Right in the midst of saying goodbye to friends from Tuscon on Saturday morning, I got the news that Lucky Press was going out of business on April 30 that's today! That announcement gave me a whole three day's notice. What a shock and what a scramble. It took me the better part of that day, a sleepless night, and until the next morning to get over it and consider this event an opportunity, not a disaster. First, I decided my book is way too important to abandon now. Actually I should have seen the writing on the wall when Janice, the owner of Lucky Press, informed me about a month ago that she would not produce my e-book in May as promised. She had been in ill health and just moved. Plus creating graphic designs seems to be her passion and provides her real livelihood. However, I was fortunate that she resonated with my book and offered to publish it. Her attention to detail with my text, photos, and book design was flawless. I am very proud of the book she produced. And it … [Read more...]
LA Times Festival of Books – was it worth it?
I spent most the last couple of days at the LA Times Festival of Booksheld at the University of Southern California campus. And most of the time I hung at the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society booth. I'm holding Paul's Putting a Face on Suicide poster I was pleased to bond with several of the GLAWS members who volunteered to provide hospitality to people interested in joining our group and to help those of us who paid for a selling and signing place at the booth. Here I am with author and actor, Ace Antonio Hall, my GLAWS colleague I also learned a thing or two about my author colleagues. Most were lovely and friendly but as expected kept to themselves and their customers during our signing sessions. However, the woman next to me used her space as well as mine until I told her next time she needs to pay for two places, not one. She didn't bat an eye and just leaned over my table space to yet again sign one of her posters for someone. But I won out in the end. My friends in … [Read more...]
Call to action – April Platform Challenge – Day 19
As part of the April Platform Challenge my task today is to ask you to do two things: Please click on the share buttons - they are big and prominent at the top of the right side bar on this page Please sign-up for my email feed see the little box just under the share buttons. It has room for you to type in your email address. Please click Submit when you've finished. And one more thing that is not part of my assignment: Please join me at the LA Times Festival of Books on the University of California campus either or both Saturday and Sunday June 21 and 22, from 12 noon until 2:00 pm. I'll be at the Greater Los Angeles Writer's Society booth number 970. Hopefully I'll be signing lots of copies of my book: Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide (Lucky Press, 2011). You can't miss me. I'm the one with the long gray hair. … [Read more...]
Please join me at the LA Times Festival of Books
I'm so excited. Next weekend I'll be participating as an author for the first time at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I'll hopefully be signing lots of books for the hordes of you who come by. I'll be at The Greater Los Angeles Writer's Society Booth Number 970 both Saturday April 21 and Sunday April 22 from 12 noon to 2:00 pm. Please let me sign my book for you. Just yesterday Leaving the Hall Light On got this fantastic 5-star review on Amazon: "An amazing exposition in prose and poetry of the anatomy and physiology of love, grief and fortitude. A must read!" And in case that doesn't convince you please take a look at my book trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TMOVHAmSlc … [Read more...]
Great news!
My memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide is now Number One in the bipolar and suicide prevention categories on Amazon. Here's the proof: … [Read more...]
April Platform Challenge – Day 2
Today's platform-building task is to set goals, including short-term and long-term goals. Robert Lee Brewer wants us to also make a list of goals to accomplish by the end of this year; and then, make a list of goals to accomplish before I die. Here are my goal lists: Short-term goals: Complete April Platform Challenge on My Name Is Not Bob blog Complete April PAD Challenge on Poetic Asides blog Get an ebook of my memoir ready for publication Submit poetry to chapbook and full-length book contests Have lots of sales at the LA Times Festival of Books Finish editing Keith Alan Hamilton's Nature IQ book of poetry Answer Daisy's questions for her SunnyRoomStudio blog Keep on with my social network marketing efforts Set up blog tour for release of my ebook Long-term goals (same as goals to accomplish by the end of 2012): Publish my ebook Produce and release a CD with Paul's music Finish my novel and find an agent for it Publish … [Read more...]
April Platform Challenge – Day 1
I've decided to enter Robert Lee Brewer's first ever April Platform Challenge. Anyone want to join me? Here's how he says it will work: On April 1, I'll post a task for writers to complete that day. (I didn't get April 1 until today) Each day afterward, through the month of April, there will be a new task for writers to complete on that day. At the end of the month, every writer who completes the challenge should have a stronger platform and be able to say they took part in the first ever April Platform Challenge. Day 1: Define yourself. I don't want you to worry about where you'd like to be or anything in the future. Instead, I want you to take a look at who you are, what you've done, what you're currently doing, etc. Below is a chart I'm using (with my own answers). Here's my information: Name (as used in byline): Madeline Sharples Position(s): Author of Leaving the Hall Light On (Lucky Press, 2011); Web journalist at Naturally Savvy and PsychAlive, … [Read more...]
Rejection – another cause of a U-turn
Talk about a U-turn. This must be my week. Here I am facing that U-turn again, and I need to find a way to work myself out of it. It is so easy to get in the rejection doldrums. Any little thing can set it off an unreturned telephone call or email, someone saying they'll do something and they don't, and of course that actual dreaded rejection letter. I'm sure most of my creative readers know what that dreaded word is about it. You've probably experienced it. I know I have. I actually got sixty-eight rejections (by actual letter or by silence) before I got a publishing contract for my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. So I thought I was immune to it. Turns out I'm not. Rejection hurts. In the last month my work has received two rejection emails. And since these rejections were from anthologies I've been featured in before, my first reaction was Whoa, what am I doing wrong here? I better stop and rethink my course of action. Did I just say I'm taking a U-turn? I think … [Read more...]
Social network and novel work updates
Social Network Update I've now joined BranchOut and Pinterest as if I needed more social network connections than I already have, e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Goodreads. I really don't know what BranchOut is all about and Pinterest is even more of a riddle. A recent pin on my Pinterest for the home board According to their websites: BranchOut makes it easy to search for jobs and see inside connections in your network. Our quick tour will help you discover BranchOut's powerful features. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. I haven't really worked with BranchOut yet because I haven't been actively looking for a job but of course one never … [Read more...]
Book clubs – a way to sell books
Two Tuesdays nights in a row I had the pleasure of being the guest of honor at book club discussions of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living With Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide (Lucky Press, 2011). Last week we had just a short question and answer discussion about the how I prepared the book and the benefits the writing of it had in my healing process. Only one person asked the questions. Last night in a room full of fifteen or so women, the questions kept flying from each one of them, starting with did I think I left anything out of the book to how do I feel twelve years later as I speak about the loss of my son. Does it still affect me emotionally? We also discussed what stigma is and does it still exist, psychopharmacology versus talk therapy, jails versus hospitals in caring for the mentally ill, and whether or not I think my son's former girlfriend has read my book (I don't think so, but of course I'll never really … [Read more...]
"It’s always a fiction"
My writing teacher and mentor Jack Grapes sent out the email reproduced (in part) here over the weekend. I am in complete agreement with him that our sentences are always fiction. We cannot recreate the past except through writing our own version of the facts. In my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, I wrote down the truth as I remembered it. Some of the sentences I wrote about my truth were not as my husband remembered, but since it is my book and not his version, he is okay with it. I'm not distorting his version. I am stating my own. Anyway, please read Jack's comments below. By the way, I took his method writing classes. I recommend them to you all. NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND, NOTES FROM OUTER SPACE: RE: David Ulin's review in Sunday L.A. Times, "Critic's Notebook: What is Fact, What is Fiction." http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-david-ulin-20120219,0,1862704.storySad to say, once again the subject of fact and fiction, fact and non-fiction, or fact and … [Read more...]
What makes a book sell?
I attended the Digital Author's Conference this past Saturday, sponsored by West Coast Writer's Conferences with special recognition and discounts to Greater Los Angeles Writer's Society members. Coincidentally, both are headed by Tony N. Todaro. Tony and his staff do a great job in getting interesting and informative speakers to their events. I found some of the information presented on Saturday so beneficial to my writing life I thought I'd share a little bit here. One was a mention of a blogger I recently started following (at the suggestion of Marketing the Muse's Marla Miller) Seth Godin. I have been marveling at how much meaningful information Seth can impart with just a few lines of short sentences, short paragraphs, and a lot of white space on the page. And Elaine Wilkes, Ph.D. who spoke about ways to place our books everywhere and how to write emails and books that get results said this is the kind of writing that is selling best right now: Short even one-line … [Read more...]
Revisiting the bucket list
When I first started this blog back in November 2007 its purpose was to write down a list of things to do and places to go before I die in homage to the movie The Bucket List. And even though this blog has become much more than that I post photos and poems here, I write about my writing life, I report on special happenings always in the back of my mind is the question: how am I doing in checking off the things on my list? So I went back to two of my earliest post and copied the lists below. And I've commented on each one so you and I will both know what I've accomplished. And then I've written down a few more things mainly about where in the world my husband and I want to travel before we're unable to travel anymore. That's the thing. I feel very strongly lately that my time is very finite, so I need to make every moment that I have left count. My Garden Buddha The List Climb down into the Grand Canyon not done yet, but still on the list. Go to the parts of the … [Read more...]
Shooting a video is hard work
The producer and director I'm checking things off my list of to dos. One of the things that's been on that list for months has been to make a three-minute video to post on Marla Miller's Women Over 45: Speak website - another tool for marketing my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. And with the help of my son, Ben, and daughter in law, Marissa, we finally filmed it. They are the producer and director. I wrote the script some weeks ago and spent quite a bit of time tweaking and going over it. The morning of the shoot I read through my lines a few times while I was on the elliptical at the gym. I made a few changes when I got home, and after I showered and dressed and did my hair and makeup, I started going over it again. Ben and Marissa had suggested I break the piece up in parts and that was brilliant, because not being used to memorizing anything, I needed the breaks. Speaking for three minutes straight would have been daunting and probably boring. Filming the speech in several … [Read more...]
My 2012 writing resolutions
It's time to get back to my writing life again. I know this list looks daunting but it's not much more than I've already been doing for the last six months or so. But I must say that writing this all down makes it seem more ambitious. Hopefully, this list will encourage my writing readers to join me. · Participate in the January River of Stones project notice something properly and write a small piece (stone) about it every day this month · Finish Doreen Cox' Adventures in Mother Sitting book and write a review · Read and comment on other writing blogs to get ready for a May blog tour promoting the release of the eBook and paperback editions of Leaving the Hall Light On · Write a thousand words a week on my novel · Write at least one poem a week use Robert E. Brewer's prompts at Poetry Asides as a jump start · Enter a poem into a contest or for publication at least once a month · Post a poem a week on my Facebook poetry group pages, Poetry Pact and Poets. … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday
This is the thirteenth year we are celebrating Paul's birthday without him. He would have been forty years old today. So as I've done in past years, I'm sharing some of my memories of him. It's amazing how clearly these things continue to stay in my mind and continue to beget even more memories of our boy, Paul. Happy Birthday, Paul, always with love. · I'll always remember he slept without closing his eyes all the way · I'll always remember he walked fast and way ahead of us · I'll always remember he had long, thick, black eyelashes surrounding clear-blue eyes · I'll always remember he played the piano, legs crossed at the knees, leaning way down over the keyboard · I'll always remember he liked to wear second-hand clothes and didn't mind if they were ripped · I'll always remember the way he stood at the pantry door munching almonds · I'll always remember he liked to climb trees, rocks, up the highest diving boards · I'll always remember he was meticulous … [Read more...]
Paul and his brother, Ben
Although our boys were very different from one another Paul was a brainy musician and computer nerd and Ben is a brainy athlete and actor they always loved each other very much. They respected each other's differences and talents. I've gathered some photos of them together. How could I not celebrate the brothers during this month of celebrating Paul's life? A Poem That Wants To Be for Ben* They are always about Paul, my dead son the one who died of his own free will so many years ago. My hordes of poems go on like a mantra: his mania, depression, his delusions, escapades, his suicide. They never fail to mention his piercing blue eyes, the little half smile that never showed his teeth, the smoky smell and the way he slumped over the piano like the thinker as he played. Paul and his death have been my muse. Ben's living eyes brim over with love as he looks down and … [Read more...]
The famous black bomber jacket
It's getting cold enough for heavy jackets especially when I go to the gym early in the morning. And I have the perfect one Paul's black bomber. I've written about it, I have vivid memories of Paul wearing it, and since he died I've worn it many times. But, I've never shown it off until now. I'm happy to say it still looks fresh and new no major holes, no fading. I guess it likes hanging in my office closet, transformed from the closet Paul once used. Hopefully, it will stay in this condition for many years to come. How about that orange lining? Black Bomber Swaddled in this black bomber jacket all weekend, I am safe from the Big Sur chill. It's too large for me. And that's okay. It was Paul's. I bought it for him years ago at American et Cie on La Brea before he went crazy and decided to leave us way before his time. I like how it snuggles me, like he's in there too giving me a hug. It's the only piece of his clothing I have left. I've given away the rest: his … [Read more...]
