Since I wrote my last post about going to participate as an exhibitor at the Ventura County Author Book Fair last Saturday, November 5, I thought I'd follow up with some observations. The Good Things · I sold seven books. · I gave away lots and lots of bookmarks. · Many people shared their stories of suicide and mental illness in their families when they came by my table, and I got to tell them about the Putting A Face On Suicide project when they admired Paul's poster. · I was at a table at a good location in the room. It faced the center of the room, I felt sorry for the folks who sat at the room's perimeter and had to face the wall. · I had a successful reading I spoke about the book briefly, read the piece about comforting someone who is grieving, and I read five poems · I met some wonderful authors one who works in oncology who told me a statistic I never knew, that many people who are diagnosed with cancer commit suicide. So she took a lot of my … [Read more...]
Ventura County Book Fair
Paul's Putting A Face On Suicide poster will go to the fair with me I'll be signing books from ten to four tomorrow at the Ventura County Book Fair, and I'll read about ten minutes at 1:30 pm. The fair will be held in Camarillo California at the The Pleasant Valley Community Park Auditorium, 1605 Burnley Street. So I'd love to see my Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara county friends there. But just in case you can't make it, here are a couple of the poems I plan to read from my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. You might have read them here before, but for me they are timeless. My Jazzman My jazzman beat it out on the mighty eighty-eights, played those riffs, tapped his feet bent his head down to the keys, felt those sounds on his fingertips. Yeah, he was a hot man on those eighty-eights. But all too soon his bag grew dark. He went down, deep down. My jazzman played the blues, lost that spark, closed the lid. And, yeah, you got it right, quit the … [Read more...]
September dreams and wishes
As it gets closer to the anniversary of Paul's death day, my dreams about him become more vivid. It's happened like this for twelve years. I also think about all the things he's missed in all that time. Here are a few poems on those subjects written in years past and photos in his memory. Wishing Dreams I used to think when I dreamed about him He was near. That if I reached out far enough I could touch him. That if I looked hard enough I could see him. Last night The tears streaming out of his eyes Were so real I could taste them And I knew They were mine. Paul's Bench September 23, 2002 The phone rang once Startling me awake From a deep sleep I jumped out of bed to answer it Knocking over the Waterford Crystal perfume bottle On the way. And to naught There was no one on the line. I looked over at the clock Only 5 a.m. but I was up for This day, September 23, 2002, The third anniversary of Paul's death A day that I dreaded for so long And all I could … [Read more...]
Please join me on September 25 in the race for life
Every 15 minutes, someone loses their life by suicide in the United States. In addition, for every suicide, it is estimated there are 25 suicide attempts. Many individuals -- maybe even your loved one, friend, neighbor, or colleague -- suffer from severe emotional pain in silence. In that moment when a person in crisis needs someone to listen and respond, Didi Hirsch's Suicide Prevention Center is here to help. In fact, more than 40,000 women, men and young people turned to its 24-hour Crisis Line last year. Our son Paul's photo will be on the banner this year You can help save lives by supporting Didi Hirsch's 13th annual Alive & Running 5K Walk/Run for Suicide Prevention. The event will be held on Sunday, September 25, 2011 at La Tijera Parkway in Los Angeles. More than 1,100 runners, walkers, strollers and friends and volunteers from all over Southern California will join together at Alive & Running to raise awareness and funding for suicide prevention … [Read more...]
Radio interview report
My first radio interview, on Smart Women Talk Radio, started at eight in the morning Pacific time last Tuesday, July 5. I called in and talked to the producer, and then the co-hosts, Katana Abbott and Vicky Trabosh came on for a little off-the-air chat. They explained they would talk amongst themselves for the first few minutes of the show, introduce me, and then we'd do the interview - like having a conversation, they said. Five minutes before the hour was up, they'd say goodbye to me and finish the show. So in all, I'd say I was on the air about forty-two minutes. They had asked for questions in advance, so I was very prepared with my answers to the ten I provided. In fact I had my notes up at the ready on my computer screen. However, the interview turned out to be pretty much off the cuff. And like the interview I had for the article in my local Beach Reporter newspaper, that was just fine with me since I know my material cold. I listened to the recording this morning. and it … [Read more...]
Putting a Face on Suicide
The Facebook Putting a Face on Suicide is a personal project of Mike Purcell done in collaboration with the American Association of Suicidology. Mike's son 21 year old Christopher Lee Purcell, died by suicide in 2008. www.facebook.com/purcellmemorial As Mike states: every 15 minutes someone dies by suicide in the United States, that's 96 or so people each day. Putting a Face on Suicide [PAFOS] is an ongoing project soliciting pictures of your loved ones who died by suicide. Each 96 pictures will be used in a poster and a video, representing one day's loss. The posters and videos will be posted on the PAFOS facebook page and may be freely used by any person or organization to promote suicide awareness and prevention. The goal of PAFOS is to collect 35040 faces representing 365 days of loss, and then to visually send a very powerful 35040 faced message. Please go to http://www.facebook.com/puttingafaceonsuicide?sk=wall to see the faces gathered so far. So far four videos have … [Read more...]
WOW blog tour stop No. 7
You must visit CMash Loves to Read my WOW blog tour stop No. 7. The layout is just beautiful. Cheryl Mash reviews books and provides giveaways. She is offering, through WOW-Women on Writing, a pdf copy of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. To learn more and to read today's post, Using Memoir Writing to Deal with Grief go to: http://cmashlovestoread.blogspot.com/2011/06/guest-author-madeline-sharples.html If you want a chance to win a copy of the book, click on the giveaway tab and post a comment. Cheryl has caringly suggested all who read her blog today and who comment learn more about bipolar disorder and know that: More than 30,000 Americans commit suicide each year, most leaving behind grieving families. Teenagers make up 5,000 of this group. Many thanks to Women on Writing www.womenonwriting.com for connecting me with Cheryl Mash and her wonderful blog, CMash Loves To Read. … [Read more...]
Book launch and signing – a huge success
The launch party for Leaving the Hall Light On at Pages: a bookstore in Manhattan Beach CA last night was a huge success. People from all parts of my life attended: high school friends, former work colleagues, neighbors, friends from the Los Angeles area and Las Vegas, Ojai, San Diego, and Oakland, and many family members. In addition people came as a result of a wonderful article about my book in our neighborhood newspaper, "The Beach Reporter": http://www.tbrnews.com/articles/2011/05/12/stepping_out/step3.txt. The room was filled to the brim with standing room only during my reading, and it was a dream come true to have so many attendees wait in line for me to sign their books. In all, the event resulted in the sale of sixty-one books - with some people buying two or three. People I've known for years and people I've never met came up to me to tell me their similar story of bipolar disorder and suicide in their lives. I am indeed thrilled they chose to attend last night and … [Read more...]
It’s Not Just About the Money
Paul Sharples 1971-1999 The Red Room Where the Writers Are blog (http://www.redroom.com/) prompt this week was to write about "writing for free." Here is what I had to say about that. I've been writing without monetary rewards virtually all of my life. However I've stepped up the pace in the years since the death of my son in 1999, when I found that writing paid me in comfort and healing. Writing about the unhappiness and tragedy in my life transfers the pain from my body onto the page. Writing is like an addiction to me; I get itchy if I don't do it. My office, where I write, is like magic to me. I could spend all day in there and never feel confined. I see the outside garden and the fountain from my writing table. The fountain attracts the most beautiful orange and yellow birds. Some have red heads, some take little dips in the pool, some surf on the leaves that hang over the fountain, some just hover over the water too wary to wade in. The time I spend writing in my office … [Read more...]
My interview for Out on a Limb
My friend and writing colleague, Martha Clark Scala, interviewed me for her monthly e-zine, "Out on a Limb," meant to invite and inspire you to maximize the joy in your life. I am so thrilled that she chose to write about me and my book in her newsletter. She is a true BFF. Out on a Limb A Monthly Newsletter from Martha Clark Scala Invest in bringing joy back to your life. May 2011 http://www.mcscala.com/Ezine/May2011.html Here is the interview: Digging Out of the Muck: An Interview with Poet and Memoirist, Madeline Sharples In April's Limb, you heard about Helen the Hummingbird and her two babies. Several readers have written to ask what happened next? The two babies successfully fledged! We have viewed them on neighboring bushes and branches, and on one occasion, Helen was seen feeding the kids. Since then, I've had the privilege of seeing a seal pup who was only one hour old, and observed the family activities of five goslings with their parents. In the wild, … [Read more...]
Patty "Next Door"
Beautiful Manhattan Beach Sunset The sun is setting on my neighbor next door. Everytime I look toward her house - just on the other side of our wood slat fence, I feel sad. She's been battling pancreatic cancer for about two and a half years, and we were all optimistic at first because the chemotherapy seemed to be working. We've never been very close, but it's always nice to know she is there. And we're shared some good times - her daughter's wedding, a few special birthdays. We've also shared some tough times - our Paul's death and the death of her daughter's infant. We'd have conversations from our deck or patio and a few dinners together. But that's over. We tried to visit last weekend, but her husband said it is too late. She stays in bed, sleeping most of the time because of doses of heavy painkillers, and has only days left. Recently visitors arrived next door with flowers and sad faces. Made me wonder if it's Patty's time. She's been struggling with … [Read more...]
Remembering March 1993
Sometime during the first week of March 1993, my son Paul had his first manic (bipolar) break. He was a student in his senior year at the New School in New York City and was successfully playing jazz piano at several gigs in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. All seemed to be going as planned as he worked toward graduating the following June. Two weeks before he came home to Manhattan Beach for his grandmother's (my mother's) February 12, eighty-fifth birthday party. He was perfectly fine throughout the weekend. Yet two weeks later his life and ours changed forever. Paul playing Happy Birthday to his grandmother, February 1993 I'm on the left with my brother, mother, and sister at the birthday party … [Read more...]
