Meet the author Monday: Judy Crozier, author extraordinaire

On my blog today I’m talking to the lovely and lively Judy Crozier. Her early life was a sweep through war-torn South-East Asia: Malaysia’s ‘Emergency’, Burma’s battles with hill tribes, and the war in Vietnam. By nine, Judy had read her way through the British Council Library, including Thackeray and Dickens. Home in Australia, she picked up journalism, politics, blues singing, home renovation, child-rearing, community work, writing and creative writing teaching, proof reading and editing, and her Masters of Creative Writing. Then she escaped and went to France, where she now lives.

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Meet-the-author Monday: Welcome to Canadian author Betty Jane Hegerat and her inspiring story!

Betty Jane Hegerat pens stories in the splendid writing community of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where she also teaches, mentors, and offers reading and substantive comment on selective works.

Primarily a writer of fiction, her first love was the short story, and it still is, but she finds herself increasingly drawn to the personal essay. The waves of memory and nostalgia that come with growing older will do that to a person.

She is the author of five books: three novels, a collection of short stories, and a strange hybrid of memoir, fiction, true crime and metafiction that claims to belong to the genre of creative non-fiction.  Currently she is working on short fiction.

Betty Jane was honoured to receive the 2015 Golden Pen Award from the Writers Guild of Alberta. Continue reading “Meet-the-author Monday: Welcome to Canadian author Betty Jane Hegerat and her inspiring story!”

Meet-the-author Monday: Sophia Kouidou‐Giles

On my blog today, I’m privileged to introduce my readers  to the bi-cultural Sophia Kouidou-Giles. Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, she tells me about what inspired her to write her memoir Sophia’s Return: Uncovering My Mother’s Past, a work that captures family secrets.

Continue reading “Meet-the-author Monday: Sophia Kouidou‐Giles”

Meet the fascinating Bonnie Lee Black, a writer who created the award winning blog THE WOW FACTOR!

On my blog today, I’m delighted to be in conversation with the lovely Bonnie Lee Black, a woman who has been Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon, Central Africa, who has conducted an independent economic development project in Mali, West Africa, and who has been a professional writer and editor for over 40 years. She currently lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico,

Here is Bonnie’s bio:

Bonnie Lee Black earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University in Los Angeles in June 2007. An honors graduate of Columbia University in New York (BA, Lit./Writing, 1979), she has been a professional writer and editor for more than 40 years and an educator in the U.S. and overseas for over 30 years. Continue reading “Meet the fascinating Bonnie Lee Black, a writer who created the award winning blog THE WOW FACTOR!”

Join Guest Author Pat Taub in this interview and meet her muse!

On my blog today I’m talking to Pat Taub, a family therapist, a journalist, a writer/host for the Syracuse NPR station program “Women’s Voices,”a  writer for Key West Magazine, and a writing teacher. Pat explains how her memoir, The Mother of My Invention, helped her make peace with her troubled relationship with her mother.

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Meet guest author Cliff Garstang and learn about his prize-winning fiction!

After Regal House Publishing recently released Cliff Garstang ‘s new novel Oliver’s Travels,  I asked him to be a guest author on my blog and sent him some questions about his writing process, including how he comes up with titles, the origins of his characters, literary inspirations, what feeds his writing, how he researches his books, and more.

Here are his great responses: Continue reading “Meet guest author Cliff Garstang and learn about his prize-winning fiction!”

Here’s a sample of author Joseph Carrabis wonderful wit that comes through in my interview with him: Where do your characters come from? Toledo. I have an apartment building there and rent out rooms to them. They come, stay a while, then move on. It’s a good deal because the rent’s cheap and I change their names before writing them into stories.

Joseph Carrabis Bio

Joseph Carrabis has been everything from a long-haul trucker to a Chief Research Scientist. He’s taught internationally at the university level, holds patents in a base, disruptive technology, created a company that grew from his basement to offices in four countries, helped companies varying in size from mom&pops for F500s develop their marketing, and most of this bored him.

But give him a pen and paper or a keyboard and he’s off writing, which is what he does full-time now. Continue reading “Here’s a sample of author Joseph Carrabis wonderful wit that comes through in my interview with him: Where do your characters come from? Toledo. I have an apartment building there and rent out rooms to them. They come, stay a while, then move on. It’s a good deal because the rent’s cheap and I change their names before writing them into stories.”

Meet Solace Wales, the author of an amazing story of black soldiers under fire in 1944 Tuscany, Italy

Cover_Wales_BraidedBraided in Fire tells the story of Lieutenant John Fox, a forward artillery observer and posthumous Medal of Honor recipient, who directed friendly artillery fire on his own position as German troops overran Sommocolonia, Italy, on December 26, 1944. Fox’s selfless sacrifice went unrecognized by the U.S. government for half a century simply because he was black. Solace Wales has invested decades in researching this instance of forgotten valor, producing a rich tapestry that interweaves the experiences of the black GIs and Italian villagers caught in the hellish maelstrom that engulfed Sommocolonia the day John Fox died. The result is a moving meditation on the cost of war and a tribute to the African Americans who fought for a country that treated them like second-class citizens.” — Gregory J.W. Urwin, Professor of History, Temple University, author of Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island Continue reading “Meet Solace Wales, the author of an amazing story of black soldiers under fire in 1944 Tuscany, Italy”

Welcome to guest author Cindy Rasicot, author of Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter’s Spiritual Quest to Thailand, which chronicles her adventures along the spiritual path.

CRasicot19.WebRes.Bio:

Cindy Rasicot is a retired Marriage Family Therapist. Her life has been a spiritual journey that took on new dimensions when she and her family moved to Bangkok, Thailand for three years. There, she met her spiritual teacher, Venerable Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, the first fully ordained Theravada nun—an encounter that opened her heart and changed her forever. This deepening relationship led to writing her memoir, Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter’s Spiritual Quest to Thailand, which chronicles her adventures along the spiritual path.

Sylvia Boorstein, author of Happiness is an Inside Job, said about her book, “Cindy Rasicot’s loving account of her own transformation through knowing her is a joy to read.” Continue reading “Welcome to guest author Cindy Rasicot, author of Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter’s Spiritual Quest to Thailand, which chronicles her adventures along the spiritual path.”

Make your blog posts come alive with hyperlinks!

write-3994024_1920Thanks to author Bobbie Kinkead for sharing the following post with me and my viewers!

When interviewing an author on CWC Berkeley, (CWC = California Writer’s Club) have many links included in the blog post. The author can then post the author’s interview on their blog or website for their audiences to read. Most writing programs on your computer, iPad, emails, texts, online newsletters, or blogs, allow linking; look at the menus under editing or find the linking symbol. Both the interviewer and interviewee should add links to connect twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook page, Amazon’s Author page, Smashword author interview, and online sale sites Kobo, iBook, Sony, Barnes&Nobles, etc. Continue reading “Make your blog posts come alive with hyperlinks!”

The link between visual arts and writing: Interview with guest artist Betsy Kellas!

Kellas_ copyIf you’re used to me posting something about reading and writing, you may be wondering why my guest interview today is with the visual artist Betsy Kellas. The reason? I think there’s a strong link between painting, sculpture, art installations, and written art, poetry and prose. Both use the line intensively though differently. Both intensely explore our everyday reality. And both use layering to create their effects and to add texture to a work. Here, then, is my interview with Betsy, but I urge you to visit her website and view the range of her artmaking: betsykellas.com

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Read this interview on my blog with guest author Terry Tierney who believes “Writing is breath. Never stop breathing.”

0Terry’s bio:

Terry’s stories and poems have appeared in over forty literary magazines, and his poetry collection, The Poet’s Garage, will be published in May 2020 by Unsolicited Press. He taught college composition and creative writing, and he later survived several Silicon Valley startups as a software engineering manager. Lucky Ride (Unsolicited Press), an irreverent Vietnam-era road novel is set to release in 2022. His website is http://terrytierney.com. Continue reading “Read this interview on my blog with guest author Terry Tierney who believes “Writing is breath. Never stop breathing.””

Are All Writers Artists?

absorbed-2409314_1280Anyone can be a writer in the sense of putting sentences together that form longer narratives. But not all of these writers are artists. That’s the distinction I make between the work some people are publishing whether the book is self-published or travels the traditional route via a publisher, small or large. Continue reading “Are All Writers Artists?”