Our poetry reading yesterday afternoon at Pages: a bookstore was a huge success. I read many of the poems included in my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide, plus a few newer poems. Using that material and receiving so many kudos from those in attendance yesterday makes me so happy that I never faltered about adding poems (and photos and quotes) to the book. Almost as soon as my memoir was published one of the first reviewers said, ¦.The poetry and photographs add an extra dimension that is missing from most memoirs like this since as a reader you get much closer to the reality of what is being described on the page¦. (Mark Shelmerdine, CEO, Jeffers Press). Another reviewer said my book is poetically visceral. Those statements helped validate any misgivings I had in adding other creative works into my manuscript. I really hadn't thought of putting photos in my book until my publisher … [Read more...]
How photos, poems, and quotes can add to your writing
Okay, what’s happening with the book?
I used the whole month of December to honor my son Paul's memory I failed to provide an update on the status of my book. My goal was to complete all revisions by December 4. My publisher asked for it on December 27, but, I wanted to take the month of December off so I pushed hard to reach that goal. And since she would be on a family vacation she asked that I not send it before she got back on December 13 so it would arrive when she returned. I'm glad that she agreed to let me send it early, probably understanding that if I kept it in my possession any longer I might be tempted to make more changes to it. Fortunately I knew I was finished when I couldn't think of anymore changes, edits, adds, or things to move-around that it needed. I could sleep at night not thinking about what I was going to do to my book the next day. The five months of living, breathing, and sleeping with my book was really over. With the manuscript which I sent electronically I sent copy for the book's … [Read more...]
