Since this is a time when many of us make lists of resolutions to follow in the new year, I thought it appropriate to share a different list with my readers. Continue reading “What 10 things drive me to write”
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The Ripening:
A Canadian Girl Grows Up
A Canadian Girl Grows Up
" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "
" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "
" Tillie’s grit and ability to face life’s challenges are inspiring, the seeds for later discovering her artist self. Tillie takes readers on a wild ride. Join her if you dare! "
Anyone 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. 
I was fortunate to have piano lessons when I was a girl. In Canada, if students are learning classical music, teachers usually follow the Royal Conservatory of Music progression from grades one through ten and utilize the books for each level. These lessons include theory as well as musical scores for students to progress in. 
Writers spend a lot of time drafting poems, stories, and essays/memoirs, but as every serious writer knows, drafts are only the beginning. I know that I spend an enormous amount of time reviewing and rewriting every piece that I hope one day will be published. Even though I’ve taught writing for thirty-five years, and I’m an excellent editor of other people’s work, I still need thoughtful feedback to help me in the revision process. 
It’s wonderful to be writing again after my daily commitment was severely interrupted by launching and marketing 
present the worst of our narcissistic culture, the constant selfies and focus on me me me. Why would I spend hundreds of pages following him through his past memories? What could a Norwegian writer offer me, a naturalized American (Canadian by birth) female of another generation?
Meet my guest author Terra Ziporyn, fiction and non-fiction writer.
My husband and I recently attended a concert featuring the Shostakovich Violin Concerto #1 with soloist Christian Tetzlaff. The exhilarating performance is still reverberating within me, the work a stunning blend of instruments and tonal shifts. The opus also challenges any concert violinist to demonstrate his/her best relationship with his/her instrument and the score. Tezlaff not only lived up to the test, but he also surpassed it. He was one with the music and his instrument: in fact, he became the instrument. 
It’s wonderful to be writing again after my daily commitment was severely interrupted by launching and marketing Freefall: A Divine Comedy. I’ve felt hollow during that time, as if something vital were missing from my daily diet. In fact, writing is as important to me as food. What is it about writing that is so necessary for me and I’m sure for other writers? 
Though I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve discovered the value of doing readings while visiting in different locations. Usually, bookstores aren’t interested in having authors read at their venues unless that person has a following in the area. The conventional wisdom is that readings are more productive in areas where we have family, friends, or acquaintances. That might be true in some instances, but there are exceptions, particularly in small towns where there isn’t much cultural activity outside of the local bookstore. 
In my last blog, I promised to articulate what seemed to be the most helpful marketing tools in my next post. Here I am! 
We writers are innocents in many ways, especially regarding the selling side of the publishing business. As long as we can stay in front of our computers, engaged in the dream world of our fictions, we don’t have to think of how these narratives will find their readers. Now that three of my novels have been published, I’ve had to make the adjustment. It hasn’t been easy. 
Whenever I give a talk or reading, someone in the audience asks where my stories come from. I find the answer more complex that what it would appear to be on the surface. What are my narrative seeds? What starts me on these explorations of others’ lives? 
This is the second anniversary of my novel 
