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...]
Keith Alan Hamilton’s photo at Times Square
I'm so excited for my poet and photographer friend, Keith Alan Hamilton. His photo, Transition Flutter-Fly, will be shown at New York City's Times Square this very day. He'll be in the crowd with a butterfly shirt on, so if you're in the vicinity, please go by and say hi. Give him a hug for me too - I wish I could do it myself. I've known Keith for several years. We first met on Facebook when I joined the Poets, Writers, Photographers, Musicians, Artists ~ Networking group he created. We later met for dinner in Boston, and he also visited my husband and me in California. We discussed putting together a book of poems with images. That is still in the works. I've written several blog posts about Keith and his poems and photos (see this one). His devotion to his creativity is catching. Here's Keith's butterfly photo: And here's a photo of Keith so you can easily recognize him: … [Read more...]
Why I added photos, poems and quotes in my memoir
One of the first reviewers of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, 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 suggested it. And of course I was delighted. At first she suggested photos interspersed within the chapters, but my book didn't lend itself to that. So I picked out photos in groups: of my son Paul the main subject of the book, of him and his brother, family photos, views of my office, garden, and one of the memorials to Paul a bench dedicated to him on the greenbelt outside our home. At the time I had no idea what an impact these photos would have … [Read more...]
