I fell in love with writing in grade school and took journalism and was on the newspaper staff in high school. I attended the University of Wisconsin as a journalism major, then transferred to UCLA my senior year to complete a degree in English. Because jobs for women journalists were few in the 1960s in Los Angeles, I began a long career as a technical writer and editor, proposal manager, web designer and content developer in the aerospace industry. And I must say that was a great choice because my job paid very well, and I'm still able to work from time to time as a consultant years after I officially retired (I'm just about to embark on a four-month job to help a group of engineers write a proposal to the U.S. Air Force). Plus, I've been able to transfer what I learned as a technical writer over to my memoir and fiction writing. Here are six things I learned: Plan before you write. I had an outline before I started my memoir and a list of scenes that guided my fiction … [Read more...]
Remembering Thanksgiving 2014
We were thrilled to celebrate Thanksgiving with my sister and her family in Portland Oregon this year and were overwhelmed with the gorgeous fall colors. We don't have trees turning yellow, orange, and deep reds in Southern California nor do we have the bountiful rain that fell in Portland while we were there - in fact we hardly have any rain at all. I took the following shots through a window that was sprinkled with rain drops. The day after Thanksgiving we went to visit the Oregon pinot noir wine region. Here is a wine press prominently displayed on the patio of Anne Amie Winery (the palm tree in the background made me feel right at home). Besides some lovely pinots I also sampled dark chocolate covered hazelnuts that are a main crop in the region. … [Read more...]
A new poetry project
Poetry has been on my mind this past week. I submitted a new poem to the Writer's Digest poetry contest, and I sent several poems to my friend Keith Alan Hamilton as my first contribution to our joint endeavor of an anthology of poems and smart phone images. I'm also again participating in Robert Lee Brewer's November Chapbook Challenge although as of today I'm about six days behind. Since I won't share the poem I submitted to the contest, here are a couple from my project with Keith. I'd love to know what you think. Morning Walk I walk in the dark of the morning. watching as gray clouds move toward the horizon's edge, and the sun begins to peek out. It's almost a tug of war, the dark gray versus the sun's rays that burst forth to take over the night sky. Then, almost in an instant the sun's warmth rests on my shoulders and I forget the chill of the dark. The Lone Poles The … [Read more...]
Saturday, November 22, is International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day
Throughout the fifteen years since our son took his life, I've met many folks in person and through groups on Facebook who like me are survivors of suicide loss. So, I thought I'd remind all of us that tomorrow, Saturday, November 22, is International Suicide Survivors Day, an event always falling on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I did a little research about how this day started and found out that Senator Harry Reid introduced a resolution to the United States Senate which led to the creation of National Survivors of Suicide Day in 1999. Senator Reid is a survivor of his father's suicide. Every year since the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention sponsors the International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day. The AFSP website says: International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day is the one day a year when people affected by suicide loss gather around the world at events in their local communities to find comfort and gain understanding as they share stories of healing and hope. On … [Read more...]
Author David Berner discusses writing about our lives
Our Choices guest today, David Berner, shares with us the essence of memoir writing. He tells us what it is not - a series of diary entries that relate every detail of a life - and what it is - a story that begins with a moment rounded out with the details related to that moment. My memoir Leaving the Hall Light On, begins with the moment of my son's suicide. The rest of the book details the events leading up to that moment and its aftermath. David Berner's memoir, Any Road Will Take You There, starts with a five-thousand mile road trip that enables him to find peace and fulfillment in being a dad after a series of heartbreaking and life-changing personal events. Please welcome David Berner. Making the Choice to Write About Your Life by David Berner A woman came up to me after a workshop I conducted several years ago about writing memoir. She held in her hand a thick manuscript and told me she was writing about her life, one full of adventures, one she wanted to share. I've … [Read more...]
Now it’s all about the verbs
I've finished another round of revisions by marking up my novel chapters with a yellow marker to indicate telling instead of showing passages and noting with a red pen places where I need to add and subtract material and provide major rewrites - even whole chapters. Now I'm going through the book again paying attention to verbs. One of my beta readers said: I also sense that there are opportunities here for verbs that better-convey how people are using the space. For example, you can surely upgrade words like "watches," "going in," "been in," and "give up." Although maybe there's a deliberate simplicity in choosing such clear verbs, I also sense that there's more to observe that we're missing because of [this] plain style. This reader was so thorough that he went through the text line by line indicating where I could improve my verbs. For example: "He gets out..." My reader said, ˜Another opportunity to convey mood with stronger verbs:' "He skips out..." or "He pops … [Read more...]
Welcome our guest Linda Appleman Shapiro
Thanks to WOW! Women on Writing blog tours I'm pleased to welcome author and psychotherapist Linda Appleman Shapiro. I feel so fortunate to have her here on the first day of her tour to promote her new memoir, She's Not Herself: A Psychotherapist's Journey Into and Beyond Her Mother's Mental Illness, published in September 2014 by Dream of Things. Here's Linda, as she speaks openly about mental illness coming out of the closet and constantly being in the news. Most importantly, she personalizes what it is like to live with a family member suffering from a mental illness by sharing her experience growing up with a mother who suffered from major depressive disorder. An Open Discussion about Keeping Secrets about Family Illnesses by Linda Appleman Shapiro Secrets about an illness in a family is the breeding ground for a wide range of emotional problems, and, yes, even mental illness. I've learned this not only from personal experience, but also from 30 years as a … [Read more...]
Company is coming tomorrow – Linda Appleman Shapiro
Linda Appleman Sharpiro will join me here tomorrow on the first stop of her WOW! Women on Writing blog tour to promote her memoir, She's Not Herself: A Psychotherapist's Journey Into and Beyond Her Mother's Mental Illness. To give you a little advance information about her memoir I've posted my review here today. As you'll see I was very much taken by her book. My review of She's Not Herself: A Psychotherapist's Journey Into and Beyond Her Mother's Mental Illness I love survival memoirs and this is certainly one of the best I've read. It resonated with me and touched me in many ways: the author and I both grew up in the 1940s and 1950s, we were both children of immigrant parents hers from Russia, mine from Eastern Europe. And most important of all we both had to find a way to grow up and thrive while our mothers were never themselves. The author's mother suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and depression, my mother battled with borderline manic depression (undiagnosed). … [Read more...]
Jerry Waxler compares the benefits of journal and memoir writing
I'm so pleased to host Jerry Waxler on his third WOW! Women on Writing blog tour stop. He generously allowed me to conduct a two-part interview with him in September 2013 about the role of memoir in our lives today (here and here). At that time he also discussed his wonderful and very informative book about memoir writing, Memoir Revolution (see my review below). Today Jerry writes about the many benefits of journal and memoir writing and compares the two forms. Thanks so much, Jerry, for being here and providing your expertise to the many readers here at Choices. Comparing the Benefits of Journal Writing and Memoir Writing By Jerry Waxler I discovered the benefits of journal writing in the late 1970s when a spiritual teacher suggested, I write my thoughts as if in a letter to God. Allowing my thoughts and feelings to flow onto the page helped me maintain my poise so effectively, I kept going for years. When I began to read about the healing benefits of journal writing, I … [Read more...]
It is possible to have bipolar disorder and live a good life
Tom Wootton, a principle investigator of the Bipolar IN Order study discussed below, asked me to share about it and how people with bipolar disorder may participate in a full online course (a savings of $399.95) that will teach them how to thrive. Tom is also the founder of Bipolar Advantage. His website states: "There are many people talking about learning to thrive in spite of having bipolar disorder. For the most part they are talking about functioning during periods of remission and hoping that the periods of mania and depression won't destroy their lives when they return. Many others are choosing to pretend that they are in a permanent remission and are unprepared for the real possibility that mania and depression will happen again. If we are to truly thrive we have to accept that we will have periods of mania and depression and find a way to thrive during them instead of only thriving during remission. Bipolar IN Order is the only program designed specifically for that purpose. … [Read more...]
Does NaNoWriMo make sense for me or not?
I'd love to get involved with the NaNoWriMo challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days, but I'm not sure it's right for me. I'm almost finished with the first run through of my revisions based on my beta readers' comments on my existing novel and plan to be complete in time to start the challenge on November 1. However, I don't know if making major revisions and rewrites rather than writing a new novel qualifies. I know the warning not to edit as we write makes a huge amount of sense and definitely slows down our writing. Take my advice for those of you in the challenge. Just keep you fingers moving. Don't stop to think. Just write. However, my situation is totally different. I've already written my first draft and even spent hours and hours revising and editing it. Now it's ready for another major revision. As I've marked up my hard copy with my yellow marker and red pen, I've identified places to cut, to add, to rearrange, to carry through a whole slew of … [Read more...]
My review of Lifting the Curtain by D. A. Russell
When I posted D.A. Russell's essay about how our urban high schools do not provide even minimal education on September 10, I hadn't yet read his book, Lifting the Curtain: The disgrace we call urban high school education. I have since remedied that. I found Lifting the Curtain fascinating, an eye-opening expose of how teachers and administrators, parents, and the students themselves have all played a role in the recent demise of quality education in our high schools. Here's my review of Lifting the Curtain: The recent convictions of high school teachers and administrators who changed students' test scores drew me to D.A. Russell's book, Lifting the Current: the disgrace we call urban high school education. And as I got into the book I found that changing test scores is just the tip of the iceberg. All involved students, teachers/administrators, and parents cheat just so the students will pass and the schools will continue to receive the funding they need to stay … [Read more...]
Reviews are powerful
Ever since my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, received its first review, I've felt how powerful reviews can be. Whether good or bad, what a reviewer says directly affects the author of the book reviewed and its salability. I found the following quote recently that I think all reviewers (besides book-review-editors) ought to think about when they write a book review: "Nearly every writer writes a book with a great amount of attention and intention and hopes and dreams. And it's important to take that effort seriously and to recognize that a book may have taken ten years of a writer's life, that the writer has put heart and soul into it. And it behooves us, as book-review-editors, to treat those books with the care and attention they deserve, and to give the writer that respect." - Pamela Paul, New York Times Book Review editor in a "Poets & Writers interview. My Choices guest today, Nina Guilbeau, the author of God Doesn't Love Us All the Same, discusses her thoughts about … [Read more...]
The beauty of flowers
This past week I've been surrounded by the beauty of flowers. I took the challenge to flood Facebook with flowers to break the saturation of negative images and videos, and promised my friends who liked this post that I'd choose a flower for them. As a result, for the last three days I've been posting some wonderful flower photos on my page. Please take a look here. Also last weekend while we visited family in Seattle, we attended the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum. His glass flowers and sculptures are sensational. He says his glass subject matter was greatly influenced by his mother's flower garden while he was growing up. This museum reminds me so much of a greenhouse, as can be seen in the photo below. So if you're a Chihuly fan as I am, here are a few photos of my favorites at the museum. Note that the exhibit is both inside the greenhouse-like building and outside in the garden. I highly recommend you see them in person if you get the chance. … [Read more...]
Guess the true statement and win Jessica Bell’s thriller, White Lady! (Statement #82)
To celebrate the release of Jessica Bell's latest novel, WHITE LADY, she is giving away an e-copy (mobi, ePub, or PDF) to the first person to correctly guess the one true statement in the three statements below. To clarify, two statements are lies, and one is true: The following is a line from the book: A blood smear frames the door handle. Unlike my husband, who kills out of necessity, I kill for the mere thrill of seeing fear in my victim's eyes. I jam my fingers down my throat, convulse and heave as if I were vomiting the intestine of a cow What do you think? Which one is true? Write your guess in the comments, along with your email address. Comments will close in 48 hours. If no-one guesses correctly within 48 hours, comments will stay open until someone does. Want more chances to win? You have until October 31 to visit all the blogs where Jessica will share a different set of true and false statements on each one. Remember, each blog is open to comments for 48 … [Read more...]
I’m making slow progress with my novel revisions
I've posted all the comments from my novel's beta readers on the wall, I've posted the entire novel on the wall, and I'm working through the comments by scribbling page after page with yellow marker and red pen. I use the yellow marker to highlight where I explain and/or use expository language to tell rather than show (a lesson learned from the Writers Digest tutorial, Revise for Publication: Revision Strategies That Will Improve Any Draft). And, I'm actually rewriting with the red pen, with special emphasis on clearing up inconsistencies like one of my characters has a black bushy beard in one scene and a light brown beard in another improving on the quality of my verbs, and further developing my characters - while making sure I describe them consistently throughout. I storyboarded my memoir when I worked on its revisions as well. However, this time I actually saved time, wall space, and printing costs by reducing the size of the book to single space rather than space and … [Read more...]
I’m so pleased to reintroduce memoirist Kathleen Pooler
Kathleen (Kathy) Pooler and I met virtually a couple of years ago while hanging out on Google+, talking about - you guessed it - memoirs. And we've been buddies ever since sharing our books, sharing about memoir writing techniques and dos and don'ts, and forever wishing we'd someday meet in person. Alas, that hasn't happened yet. However, I'm pleased to be in her company any way I can. Today I'm reintroducing Kathy on Choices (see her other guest appearances here and here) during her WOW! Women on Writing book tour, and I congratulate her on her powerful and brave memoir, Ever Faithful to His Lead : My Journey Away From Emotional Abuse, a true life, tears-to-triumph story of self-defeating detours and dreams lost and found. About Ever Faithful to His Lead: A young woman who loses sight of the faith she has been brought up with attempts to find her way in the world, rejecting her stable roots in lieu of finding adventure and romance. Despite periods of spiritual renewal in … [Read more...]
One Lovely Blog Award – paying it forward
I'm paying it forward in thanks for the One Lovely Blog Award I recently received from my dear friend Cate Russell-Cole. It definitely made my day to be included in her list of awardees. And it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm going to pass the award to some of my writing friends who will hopefully take the opportunity to pay it forward as well. Here are the rules: One Lovely Blog Award Rules: 1. I need to thank the person who nominated me. check! 2. Share 7 things about myself that you still may not know. check! 3. Nominate up to 15 bloggers. check! 4. Notify the nominees that I have done so. check! 5. Put the logo of the award on my blog site. check! Now seven things about me that you may not know: I worked as a technical writer/editor and proposal manager in the aerospace industry for thirty years after getting a degree in English. Both my parents were born in eastern Europe Mom from Lithuania, Dad from Poland. They met and fell in love in Chicago, … [Read more...]
Meet my guest, Tara Meissner, author of Stress Fracture
My son, a talented jazz composer and musician, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age twenty-one. As I got more and more informed about the disorder I heard that studies linked creativity with bipolar disorder, and my son's behavior seemed to indicate the studies were true. He refused to take his medications because they evened him out too much and hindered his ability to create his music. He, and I imagine others with bipolar disorder, very much liked their manic highs. However, I, like my guest today, Tara Meissner, author of Stress Fracture: A Memoir of Psychosis, never believed that all people with bipolar disorder are creative. It is also not true that all people with mental illness are violent, as so many people believe. Thank you Tara Meissner for being at Choices while on your WOW! Women on Writing book tour. I'm so glad you are here to share your views and bipolar experience with us. Being open about this disorder will go a long way to help erase stigma. Bipolar and … [Read more...]
