Meet author Lisa Braxton, who is visiting us on her WOW! Women on Writing virtual book tour. Lisa's lyrical memoir about grief - Dancing Between the Raindrops - will make you want to hold on to your loved ones and protect their memories for your lifetime. She also assures you, you are not alone. Lisa has also written an essay for Choices about how a writing group saved her manuscript. We all need to listen to that. Here's Lisa: My Writing Group Saved My Manuscript by Lisa Braxton Since childhood I knew I wanted to write a novel. I’d curl up with my copy of Little Women or Charlotte’s Web and dream of creating stories of my own. But I wasn’t able to begin the work of fulfilling my dream until many decades later. My career in journalism helped me learn the fundamentals of writing a story, how writing doesn’t really begin until rewriting, and the importance of a good editor making a story even better. But journalism was all consuming. As a reporter covering stories about … [Read more...]
More poems about moving
While my moving days are still clear in my mind, here's a few more poems I've written about that awful chore. So many decisions, so many memories, so much pain involved. Bob, your favorite Yellow leather chair Is going out of our lives. It doesn’t fit In my new home So I’m giving It to Joe. I know He’ll take good care Of it and remember you Whenever he sits in it. And I won’t ever forget How you looked Snuggled up in it Dozing and relaxing There even when You were the most sick. I don’t need The physical chair Or the physical you To have all The best memories Of our undying love. This is the penultimate Moving day. The piles of boxes Filled the whole garage And now are Packed tight in two trucks. Soon the furniture Will go in. By close of business The trucks will be packed And ready For delivery tomorrow. And with every step The movers make I remember the story Of the things they carry. We lived with an armoire In our bedroom For over twenty years. It held our … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday Bob!
My husband Bob is bright and shiny this morning on this his eighty-third birthday. Since just two weeks ago he had a bad bought of coughing as a result of bronchitis, I am very pleased he is doing so well now. Eighty-three WOW! So all I've got to say today is: Happy Birthday Bob - and I wish you many many more happy and healthy days - just like today. … [Read more...]
Happy New Year Everyone
It's almost the end of a very stressful year. Let's all rejoice in the new year 2020. Let's look forward, not back! Here's some good words to keep in mind during the new year as well. Much love to all. … [Read more...]
A little bragging is in order
Since my new historical novel, Papa's Shoes, was published by Aberdeen Bay about a month and a half ago, it has received some fabulous reviews. And even a few requests for a sequel - stay tuned about that. Here are three five-star examples: A Love Story with Acceptance, written by Lisa. Oh my goodness, I enjoyed reading this book so much. The story line starts with Ira, father & husband, and his journey of leaving Poland to make a life for his family in the United States of America. Once in America, as he is saving money to bring his wife and sons to join him, he receives news that all but one son died of the plague. Ugh! He returns and takes care of business then returns to America with his wife left to raise their remaining son and the baby on the way. Ruth, his wife, mails a pink string to Ira once Ava is born. When enough funds allow, Ira sends for Ruth, Charlie (their oldest son), and Ava. This is when the story shifts from one of Ira and Ruth to that of Charlie and … [Read more...]
Ojai love
We spent this last weekend with our friends in Ojai. She and I met way back in 1961 when I first moved to Los Angeles. Ironically we were introduced by my ex-husband and his family. Though my first marriage broke apart, our friendship has lived on with increasing love all these years. I always say she was my first friend in LA. We drove up during the rain on Saturday and I was overwhelmed by the brilliant shades of greens in the landscape around us. Usually the land is dry and brown. But not this year because of all the rain we've had. We spent our time together eating and talking and talking and eating, walking around downtown Ojai, shopping for orchids at the Farmers' Market, and finally hugging and kissing goodbye Sunday afternoon. We are so fortunate to have long-time friends who we stay in touch with and who we have loved all these years. I also took a four-mile walk on Sunday morning on my own. You know me by now. I find a way to exercise every chance I get. Here are a … [Read more...]
Finding love and Michael French
Today I'm participating in a group blogging! WOW! Women On Writing has gathered a group of blogging buddies to write about finding love in unimaginable places. Why this topic? We're celebrating the release of Michael French's twenty-fourth novel. Once Upon a Lie (Terra Nova Books) is an exploration of the secrets families keep, and the ways those secrets can tear a family apart. Visit The Muffin to read what Michael has to say on finding love in unexpected places and view the list of all my blogging buddies. Visit Michael's website to find out more about the author. We also have a review of the novel here (and a giveaway). So I've decided to post a couple of poems as my contribution to the topic of "finding love in unimaginable places." One is about the night my husband and I fell in love (it appears in my memoir Leaving the Hall Light On): Forty (plus) Years He folds her in his arms and looks down at her with his deep blue eyes and a small, closed-mouth smile that … [Read more...]
A wonderful 5-star review
Thank you so much for this great review of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide. That makes 206 reviews total, with 66 percent of them with five stars. This review made my day. "as she explores on the page what it is like to attempt to create normalcy within a family life ... Exploring the real life story of the unspeakable tragedy of losing a son to suicide, author Madeline Sharples has written an affecting and heart wrenching memoir entitled LEAVING THE HALL LIGHT ON. A deeply personal and first hand account of struggling with her son's battle with bipolar disorder and the effect on the family, the memoir delves deeply within the author's consciousness, as she explores on the page what it is like to attempt to create normalcy within a family life where little exists. She tells her story with courage and abiding honesty never shirking from the hard truths of a life filled with so … [Read more...]
The April PAD challenge ends today
I feel so accomplished. I finished Robert Lee Brewer's April 2016 poem-a-day (PAD) challenge 30 days of prompts from the Poetic Asides editor at Writer's Digest. Robert's prompts are a little out there but always a challenge, meant to find the quirkiness in my brain. Here are a few of my favorite ones this month, with my poem responses. 6. Write an ekphrastic poem. An ekphrastic poem is a poem inspired by art. You can pick your own favorite piece of art if you wish. Or you can use one of the examples below: Frieda Kahlo How could I not write about Frieda Kahlo? That little dark-haired woman With eyebrows that kiss at the center of her forehead Just above her nose, And a mustache hint on her upper lips. Here she lies prone on sand and shells, A vessel to promote life, The roots and leaves growing wildly From her open chest. I've also seen her with a necklace of thorns The blood seeping slowly down her neck. 16. Write a poem about (or at) a food establishment. … [Read more...]
