publishing, throughout much of her formative years Fowler was a "runner up," a not-quite-good-enough status she turned to her own emotional advantage. "It made me so angry and so determined to be successful," she said, recalling how stacks of rejection letters became a sort of badge of honor. She brings them along sometimes when she speaks to writers, she said. "Look at how many people tried to stop me," she tells herself.

So this writer's favorite book? "The Once and Future King," by T.H. White. White's ability to swing from one kind of writing voice to another pleases her - and helps her as a writer when she wants to follow intuition instead of tradition. "Every (writing) rule I've ever been told has been broken by White in my favorite book of all time," she said.

Other advice for fellow authors? Every book gets harder and harder to write. And just because it's "done," doesn't mean it's done. "When I turn (a manuscript in) I think it's done. It's not. I get a 7-page letter that says it's not,"Fowler said.

That's just the beginning, and where the writer digs in and makes decisions, she said, noting that she accepts just a percentage of those perceived problems and works around many of the others. "Workshops and editors are good at telling you it's a problem, you're not very good - they're not good at telling you how to fix it," she said.

As the event organizer headed toward the stage, Karen Joy Fowler amused her audience with a paraphrase, and I will use it as well:

"In the words of Jane Austen, it appears I have delighted you long enough."

Carl Sagan and Pomegranate Thinking

2008-09-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

I just love this. It really struck a chord in me -- I think I live like this.

I consider it pomegranate thinking: Carl Sagan - "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."

What waits to be known is what keeps me loving what I have done for a living for two decades. I write. Everything and everyone is a story, and the questions come spilling out. Life is not always beautiful, but life is always fascinating.

There's not many people I could send this quote to, though. I went down my email list and realized that most people look at knowledge like a course you take for 25 years, and then for the most part, you're done. You know what you need to to successfully navigate the known world you live in -- there's not much need to change how you think or add to the wisdom.

And when you think about it, that's certainly the most comfortable existence. Sometimes it would be EASIER to see life like that, too.

I don't mean abandoning precious life tenets. I don't try on a different faith every year, for example. The Christianity that comforted me in my childhood is still the foundation for my middle age. I still like the Golden Rule for how to do unto others. I still like to wear Crocs, even if their fashionability wanes. I still think black makes me look less chunky.

But some things are open for debate, up for suggestions. I explore new writers, new TV shows, new candidates. New restaurants.

I have quite enjoyed two recent trips to a place called fivetwelve college tea house in Waxahachie. In a large rehabbed Victorian home, this unusual tea room features the culinary genius of Rhonnie Tompkins, an Australian expat who is unsatisfied with the usual chicken salad and fruit salad. There's none of what I consider Casablanca cooking ("Round up the usual suspects.") Her chicken salad is crafted with chicken breasts poached in white wine and juniper berries and a delicate blend of seasonings, including curry. Tompkins' fruit salad has 10 or more fruits on it, depending on the season and what's in her yard and at the Waxahachie Downtown Farmer's Market. There's fresh figs in July, and pomegranate in September.

As I write this, I am picking away at a slightly underripe pomegranate from my own front yard. The tree's boughs were so laden, they had to be trimmed so as to stop thwacking the cars driving under it en route to the carport and garage. Some years we don't even harvest them; they just hang there until they're overripe.

There are easier fruit to eat than pomegranates. Fruits that don't require an engineering plan to get at the good stuff. Peel the orange, you're done. Munch away. Seedless grapes -- just pluck them off the stem and it's ambrosia.

No, Punica granatum are complicated things. To get to the 600 little arils inside requires patience and a plan, and can hardly be done without something of a mess. The best things in life are like that, I think - requiring patience, a plan, and something of a mess.

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." Or tasted. Or experienced.

You can have the same fruit salad everyone else is having, or you can expand your horizons.

Author Q and A: Bob Schieffer, author of Bob Schieffer's America

2008-09-13T18:53:00.001-07:00

A note from J. Louise Larson of The Writing Porch: Many thanks to Katie McKee of Putnam's for providing me with this conversation with Bob Schieffer.

I loved this book, and learned several things. Two of these things were revelations: first of all, I now feel very close to Bob Schieffer, because when I lived in an idyllic town on Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, I lived next door to the cousin of his friend and mentor, Eric Sevareid. Sort of like Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon, my brush with a brush with fame.

Second, after years of being known among my writing peers as the Queen of Death because I love writing obituary pieces (not that I'm happy to see people go, you understand), I don't feel so alone. Schieffer does, too. (See my obit piece on Dr. Jack Kelley here. http://familyrootsandwings.blogspot.com/2008/06/waxahachie-daily-light-article-on-jack.html)

To this I add a third revelation: comprised of pithy little essayettes, this book is fantastic bathroom reading. But it's hard to put down, so keep it in another room of the house, unless you have bathrooms to spare ...

Author: TV newsman Bob Schieffer
Book: Bob Schieffer's America (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, September 2008, ISBN: 978-0-399-15518-5 Price: $24.95

How do you describe this book?
"It’s a collection of the commentaries I began writing in 1994 to tack on the end of our Face the Nation broadcasts. Basically, they’re just snapshots of my thoughts along the way. We found about seven hundred of them and then boiled that down to about 171. One of the sobering things about going back and looking at your work over so many years is that you realize not every piece stands the test of time. I hope readers will see that we’ve tried to pick out the ones that did."

How did the notion of writing these essays originate?
"It all started the Sunday after Richard Nixon died. The show’s roundtable that day had included several former Nixon aides, and I thought the program needed a button—a few lines to sum up what we had been discussing and to put things in context. I offered a few thoughts on Nixon’s passing and concluded by saying he left the White House in disgrace but left the Earth with dignity. In the days that followed I got a tremendous amount of mail in response to that little bit of commentary. A couple of weeks later I did another button and again got a lot of mail. Then we started doing the commentaries whenever we had time—probably once or twice a month—and they, too, got a really nice reaction. In fact, we were getting more reaction from the commentaries than any other thing we did (and this was in the days before e-mail)."

What was the reaction of the higher-ups at CBS?
"After I started doing them on a regular basis I realized I might not have the authority to do so. After all, the network had very strict rules on commentary. Obviously, we’re not allowed to put personal opinions in the news stories we do. But nobody said anything and I figured if I were not allowed to do this someone would call and tell me to stop. Then one day in 1996 I won a Sigma Delta Chi award for national commentary and all of a sudden I started getting calls from the bosses in New York saying keep it up, keep it going. And that’s what we did."

As you point out, this all started in the days before e-mail. Do you see a difference between the comments viewers sent back then using snail-mail versus the ones they send in now electronically?
"What we found is that when people disagree they do so in much harsher language when using email than they did when writing letters. And I’m convinced a great many letters were never even sent. I’m sure that on many occasions, when people disagreed with a commentary and got steamed up, they’d sit down, write a letter and then wad it up and throw it in the trash. But in the age of e-mail they simply press the “send” button. And I assure you, we often get a full explanation of what’s on their minds. Oddly enough, we probably get more positive comments about the commentaries than we do negative ones."

Were there any surprises for you as you looked at the commentaries you’d written more than a decade ago?
"One of the most interesting aspects of this, and a most humbling experience for me, was to go back and look at how my commentaries evolved over time on issues such as the war in Iraq. Like a lot of people after 9/11, I began believing it was the right thing to do. We were told Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and I thought we had no choice but to go in and disarm him. We were dealing with a man who had killed his own daughter’s husbands and gassed his own people so it wasn’t hard to imagine he’d be someone who’d use any weapon at his disposal. When we found out the intelligence was wrong my ideas about the war in Iraq changed. It was interesting to read the commentaries and see how my thinking evolved, and I purposely included some of the early ones in the book to show what that process looked like."

You’re particularly fond of the obituary pieces. Why?
"Like Ronald Reagan, I have a love of obits. He used to joke it was the first section of the paper he’d go to because he enjoyed the pleasure of not seeing his name there. I’ve reached the age where I feel the same. And in this day and age, when most news is bad news, it’s on the obituary page that you see the most positive news in the newspaper. You read about people who actually did something; who they were and how they came to do whatever that “something” was. Some of the most inspiring stories I’ve read over the years were on the obituary page. One of my favorites was the woman who was a member of the Flying Wallendas. She lost her leg to cancer but kept on training and eventually walked the high wire on an artificial limb. I found her story truly inspiring. I also included a piece about William F. Buckley. When I was a young reporter I found myself in a seminar with him and took issue with something he said. Then I thought to myself, here I am arguing with the number one thinker and debater of our time. With a twinkle in his eye he let me down gently. He was interested in making his point, rather than picking on someone who wasn’t his equal."

In the preface you write that in these essays you’ve tried to follow the rule laid down by your great teacher, Eric Sevareid. What was the rule he taught you?
Eric believed that the first duty of an analyst or someone writing commentary is to explain rather than advocate. He had great insight about both human nature and the course of events, and the majority of his commentaries were attempts to explain why people did what they did. That’s basically what I’ve always tried to do. My objective has never been to get people to agree with me but rather to say, “I’ve never thought about it that way,” or, “For the first time I understand the issue.” That was my goal for the commentaries, and they were written from that point of view. That’s what I learned from Sevareid.

You end the book by reflecting back on your career as a reporter and the hard lessons you’ve learned about life along the way. You also offer a list of things you’ve come to believe vis-à-vis politics and government. What are the things you’ve come to believe?
"I think we have learned from Vietnam and our experience in Iraq that we can help countries become democracies but we can’t impose democracy on them. In the end, the people have to do it for themselves, we can’t do it for them. I think we have to remember that as the world’s most powerful nation our greatest influence on people comes from serving as an example and practicing what we preach. We can’t talk about democracy, its freedom, and how important it is if the world finds out, for example, that we’re bribing newsmen to spout the company line or employing secret prisons. And we can never allow torture be part of national policy. Our job is to make sure we let people know that’s what the other guys do. Weapons were not what won the Cold War. What won the Cold War was that people in the East looked across the Iron Curtain and saw a better life there. It was a life their government wasn’t providing for them and they wanted it. And that’s when the Berlin Wall came down. As I looked back over all these commentaries, those were the themes that came home to me."

You come from a great era of TV news reporting in this country—a time when CBS was known as the Tiffany Network and you were part of a team that included Eric Sevareid, Dan Rather, Roger Mudd, Marvin Kalb, Daniel Schorr, George Herman and Walter Cronkite. You’re also one of the few reporters to have covered all four of the major Washington beats. What are your thoughts as you look back on news today compared to then?
"There’s a lot more of it. What has really changed is the Internet, which is the first vehicle to take news around the world that has no editor. Even the worst newspaper has an editor. Now stuff gets on the Internet and you don’t know where it comes from or if it’s true, false, parody or hoax. Mainstream journalism has to be the place where even if people don’t agree with our editorials, they know they can come to us for the facts. That’s what our job is. On 9/11 we spent most of our time knocking down rumors that had popped up on the Internet. It used to be if your competitor made a mistake, they’d correct it and you’d ignore it. We couldn’t afford to ignore the mistakes others made on 9/11 because doing so would have resulted in mass hysteria. We’re dealing with a world where news gets out. If we can’t knock it down when it’s not true, there’s a real danger in what can happen. We now have access to more information than at any time in our history. It sometimes seems our wisdom in how we handle it is not exactly equal to the amount of information out there. That’s what we, as mainstream journalists, are dealing with right now."

J. Louise Larson writes The Writing Porch for and about writers and writing. Contact her at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail.com.

Sheila Scarborough, Freelance Writer: Tell us about you

2008-09-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

Name: Sheila Scarborough

Hometown: Round Rock, Texas

Website: http://www.sheilascarborough.com/
Bio: "I'm a full-time freelance writer specializing in travel, NHRA drag racing and Web 2.0/social media."

Publications your work has appeared in: "National Geographic Traveler, Texas Highways, Transitions Abroad, Education.com, Edmunds.com and CHOW.com. I write the award-winning Family Travel Guide on the BootsnAll Travel Network, I'm one of three authors on the Perceptive Travel blog, my drag racing work is mostly on Fast Machines, and I write about social media for Every Dot Connects."

How you got your start in freelance writing: "When I retired from the Navy in spring 2006, I thought long and hard about what I would enjoy as much as the service. I love to write and I love to travel, so I decided to figure out how to make a living at it. I bought a stack of books on freelancing and started a blog, then just kept pushing. When print editors ignored me at first, I kept blogging, and found that online work is my preference. I hate waiting a year between a pitch and seeing the final article in magazines.

"Now, suddenly, my diverse online skill set is in demand; the ground has shifted. When an area of interest calls to me, I'm unafraid of looking foolish and I jump in. What are they going to do, deploy me to the Indian Ocean for six months? Oh, wait, already did that...

Some of your favorite kinds of articles to do: "Quirky travel pieces, really zero-ing in on the unique aspects of a place like its food, history, art or music. I like drag racing stories because it's a small community with lots of history between teams and families. Articles about Web 2.0 and social media, and why my fellow writers and communicators need to stop stalling and 'get it,' are always stimulating (I've been writing about this in one form or another since I tackled network-centric warfare issues while on active duty.)"

A few of your favorite interview subjects of all time: "Ashley Force, NHRA drag racing Funny Car driver. One of the Frag Dolls; an all-female video gaming team. The owner and employees at Round Rock (TX) Donuts."

What your writing routine looks like: "I skim a variety of sites, blogs and my local newspaper first thing in the morning, then my email, then I start blogging and working on social media projects. I invariably forget lunch and wonder why I'm cranky at 2 pm. The hardest thing is to stop working at night and pay attention to my family; I'm a night owl and love the quiet, late times at night."

Writers whose work you admire: "Anne Lamott, Tom Wolfe, Rolf Potts, Susan Orlean, Herman Wouk, Wendy Perrin, Heather Armstrong (dooce.com,) Bill Bryson and William Least Heat-Moon."

What you're working on next: "Teaching Web 2.0 workshops and going to China for China BloggerCon. I love tech issues because many of the tech people are curious, fun, demand excellence and are passionate about a better world. They challenge me. In terms of travel, I'm thinking about an East Texas road trip article. Too many writers go for the obvious in Texas, but I like to find the unknown gems. I like Louisiana for the same reason, and I'm becoming a fan of Oklahoma and Kansas. Anyone can do a 'My Secret Tuscany.' Gimme the hard stuff.

Insert your questions here: "What's Jackie's favorite 'secret gem' in East Texas? :) Is the Gilmer Yamboree worth the trip?"

Jackie's Secret Gem of East Texas:

Easy question.

On the way into Gladewater, there is a greasy spoon that has a tiny main dining area, the smoking section, where everybody eats and talks, and a large, empty-ish sort of dining area for non-smokers, where I dined completely on my own in some kind of time warp.

On the wall, there are spectacularly tacky little shrines to stars of the 50s -- who, it just so happened, all died tragically young. Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, James Dean, Montgomery Clift, I think I'm missing one. Maybe Buddy Holly. It was disorienting, like stumbling into a parallel universe or at least an episode of the NPR show, This American Life with Ira Glass, the sort of thing that makes you believe there could be alien life in outer space.

Thanks, Sheila.

The Writing Porch's J. Louise Larson writes for and about writers and writing, and can be reached at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail.com.

The Corrections (Does Jonathan Franzen have these problems?)

2008-09-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

Does this sound familiar, either to writers or editors?

A young writer recently complained that when he handed in copy, the material returned to him resembled nothing like what he turned in.

His complaint was that the finished stories did indeed read tighter and flowed easier -- but that he was missing a chance to help with the changes, and not getting any feedback.

Here's what I'd say:

If your copy is being rearranged big time, a couple things: First, count yourself blessed to still be writing for them. If you still are, that means you've at least got the basic research in and they're willing to rework -- and you still have the income source. Sometimes if there's a lot that needs done, they'll write the writer off. I had a publisher who insisted on it.

Second, look at what they did, sentence by sentence. Next time you think you're done, put it to that test they used, and do those things to it. The other thing the editor could have done is said to you (irritated or not): "This is completely inside out and unacceptable. It needs this, this, and this. Fix it." For some mags, that's their policy.

Either they didn't have time for that, or it's not their policy, or they didn't think you could do it on your own, or they don't know you well enough to know you could on their short deadline, or they have someone who is free to fix things up and they're okay with it. They may know there's a learning curve to writing their style and they're willing to cut you some slack.

One thing you might do is ask, politely, proactively, positively: "I noticed there were some changes made to my story. Can we go over them so I'll have a better idea for my next piece of what you're looking for?" (which beats "How dare you change my story!" cold ...)

Author Q and A: Mother and daughter writing team Cheryl and MacKenzie Moeller

2008-07-04T17:45:00.000-07:00

The book: Lexi's Homeschool Diary
The authors: Cheryl and MacKenzie Moeller, mother and daughter
Bio: I am a homeschool mom of 6. Bob and I have been married 29 years.I'm a stand up comic, syndicated humor columnist, and author.
Other books you've worked on: I've co-authored two books on marriage which includeMarriage Minutes (Moody Press) and For Better, For Worse, For Keeps (MarriageVine Press). I also co-authored a book on motherhood called "I'm Glad I'm on Planet Mom."
What made you decide to write a children's book? I've been wanting to write children's books for 15 years and just never got around to it. MacKenzie started writing inher journal last January because she had run out of books that she liked. I had told her to write the next book she would read. And she really did do it!
Why write a book with your daughter? I found her daily journal on the table. I told her right away that I thought she really had written something others would want to read - that this was a book.
How did you decide on your main character, Lexi?I guess the main character is a lot like MacKenzie. She's sweet, adventurous, adorable and funny. She's someone you would want to take on a vacation with you.
What challenges did you face with this book? MacKenzie got writer's block at one point that lasted for a month.
In the end, we had a professional editor (my sister Cinda) do the editing on the book. I didn't want to have even one quotation mark in the wrong place and she really did a great job.
What advice would you have for other writers/would-be writers?
You need to get a great illustrator to illustrate your book. We worked with our friend Linda Gredy.
Also remember that writers write. But most people that want to write just talk about writing and don't actually write. It takes talents and gifts, but it also takes discipline. You write one word at a time like you play the piano. A book is a lot of words. Start with articles and then move up to books.
But you can do it if you put your mind to it and overlook other distractions.
Any special tips for working on projects with your kids? Realize they are kids. They are not going to be able to go on for the long haul. Give them breaks and bribes.
What projects are next? I am writing several nonfiction books on marriage.
I am also writing Homeschool Your Preschooler on $1 a Day, which is non-fiction. I am writing that book because a lot of people can't afford preschool curriculum this fall with rising costs of food and gas. The other projects I am working on is No Presents for Christmas, which is a picture book with lots of beautiful illustrations. My illustrator for those two books is Susan R. Smith and she is working on some amazing illustrations.

Links: http://www.momlaughs.blogspot.com/
Author: MacKenzie Moeller
Bio: I'm a homeschooled third grader.I like to swim and ice skate. I like to do both of those outside the most. I like to make dinner. I know how to make pizza.
I am nine. I am the youngest of six kids.I have two dogs. One is a Golden Lab named Katie. The other one is half lab and half Mastiff and his name is Rudy. Rudy is my brother's dog. I want to be a hairdresser when I grow up. I see a lot of people out there who need hairdos.
What was fun about this project? I like to get lost in my writing. This was a long project so I some days when I wrote that is the only subject I did the whole day.
What do you think about your character, Lexi? I thought Lexi was fun and funny.
What was difficult about this project? It was such a long project. I had a hard time hanging in there until the end.I got writer's block about three quarters of the way through. So I took one month off. My mom wanted to know what I would need to get rid of my writer's block. I told her a bag of Oreos. She wanted me know if it was double-stuff or regular. I said regular. And she got me two bags!! And I starting writing again.
What advice would you have for other kids who think they might want to write a book? Make sure you have fun with it. Writing shouldn't be work.
I hope kids enjoy reading Lexi's Homeschool Diary.

The Writing Porch Author Q and A: Linda M. Fossen

2008-06-27T00:02:00.000-07:00

Editor’s note: Author Linda M. Fossen names her abuser in her book. I have deleted specifics of his identity here, but it is revealed in her book.

Author: Linda M. Fossen

Book: “Out of the Miry Clay: Freedom from Childhood Sexual Abuse” Self-published, 2008, 199 pages, paperback

Author Bio: Linda Fossen’s horrific account of 10 years of childhood sexual abuse is riveting. “Naturally, this polluted my whole concept of God, father, love and trust. I grew up trying to love God but always feeling such ambivalence towards Him. As a child I had prayed so many times to be rescued from my horrible situation and when those prayers went seemingly unanswered, I felt complete betrayal not only from my abuser but from God,” she said.
Linda’s accused abuser remains in children’s ministry. “We confronted him about the abuse and although he admitted to the abuse, he did not apologize. His only response was ‘Who are you going to tell because you could ruin my ministry?’” she recalls.

“This is not a ‘get even’ book but a frank and compelling look at a dirty secret that has been hiding in the evangelical churches for years. I want to open up a dialogue and make it okay for people to come forward and talk about their abuse within the church setting,” Fossen said.

Full disclosure: I attended high school with Linda, and we have recently reconnected. I am amazed by her candor, and found her book difficult to put down. Read it and weep.

Related website: http://www.lindafossen.com/

What the book is About: This is the story about the carnage that sexual abuse leaves in the heart of every child. It is a story about a preacher’s daughter in search of a loving Heavenly Father who would give me the courage to forgive and trust again. A Heavenly Father so unlike my earthly father that the difference would literally baffle me for years.

Why did you write this book? I actually wrote the book quite by “accident”. I never intended to write a book – these were the secrets I was going to carry with me to the grave. After years of stuffing the pain, I had a “crash and burn” experience after a work injury ended my 23-year career. Within a matter of months, my whole life was turned upside down. My heart shattered into a million pieces and I had no place to stuff the memories or the pain any longer.
I went through severe depression and the full extent of my abuse came back to me in full force as I began to have flashbacks and relive the trauma of my abuse. I could see no way that I would ever live a normal life again and thought that I would end up in a mental institution. I wanted to die because life had ceased to be worth living.

My therapist suggested that I journal and I resisted because I did not ever want to chance anyone reading my most private pain. When I finally did journal what came out was not in diary format but in story form. I was perplexed but still did not ever dream that I would publish a book – that was preposterous!

The book was literally born out of my pain and my journey towards my freedom. When I finally was able to let go of my abuse and realized that I could not longer fix my dysfunctional abuser, I found the ability to forgive and find my freedom. Once I experienced this freedom, I simply could not keep it to myself. I had to share my story – matter what the cost.

This book is very personal -- what was it like to get so personal? This book is extremely personal and it was very painful to write. I was literally putting my pain into words and it was the most gut-wrenching experience of my life. When I was so desperate to find peace from the tormenting pain of my abuse, I read every book on sexual abuse I could find.
So many of them were written from the standpoint of the child who grew up with alcoholic parents and broken homes with physical violence.

Although I found the stories to be inspiring, I could not relate to them because my family was nothing like this. We were the “perfect family” – the one where abuse is never supposed to happen. Because my abuse was so severe it was frustrating to read books that just said “I was abused” and then the author would not go into any detail of their abuse. They really did not offer a blueprint on how to get rid of the pain. I would always think to myself, “This book can’t apply to me because they don’t know what I went through.”

I wanted to tell the story the way it really happened with enough graphic detail to let the abused person who read it know that they could relate to me. It was very important for me to use my real name and my family’s real names.

I had lived for decades in shame and for me to hide behind a pseudonym would not allow me to walk out in freedom. My abuser told me that if I told the secret God would send me to hell and I want other victims to know that they can tell their stories of abuse and live afterwards without the fear of repercussion from God or anyone else. In order to do that, I had to get real with the story, the details and the names.

How did you get this book published? We pitched the book to several publishers and got a lot of rejections. Some felt that this was a topic that did not apply to the evangelical Christian community (like what rock did they crawl out from under?).

Others wanted me to do it anonymously and wanted to protect my abuser’s reputation and I was unwilling to do that. So we ended up self-publishing and I am happy with the decision because it gave me complete freedom to write the book exactly the way I wanted to write it.

It was quite ironic that the people who helped me to publish the book were friends of my abuser for many years. The woman is a professional editor who has seen many of her books become NY Times Bestsellers. She was impressed with my writing ability and recognized that the book had the potential to reach millions of hurting people who suffer in silence. She is my greatest fan and mentor in this unfamiliar territory of being a first-time author.

What was the biggest challenge for you about this book? Being willing to publish it. I had already written the story as part of my healing process but I had to overcome my fear of publishing the book when my father is still alive. I had to overcome my childhood fear of breaking the promise that I made to my abuser never to tell the secret. My abuser scared me within an inch of my life never to tell the secret. I vowed to keep the secret and felt it was my duty.

As a child, I feared him and that childhood fear kept me silent for decades. I realize that I have nothing to gain and everything to lose by publishing this book but I simply could not keep silent when there were so many other millions of people who suffer in silence. Knowing that my book might help even one person made it worth the personal cost to me.

What's your favorite kind of writing and why? Up until this book I did not do much writing at all, I considered myself more of a public speaker than a writer. I am a novice when it comes to writing and I never considered the idea of being an author. Because of my injury, I am unable to work a “normal job.” I have now figured out “what I want to be when I grow up - and that is an author.” I find a certain enjoyment in being able to tell a story and make the reader feel as though they are experiencing it with you. I am most content when I am writing.

What advice would you give other writers? Write straight from your heart and your gut. In order for a book to be authentic and real, you have to have lived it. It has to be something that you give birth to so to speak. It is the sharing of your innermost thoughts and feelings that will make the reader feel a part of your experience.

What projects do you have coming up? I am actually working on a follow-up to this book, which is my husband’s amazing life story. He was one semester away from becoming a Junior High Social Studies teacher and instead ended up serving 20 years in prison for triple murder.
I married him in prison and spent 18 years waiting for him to come home. I want to tell the story of what it was like behind those walls.

Prison is unlike any place on earth. It left an indelible mark on my heart to have come to know and love some of the most heinous criminals and understand that in the eyes of God, I was no better than any of them. It rocked my evangelical upbringing to its core and made me come to realize that my whole belief system was so shallow and full of platitudes. Things that I thought I believed were challenged when I was face to face with life and death situations.

Linda's question: Why would I out my abuser at this late stage in his ministry? Would I be doing more harm than good to the evangelical community? I know that I run the risk of offending some Christians because of my forthrightness in bringing to light a subject that has long been taboo within the evangelical church. When the Catholic Church scandals broke, I saw how so many evangelicals smuggled viewed the issue as “not affecting us.” I want to blow that myth to pieces.

The research shows that a child is much more likely to be sexually abused in a rigidly religious home than in one in which there is no mention of God. I think there is something wrong with this picture. Unless people come forward and blow the whistle and say “enough is enough” the statistics just keep growing.

I have forgiven my abuser for what he has done to me but that does not mean that I am required to keep his dirty secret. I will no longer carry the shame and guilt that was never mine to carry in the beginning. I want to show others by my example that there is nothing to be ashamed of in admitting that you were abused as a child. The thing that is shameful is that someone would do such hideous things to a vulnerable child.

What are the statistics on abuse? It is estimated that there are 60 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in America today. Statistics estimate that 30-33% of boys are sexually abused and 38-40% of girls by the time they reach 18. The statistics show overwhelmingly that the abuser is not the stranger down the street but a person the child trusts and is close to.

Order Linda’s book here: http://www.amazon.com/Out-Miry-Clay-Freedom-Childhood/dp/B00195WJKE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214549982&sr=8-1

The Writing Porch Author Q and A Steve Martini

2008-06-26T23:19:00.000-07:00

The Latest Book: Shadow of Power, 400 pp hardcover, William Morrow

About the Author: Best-selling author Steve Martini was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Bay Area and Southern California. An honors graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz, Martini’s first career was in journalism. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Los Angeles and as a correspondent at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, specializing in legal issues, before taking his law degree at the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in 1974. During his law career he worked as a legislative representative for the California Department of Consumer Affairs, the State Bar of California , and served as special counsel to the California Victims of Violent Crimes Program. He has worked as an administrative hearing officer, a supervising hearing officer, an administrative law judge, and for a time served as Deputy Director of the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

In the 1980’s Martini began writing fiction as a hobby but with an eye toward a second career. His first attempt at a novel, THE SIMEON CHAMBER was picked up by an agent and sold within two weeks of its completion. It was published in 1987. COMPELLING EVIDENCE, his second novel introduced the character, attorney Paul Madriani, and was published by Putnam in 1992. A national bestseller, that novel earned Martini a critical and popular following. New York Times bestsellers PRIME WITNESS (1993), UNDUE INFLUENCE (1994), THE JUDGE (1996), and THE ATTORNEY ( 2000) each featured the series character Madriani.

THE LIST (1997), and CRITICAL MASS (1998) were departures from the court room, legal-thriller genre. CRITICAL MASS addressed issues of terrorism and the threat from weapons of mass destruction. These were followed by THE ARRAIGNMENT, DOUBLE TAP, and most recently SHADOW OF POWER, all within the Paul Madriani series and all bestsellers.
To date, two network mini-series have been produced and broadcast based on Martini’s works, UNDUE INFLUENCE on CBS, and THE JUDGE on NBC. Martini makes his home in the Pacific Northwest.

What made you pick this book to write? The Idea for Shadow of Power came as a result of research I had been conducting for another work. I noticed that the original language of slavery that had been crafted by the founding generation remained in the Constitution still visible even though it had been repealed following the Civil War and was dead letter law. I began to think about this over a period of months and years and ultimately the idea for the novel came to me.

What do you love about this book? Perhaps my favorite aspect of this book is its realism set against the political backdrop of a Presidential campaign and a Supreme Court that is badly divided with the high stakes of future nominations to that Court hanging in the balance. It is here that fiction meets reality.

What are you hoping readers find interesting about this book? Without question it would be the trial process. This is true as regards all of my novels in the Paul Madriani series. It is the trial and the legal strategy that propels the story and invariably leads to the twists and turns and ultimate resolution.

How do you make your characters come alive? Through dialogue; you must develop a good ear for the spoken word. Unless your characters speak with authenticity they will not achieve the realism necessary the carry the story. The goal is to bring the reader to the point where he or she is reading your novel with the air of plausibility one my employ when reading the daily newspaper. The difference is that dialogue in the form of direct quotes in newsprint is often dead. In fiction the illusive ability to breath life into these words on the page is the secret to crafting good fiction.

What writers do you like and why? Elmore Leonard for his ability to write the best dialogue in the business; Scott Fitzgerald for his artistic and literary masterpiece The Great Gatsby; Scott Turow for his wonderful characterizations and John Grisham for his good story telling and generosity in recognizing my novel “Compelling Evidence” at a critical stage in my career. Apart from novelists I would be remiss not to mention the new generation of wonderful historians all of whom have given me wondrous hours of reading and enjoyment, from the late Stephen Ambrose to David McCullough and Joseph Ellis.

What advice would you give to writers hoping for success? Continue to hone your craft and to learn early on that the art of good fiction is to be found in revision and rewriting. Develop a good ear for dialogue. If you need direction in this area, some of the best dialogue is to be found in early novels, even some mysteries of the early 20th Century. Also screen plays written by notable screen writers are rich sources of information on how to write good dialogue and how to develop character from strong dialogue.

What projects do you have coming up? I am contracted for one more Madriani novel, after than I have several projects currently in mind and on which I have begun long term research. Beyond that I would not be prepared to disclose this information.

Buy Steve Martini's latest book here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006123088X?ie=UTF8&tag=bigfreshmedia-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=006123088X

See more about Steve Martini on his website: http://www.stevemartini.com/

Thanks, Jackie. Nice to meet you, too, Jackie. Likewise, Jackie.

2008-06-19T00:13:00.000-07:00

I remember learning at the age of 12 or so that the secret of success was using someone's name in conversation. We're in love with our own identities, so it stands to reason we love to hear our name.

Right? That's how it went?

Only not. I'm encountering a trend in young writers -- overeagerness to overattribute.

The Larson Dictionary & Stylebook definition of overattribution: To hammer someone over the head with their last name, repeatedly, within the confines of a story. Ouch. OUCH!

A woman I reported with in my early days said her college journalism prof told her to imagine she was being whapped with a quirt across her knuckles every time she overused someone's name.

"It was great," Schlmiel said.
"The first thing we did was have tea," Schlmiel said.
"DON'T MAKE ME HIT YOU WITH THE QUIRT AGAIN," Schlmiel said.

The extra name usage is generally slipped in in the note transcription process. No one sets out to use the same name in every paragraph. But believe me, it happens. Now, imagine you're the subject of the article, only you HATE your last name, because it sounds like slang. So how much more do you hate the rhythmical insertion of your last name at every opportunity?

Make changing up attribution one of your closing routines on a piece. There's spell-check, length-check, fact-check, sound-check.

Now there's duplication-check. Look for repetitions (and remove them!). And if Schlmiel is going around and around in your story's head, get it out. Sub in "he said." or "the Harvard grad said."

And probably if there's this big a ring to it, you need to de-quotize some of the interview and serve it up as fact.

And I haven't even talked about the quaint but irritating use of Mr., Ms. and Mrs. at evey turn, like the Dallas Morning News insists upon.

"Mr. Lecter escaped custody this morning. He had been jailed - and muzzled - for seven serial murders." See? Doesn't that sound odd?

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille!

2008-06-17T21:03:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows free publicity is invaluable when it's time to promote a book. Magazine and newspaper writers get interviewed occasionally as all the media mix together. There's radio, TV, the internet, newspapers, magazines. And parties! And forums!

So how ready are you for your close-up? (My apologies for botching the classic line written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, from the fabulous movie, "Sunset Boulevard.")

I spent a few years in public relations and have become something of a student of promotion. In the book I co-authored, "The FabJob Guide to Become a Party Planner" (FabJob Publishing, 2006) I spent the lion's share of my effort on how to promote a fledgling business.

Additionally, I once spent time in radio and TV while dreaming of a broadcast career like Oprah's, so I spent some time learning how to interview, and have hosted some of television's most lacklustre interviews on record, as my friend and former producer Susan Baker can attest;)

A book, or a writing career, is a business. No matter how much we DON'T like sales and promotions, the publishers are less and less taking the lead on publicity. Take advantage of every shred of help offered, naturally -- but also take responsibility for your own work's success.

That means being ready to answer questions in such a way that your book sounds fascinating, you sound interesting, and both are worth reading.

Here's a few tips on being ready to be interviewed:

Talk in sentence form. Have a little story. Be ready with point form outlines that can lead you to paragraphs. Practice on your sister, your mom, your dog.
If it's an audio interview, and you want people to like you (this can be helpful), put a smile on your face. It will show in your voice, and make you sound warmer. If your material is serious, there's no need to be jolly, of course.
If you're asked questions about facts, give the listener added value by telling what's important about that, or what you love about that, or why that's terrible, or challenging, or surprising, or relevant, or why people should care about that.
But don't go on and on and on. Make what you say count, so if they want more, they can ask for more. Look for cues that it's someone else's turn to talk. This can be particularly important in casual conversation.
Remember what else you want to promote -- your blog, the stores that have your book, where to find your columns on line, the papers you write for.
Make a picture of you available (put some effort into this, but a pic taken by a friend will d0 - natural light helps with amateur photography, so take it outdoors if you need to.)
Have a scanned JPG, low and high resolution both, available of your book cover.
If you're going to be on TV, don't wear white. Be impeccably groomed. Avoid nervous or unconscious gestures. (Get a friend to do a mock interview and tape it -- find your Achilles heel.)
Study other peoples' interviews, so you can see what looks/sounds good and what doesn't. Feel free to use them for practice.
Work on a press release, and have it available to tuck in sample books or online and in MS Word format for emailing. With permission of my friend, author Cheryl Moeller, I'll share a before-and-after of one with you soon.
Put links to your work/website in the signature of your email. Unbelievable how many people have checked mine out.
And that thing about we all stand on the shoulders of giants? I believe it, so remember to thank the giant! Be grateful, out loud, to those who got you where they are.
Read something from the Writing Porch list of book promotion books. See the link here: http://writingporch.blogspot.com/2008/06/which-publisher-offers-best-publicity.html
Have a cocktail blurb available at any moment: this is two or three sentences about you, your book, your work, in a nutshell.

Here's mine.

The Writing Porch's J. Louise Larson is a Texas-based writer whose work has appeared in major magazines and newspapers. She is the author of The FabJob Guide to Party Planning. She is the editor of The Ennis Journal and a contributor to The Waxahachie Daily Light.

The Writing Porch Author Q&A: Brie Hart

2008-06-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

The Writing Porch's J. Louise Larson interviews authors for other writers to watch, listen and learn from. To be considered for a Writing Porch Q&A, contact J. Louise Larson at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail.com

Author: Brie Hart is a nontraditional student studying communications in New York City. She’s also the founder and editor-in-chief of the Web magazine, http://www.StudentsOver30.com – The Ultimate Resource Guide for Nontraditional Students.

Book in progress: An untitled memoir about her experience of going back to college over 30 years old. "The memoir is about the challenges I faced when I decided to go back to college three years ago at 32 years old, both in my home life and school life," she said.

"This book started out as a journal to 'tell' someone what I was going through; it was like therapy. My husband didn’t understand my challenges and I didn’t know anyone who was in the same situation as me."

Even though she had read over 50 books to prepare herself for college as a nontraditional student, many of the books were not written for older students because they didn’t address the issues that many nontraditional students face (i.e. socialization, juggling family life and the effects of an academically dormant brain). "I want to show not only the brightside of college, but also the downside, to eliminate the element of surprise," Hart said.

"The most challenging thing about this book was when I realized that the world would know the inner workings of my mind. My actions don’t always represent the internal struggle that I may have before coming to a decision or making a choice. Since I’ve put my thoughts and actions on paper, my friends may finally get to know the true me," she said.
"I’ve always loved to provide people with information, and what better way to provide information if someone can live the past few years of my life while I’m in a classroom? A reader can take what they need from it," she said.

An outgoing person who loves to meet new people, she said she's looking forward to meeting potential readers via book signings and speaking engagements and the Web magazine she started, http://www.StudentsOver30.com.

She kept a journal with her on the way to class, so she could write things down as they happened. In between semesters, she’d incorporate the entries into a manuscript.

"I’m glad I did this because, oftentimes, my emotions were raw as I wrote them down," she said. "By the time the entries made it to my manuscript, I had made peace with the moment, so the journal entries kept me on the right track."

The best writing advice she's been given? "To embrace my voice and writing style. At first, I wasn’t confidant that people would 'hear' my voice and style because it wasn’t Joan Didion’s, although I admire her style. My writing style and voice were me, however eclectic that may be," Hart said.

Advice to other writers: "I always tell people I did my best writing when I didn’t know how to write because I shot from the hip. I’ve had to unlearn some of the techniques that creative writing and journalism writing classes taught me because I felt my writing became too stilted and lacked personality, as it once had," she said. "My advice? Learn the basic rules of writing, character development, pacing a novel and descriptive phrases, showing not telling—although sometimes telling works."

The Writing Porch's J. Louise Larson is a Texas-based writer whose work has appeared in major magazines and newspapers. She is the author of The FabJob Guide to Party Planning. She is the editor of The Ennis Journal and a contributor to The Waxahachie Daily Light.

Writing Porch Author Q&A: Yvona Fast

2008-06-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

The Writing Porch's J. Louise Larson interviews authors for other writers to watch, listen and learn from. To be considered for a Writing Porch Q&A, contact J. Louise Larson through the Comments feature: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=518671822507077211&postID=5145601248816180676

Author: Yvona Fast

Book: Employment for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome or Non-Verbal Learning Disability: Stories and Strategies.

Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2004, 272 pages, trade paper

Other publications: This book was recently translated into the Polish language; Yvona Fast's articles have been published in E, the Environment Magazine; Adirondack Daily Enterprise; Lake Placid News: American Small Farm; Vibrant Life: Home Cooking; Woman's Touch; American Health & Fitness; Health and Home; Equal Opportunity: Adirondack Explorer; OpEd News; Miami Family; ATA World; Asperger's Journal; Minority Engineer; Lifeglow; Advance; Christian Single.

Bio: Yvona Fast is an author, freelance writer, food columnist, editor, researcher and speaker living in northern NY state. For more information see her web site, www.wordsaremyworld.com

About Employment for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome or Non-Verbal Learning Disability: Stories and Strategies: My book is a career guide for individuals with Asperger Syndrome or Non-Verbal Learning disability. There are personal stories of people grappling with work issues as well as practical advice on dealing with these issues.

Why this book? I was driven to write this book. I saw the need through a listserv I was on for people with these disorders. They kept saying 'there is nothing out there for adults.' Now there is.

How did you get a book published? I sent out query letters to publishers, and got a response from Jessica Kingsley.

What was the biggest challenge for you about this book? For my writing and speaking, my biggest challenge is the marketing part of it.

What's your favorite kind of writing and why? I enjoy writing essays and articles. I enjoy doing the research. My wiring is fact-based. Writing fiction is much more difficult. I don't have the imagination and I find it very difficult to create scenes.

What advice would you give other writers? Networking is key. As in everything in life, it's not what you know but who you know that matters.

What projects do you have coming up? I write a weekly food column which I'm trying to syndicate to more newspapers. I'm also working on a cookbook and a memoir with my mom.

http://www.amazon.com/Employment-Individuals-Asperger-Non-Verbal-Disability/dp/184310766X

The Writing Porch's J. Louise Larson is a Texas-based writer whose work has appeared in major magazines and newspapers. She is the author of The FabJob Guide to Party Planning. She is the editor of The Ennis Journal and a contributor to The Waxahachie Daily Light.