It’s all about win-win

What an honor that Marla Miller, one of my favorite people, invited me to join a panel discussion yesterday as part of her Santa Barbara Writer's Conference afternoon workshop. I've known Marla for a year or so, at first virtually. I think she found and made a comment on one of my articles at More Magazine online. Then we became Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn friends, and now I see her occasionally at Greater Los Angeles Writer's Society events. In person. She has been super supportive of me and my book. She invited me to be guest on her blog, Marketing the Muse, and posted my video on her wonderful Women Over 45: Speak site. So when she asked I didn't hesitate. A ninety-mile drive back and forth to Santa Barbara from my home in Manhattan Beach. No problem. Like we said at the end of the workshop yesterday, it's all about win-win. Plus I got to meet three other wonderful women who were on the panel with me. Sheri Fink spoke about being a self-published children's book writer … [Read more...]

Writing resolutions check-in

Besides writing I do participate in other creative activities - like seeing a wonderful art exhibit at LACMA called In Wonderland. This painting is by Frieda Khalo. Time to revisit my 2012 writing resolutions (posted on January 1, 2012) and report how I've been doing. First for the things I've accomplished. I participated in the January River of Stones project, writing a small stone every day of the month. I finished reading Doreen Cox' Adventures in Mother Sitting and wrote and posted reviews for it. I overachieved in the review category, by finally writing and posting a review of Laura Mays Hoopes memoir Breaking the Spiral Ceiling: An American Woman Becomes A DNA Scientist. And I'm happy to report that my novel writing has gone very well. I'm writing a bit more than the one thousand words a week that was my commitment. I'm also writing a poem a week and writing my regular posts for NaturallySavvy and PsychAlive One of my best accomplishments of the month was … [Read more...]

Women Over 45 Speak

Marla Miller's website Women Over 45 Speak posted a three-minute video of me speaking about how I reinvented myself after the age of seventy. Please take a look. And if you're a woman over forty-five, go over to her website and make a video of yourself. The directions are right there on her site. … [Read more...]

Shooting a video is hard work

The producer and director I'm checking things off my list of to dos. One of the things that's been on that list for months has been to make a three-minute video to post on Marla Miller's Women Over 45: Speak website - another tool for marketing my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. And with the help of my son, Ben, and daughter in law, Marissa, we finally filmed it. They are the producer and director. I wrote the script some weeks ago and spent quite a bit of time tweaking and going over it. The morning of the shoot I read through my lines a few times while I was on the elliptical at the gym. I made a few changes when I got home, and after I showered and dressed and did my hair and makeup, I started going over it again. Ben and Marissa had suggested I break the piece up in parts and that was brilliant, because not being used to memorizing anything, I needed the breaks. Speaking for three minutes straight would have been daunting and probably boring. Filming the speech in several … [Read more...]