Denis Ledoux, creator of The Memoir Network and a memoir-writing mentor, just posted a wonderful five-star review of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. His words make me feel so proud that I couldn't resist sharing them here. Denis' review: I would have been proud to have written this book. How to add something new to a memoir that has received such a huge and positive response of reviewers? This is a good book that griped me from the beginning. The subject is tragic. Being a widower myself who has gone through his own overwhelming grief, I can attest that Madeline Sharples' observation and her writing of that observation are so accurate. So much here resonated with me. It was hard to read at times as this memoir evoked sorrow for Madeline Sharples (and for me) but it was also supportive to read about the author's journey. Madeline Sharples is clearly a polished writer and it was often a pleasure to read a turn of phrase she had crafted and then to reread it. The book … [Read more...]
Introducing Patti Hawn, author of Good Girls Don’t
A few weeks ago two friends told me about Patti Hawn and suggested I meet her. After all, she lives in my hometown, she's written a memoir, and she's about my age. Without missing a beat, I sent her a private message on Facebook and suggested we get together. And she accepted and named one of my favorite restaurants where we could grab lunch - I liked her already. We met for lunch a few days later (a blind date, so to speak), and we talked for an hour and a half without stopping. We also exchanged memoirs. Thus a beautiful new friendship was born. I read Patti's memoir, Good Girls Don't, almost immediately and was taken by how detailed and intimate it is (I've shared my review at the end of this post). So I asked her if she'd write a guest post for Choices about how she wrote her deeply personal memoir with such clarity. Here's Patti: The Gift of Memories By Patti Hawn I wrote my book Good Girls Don't shortly after reuniting with the son I surrendered to … [Read more...]
Three memoir-writing tips from Pamela Jane
My Choices guest today, Pamela Jane, shares how she wrote her memoir, An Incredible Talent for Existing: A Writer's Story. It took her twenty-two years. However, it was well worth the time and effort. Here is Pamela Jane and her three tips for those of us struggling with our own memoir writing. Please give her a warm welcome. She will gladly respond to the comments you post below. Shaping Your Narrative What to Leave in and What to Take Out of Your Memoir by Pamela Jane "The writer of any work, and particularly any nonfiction work, must decide two crucial points: what to put in and what to leave out..." Annie Dillard, author of An American Childhood You want to write a shapely story with a taut narrative thread, a story that will draw readers into the world you are creating. But how do you know what to leave in and what to take out, especially in a memoir? In early drafts everything you write seems evocative and beguiling. There are so many different roads to take, … [Read more...]
Reading about Corita Kent at {pages}: a bookstore
This past Thursday evening I attended a book reading at my local independent bookstore, {pages}. April Dammann, author of Corita Kent. Art and Soul. The Biography. (Angel City Press), spoke to us about the wonderful artist and teacher of the 1960s formerly known as Sister Mary Corita. I was most interested in attending this event because I have four of Corita's serigraphs hanging on my family room wall. I fell in love with them in the 1960s when I first heard of this rebellious nun, modern artist, and activist for social justice who combined bright colors, whimsical shapes, and political and/or literary messages in her artwork. And I still enjoy having her work in my house. Her work is relevant. Her messages are universal. For example, she wrote two messages in the Life piece (upper right): Life is a complicated business fraught with mystery and some sunshine. P. Roth Let the morning time drop all its petals on me. Life I love you. All is groovy. Simon & … [Read more...]
A fruitful poetry workshop
February has been a busy month - complete with a new regime of tennis lessons and practice matches, a poetry workshop, and a focused effort to walk more miles a day to get ready for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's AFSP Out of the Darkness 16-18 mile walk in May. The poetry workshop ended last week, and right now I like being off the hook to come up with another new poem. However, I very much liked the small group there were six of us including the instructor and the friendly but pointed critiques we gave each other on our work. To start the weekly three-hour workshop off, the instructor would give us a warm-up prompt that required us to write something poetry or prose in real-time and then share it with the group. One week she asked us to write down an unusual gift we've given or received. I wrote down: TisBest gift certificates I give to my nieces and nephews that enable them to make a donation to a charity of their choice. She also asked us to … [Read more...]
Do you have an organized place to write?
As much as I like to say I'm an organized person and that I have a place for everything, after reading Emily Johnson's suggestions, I realize I have a lot to learn and a lot to do. I'm very happy to welcome Emily here today. She has some great ideas on organization which will not be hard to implement. Here's Emily: A Little-Known Way to Boost Productivity: Workplace Organization by Emily Johnson Once your workplace is well-organized, you can work faster as there is nothing distracting. In fact, your workplace impacts creativity, concentration, and cleverness. If you want to enjoy the working process, don't waste time on extra things, and grow revenue, pay attention to your workplace organization. First things first: answer the following questions. Do you¦: ...have two zones for work and relax? ...set up a proper lighting? ...have an ergonomic office chair? ...keep your table clean? ¦use modern gadgets? If you have at least one negative answer, then you need to … [Read more...]
Journaling – one of the greatest investments of my life
Dawn Herring, creator of the #JournalChat Live Facebook Group, and my journaling mentor, has started off 2016 with a #JournalChat Live open house. She has asked us to share if journaling has been one of the greatest investments in our lives. Dawn says, We keep journals to express ourselves, to create positive change, and become more personally empowered, right? So, we may see journaling as one of the Greatest Investments of our lives AND/OR, we may have experienced clarity and clear direction as a RESULT of our journaling practice that has led us to something that truly changed our lives for the better. Her statement is indeed true for me. Here is why. My Journaling My Greatest Investment By Madeline Sharples During lunch with a new friend last week, she asked me about my writing projects. I shared that I am writing a lot of poetry these days and that I'm also revising my novel for about the 15th time. Then I told her I journal every day. That made her back straighten and … [Read more...]
The power of the movie Spotlight
I loved the movie Spotlight, about a group of Boston Globe reporters who uncovered and reported on the alleged abuse and rape performed by Catholic priests and its ensuing cover-up. The movie's ensemble cast, including Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Live Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d'Arcy, and Stanley Tucci, has been nominated for six Oscars and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture, among others. The movie is so well-written, acted, directed. Really what more can I say? Well there is more. Spotlight was highlighted in the LA Times today because it was screened at a Vatican commission on clerical sex abuse. Here's what LA Times correspondent, Tom Kington, wrote: A Vatican commission on clerical sex abuse gathered Thursday for a private screening of Spotlight, the Oscar-nominated film about abuse by Boston priests, even as Pope Francis came under fire for failing to act on the crisis. The … [Read more...]
Equal pay for women is a must
I'm encouraged with the news that women in the movie industry are questioning why they are paid less that their male counterparts. Jennifer Lawrence wrote an essay about it in October when it was revealed she made considerably less than her male counterparts in the film American Hustle. Now Cate Blanchett is praising Lawrence. Blanchett says: ''I applaud her for saying that because, forget the film industry for a second, it encourages women in other industries to say, 'You know what, I'm not receiving equal pay for equal work here.' In 2005 I received a Women of Achievement (WOA) award from the aerospace company I worked for. The following year I was asked to speak at the WOA awards luncheon about the changing roles of women over the last few decades I guess the committee knew I was old enough to have witnessed these changes personally. The speech focused on inequality in my workplace. Since I retired in 2010, I can't speak for the situation now. I only hope that the … [Read more...]
My Choices guest today is: Jennifer-Lynn Keniston
My Choices guest today is Jennifer-Lynn Keniston, author of Afta-U. Here she tells us how she balances the fear and thrill of writing dark novels. Like Jennifer-Lynn, I believe that balance is the key to success in all our live's undertaking. I welcome Jennifer-Lynn, and I wish her huge success in all her writing. How to leave the rollercoaster of emotions on the page/computer screen when stepping away from writing a dark novel by Jennifer-Lynn Keniston As a child, I could ride all the rides in an amusement park including the big rollercoasters with daring declines and twisting turns. From what I can recall, a rollercoaster ride can be both thrilling and terrifying. When I sit down to write more dialogue and piece together a dark novel, it is like I am sitting on an amusement park rollercoaster all over again. And I'm hoping I haven't eaten too much cotton candy and fried dough before the ride starts. Emotions begin to battle one another. Now a days though, I have vertigo so I … [Read more...]
Hemingway on writing and revision
I've been reading Brain Pickings a couple of years now. It is full of wonderful information about authors, artists, and the whole world of creativity. This past week's issue was particularly interesting to me since I'm rigorously working on revising my novel. Arnold Samuelson, who spent a year with Ernest Hemingway in 1934, left a book called, With Hemingway: A Year in Key West and Cuba discovered by his daughter in 1981 after Samuelson's death. The book contains the very valuable writing advice that Hemingway related to him. I'll share some of Hemingway's writing advice here, but please go to Brain Pickings for the real meat or read the book: The most important thing I've learned about writing is never write too much at a time¦ Never pump yourself dry. Leave a little for the next day. "The main thing is to know when to stop... When you're still going good and you come to an interesting place and you know what's going to happen next, that's the time to stop. The … [Read more...]
A progress report
In John Lennon's song, Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy), he sings: Life is what happens when you're making other plans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_j-tpmdPlI My mother always said something similar: Man plans, and God laughs. Well, life was sure happening to me last week. I worked diligently on my book, as I said I would do in my previous blog post, for the first three days, and I actually made some great progress. Then boom! It all fell apart. My husband, Bob, woke up early last Thursday morning with shortness of breath. I took him to urgent care and he got an EKG. With those results the doctor there said take him to emergency at our local hospital. And we were off and running. Two and a half days later and tests to rule out a heart attack, pneumonia, blood clots in his lungs, and congestive heart failure, he was feeling better. So they sent him home. Less than 24 hours later, he was short of breath again even worse. This time we called his own doctor (who had … [Read more...]
Time to put my ass in the chair
I'm a little late getting started this year. Two much movie going I guess. Last week we saw three more movies: The Big Short, Concussion, and Brooklyn. All great I'd give them all an A. But now it's time to get back to work. I told myself I guess the word is resolved to open up my novel again and see if I can bring it back to life. I put it aside at the end of last April when I went to work my consulting job in Colorado and sent it off to several beta readers. I was also devastated by one particularly scathing review that literally stopped me in my tracks. But, enough is enough. I've put a lot of work into that book. I cannot just throw it all out. I was also encouraged by the movie Brooklyn. Like my novel it's about immigrating to America. Of course our stories are very different but it makes me feel that immigration stories are still alive and well not like the scathing reviewer said. Plus there are several boarding house scenes in the movie that are great role … [Read more...]
Happy New Year
I'll wait until 2016 to write about what's next for me and my writing life. This is the time to ring in the new year. Happy New Year everyone! Thanks for being here with me since November 2007. … [Read more...]
End of year movie binge
When I was a little girl my parents took me downtown Chicago to see movies that had a stage show as an opening act. I remember seeing Nat King Cole and Frankie Laine (not my favorite), but I found the movies the most exciting. Sometimes I'd go with my older brother, and I never minded that I had to watch his cowboy and war movie choices. As I got older I went with my friends and got to pick what I wanted to see recommendations right out of the stacks of movie magazines I read from cover to cover. So I was a well-trained movie freak and that hasn't changed at all. In fact, movies became one of my biggest diversions after my son died in 1999 - something I wrote a lot about in my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. I could sit in the theater and forget about all the pain in my heart. I always love to go at this time of the year when the new movies come out to compete for all the up and coming awards: Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild, Academy Awards you name … [Read more...]
A belated Hanukkah celebration with recipes
Since I was at Esalen at Big Sur California during most of Hanukkah, I promised my son and daughter-in-law we'd have a belated Hanukkah celebration after I got home, complete with my home-made potato pancakes - Latkes - a recipe I've been making for years. So to get into the Hanukkah spirit I'm going to share tomorrow's menu with recipes for the chicken dish and the pancakes. I plan to serve cheese and crackers and an olive tapenade as appetizers, a spinach salad, and a broccolini side dish to go along with the chicken and Latkes. I don't yet know about dessert since my husband is in charge of that. Since I'm both lactose intolerant and gluten-free I can't eat the dessert anyway, so he'll choose something he likes. The following recipe for potato pancakes comes from a year's old issue of the now defunct Gourmet Magazine. Lacy Potato Pancakes 2 large eggs 1/3 cup beer ½ cup flour 1 teaspoon salt Fresh pepper to taste 1 onion halved lengthwise and sliced thin 2 … [Read more...]
Leaving the Hall Light On is a top 12 book!
Nancy Mills, founder of the Spirited Woman, put out this post this morning. I'm so proud to have Leaving the Hall Light On on the Spirited Woman top 12 book list. THE HOLIDAYS are such a glorious time to gift a book or to buy one as a gift for yourself. On our Holiday Top 12 Book Pick list, we've included an array of gifted authors to help inspire and uplift you. We urge you to support these spirited talents! Save this list all year round! A great book resource for you. WRITING SPIRIT - by New York Times bestselling author Lynn Andrews, invites readers into her world. Lynn explains how being true to your Spirit is the key to fulfillment in your work. She leads you on a journey into yourself finding the truth within you, your creative soul and teaches you what it truly means to be a writer. www.lynnandrews.com. EXUBERANT WOMEN DON'T AGE - NO TIME TO WASTE - by author Elizabeth Upton is an empowering guide for women of all ages and all walks of life. While … [Read more...]
