Interview with Nancy Wagner aka N. L. Sharp
Nancy’s outgoing, never-throw-out-an-idea personality charmed me when we worked together at the 2011 Beatrice Business Expo. She’s willing to take the lead, but does not insist on it.
When you visit her web page at www.nlsharp.com the first thing you notice is her mantra “A teacher who writes, A writer who teaches.”
Nancy writes children’s books. She visits schools to talk to children about writing, and she holds workshops for teachers about writing with children.
Nancy lives in Fremont, Nebraska. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nebraska Lincoln in the area of Language Arts (with an emphasis in Writing) and an endorsement in Educational Library Media from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. http://nlsharp.com/Author_Profile.html
Q. Nancy, I have your book EFFIE’S IMAGE that imparts an interesting way of dealing with self-image. It is a charming story of a little girl who helps an 82-year-old woman regain her sense of self worth. Please tell us where you got the idea for EFFIE’S IMAGE.
A. I got that idea when I was teaching first grade in Fremont, Nebraska. I had a volunteer from the foster grandparent organization helping in my classroom every day. She was not a teacher and had never been a teacher. However, when her son and his family moved to another state and her husband passed away, she knew that she needed to find a reason to continue to get up each morning. I was so grateful that she found that reason in my classroom with my students. My students loved Hazel and she loved my students, and I knew that was a story I needed to tell.
Q. I had the pleasure of listening to you talk about your flip over book THE RING BEAR/THE FLOWER GIRL. You have found a special market for this precious book. Can you explain how your market for this book got started and how it developed and changed?
A. Several years ago, I overheard a conversation between two mothers who were talking about weddings. One of the mothers said that when her son was asked to be the ring bearer in a wedding, he thought he was going to get to be a bear and dress up in a bear suit. They laughed (and I laughed) but I thought, "That would be a great idea for a story." I took out my notebook and made a note to myself: Boy thinks he's a bear in a wedding. Later, at home, I rediscovered that note and wrote a book called The Ring Bear.
Of course, I just thought it was a funny story, but other folks thought it was the perfect gift for the ring bearer in a wedding. Many people who bought the book also wanted a flower girl book. Therefore, when we had almost sold through the printing of the original Ring Bear book, we discussed whether to reprint it or let it go out of print. We decided that it did not make sense to reprint the book unless we also created a Flower Girl Book. Therefore, I wrote The Flower Girl, with the idea that it would be the ideal gift for a flower girl in a wedding, just as we believe The Ring Bear is the ideal gift for a ring bearer.
Then, a bookstore owner suggested that these two might be fun "back-to-back" stories. In other words, since they are about two kids in the same wedding and their stories are parallel stories, it might be fun to place both stories in one book, and the reader would read one story, and then flip the book over to read the other story. That is exactly what we did, creating two gifts in one book!
Q. Your presentation in Beatrice explored types of publishing and the affect on the author’s choice. You also explained some of the pitfalls. Would you be willing to share a brief outline of your experience with publishing?
A. Absolutely, I’m blessed to have worked with a variety of different types of publishers, and all of my books have won recognition of some type, regardless of the way they were published. A traditional royalty publisher (Boyds Mills Press) published my first book. Today I’m Going Fishing with My Dad. It was accepted in 2001, was released in the fall of 2003, and named a Nebraska Golden Sower nominee in 2005-2006. That book was very popular (I guess lots of folks relate to fishing!) and Boyds Mills Press kept it in print (in some form) until 2011. This was a run of 18 years, which is great for any type of book! Actually, they have not "officially" taken it out of print yet, but it is listed as "out of stock indefinitely" for anyone who tries to order it. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, it is now out of print.
My second book, The Ring Bear, I published with a partnership publisher out of Crete, Nebraska. I define a partnership publisher as any publisher that requires some sort of financial commitment from the author, before that publisher will publish the book. In order for The Ring Bear to be published, there were some things I paid for (illustration, printing) and some things the publisher paid for (distribution, award contests, publicity). This book had just been selected as the winner in the Children's Category from the Nebraska Center for the Book Awards Contest when that publisher declared bankruptcy.
With a basement full of books and a third book (Effie's Image) almost completed, my husband and I decided we would create our own publishing company. We created Prairieland Press, to distribute The Ring Bear and to self-publish Effie's Image (which was named a Teacher's Choice Award winner by Learning Magazine in 2006, and a Nebraska Golden Sower nominee in 2007-2008). And after we sold through the original printing of The Ring Bear, we republished that story along with my flower girl story in the book: The Flower Girl, The Ring Bear: A Flip-Over Book.
Recently, I have just been offered (and have accepted) a new opportunity in the publishing world. A Christian royalty publisher has contacted me and offered to republish my two self-published books (Effie's Image and The Flower Girl, The Ring Bear: A Flip-Over Book) in both softcover and ebook format. So these books will be re-released under their imprint, probably in 2013.
Q. I’m going to take a different direction now and ask about your school programs. What kind of reaction do you generally get from the children when you talk to them about writing?
A. Because I am an elementary teacher with more than twenty years' experience in the classroom, and because I love to write and talk about writing, I am well versed in what types of presentations work best with the various age groups. With the younger students, I usually read my books and talk to them about ideas for stories, and they usually have a great time listening to my stories and then sharing their own ideas. With the older students, I usually do not read my books (since they are geared for primary students). Instead, with these students, I share what I consider the four truths of writing (writers write, writers read, writers share their writing with other writers, and writers keep a notebook of some kind) AND then I share with them examples of my various writers' notebooks--and how those notebooks contain the seedlings for my assorted writing projects. Students are always fascinated to see my notebooks and get at peek into my own personal writing process.
Q. Working with children is only a part of your writing program with elementary age students. You also work with teachers. With teachers complaining of time crunch to get the mass of material, they teach into a relatively short time; how receptive are teachers to your workshops?
A. Because Nebraska has a state writing test that all 4th grade, 8th grade, and 11th grade students must take, and because I am trained in this assessment model, my staff development workshops are designed to help teachers feel more comfortable with the process of teaching writing and preparing their students for this writing assessment. In fact, many times I am invited to present in a district because a classroom teacher has seen me present somewhere else (the state reading conference, the state kindergarten conference, a class for Wayne State College, etc) and that teacher, in turn, convinces his or her administrator to invite me to their building. So I would say that teachers are not only open to my presentations, they are my biggest advocates!
As it states on my website, I do believe that we learn to write by teaching, and that writing is a craft that anyone, of any age, can learn, as long as we adhere to the four truths of writing: writers write, writers read, writers share their writing with other writers, and writers keep a notebook of some kind.
***
It’s not often I have the chance to spend a day with one of the writers I will interview. My day with Nancy at the Beatrice Business Expo gave me a personal edge with developing this interview. Nancy is one of the prolific Nebraska Authors who is dedicated to education and writing. I’m not sure whether to describe Nancy as an educator that writes or a writer who educates. Thankfully, Nancy answers that question in her motto “A teacher who writes, A writer who teaches.”
Visit Nancy’s web site at www.nlsharp.com
Monday, March 26, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Interview with Author Jack Loscutoff
Interview of Jack Loscutoff
www.jackloscutoff.com
This month I introduce Jack Loscutoff who refers to himself as “sage in bloom, author and poet.” Born in San Francisco of what he refers to as humble Russian peasant stock, Jack alludes to his Grandparents immigration as a factor by geography and politics that affects his view of life.
Jack’s pursuit of education moved him by increments from San Francisco to our beloved Nebraska. He earned a PhD focusing on English and American Literature. Jack worked as an instructor, critic, and at 58 realized his love of words could become a new kind of career. Jack started writing.
Jack’s multi-faceted character enchanted me. I leave it to Jack to charm you.
Q. Jack, when I read your biography, on your web site, one thing that struck me immediately was that your Russian heritage does affect your unique writing style.
Would you give us some insight into that influence?
A. Any Russian influence on my writing came from having read the works of a few of the great Russian writers. Since I don't read the language and have relied on translations, what I've gotten is what any reader and writer, with or without a Russian ancestry, could. Here is some of it.
Checkhov said something like this about short story writing. "If at the beginning there is a rifle hanging over the fireplace, it must be fired before the story ends." He meant that there must be no unnecessary information in a short story. Everything must contribute to its point.
Dostoyevsky wrote a novel, The Brothers Karamasov, in which Jesus returns to earth. Most people do not recognize him. The "authorities" regard him, at best as a nuisance, at worst as a criminal. I guess the lesson there is don't try to write about Jesus.
Tolstoy wrote, at over a thousand pages, War and Peace. Many critics believe it is the greatest lo-o-ong novel ever written in any language. What I've learned from reading it is to keep mine as short as possible.
End of lecture.
Q. I’ve read some of your poetry and prose. To me you have a unique style. Case in point is your short story No Cross for Jesus. Some may say its science fiction, or some could say it’s philosophical. I see both. Your novel THE CLOUD OF DOOM is listed as science fiction, but you told me it crosses other genres. It is hard to decide a single genre to list a book. What would sell your book and stories to philosophers, adventurers, or any interest?
A. The last time I was at Barnes and Noble (and I hope they're still there), they had a section of books labeled "Fantasy/Science Fiction." Those books could also be called "speculative fiction." One reason why "speculative" can be applied to sci-fi is that most SF writers "speculate" about the future. Because no one has experienced the future and thus cannot know it, we can only speculate, or imagine, what it might be like. When I wrote my book I wanted the emphasis to be heavy on the "science" and light on the "fiction". In it you won't find dragons, eight-legged humanoids or a setting two thousand years in the future. My novel is set in 2035. Every animal, plant or machine in it exists in the present or is accepted as a possibility among the scientific community of today.
Even though the plot is rational, there is plenty of adventure. Among others, a trip to the planet Jupiter's moon Europa. There, in an ocean under the ice, my characters encounter strange animals and barely escape with their lives.
Philosophy? The reason the scientists go to Europa is the hope of finding a way of increasing Earth's food production. In 2035 more and more people on our planet are malnourished and starving because of food shortages brought on by over-population and global warming. I believe the dangers of those two trends are things some of us are waking up to, but too late to prevent their catastrophic results.
Q. What authors influence you most?
A. That's a tough one. It's really a question for a critic. As I suspect it is with most writers, I lack the objectivity to answer it. But here are a few possibilities.
Some critic has said that in order to be considered a top poet you must be skilled at writing about death. I have done that. "Alas and Alack," below, is on that subject. Here are some others who may have influenced me in that regard.
Emily Dickinson. "Because I could not stop for Death,/ He kindly stopped for me."
Shakespeare. "This (old age and the impending death of the speaker) thou perceiv'est that makes thy love more strong/ To love that well which thou must leave ere long."
W. B. Yeats. "An aged man is but a paltry thing,/ A tattered coat upon a stick/ Unless soul clap its hands and sing/ and louder sing/ For every tatter in its mortal dress." (again, old age as a prelude to death.)
Note that both Dickinson's poem and mine choose to laugh at death rather than cry.
Among novelists, I would choose Vladimir Nabokov as one who taught me a lot about the uses of "point of view." POV for writers does not mean "opinion." It means who is telling the story and how he or she is telling it. In Nabokov's novel Lolita, the narrator, a character in the book, speaks in the first person ("I" rather than "he" or "she".) That choice by the novelist means that a reader must take the word of Humbert Humbert, the child molester, that his victim, the teenager Lolita, is a willing participant in her own abuse. Although that idea sounds absurd when put the way I just have, it works in Nabokov's novel. The reason it works is that for three fourths of the book, the POV is Humbert's. As a result the reader begins to see and think about the abuse as Humbert does, that it is one big, delightful sexual adventure, especially if the reader is a man. This technique is called "unreliable narrator." Many others besides Nabokov have used it. I often employ it for ironic or humorous effect in my poetry.
Q. Jack, I know you have a funny bone, or at least like to tickle our funny bones. I said before you are a multi-faceted author.
Humor is essential in writing. However, it is not easy to achieve. How would you advise me, for example, to develop humor in a piece? Are there particular authors or publications you would recommend? If you don’t mind, I will include an example of one of your humorous poems.
Alas and Alack!
You are old, Father Jack,
and under sneak attack
by a junta of contagious diseases.
So you give folks your back,
hunch and hiss like a cat
whenever somebody sneezes.
You should not do that.
You should keep it flat
till you die or till hell over-freezes.
Though to you it makes sense,
Annie's correspondents*
may, perchance, take offense
at your shunning their germ-laden breezes.
So your choice is a cinch:
be a snarling old grinch
or the cool, smiling corpse
whom your loverly last widow greevez.
*"Annie's Mail Box" is a social advice column in an Omaha newspaper.
A. I guess the main requirement for "develop(ing) humor in a piece" is for the potential for humor to be already present. To make that happen is quite complex. It begins with the question of audience. Who are you writing for? Children will not laugh at adult humor, and vice-versa. Some of us old geezers may still laugh at jokes about women drivers, but most women, no matter their age, wouldn't. I could go on and on, but we don't have the space.
Q. You’ve written plays that have been performed in Nebraska. My Heart’s in the Highlands is a one-act play that won honorable mention in Writer’s Digest. That is quite an accomplishment. For myself, and I’m sure the Nebraska Writer’s Guild, I’m interested in letting the rest of the world know about Nebraska’s fine arts culture. Theater is one of those areas, like film often unheralded for our state.
Do you have an opinion as to how we in Nebraska can bring more attention to the literary accomplishments of our authors and thespians?
A. I'm sorry. I don't.
Q. I’m going to make one final pull to find “Who is Jack?” You said in your biography that it was at age 58 you realized you should be writing instead of teaching others how to write and working as a literary critic. In one of our email exchanges, you mentioned there were other times when your interest in writing accelerated.
What do you attribute your love of literature and writing?
A. I have always been fascinated by language. Before I started kindergarten, I would spread the Sunday comics page on the floor and puzzle out the words. In the second grade, I memorized "The Ride of Paul Revere." My high school English teacher told me I was the only student of hers who understood Shakespeare. As a teenager I read all of Joseph Conrad's sea-going short stories.
I've heard that to be a poet, you must be in love with words. That is certainly true of me. Most of my growth as a playwright, writer and poet was gradual. However, there were a couple of periods in my life when it accelerated.
The three years when I earned a Master of Arts degree in English and American literature was the first period. The main set of skills I acquired in that time were those of a critic. I read the works of most of the great, as well as a few of the not-so-great writers in the English language from the beginnings of our tongue up to about the middle of the twentieth century. In addition to earning the degree, I emerged from my studies at San Francisco State College with a new set of skills. I could compare writers working in a particular genre and rate them against each other. That was a way of predicting whose works would continue to be printed and read and whose would not. In general, I could not only tell you which work was better and which was worse but also why.
The second period of acceleration was more drawn out. It has covered the last twenty-three years of my life. On my fifty-eighth birthday I complained to my daughter that I was tired of "being a bridesmaid and never a bride." That is, tired of reading the works of the great playwrights, writers and poets and wishing I could do the same. She loaned me a book entitled "Writing the Natural Way." It was a beginning writing course between two covers, a "how to" package that got me started learning the skills of a playwright, writer and poet. Over the years since then, I've continued to develop those skills.
I'm still no Shakespeare, Nabokov or Yeats. However, my cluttered writing office is my "Holy of holies." On one of the walls is a list of "the immortals," my heros and heroines, the great playwrights, writers and poets. Above their names are the words "In the company of the immortals." I no longer feel in impossible competition with them. Instead, they are my encouraging friends and mentors.
***
Jack invited us, figuratively, into his office and what develops from his mind within his ‘holy of holies’. Do I know Jack, no not really, but I know more about Jack. Like any author he has his own reasons for writing, personal to him. They are reflected by most of the rest of us. As authors we do love words and how they compliment each other. However, as unique as Jack’s reasons and process is to him, so are the reasons for writing personal for all writers.
Jack’s charm eminates from his unique lust for life, learning and legitimate search for meaning in what he does. www.jackloscutoff.com
.
www.jackloscutoff.com
This month I introduce Jack Loscutoff who refers to himself as “sage in bloom, author and poet.” Born in San Francisco of what he refers to as humble Russian peasant stock, Jack alludes to his Grandparents immigration as a factor by geography and politics that affects his view of life.
Jack’s pursuit of education moved him by increments from San Francisco to our beloved Nebraska. He earned a PhD focusing on English and American Literature. Jack worked as an instructor, critic, and at 58 realized his love of words could become a new kind of career. Jack started writing.
Jack’s multi-faceted character enchanted me. I leave it to Jack to charm you.
Q. Jack, when I read your biography, on your web site, one thing that struck me immediately was that your Russian heritage does affect your unique writing style.
Would you give us some insight into that influence?
A. Any Russian influence on my writing came from having read the works of a few of the great Russian writers. Since I don't read the language and have relied on translations, what I've gotten is what any reader and writer, with or without a Russian ancestry, could. Here is some of it.
Checkhov said something like this about short story writing. "If at the beginning there is a rifle hanging over the fireplace, it must be fired before the story ends." He meant that there must be no unnecessary information in a short story. Everything must contribute to its point.
Dostoyevsky wrote a novel, The Brothers Karamasov, in which Jesus returns to earth. Most people do not recognize him. The "authorities" regard him, at best as a nuisance, at worst as a criminal. I guess the lesson there is don't try to write about Jesus.
Tolstoy wrote, at over a thousand pages, War and Peace. Many critics believe it is the greatest lo-o-ong novel ever written in any language. What I've learned from reading it is to keep mine as short as possible.
End of lecture.
Q. I’ve read some of your poetry and prose. To me you have a unique style. Case in point is your short story No Cross for Jesus. Some may say its science fiction, or some could say it’s philosophical. I see both. Your novel THE CLOUD OF DOOM is listed as science fiction, but you told me it crosses other genres. It is hard to decide a single genre to list a book. What would sell your book and stories to philosophers, adventurers, or any interest?
A. The last time I was at Barnes and Noble (and I hope they're still there), they had a section of books labeled "Fantasy/Science Fiction." Those books could also be called "speculative fiction." One reason why "speculative" can be applied to sci-fi is that most SF writers "speculate" about the future. Because no one has experienced the future and thus cannot know it, we can only speculate, or imagine, what it might be like. When I wrote my book I wanted the emphasis to be heavy on the "science" and light on the "fiction". In it you won't find dragons, eight-legged humanoids or a setting two thousand years in the future. My novel is set in 2035. Every animal, plant or machine in it exists in the present or is accepted as a possibility among the scientific community of today.
Even though the plot is rational, there is plenty of adventure. Among others, a trip to the planet Jupiter's moon Europa. There, in an ocean under the ice, my characters encounter strange animals and barely escape with their lives.
Philosophy? The reason the scientists go to Europa is the hope of finding a way of increasing Earth's food production. In 2035 more and more people on our planet are malnourished and starving because of food shortages brought on by over-population and global warming. I believe the dangers of those two trends are things some of us are waking up to, but too late to prevent their catastrophic results.
Q. What authors influence you most?
A. That's a tough one. It's really a question for a critic. As I suspect it is with most writers, I lack the objectivity to answer it. But here are a few possibilities.
Some critic has said that in order to be considered a top poet you must be skilled at writing about death. I have done that. "Alas and Alack," below, is on that subject. Here are some others who may have influenced me in that regard.
Emily Dickinson. "Because I could not stop for Death,/ He kindly stopped for me."
Shakespeare. "This (old age and the impending death of the speaker) thou perceiv'est that makes thy love more strong/ To love that well which thou must leave ere long."
W. B. Yeats. "An aged man is but a paltry thing,/ A tattered coat upon a stick/ Unless soul clap its hands and sing/ and louder sing/ For every tatter in its mortal dress." (again, old age as a prelude to death.)
Note that both Dickinson's poem and mine choose to laugh at death rather than cry.
Among novelists, I would choose Vladimir Nabokov as one who taught me a lot about the uses of "point of view." POV for writers does not mean "opinion." It means who is telling the story and how he or she is telling it. In Nabokov's novel Lolita, the narrator, a character in the book, speaks in the first person ("I" rather than "he" or "she".) That choice by the novelist means that a reader must take the word of Humbert Humbert, the child molester, that his victim, the teenager Lolita, is a willing participant in her own abuse. Although that idea sounds absurd when put the way I just have, it works in Nabokov's novel. The reason it works is that for three fourths of the book, the POV is Humbert's. As a result the reader begins to see and think about the abuse as Humbert does, that it is one big, delightful sexual adventure, especially if the reader is a man. This technique is called "unreliable narrator." Many others besides Nabokov have used it. I often employ it for ironic or humorous effect in my poetry.
Q. Jack, I know you have a funny bone, or at least like to tickle our funny bones. I said before you are a multi-faceted author.
Humor is essential in writing. However, it is not easy to achieve. How would you advise me, for example, to develop humor in a piece? Are there particular authors or publications you would recommend? If you don’t mind, I will include an example of one of your humorous poems.
Alas and Alack!
You are old, Father Jack,
and under sneak attack
by a junta of contagious diseases.
So you give folks your back,
hunch and hiss like a cat
whenever somebody sneezes.
You should not do that.
You should keep it flat
till you die or till hell over-freezes.
Though to you it makes sense,
Annie's correspondents*
may, perchance, take offense
at your shunning their germ-laden breezes.
So your choice is a cinch:
be a snarling old grinch
or the cool, smiling corpse
whom your loverly last widow greevez.
*"Annie's Mail Box" is a social advice column in an Omaha newspaper.
A. I guess the main requirement for "develop(ing) humor in a piece" is for the potential for humor to be already present. To make that happen is quite complex. It begins with the question of audience. Who are you writing for? Children will not laugh at adult humor, and vice-versa. Some of us old geezers may still laugh at jokes about women drivers, but most women, no matter their age, wouldn't. I could go on and on, but we don't have the space.
Q. You’ve written plays that have been performed in Nebraska. My Heart’s in the Highlands is a one-act play that won honorable mention in Writer’s Digest. That is quite an accomplishment. For myself, and I’m sure the Nebraska Writer’s Guild, I’m interested in letting the rest of the world know about Nebraska’s fine arts culture. Theater is one of those areas, like film often unheralded for our state.
Do you have an opinion as to how we in Nebraska can bring more attention to the literary accomplishments of our authors and thespians?
A. I'm sorry. I don't.
Q. I’m going to make one final pull to find “Who is Jack?” You said in your biography that it was at age 58 you realized you should be writing instead of teaching others how to write and working as a literary critic. In one of our email exchanges, you mentioned there were other times when your interest in writing accelerated.
What do you attribute your love of literature and writing?
A. I have always been fascinated by language. Before I started kindergarten, I would spread the Sunday comics page on the floor and puzzle out the words. In the second grade, I memorized "The Ride of Paul Revere." My high school English teacher told me I was the only student of hers who understood Shakespeare. As a teenager I read all of Joseph Conrad's sea-going short stories.
I've heard that to be a poet, you must be in love with words. That is certainly true of me. Most of my growth as a playwright, writer and poet was gradual. However, there were a couple of periods in my life when it accelerated.
The three years when I earned a Master of Arts degree in English and American literature was the first period. The main set of skills I acquired in that time were those of a critic. I read the works of most of the great, as well as a few of the not-so-great writers in the English language from the beginnings of our tongue up to about the middle of the twentieth century. In addition to earning the degree, I emerged from my studies at San Francisco State College with a new set of skills. I could compare writers working in a particular genre and rate them against each other. That was a way of predicting whose works would continue to be printed and read and whose would not. In general, I could not only tell you which work was better and which was worse but also why.
The second period of acceleration was more drawn out. It has covered the last twenty-three years of my life. On my fifty-eighth birthday I complained to my daughter that I was tired of "being a bridesmaid and never a bride." That is, tired of reading the works of the great playwrights, writers and poets and wishing I could do the same. She loaned me a book entitled "Writing the Natural Way." It was a beginning writing course between two covers, a "how to" package that got me started learning the skills of a playwright, writer and poet. Over the years since then, I've continued to develop those skills.
I'm still no Shakespeare, Nabokov or Yeats. However, my cluttered writing office is my "Holy of holies." On one of the walls is a list of "the immortals," my heros and heroines, the great playwrights, writers and poets. Above their names are the words "In the company of the immortals." I no longer feel in impossible competition with them. Instead, they are my encouraging friends and mentors.
***
Jack invited us, figuratively, into his office and what develops from his mind within his ‘holy of holies’. Do I know Jack, no not really, but I know more about Jack. Like any author he has his own reasons for writing, personal to him. They are reflected by most of the rest of us. As authors we do love words and how they compliment each other. However, as unique as Jack’s reasons and process is to him, so are the reasons for writing personal for all writers.
Jack’s charm eminates from his unique lust for life, learning and legitimate search for meaning in what he does. www.jackloscutoff.com
.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Interview with Author David Kubicek
David Kubicek Interview
He slipped off his right shoe and held it like a mallet. One quick slap, and the beetle was a grease spot on the shining metal. He put his shoe on and looked away.
The numbers continued to increase, painfully slow. After the eleventh floor bell jinged, the elevator shuddered, jerked, then clanked. His stomach seemed to be in free fall. An empty, drawn-out clattering deep in the elevator shaft.
“Oh, no…” he whispered. Then louder: “No!”
All movement had stopped. Outside his tiny enclosure something creaked. Every time he rode the elevator he had this nightmare. Now it was real—he was stuck between floors.
He dropped his briefcase and hammered on the door.
“Help!”
Silence, crushing him.
The above is an excerpt from David Kubicek’s ELEVATOR
David’s writing finds it’s way into the gut of fear in his short story ELEVATOR. In his book THE MOANING ROCKS, one story makes any parent cringe and run to make sure their children are still watching cartoons. However, take a trip to his web site and find a family story “Runt of the Litter.”
David’s diverse writing style echoes in his career. Nominated in 1989 for the Pushcart Prize Best of the Small Press, hundreds of freelance articles, and work as writer and photographer for MJB enterprises business journals make a small dent in his resume. Add Kubicek and Associates he has published and edited trade paperbacks including his latest Novel IN HUMAN FORM.
Q. David, I am a huge fan of the thriller, horror genre. I’ve found myself relating to the fears come to life for your introspective characters. Then I read a warm family story ‘Runt of the Litter’ on your web site. I enjoyed it just as much. Give me a peek inside the vivid mind of David Kubicek. How do you decide on a premise?
A. My family and friends might say that peeking inside my mind would be scary. I don’t so much decide on a premise as the premise decides on me. Usually the ideas just come to me as the result of something I read or saw on TV or witnessed first hand or heard about from someone else; my short story collection The Moaning Rocks and Other Stories contains 14 of my stories with commentary on how each came to be written. Because of my lifelong interest in science fiction and horror, my mind tends to gravitate toward the offbeat, but my writing--like my reading--covers a broad range of genres, styles, and moods. My main writing mentors are Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and John Steinbeck, so my writing style and the subjects I write about are similar to those guys (but especially to Bradbury).
Q. You told me recently that you have a new story coming out ‘A Friend of the Family.’ Can you give us a quick look into the story? Please!
A. “A Friend of the Family” is a novelette, a dystopian story set in a society--long after World War III has destroyed much of civilization--in which Doctors have been outlawed and replaced by Healers who use all of the tried and true witch doctor methods such as bleeding patients and chanting incantations over them. The story focuses on a doctor named Hank who is afraid to give up the practice of medicine entirely (so he can treat his family) but is also afraid to join the Underground, a loose network of medical people, that tries to help people who have lost faith in the Healers. As is usual with my fiction, I focus on the characters rather than the society as a whole. The story revolves around Hank, who risks his freedom and the comfortable life he and his wife have managed to eek out in this bleak society, when he is pressured into treating the brother of a Healer. If the man--who is Head of the Family--recovers, Hank has nothing to fear. But the fellow is very sick, and if he dies, his sister the Healer will be Head of the Family, and Hank and his wife will lose their savings, their home, and their freedom. “A Friend of the Family” was originally published in 1987 in Space and Time magazine. I’ve started the story earlier, revised and polished it (I’m a much better craftsman than I was in 1986, when the story was written). It will come out as an e-book in February 2012 and as a paperback about the same time. The original, published version of “A Friend of the Family” appears in my collection The Moaning Rocks and Other Stories.
Q. You own a publishing business, Kubicek and Associates. Please give us an overview of your business. What makes it work?
A. Kubicek & Associates was the first incarnation of my business, from 1987 to 1990. I published five trade paperback books, two of which I edited: The Pelican in the Desert and Other Stories of the Family Farm (1988), and October Dreams: A Harvest of Horror (which I edited with Jeff Mason) (1989). Two stories from Pelican were nominated for the Pushcart Prize (my own “Ball of Fire” and Marjorie Saiser’s “Settling In”), and a story from October Dreams (“Mr. Sandman,” by Scott D. Yost) was reprinted in Karl Edward Wagner’s anthology The Year’s Best Horror Stories XVIII (DAW Books, 1990). I liked publishing a little bit too much and spent so much time working on the business that I neglected my own writing. During those four years I completed only one short story, “Ball of Fire,” because I needed one of my own stories for Pelican. I shut down the company in 1990 to focus on my own writing. Today I publish only my own work and try to strike a balance between the writing and the business end.
Q. From the biography you sent me, I can tell you are a devoted family man. I want David Kubicek to reveal his deep sense of family to my readers. Please take all the room you wish.
A. My wife and I will celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary this year. We met at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Cheryl worked as a custodian and I was a temp employee trying to make a little extra cash. I was teamed up with her to ensure the extra work was completed. She was very good at her job and made me feel at ease almost immediately. As we continued to work together we got to know each other, and it didn't take long before I realized that I couldn't wait to get to work to see her. She had an infectious laugh and liked to pull pranks on the other co-workers whenever she could. But mostly what I liked was that we could talk about anything. Within a couple of months we started dating, and one year later we were married. Then in 1994 Cheryl became pregnant with our only child, Sean. When he was born my life changed completely. Every day while they were in the hospital I went to see them as soon as I got up, and every day I arrived earlier than the day before. Although family has always been important to me--which I think comes across in my writing dating back into the 1970s--my marriage and having a child deepened my family bonds. Before Cheryl and Sean, everything I wrote was for a generic audience that was “out there somewhere.” After Cheryl and Sean, everything I wrote was for them. With few exceptions, Cheryl has lots of influence over when I consider a story finished or whether I publish it at all. I cut two stories from The Moaning Rocks because she didn’t like them, and I postponed a short collection of horror fiction because of problems she found with two of the stories. Sometimes after Cheryl reads one of my manuscripts, she says four words that are at the same time encouraging and a thumbs down for the story: “You can do better.” But it’s only a temporary thumbs down, because she expects me to go back to work on the story and “do better.” Sean also was thrilled when I dedicated The Moaning Rocks to him and Cheryl. I dedicated my novel In Human Form to Cheryl because she has always been enthusiastic about it and rescued it when I was going to chuck it into file thirteen, never again to be seen by human eyes. Sean even did a book report on In Human Form for his English class. Today our family also includes an 8-year-old blue-eyed Tom cat named Whiskers (who thinks he owns the place). We have a 12-year-old black Lab mix named Kabella (who is top dog and knows it), and the baby, 4-year-old Scooter, half Lab and half hound dog and subject of my blog post Runt of the Litter (and who is certainly not a runt anymore).
Q. This question is for your wife Cheryl. My husband is often baffled by my attachment to the computer and what comes out of it. How does David’s work, including his business, affect you as a wife, mother, and woman?
A. David is a perfectionist when it comes to his writing. He checks the details to ensure they are precise to give the reader the best read possible. Because we come from different backgrounds, he will ask me to read his stories and give feedback. The feedback can be little things to improve on or suggestions to the characters that can make them more likeable or undesirable. As a wife and a woman, I read all of David's stories. There have been a few occasions when he has asked me to read the entire story several times as he has changed some of the dialog. I have given him the look of "really, again?" As a mother I encourage our son to look to his dad when it comes to finding a book to read. Sean is a sophomore in high school and is required to read one book per quarter and write a book report. David has such a vast knowledge of books that it is easy for him to find one that will pique Sean's interest. Sean is currently reading a series of books that David introduced to him.
Q. David you have one last chance to speak to others writers or people interested in writing. What is the most important characteristic you feel an author needs?
A. Persistence. There’s only one way to fail at anything, and that is to give up. Whether you are self-publishing or seeking an agent and publisher, learn your craft, and never stop learning. I still learn from every book I read, and I’ve been writing for more than 40 years. Never stop trying to find your audience. When marketing your writing, if something isn’t working, try a different approach, and if that doesn’t work, try something else. Thomas Edison tried 10,000 different procedures before he succeeded in inventing the electric light bulb. A reporter once asked him how it felt to fail 9,999 times. He drew himself up in his chair, eyed the reporter with irritation and said: “Young man, I did not fail 9,999 times. I successfully found 9,999 ways that do not work.”
As I read through David’s answers to the questions I posed, I was surprised at how tame he seemingly is as a family man. Sometimes, as David stated, a story or character decides on the author. The Kubicek family seems to have adopted a support system around David’s writing that I believe to be very rare. David is the author, but Cheryl’s critiques, and his son’s involvement as student must make a well-bonded family. I look forward to reading more of David Kubicek’s stories. His upcoming release A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY promises to be intriguing indeed. Who but David Kubicek could make the Physician we seem to hero worship into a post apocalyptic outlaw? If you haven’t yet read David’s work, I suggest moving quickly to Smashwords.com and buying THE MOANING ROCKS, IN HUMAN FORM, and/or ELEVATOR. I have read David’s work and enjoyed each story as it built to a climax and some sort of resolution.
He slipped off his right shoe and held it like a mallet. One quick slap, and the beetle was a grease spot on the shining metal. He put his shoe on and looked away.
The numbers continued to increase, painfully slow. After the eleventh floor bell jinged, the elevator shuddered, jerked, then clanked. His stomach seemed to be in free fall. An empty, drawn-out clattering deep in the elevator shaft.
“Oh, no…” he whispered. Then louder: “No!”
All movement had stopped. Outside his tiny enclosure something creaked. Every time he rode the elevator he had this nightmare. Now it was real—he was stuck between floors.
He dropped his briefcase and hammered on the door.
“Help!”
Silence, crushing him.
The above is an excerpt from David Kubicek’s ELEVATOR
David’s writing finds it’s way into the gut of fear in his short story ELEVATOR. In his book THE MOANING ROCKS, one story makes any parent cringe and run to make sure their children are still watching cartoons. However, take a trip to his web site and find a family story “Runt of the Litter.”
David’s diverse writing style echoes in his career. Nominated in 1989 for the Pushcart Prize Best of the Small Press, hundreds of freelance articles, and work as writer and photographer for MJB enterprises business journals make a small dent in his resume. Add Kubicek and Associates he has published and edited trade paperbacks including his latest Novel IN HUMAN FORM.
Q. David, I am a huge fan of the thriller, horror genre. I’ve found myself relating to the fears come to life for your introspective characters. Then I read a warm family story ‘Runt of the Litter’ on your web site. I enjoyed it just as much. Give me a peek inside the vivid mind of David Kubicek. How do you decide on a premise?
A. My family and friends might say that peeking inside my mind would be scary. I don’t so much decide on a premise as the premise decides on me. Usually the ideas just come to me as the result of something I read or saw on TV or witnessed first hand or heard about from someone else; my short story collection The Moaning Rocks and Other Stories contains 14 of my stories with commentary on how each came to be written. Because of my lifelong interest in science fiction and horror, my mind tends to gravitate toward the offbeat, but my writing--like my reading--covers a broad range of genres, styles, and moods. My main writing mentors are Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and John Steinbeck, so my writing style and the subjects I write about are similar to those guys (but especially to Bradbury).
Q. You told me recently that you have a new story coming out ‘A Friend of the Family.’ Can you give us a quick look into the story? Please!
A. “A Friend of the Family” is a novelette, a dystopian story set in a society--long after World War III has destroyed much of civilization--in which Doctors have been outlawed and replaced by Healers who use all of the tried and true witch doctor methods such as bleeding patients and chanting incantations over them. The story focuses on a doctor named Hank who is afraid to give up the practice of medicine entirely (so he can treat his family) but is also afraid to join the Underground, a loose network of medical people, that tries to help people who have lost faith in the Healers. As is usual with my fiction, I focus on the characters rather than the society as a whole. The story revolves around Hank, who risks his freedom and the comfortable life he and his wife have managed to eek out in this bleak society, when he is pressured into treating the brother of a Healer. If the man--who is Head of the Family--recovers, Hank has nothing to fear. But the fellow is very sick, and if he dies, his sister the Healer will be Head of the Family, and Hank and his wife will lose their savings, their home, and their freedom. “A Friend of the Family” was originally published in 1987 in Space and Time magazine. I’ve started the story earlier, revised and polished it (I’m a much better craftsman than I was in 1986, when the story was written). It will come out as an e-book in February 2012 and as a paperback about the same time. The original, published version of “A Friend of the Family” appears in my collection The Moaning Rocks and Other Stories.
Q. You own a publishing business, Kubicek and Associates. Please give us an overview of your business. What makes it work?
A. Kubicek & Associates was the first incarnation of my business, from 1987 to 1990. I published five trade paperback books, two of which I edited: The Pelican in the Desert and Other Stories of the Family Farm (1988), and October Dreams: A Harvest of Horror (which I edited with Jeff Mason) (1989). Two stories from Pelican were nominated for the Pushcart Prize (my own “Ball of Fire” and Marjorie Saiser’s “Settling In”), and a story from October Dreams (“Mr. Sandman,” by Scott D. Yost) was reprinted in Karl Edward Wagner’s anthology The Year’s Best Horror Stories XVIII (DAW Books, 1990). I liked publishing a little bit too much and spent so much time working on the business that I neglected my own writing. During those four years I completed only one short story, “Ball of Fire,” because I needed one of my own stories for Pelican. I shut down the company in 1990 to focus on my own writing. Today I publish only my own work and try to strike a balance between the writing and the business end.
Q. From the biography you sent me, I can tell you are a devoted family man. I want David Kubicek to reveal his deep sense of family to my readers. Please take all the room you wish.
A. My wife and I will celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary this year. We met at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Cheryl worked as a custodian and I was a temp employee trying to make a little extra cash. I was teamed up with her to ensure the extra work was completed. She was very good at her job and made me feel at ease almost immediately. As we continued to work together we got to know each other, and it didn't take long before I realized that I couldn't wait to get to work to see her. She had an infectious laugh and liked to pull pranks on the other co-workers whenever she could. But mostly what I liked was that we could talk about anything. Within a couple of months we started dating, and one year later we were married. Then in 1994 Cheryl became pregnant with our only child, Sean. When he was born my life changed completely. Every day while they were in the hospital I went to see them as soon as I got up, and every day I arrived earlier than the day before. Although family has always been important to me--which I think comes across in my writing dating back into the 1970s--my marriage and having a child deepened my family bonds. Before Cheryl and Sean, everything I wrote was for a generic audience that was “out there somewhere.” After Cheryl and Sean, everything I wrote was for them. With few exceptions, Cheryl has lots of influence over when I consider a story finished or whether I publish it at all. I cut two stories from The Moaning Rocks because she didn’t like them, and I postponed a short collection of horror fiction because of problems she found with two of the stories. Sometimes after Cheryl reads one of my manuscripts, she says four words that are at the same time encouraging and a thumbs down for the story: “You can do better.” But it’s only a temporary thumbs down, because she expects me to go back to work on the story and “do better.” Sean also was thrilled when I dedicated The Moaning Rocks to him and Cheryl. I dedicated my novel In Human Form to Cheryl because she has always been enthusiastic about it and rescued it when I was going to chuck it into file thirteen, never again to be seen by human eyes. Sean even did a book report on In Human Form for his English class. Today our family also includes an 8-year-old blue-eyed Tom cat named Whiskers (who thinks he owns the place). We have a 12-year-old black Lab mix named Kabella (who is top dog and knows it), and the baby, 4-year-old Scooter, half Lab and half hound dog and subject of my blog post Runt of the Litter (and who is certainly not a runt anymore).
Q. This question is for your wife Cheryl. My husband is often baffled by my attachment to the computer and what comes out of it. How does David’s work, including his business, affect you as a wife, mother, and woman?
A. David is a perfectionist when it comes to his writing. He checks the details to ensure they are precise to give the reader the best read possible. Because we come from different backgrounds, he will ask me to read his stories and give feedback. The feedback can be little things to improve on or suggestions to the characters that can make them more likeable or undesirable. As a wife and a woman, I read all of David's stories. There have been a few occasions when he has asked me to read the entire story several times as he has changed some of the dialog. I have given him the look of "really, again?" As a mother I encourage our son to look to his dad when it comes to finding a book to read. Sean is a sophomore in high school and is required to read one book per quarter and write a book report. David has such a vast knowledge of books that it is easy for him to find one that will pique Sean's interest. Sean is currently reading a series of books that David introduced to him.
Q. David you have one last chance to speak to others writers or people interested in writing. What is the most important characteristic you feel an author needs?
A. Persistence. There’s only one way to fail at anything, and that is to give up. Whether you are self-publishing or seeking an agent and publisher, learn your craft, and never stop learning. I still learn from every book I read, and I’ve been writing for more than 40 years. Never stop trying to find your audience. When marketing your writing, if something isn’t working, try a different approach, and if that doesn’t work, try something else. Thomas Edison tried 10,000 different procedures before he succeeded in inventing the electric light bulb. A reporter once asked him how it felt to fail 9,999 times. He drew himself up in his chair, eyed the reporter with irritation and said: “Young man, I did not fail 9,999 times. I successfully found 9,999 ways that do not work.”
As I read through David’s answers to the questions I posed, I was surprised at how tame he seemingly is as a family man. Sometimes, as David stated, a story or character decides on the author. The Kubicek family seems to have adopted a support system around David’s writing that I believe to be very rare. David is the author, but Cheryl’s critiques, and his son’s involvement as student must make a well-bonded family. I look forward to reading more of David Kubicek’s stories. His upcoming release A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY promises to be intriguing indeed. Who but David Kubicek could make the Physician we seem to hero worship into a post apocalyptic outlaw? If you haven’t yet read David’s work, I suggest moving quickly to Smashwords.com and buying THE MOANING ROCKS, IN HUMAN FORM, and/or ELEVATOR. I have read David’s work and enjoyed each story as it built to a climax and some sort of resolution.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Janet Syas Nitsick interview
Interview with Author Janet Syas Nitsick
A picture of Janet on her web site shows a gentile lady wearing a large brim, straw hat set back on her crown. I found the image fitting for a woman with a slight figure who is the daughter of late Nebraska State Senator George Syas.
I met Janet at the 2011 Beatrice Nebraska Business Expo. She seems every bit the classy lady who loves her state and family above everything except God.
Janet’s book SEASONS OF THE SOUL reveals her versatility as an author. The small tome filled with short stories such as a heart stopper titled ‘The Game of Life’ a fictional account of an alcoholic’s attempt to deal with life and grief.
‘Family Boston Trip’ is a true story about Janet and her husband taking a flight with their two autistic sons. Janet boldly opens up about introducing the family to the scenic areas of and around Boston. She also relates how on the flight one son had a temper tantrum and the other a grand-mall seizure on their return flight.
A fable called ‘Squirrel Chatter’ tells of two squirrels playing the summer away until time to prepare for winter. One squirrel prepares while the other makes minimal effort for preparation.
Janet has raised four sons. Two of those sons with different types of autism and other disorders present challengers. However, Janet’s photo album on her web site and her stories reveal a loving family with no question of the importance of all their children.
Go to http://www.janetsyasnitsick.com/JanetsBooks.htm and read enthusiastic reviews of Janet’s spiritually charged book SEASONS OF THE SOUL.
Janet will be releasing a new book soon called Lockets and Lanterns.
Q. Janet, I know it takes a lot of strength to be open about disabilities or any brain disorder. Why have you chosen such a bold approach to speak and travel unapologetically with two autistic sons?
A. Our personal experiences of raising two different autistic sons - one nonverbal and low functioning and the other verbal and high functioning - provides hope for those struggling with children with disabilities as well as educating those unfamiliar or with only peripheral knowledge of the affliction. It also gives people a personal glimpse into our lives but in addition shows the small joys of having these children, such as Brad, our low-functioning, nonverbal son, giving us the television remote so he can watch “Sponge Bob.”
Q. I have mentioned your history as the daughter of a Nebraska State Senator. What is it like growing up in a political environment? Can you relate how that affects your life and career today?
A. My father was a common man. When not in session, dad worked as a Union Pacific machinist. He made more money at the latter but his passion was politics. There are many memories - one was where a gunshot grazed a hole in our picture window. Another was when a number of state senators gathered in our living room to redistrict their legislative boundaries, according to the new census. Dad won many education and conservation awards, including the school bell award (which sits on my computer desk) and a wildlife area named after him, the George Syas Wildlife Management Area in Genoa, Neb.
Because of him, I too am a political animal. Although not involved in any campaigns, I follow political stories from the local to the national.
Q. It is impossible to read your book SEASONS OF THE SOUL without commenting on your deep faith in God. Please tell us
the importance of relating that in a world that tends to shy
away from Christian values.
A. As Christians, we need to be bold about our faith. The celebration is Christmas to honor Christ’s birth not holiday. Every time I purchase an item, my reply to the attendant is “God bless you.”
Q. WVNE 760 am radio in Massachusetts interviewed you about SEASONS OF THE SOUL. KMTV did a feature of your family and your book. SEASONS OF THE SOUL won best of the year book by Christian Story Teller.
As someone still breaking in, how does that feel? Is SEASONS
OF THE SOUL your first published book? That has to be rare.
A. As a former language-arts teacher and journalist, I was schooled in the writing craft, but I always wanted to be an author. Thus, when my book arrived, I could not have been more proud. However, the real glory goes to those, such as my husband and great professors, who edited and ignited my writing career.
Q. You are releasing a new book LOCKETS AND LANTERNS soon. Can I ask for a short summary?
A. Locked in the groom’s heart is a secret which once unlocked exposes his wife to much anguish. LOCKETS AND LANTERNS, a gripping tale of love, loss, and forgiveness, takes readers back to the 1900s when life was simpler, but sustaining love was just as difficult.
LOCKETS AND LANTERNS Excerpt: Red looked at his wife while the early morning sun drifted over their bed. Peace and contentment filled his being. He no longer pined over a lost love. He rubbed his head against the pillow as he pondered their future. He took a deep breath, knowing he did not tell his wife about the family secret.
Janet’s sense of self and family never seems to waver. Reading SEASONS OF THE SOUL brings to light her depth of spirituality. Her talent as an author through a career as a journalist and now a novelist I cannot question.
Janet’s sensitivity to others, her boldness, and grace engaged me the day I met her. She insists on pointing out that her two autistic sons are different. Janet told me she makes the distinction so people know the disorder is not the same and each has their own personality.
Janet’s dogged insistence that each person is different is one reason that I bring the author to the front in these interviews. I believe that knowing the author makes their work more interesting. That is certainly true of Janet Syas Nitsick who walks proudly through her stories true or fiction.
A picture of Janet on her web site shows a gentile lady wearing a large brim, straw hat set back on her crown. I found the image fitting for a woman with a slight figure who is the daughter of late Nebraska State Senator George Syas.
I met Janet at the 2011 Beatrice Nebraska Business Expo. She seems every bit the classy lady who loves her state and family above everything except God.
Janet’s book SEASONS OF THE SOUL reveals her versatility as an author. The small tome filled with short stories such as a heart stopper titled ‘The Game of Life’ a fictional account of an alcoholic’s attempt to deal with life and grief.
‘Family Boston Trip’ is a true story about Janet and her husband taking a flight with their two autistic sons. Janet boldly opens up about introducing the family to the scenic areas of and around Boston. She also relates how on the flight one son had a temper tantrum and the other a grand-mall seizure on their return flight.
A fable called ‘Squirrel Chatter’ tells of two squirrels playing the summer away until time to prepare for winter. One squirrel prepares while the other makes minimal effort for preparation.
Janet has raised four sons. Two of those sons with different types of autism and other disorders present challengers. However, Janet’s photo album on her web site and her stories reveal a loving family with no question of the importance of all their children.
Go to http://www.janetsyasnitsick.com/JanetsBooks.htm and read enthusiastic reviews of Janet’s spiritually charged book SEASONS OF THE SOUL.
Janet will be releasing a new book soon called Lockets and Lanterns.
Q. Janet, I know it takes a lot of strength to be open about disabilities or any brain disorder. Why have you chosen such a bold approach to speak and travel unapologetically with two autistic sons?
A. Our personal experiences of raising two different autistic sons - one nonverbal and low functioning and the other verbal and high functioning - provides hope for those struggling with children with disabilities as well as educating those unfamiliar or with only peripheral knowledge of the affliction. It also gives people a personal glimpse into our lives but in addition shows the small joys of having these children, such as Brad, our low-functioning, nonverbal son, giving us the television remote so he can watch “Sponge Bob.”
Q. I have mentioned your history as the daughter of a Nebraska State Senator. What is it like growing up in a political environment? Can you relate how that affects your life and career today?
A. My father was a common man. When not in session, dad worked as a Union Pacific machinist. He made more money at the latter but his passion was politics. There are many memories - one was where a gunshot grazed a hole in our picture window. Another was when a number of state senators gathered in our living room to redistrict their legislative boundaries, according to the new census. Dad won many education and conservation awards, including the school bell award (which sits on my computer desk) and a wildlife area named after him, the George Syas Wildlife Management Area in Genoa, Neb.
Because of him, I too am a political animal. Although not involved in any campaigns, I follow political stories from the local to the national.
Q. It is impossible to read your book SEASONS OF THE SOUL without commenting on your deep faith in God. Please tell us
the importance of relating that in a world that tends to shy
away from Christian values.
A. As Christians, we need to be bold about our faith. The celebration is Christmas to honor Christ’s birth not holiday. Every time I purchase an item, my reply to the attendant is “God bless you.”
Q. WVNE 760 am radio in Massachusetts interviewed you about SEASONS OF THE SOUL. KMTV did a feature of your family and your book. SEASONS OF THE SOUL won best of the year book by Christian Story Teller.
As someone still breaking in, how does that feel? Is SEASONS
OF THE SOUL your first published book? That has to be rare.
A. As a former language-arts teacher and journalist, I was schooled in the writing craft, but I always wanted to be an author. Thus, when my book arrived, I could not have been more proud. However, the real glory goes to those, such as my husband and great professors, who edited and ignited my writing career.
Q. You are releasing a new book LOCKETS AND LANTERNS soon. Can I ask for a short summary?
A. Locked in the groom’s heart is a secret which once unlocked exposes his wife to much anguish. LOCKETS AND LANTERNS, a gripping tale of love, loss, and forgiveness, takes readers back to the 1900s when life was simpler, but sustaining love was just as difficult.
LOCKETS AND LANTERNS Excerpt: Red looked at his wife while the early morning sun drifted over their bed. Peace and contentment filled his being. He no longer pined over a lost love. He rubbed his head against the pillow as he pondered their future. He took a deep breath, knowing he did not tell his wife about the family secret.
Janet’s sense of self and family never seems to waver. Reading SEASONS OF THE SOUL brings to light her depth of spirituality. Her talent as an author through a career as a journalist and now a novelist I cannot question.
Janet’s sensitivity to others, her boldness, and grace engaged me the day I met her. She insists on pointing out that her two autistic sons are different. Janet told me she makes the distinction so people know the disorder is not the same and each has their own personality.
Janet’s dogged insistence that each person is different is one reason that I bring the author to the front in these interviews. I believe that knowing the author makes their work more interesting. That is certainly true of Janet Syas Nitsick who walks proudly through her stories true or fiction.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Interview with Author Connie Spittler
Interview with Connie Spittler. Nebraska Author
Connie is an extremely accomplished author, presenter, and friend of nature. Along with her husband Bob, a talented photographer, they have captured stories from the beauty of their environment. I think of how often I have complained about a weed, forgetting the beautiful plant standing tall beside it. Connie and Bob capture the beauty of the earth as it touches their lives. They involve their children who have grown to become professionals in their own fields and remember the training from growing up with parents who taught them to love their world.
The Spittler’s books THE DESERT ETERNAL and THE LEGEND OF BROOK HOLLOW reveal their exciting and picturesque world. I feel privileged that Connie and Bob generously shared them with me.
The other gift to me was an anthology called The Story Teller: A Publication of The Society of Southwestern Authors. Connie's award-winning story, A Universal Language, featured in the publication tells how music and surroundings can communicate with not only other humans, but with a beloved pet.
Husband Bob, a phenomenal photographer, captures near impossible pictures of a quality I have seen in National Geographic magazine. Pictorial artist that he is, he prefers to let Connie be the spokesperson.
Note to Connie: Before I start your interview, I must express judgment about you personally. You are a romantic. You do not hide it, but let it free through all of your poetic prose and memoirs. Reading your books has been a personal pleasure, and I got them free. It is great to do interviews.
THE INTERVIEW
Q. Connie, as I read some of the stories from THE DESERT ETERNAL, it was difficult to make out whether Bob took photographs to fit the story, or if you wrote the story about Bob’s photographs. It did not take long for me to realize the two of you are so simpatico, both story and photograph meld as you write and he shoots.
Would you say that is an accurate assessment?
A. There’s a story about which came first the writing or the photos. When Bob and I moved from Omaha to Tucson, AZ, we left our film/AV business behind. In our production company, Bob was videographer/cinematographer and editor. I wrote, produced, and put together the editing drafts. We both did post production (directed announcers, picked music, did sound mixes, supervised cuts, fades, dissolves down to a hundredth of a second at a postproduction house). We worked together on projects through the years, ever since communication classes at Creighton U. After the AZ move, without business demands, we grabbed the opportunity to follow our own creative inclinations. Bob changed from moving to still photographs. I wrote, not for clients, but on subjects I chose. In a new and fascinating location, we happily danced down our own Southwestern paths. A few years later, after a lumpectomy for breast cancer, I lay in bed, groggy on appropriate meds, looking at the cactus and mountains out the bedroom window. A random thought scrolled by. Yes, Bob and I were “doing our own thing,” but actually, we were doing the same thing in individual ways. Once on my feet, I printed copies of my nature essays. Each morning, during the seven-week course of radiation, Bob and I explored his photo archives to see how many things matched. By the end, we found over 100 word/image connections, and created the book, The Desert Eternal. That treasured time together during post surgery, gave us a special, healing experience, a continuation of our like minds. By the last treatment, I carried along our Blurb self-published book to show the wonderful technicians who’d cared for me. They received the first book. Neighbors ordered copies and word of mouth spread. The library purchased several, which led to its selection as one of the Southwest Books of the Year 2008, and it later received a Glyph award from Arizona Publishers. For all these personal memories, I love that book.
Q. Each story is a joy to read, but I must say the story of the quail and your granddaughter in THE DESERT ETERNAL, I found enchanting. I am enthralled with the way each memoir melds your love of nature and family. As an author, I must ask how you honed your writing style. Does the ability to stitch photography, nature, and family together come naturally to you and Bob?
A. As far as nature affecting my writing style, I trace it back to growing up in South Dakota. I remember washing the supper dishes, work I didn’t like. Does any kid like the jobs they’re required to do? However, after a while, I concentrated on the sunset. Hands in soapy water, I gazed out the kitchen window, to watch an ever-changing view of day’s ending on the flat plains. I studied the colors, shapes, weather, different aspects available through one piece of glass, a bird, or nest, storm brewing, snow falling, leaves unfurling on the trees. Now, when I look out the window or take a walk, I concentrate on appreciating the marvels that await.
My other nature memory centers on my escape to our big mulberry tree as a girl. I’d nestle in its comfy trunk crotch, and read, stopping to eavesdrop on birds that flew in to eat ripe berries. I’d reach out to do the same. It was the best reading room I’ve ever had, as I let nature envelope me. Later, married, with kids, our family stopped to appreciate nature, the sunsets, starry nights, and nature’s revolving patterns. When the kids moved away (still in town), we’d get or make calls. “Rainbow to the east,” or “lightning exploding in the west.” It came naturally to both Bob and me, and we encouraged it in our family. As a girl and as an adult, I wrote stories and poems, often related to nature in some way.
Q. The LEGEND OF BROOK HOLLOW tells the story of an idyllic area that the public discovered and used as a park. Later a developer encompassed the land into a private park-like setting for people living in his created neighborhood. Did the residents of the development seem to feel more protected, or did they express much nostalgia for the openness of the park?
A. Most folks like the fact that it’s a somewhat secret place. A couple of elderly residents were unhappy I was writing the book. They feared too many others would find out about it. True, unless you know someone who lives here, you probably haven’t heard about Brook Hollow, and the sign at the entrance clearly states, “Private Property. I found it curious that some residents don’t care for the natural part at all, the trees, wild animals, and ponds. I can’t figure out why they moved to a place so attractive to wildlife. Maybe they moved here for convenience to employment, shopping, the Interstate, etc., but others, like me, are always on the lookout for creatures that live close or pass through, wild turkeys, mink, snapping turtles, beaver, badger, a deer or two, and an illusive fox. Of course, raccoon, opossum, squirrels, rabbits and birds, birds, birds.
Since the book just came out, not much feedback yet, although one neighbor couple came to the door to report that now they feel they’re living in Shangri La. “I get to be Ronald Coleman,” the husband said. An email from the family of a woman who’d had a stroke and just returned from the special care said, “She is so enjoying the photographs and the stories that we read to her.” I used literary quotes throughout as photo captions, and a neighbor called me yesterday to find out how I found words of the famous that matched the pictures so precisely. I confessed that I Googled literary quotes, then added the subject matter” which made it less about my extensive liberal arts background, and more about my computer that could blink out wisdom from Chinese philosophers, African, or Indian proverbs. Wary of copyrights, I selected only authors from olden times. Hurrah for technology.
Q. As I looked at the photographs of Brook Hollows wildlife, plants, and ponds, I felt I was sneaking a peek into a kind of sanctuary. You have walked Brook Hollow communing with all of its wonders. How does that make you feel?
A. We moved back to Nebraska about a year and a half ago. We lived on an acre of lush desert in Tucson, AZ. It spoiled us. In that development, rules forbade residents from changing the natural desert on their property. No additions to the landscape without permission and then, only from the list of Sonoran desert plants. This meant residents lived surrounded by a setting developed by nature through the years. We did have walled back yards, because coyotes, javelina, tarantulas, all kinds of lizards and snakes roamed the neighborhood. Does it sound terrible? It was great. The creatures did not hurt us, and we did not hurt them. By walking out the door, we entered this other world. I feel the same way about Brook Hollow. We chose our home because of the habitat with animals and water. Last night, three huge wild turkeys roosted high in the leafless elm tree outside our deck. Such experiences ground us and lead me gently to philosophical thoughts and then, essays. As I said in the book, we can’t decide if we’re walking through The Wind in the Willows or in the tiniest, tiniest of ways, emulating Henry David Thoreau.
Q. Your award-winning memoir A Universal Language published in The Story Teller: A Publication of the Society of Southwestern Authors reminded me of my Shelty, Duchess who died a few years ago. She was my companion for over ten years, and we developed a kind of communication between us. Have you had other such reactions from pet lovers? Do you think you may someday be able to publish that in a collection of memoirs by you?
A. I’ve heard from lots of pet lovers. The story about my sick cat ended up in Cup of Comfort for Cat Lovers. Once, someone read that story, wrote a small pamphlet about their special pet, and sent me a copy. I appreciated that beautiful gesture.
I read my cat story at an AZ Humane Society fundraiser. A little girl thanked me, and then left. In five minutes, she sneaked back. “I love our cat. Would you read your story to me again?” Moreover, I did. Her wide-eyed attentions all the way through made me wonder if anyone in her family ever read aloud to her. Before I could talk to her afterward, she’d disappeared.
Our present cat, Marbles, arrived from a faraway street, picked up by my granddaughter’s friend. A fantastic animal, she curls up on my desk when I’m working. One of her quirks is to push all my stray pencils to the floor. I hope that’s not an editorial comment on my writing, or maybe she’s telling me to pick up the darn pencil and write. Will there ever be a book of my memoir pieces? I’d love to do it, but I need more stories. Wait, the message from my cat comes through. Get to work.
(I like to ask the people I interview to add anything they feel relevant about their writing. I cannot think of everything, so I let them help. It is their interview.)
One of my best writing experiences involved the acceptance of a piece about lint. Some of my essays began as holiday letters. After our move, most Christmas notes from Arizona friends described people I didn’t know, folks who’d visited, fellow trip takers, relatives and names that held no meaning to me. As a change of pace, I wrote philosophical letters to celebrate the season. Some folks copied them and sent them to other people. One lawyer sent them to 46 other attorneys in his office. Someone in California sent one to a British editor-friend working in Spain, who asked me to submit an essay for her anthology in progress with Editorial Kairos, entitled The Art of Living, A Practical Guide to Being Alive. One day, an email arrived about the book, “I thought the authors I’ve chosen might be interested in hearing the names of the other writers in the book” She sent the list and I almost fell out of my desk chair. The Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, Mikhail Gorbachev, Desmond Tutu, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jean S. Bolen, Sir Richard Branson, and there it was, my name included. Kairos distributed the book internationally with English and Spanish versions. Before this, an essay highpoint was publication in a nature book called What Wildness is This. From U of Texas Press that included Barbara Kingsolver and Terry Tempest Williams. The Spanish book, however, was global and humbling. Afterward, I wondered briefly if I should quit writing. I’d never be able to match the names of that company of famous people. Nevertheless, of course, I keep at it. Our words do not depend on the proximity of neighboring authors, no matter how well known. Still, it was a thrill and I love thinking about it, especially on days when I get a rejection letter.
My works appear in over a dozen anthologies and I count it a blessing when I hear from readers. A letter from California said, “Someone gave me your book. Alone in my backyard, I read your nature essays aloud to the plants. The words bring me close to the earth and calm me. Thanks.” I visualized the plants listening to my words and smiled. Yea, a new audience.
At a bookstore, a sparse group gathered as I read my story in Chicken Soup for the Grandparents’ Soul. I packed up afterwards, a glum and disappointed author. Then, an old woman approached. “Would you autograph this copy for our neighbor boy to give to his grandparents? His mother deserted him and his dad’s in jail. His grandparents are adopting him and the book’s a surprise for his Nana and Popi. I confess I blinked away a tear as I signed that book. As authors, we send our words into the unknown, and it’s gratifying to know about the homes they find.
When I wrote the interview questions to explore Connie’s world, I had no idea how expanded her world had become. I’m gratified she willingly shared her life, loves, and career with us. Connie your career as an essayist and speaker will continue. Your fingers are, like many authors, the kind that will itch with anticipation when you are near a keyboard. You and Bob are gifts that keep giving back to the earth by calling our attention to it.
Dear readers you may wish to know that Connie has also done writing workshops for women at the University of Arizona Writing Works Center. Therefore, we add educator to her resume. Connie also reveals to me another area of her career that may have slipped past this interview
“I forgot to mention the "Wise Women Video Series,” four videotapes, later DVD's, from interviews with women over 50 who'd contributed in unusual ways to their community, neighborhood, family. They selected the series to be in Harvard University's Library on the History of Women in America. I was surprised when Medical Schools and Nursing Schools ordered the tapes. The schools used them as examples of positive aging and showed them to students after they finished studies on heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. Actually several of the women in the tapes had medical problems, but rose above them with messages of hope and continued service.”
I for one am encouraged by Connie’s story. If she had not offered up the last bit of information, I would have missed the gratification of being a woman over 50 who hopes that I have and will contribute to my community and family. It nice to see the efforts of anybody appreciated publicly. I cannot think of anything more I can add to this interview. So dear readers go to a library, bookstore, or Internet and look for Connie and Bob Spittler’s book titles THE DESERT ETERNAL, The LEGEND OF BROOK HOLLOW, and the anthologies that contain her work. You will not be disappointed.
Connie is an extremely accomplished author, presenter, and friend of nature. Along with her husband Bob, a talented photographer, they have captured stories from the beauty of their environment. I think of how often I have complained about a weed, forgetting the beautiful plant standing tall beside it. Connie and Bob capture the beauty of the earth as it touches their lives. They involve their children who have grown to become professionals in their own fields and remember the training from growing up with parents who taught them to love their world.
The Spittler’s books THE DESERT ETERNAL and THE LEGEND OF BROOK HOLLOW reveal their exciting and picturesque world. I feel privileged that Connie and Bob generously shared them with me.
The other gift to me was an anthology called The Story Teller: A Publication of The Society of Southwestern Authors. Connie's award-winning story, A Universal Language, featured in the publication tells how music and surroundings can communicate with not only other humans, but with a beloved pet.
Husband Bob, a phenomenal photographer, captures near impossible pictures of a quality I have seen in National Geographic magazine. Pictorial artist that he is, he prefers to let Connie be the spokesperson.
Note to Connie: Before I start your interview, I must express judgment about you personally. You are a romantic. You do not hide it, but let it free through all of your poetic prose and memoirs. Reading your books has been a personal pleasure, and I got them free. It is great to do interviews.
THE INTERVIEW
Q. Connie, as I read some of the stories from THE DESERT ETERNAL, it was difficult to make out whether Bob took photographs to fit the story, or if you wrote the story about Bob’s photographs. It did not take long for me to realize the two of you are so simpatico, both story and photograph meld as you write and he shoots.
Would you say that is an accurate assessment?
A. There’s a story about which came first the writing or the photos. When Bob and I moved from Omaha to Tucson, AZ, we left our film/AV business behind. In our production company, Bob was videographer/cinematographer and editor. I wrote, produced, and put together the editing drafts. We both did post production (directed announcers, picked music, did sound mixes, supervised cuts, fades, dissolves down to a hundredth of a second at a postproduction house). We worked together on projects through the years, ever since communication classes at Creighton U. After the AZ move, without business demands, we grabbed the opportunity to follow our own creative inclinations. Bob changed from moving to still photographs. I wrote, not for clients, but on subjects I chose. In a new and fascinating location, we happily danced down our own Southwestern paths. A few years later, after a lumpectomy for breast cancer, I lay in bed, groggy on appropriate meds, looking at the cactus and mountains out the bedroom window. A random thought scrolled by. Yes, Bob and I were “doing our own thing,” but actually, we were doing the same thing in individual ways. Once on my feet, I printed copies of my nature essays. Each morning, during the seven-week course of radiation, Bob and I explored his photo archives to see how many things matched. By the end, we found over 100 word/image connections, and created the book, The Desert Eternal. That treasured time together during post surgery, gave us a special, healing experience, a continuation of our like minds. By the last treatment, I carried along our Blurb self-published book to show the wonderful technicians who’d cared for me. They received the first book. Neighbors ordered copies and word of mouth spread. The library purchased several, which led to its selection as one of the Southwest Books of the Year 2008, and it later received a Glyph award from Arizona Publishers. For all these personal memories, I love that book.
Q. Each story is a joy to read, but I must say the story of the quail and your granddaughter in THE DESERT ETERNAL, I found enchanting. I am enthralled with the way each memoir melds your love of nature and family. As an author, I must ask how you honed your writing style. Does the ability to stitch photography, nature, and family together come naturally to you and Bob?
A. As far as nature affecting my writing style, I trace it back to growing up in South Dakota. I remember washing the supper dishes, work I didn’t like. Does any kid like the jobs they’re required to do? However, after a while, I concentrated on the sunset. Hands in soapy water, I gazed out the kitchen window, to watch an ever-changing view of day’s ending on the flat plains. I studied the colors, shapes, weather, different aspects available through one piece of glass, a bird, or nest, storm brewing, snow falling, leaves unfurling on the trees. Now, when I look out the window or take a walk, I concentrate on appreciating the marvels that await.
My other nature memory centers on my escape to our big mulberry tree as a girl. I’d nestle in its comfy trunk crotch, and read, stopping to eavesdrop on birds that flew in to eat ripe berries. I’d reach out to do the same. It was the best reading room I’ve ever had, as I let nature envelope me. Later, married, with kids, our family stopped to appreciate nature, the sunsets, starry nights, and nature’s revolving patterns. When the kids moved away (still in town), we’d get or make calls. “Rainbow to the east,” or “lightning exploding in the west.” It came naturally to both Bob and me, and we encouraged it in our family. As a girl and as an adult, I wrote stories and poems, often related to nature in some way.
Q. The LEGEND OF BROOK HOLLOW tells the story of an idyllic area that the public discovered and used as a park. Later a developer encompassed the land into a private park-like setting for people living in his created neighborhood. Did the residents of the development seem to feel more protected, or did they express much nostalgia for the openness of the park?
A. Most folks like the fact that it’s a somewhat secret place. A couple of elderly residents were unhappy I was writing the book. They feared too many others would find out about it. True, unless you know someone who lives here, you probably haven’t heard about Brook Hollow, and the sign at the entrance clearly states, “Private Property. I found it curious that some residents don’t care for the natural part at all, the trees, wild animals, and ponds. I can’t figure out why they moved to a place so attractive to wildlife. Maybe they moved here for convenience to employment, shopping, the Interstate, etc., but others, like me, are always on the lookout for creatures that live close or pass through, wild turkeys, mink, snapping turtles, beaver, badger, a deer or two, and an illusive fox. Of course, raccoon, opossum, squirrels, rabbits and birds, birds, birds.
Since the book just came out, not much feedback yet, although one neighbor couple came to the door to report that now they feel they’re living in Shangri La. “I get to be Ronald Coleman,” the husband said. An email from the family of a woman who’d had a stroke and just returned from the special care said, “She is so enjoying the photographs and the stories that we read to her.” I used literary quotes throughout as photo captions, and a neighbor called me yesterday to find out how I found words of the famous that matched the pictures so precisely. I confessed that I Googled literary quotes, then added the subject matter” which made it less about my extensive liberal arts background, and more about my computer that could blink out wisdom from Chinese philosophers, African, or Indian proverbs. Wary of copyrights, I selected only authors from olden times. Hurrah for technology.
Q. As I looked at the photographs of Brook Hollows wildlife, plants, and ponds, I felt I was sneaking a peek into a kind of sanctuary. You have walked Brook Hollow communing with all of its wonders. How does that make you feel?
A. We moved back to Nebraska about a year and a half ago. We lived on an acre of lush desert in Tucson, AZ. It spoiled us. In that development, rules forbade residents from changing the natural desert on their property. No additions to the landscape without permission and then, only from the list of Sonoran desert plants. This meant residents lived surrounded by a setting developed by nature through the years. We did have walled back yards, because coyotes, javelina, tarantulas, all kinds of lizards and snakes roamed the neighborhood. Does it sound terrible? It was great. The creatures did not hurt us, and we did not hurt them. By walking out the door, we entered this other world. I feel the same way about Brook Hollow. We chose our home because of the habitat with animals and water. Last night, three huge wild turkeys roosted high in the leafless elm tree outside our deck. Such experiences ground us and lead me gently to philosophical thoughts and then, essays. As I said in the book, we can’t decide if we’re walking through The Wind in the Willows or in the tiniest, tiniest of ways, emulating Henry David Thoreau.
Q. Your award-winning memoir A Universal Language published in The Story Teller: A Publication of the Society of Southwestern Authors reminded me of my Shelty, Duchess who died a few years ago. She was my companion for over ten years, and we developed a kind of communication between us. Have you had other such reactions from pet lovers? Do you think you may someday be able to publish that in a collection of memoirs by you?
A. I’ve heard from lots of pet lovers. The story about my sick cat ended up in Cup of Comfort for Cat Lovers. Once, someone read that story, wrote a small pamphlet about their special pet, and sent me a copy. I appreciated that beautiful gesture.
I read my cat story at an AZ Humane Society fundraiser. A little girl thanked me, and then left. In five minutes, she sneaked back. “I love our cat. Would you read your story to me again?” Moreover, I did. Her wide-eyed attentions all the way through made me wonder if anyone in her family ever read aloud to her. Before I could talk to her afterward, she’d disappeared.
Our present cat, Marbles, arrived from a faraway street, picked up by my granddaughter’s friend. A fantastic animal, she curls up on my desk when I’m working. One of her quirks is to push all my stray pencils to the floor. I hope that’s not an editorial comment on my writing, or maybe she’s telling me to pick up the darn pencil and write. Will there ever be a book of my memoir pieces? I’d love to do it, but I need more stories. Wait, the message from my cat comes through. Get to work.
(I like to ask the people I interview to add anything they feel relevant about their writing. I cannot think of everything, so I let them help. It is their interview.)
One of my best writing experiences involved the acceptance of a piece about lint. Some of my essays began as holiday letters. After our move, most Christmas notes from Arizona friends described people I didn’t know, folks who’d visited, fellow trip takers, relatives and names that held no meaning to me. As a change of pace, I wrote philosophical letters to celebrate the season. Some folks copied them and sent them to other people. One lawyer sent them to 46 other attorneys in his office. Someone in California sent one to a British editor-friend working in Spain, who asked me to submit an essay for her anthology in progress with Editorial Kairos, entitled The Art of Living, A Practical Guide to Being Alive. One day, an email arrived about the book, “I thought the authors I’ve chosen might be interested in hearing the names of the other writers in the book” She sent the list and I almost fell out of my desk chair. The Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, Mikhail Gorbachev, Desmond Tutu, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jean S. Bolen, Sir Richard Branson, and there it was, my name included. Kairos distributed the book internationally with English and Spanish versions. Before this, an essay highpoint was publication in a nature book called What Wildness is This. From U of Texas Press that included Barbara Kingsolver and Terry Tempest Williams. The Spanish book, however, was global and humbling. Afterward, I wondered briefly if I should quit writing. I’d never be able to match the names of that company of famous people. Nevertheless, of course, I keep at it. Our words do not depend on the proximity of neighboring authors, no matter how well known. Still, it was a thrill and I love thinking about it, especially on days when I get a rejection letter.
My works appear in over a dozen anthologies and I count it a blessing when I hear from readers. A letter from California said, “Someone gave me your book. Alone in my backyard, I read your nature essays aloud to the plants. The words bring me close to the earth and calm me. Thanks.” I visualized the plants listening to my words and smiled. Yea, a new audience.
At a bookstore, a sparse group gathered as I read my story in Chicken Soup for the Grandparents’ Soul. I packed up afterwards, a glum and disappointed author. Then, an old woman approached. “Would you autograph this copy for our neighbor boy to give to his grandparents? His mother deserted him and his dad’s in jail. His grandparents are adopting him and the book’s a surprise for his Nana and Popi. I confess I blinked away a tear as I signed that book. As authors, we send our words into the unknown, and it’s gratifying to know about the homes they find.
When I wrote the interview questions to explore Connie’s world, I had no idea how expanded her world had become. I’m gratified she willingly shared her life, loves, and career with us. Connie your career as an essayist and speaker will continue. Your fingers are, like many authors, the kind that will itch with anticipation when you are near a keyboard. You and Bob are gifts that keep giving back to the earth by calling our attention to it.
Dear readers you may wish to know that Connie has also done writing workshops for women at the University of Arizona Writing Works Center. Therefore, we add educator to her resume. Connie also reveals to me another area of her career that may have slipped past this interview
“I forgot to mention the "Wise Women Video Series,” four videotapes, later DVD's, from interviews with women over 50 who'd contributed in unusual ways to their community, neighborhood, family. They selected the series to be in Harvard University's Library on the History of Women in America. I was surprised when Medical Schools and Nursing Schools ordered the tapes. The schools used them as examples of positive aging and showed them to students after they finished studies on heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. Actually several of the women in the tapes had medical problems, but rose above them with messages of hope and continued service.”
I for one am encouraged by Connie’s story. If she had not offered up the last bit of information, I would have missed the gratification of being a woman over 50 who hopes that I have and will contribute to my community and family. It nice to see the efforts of anybody appreciated publicly. I cannot think of anything more I can add to this interview. So dear readers go to a library, bookstore, or Internet and look for Connie and Bob Spittler’s book titles THE DESERT ETERNAL, The LEGEND OF BROOK HOLLOW, and the anthologies that contain her work. You will not be disappointed.
Monday, November 21, 2011
New dot com Web Site
I have an exciting announcement this morning. I am opening up my own dot com web site. It is currently under construction and will be up when I get that all figured out.
Wordsprings will continue for interviews of other authors. The interviews are a labor of love and interest in my fellow authors. I will continue to strive to put the writer up front and their books as a product of who they are.
Please continue to enjoy Wordsprings. A link to my dot com will be added when I have it up and running.
Thank you dear readers.
Wordsprings will continue for interviews of other authors. The interviews are a labor of love and interest in my fellow authors. I will continue to strive to put the writer up front and their books as a product of who they are.
Please continue to enjoy Wordsprings. A link to my dot com will be added when I have it up and running.
Thank you dear readers.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Interview with Author G. K. Fralin by G. M. Stevens
Interview With Author G. K. Fralin
A rich, red background greets you when you visit G. K. (Glenda) Fralin’s blog at wordspring.blogspot.com. The background is as warm and inviting as her passion for writing. Her site includes short film clips about her book THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN, as well as videos of a poem she’s written, The Monster’s Dinner. Since 2006, Glenda has been sharing her poetry, thoughts and writing adventure with those who drop by, but her love for writing began as a child.
Glenda is a member of the Nebraska Writers Guild and is a fine interviewer in her own right. Originally from Kansas, which I’ve learned gives her the right to say “ain’t”, Glenda is a Nebraska writer who pays it forward – an important thing to do in any endeavor we take. It is most obvious to me by her work and her blog, that Glenda is a Christian, which you’ll see by the first paragraph on her blog or in her full profile. I admire her faith and zest for life.
* * *
Gina: I was intrigued when Kristopher Miller’s review of your book, Book Review THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN, compared your book to C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. Did Lewis’s novel influence your work at all, and do you agree with Miller?
G. K. Fralin: How do I respond to this question? I’m glad he compared it to the spirit of C. S. Lewis. I don’t know that I will ever reach the level of skill C. S. Lewis possessed to grasp the imagination in fantasy. Lewis was like an architect with a story. The lands of Narnia and its character’s make for his epic chronicles.
I wish I could say I studied his writing, but I have only read a portion. I do love his style. Reading the full series of chronicles is a goal of mine.
My parents subscribed to Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. Their condensed version of GREEN MANSIONS by William H. Hudson introduced me to the world of grown up fantasy. GULLIVER’S TRAVELS by Jonathan Swift with the Lilliputians also helped me move beyond the childhood fantasies of Mother Goose.
I can agree with Kristopher that like C. S. Lewis, I try to set out Biblical teachings in fantasy to engage the mind of the reader instead of preaching.
Gina: I read the first chapter and loved the setting, which seemed almost heaven-like to me. Was this your intent?
G. K. Fralin: Hidden is deceptively peaceful. There is that initial impression of finding a jewel of a town buried on the back road off Nebraska’s I-80. Be careful of what you trust. Have you ever visited a resort whose brochure promised luxurious lodging, and tours of historic sites including photos of how they deliver on their promise? Then when you’ve been there more than five minutes, you get a big let down. That is the first chapter of Hidden.
Would heaven have one old street? Will Catch and his barbed remarks be as cute when Sheridan catches him off guard? Oh, ho ho be ye careful of that one.
Gina: How did you come up with the name of the town, Hidden?
G. K. Fralin: I was trying to figure out a place forSheridan to be trapped. The idea of a town tucked away from the eyes and knowledge of the world implies Hidden. It fit my ‘what if’ premise. I simply could not think of a more appropriate name than Hidden. The citizen’s of Hidden prefer similarly direct names. They seem obsessed with name meanings.
Gina: How long did it take you to write the book and when did you start writing it?
G. K. Fralin: Now that is a story in itself. THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN began years ago as an interactive story with my daughter Nina at bedtime. It bears many of the same elements. The name of that story was The Lunis Flower and the main character was Lucinda.
I rewrote it as an 8000 word grown up version and it turned in a different direction. Nina is now in her late twenties, but the story still contains elements of her influence.
I was having trouble in the new version connecting with my main character in a way that my readers could relate to her.
What I ended up doing was writing a life for Sheridan that became an unpublished novel length story of its own. That set a background for her and developed her personality and life events. THE SEARCH: LIVING BEDOUIN is mentioned in THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN. I haven’t published THE SEARCH: LIVING BEDOUIN.
Gina: What genre would you say THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN, is?
G. K. Fralin: THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN is a Christian fantasy full of adventure, suspense, and mystery.
Gina: Tell me about the sketch for the poem The Monster’s Dinner (which is adorable. I’m thinking I’d entertain more if I could lay out dust and decorate with cobwebs!)
G. K. Fralin: I’ll warn you, this story is not for the faint of heart.
I wrote The Monster’s Dinner several years ago. When I wanted to publish it, I wanted a picture to go with it.
When I decided on a sketch, I asked my daughter Angie to draw it. She thought I was nuts. Angela’s talent for painting, design and photography took a huge hit when she was cutting the zip tie off of a toy for her son. The knife she was using slipped and her left eye permanently injured. The doctors did surgery, but the cornea is still scared. The accident would have knocked me off my feet. She is one resilient woman. I can’t help but be in awe of her ability to bounce back and take life on.
She learned how to drive by using intuition and memory to gauge depth and distance. She started working on clothing for her doll collection again. However, she resolved that she was not going to have the chance to draw or paint again. She covers the bad eye just to read.
I didn’t ask her as a therapeutic exercise, I hoped it would be, but I really wanted her to do it. Questions hit me like, am I pushing too hard for something she has accepted is gone? Was I going to ask her to break her heart all over again?
Her husband James, bless him, is the perfect match for her. He took the time to stand by and let her know when something wasn’t looking right, and he encouraged her. I’d asked for it to be childlike because of the poem. The detail and elements she put in that sketch made it the perfect search and find for kids and adults.
She has since done other projects including the drawing of the Lunis Flower on the cover of my book The Search: Lunis Flower of Hidden.
* * *
In closing, I hope you will all stop by Glenda's rich red blogsite. From that point, you can find out where to buy her book and even read the first chapter of her novel, THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN. Thank you Glenda for the great responses.
A rich, red background greets you when you visit G. K. (Glenda) Fralin’s blog at wordspring.blogspot.com. The background is as warm and inviting as her passion for writing. Her site includes short film clips about her book THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN, as well as videos of a poem she’s written, The Monster’s Dinner. Since 2006, Glenda has been sharing her poetry, thoughts and writing adventure with those who drop by, but her love for writing began as a child.
Glenda is a member of the Nebraska Writers Guild and is a fine interviewer in her own right. Originally from Kansas, which I’ve learned gives her the right to say “ain’t”, Glenda is a Nebraska writer who pays it forward – an important thing to do in any endeavor we take. It is most obvious to me by her work and her blog, that Glenda is a Christian, which you’ll see by the first paragraph on her blog or in her full profile. I admire her faith and zest for life.
* * *
Gina: I was intrigued when Kristopher Miller’s review of your book, Book Review THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN, compared your book to C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. Did Lewis’s novel influence your work at all, and do you agree with Miller?
G. K. Fralin: How do I respond to this question? I’m glad he compared it to the spirit of C. S. Lewis. I don’t know that I will ever reach the level of skill C. S. Lewis possessed to grasp the imagination in fantasy. Lewis was like an architect with a story. The lands of Narnia and its character’s make for his epic chronicles.
I wish I could say I studied his writing, but I have only read a portion. I do love his style. Reading the full series of chronicles is a goal of mine.
My parents subscribed to Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. Their condensed version of GREEN MANSIONS by William H. Hudson introduced me to the world of grown up fantasy. GULLIVER’S TRAVELS by Jonathan Swift with the Lilliputians also helped me move beyond the childhood fantasies of Mother Goose.
I can agree with Kristopher that like C. S. Lewis, I try to set out Biblical teachings in fantasy to engage the mind of the reader instead of preaching.
Gina: I read the first chapter and loved the setting, which seemed almost heaven-like to me. Was this your intent?
G. K. Fralin: Hidden is deceptively peaceful. There is that initial impression of finding a jewel of a town buried on the back road off Nebraska’s I-80. Be careful of what you trust. Have you ever visited a resort whose brochure promised luxurious lodging, and tours of historic sites including photos of how they deliver on their promise? Then when you’ve been there more than five minutes, you get a big let down. That is the first chapter of Hidden.
Would heaven have one old street? Will Catch and his barbed remarks be as cute when Sheridan catches him off guard? Oh, ho ho be ye careful of that one.
Gina: How did you come up with the name of the town, Hidden?
G. K. Fralin: I was trying to figure out a place forSheridan to be trapped. The idea of a town tucked away from the eyes and knowledge of the world implies Hidden. It fit my ‘what if’ premise. I simply could not think of a more appropriate name than Hidden. The citizen’s of Hidden prefer similarly direct names. They seem obsessed with name meanings.
Gina: How long did it take you to write the book and when did you start writing it?
G. K. Fralin: Now that is a story in itself. THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN began years ago as an interactive story with my daughter Nina at bedtime. It bears many of the same elements. The name of that story was The Lunis Flower and the main character was Lucinda.
I rewrote it as an 8000 word grown up version and it turned in a different direction. Nina is now in her late twenties, but the story still contains elements of her influence.
I was having trouble in the new version connecting with my main character in a way that my readers could relate to her.
What I ended up doing was writing a life for Sheridan that became an unpublished novel length story of its own. That set a background for her and developed her personality and life events. THE SEARCH: LIVING BEDOUIN is mentioned in THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN. I haven’t published THE SEARCH: LIVING BEDOUIN.
Gina: What genre would you say THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN, is?
G. K. Fralin: THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN is a Christian fantasy full of adventure, suspense, and mystery.
Gina: Tell me about the sketch for the poem The Monster’s Dinner (which is adorable. I’m thinking I’d entertain more if I could lay out dust and decorate with cobwebs!)
G. K. Fralin: I’ll warn you, this story is not for the faint of heart.
I wrote The Monster’s Dinner several years ago. When I wanted to publish it, I wanted a picture to go with it.
When I decided on a sketch, I asked my daughter Angie to draw it. She thought I was nuts. Angela’s talent for painting, design and photography took a huge hit when she was cutting the zip tie off of a toy for her son. The knife she was using slipped and her left eye permanently injured. The doctors did surgery, but the cornea is still scared. The accident would have knocked me off my feet. She is one resilient woman. I can’t help but be in awe of her ability to bounce back and take life on.
She learned how to drive by using intuition and memory to gauge depth and distance. She started working on clothing for her doll collection again. However, she resolved that she was not going to have the chance to draw or paint again. She covers the bad eye just to read.
I didn’t ask her as a therapeutic exercise, I hoped it would be, but I really wanted her to do it. Questions hit me like, am I pushing too hard for something she has accepted is gone? Was I going to ask her to break her heart all over again?
Her husband James, bless him, is the perfect match for her. He took the time to stand by and let her know when something wasn’t looking right, and he encouraged her. I’d asked for it to be childlike because of the poem. The detail and elements she put in that sketch made it the perfect search and find for kids and adults.
She has since done other projects including the drawing of the Lunis Flower on the cover of my book The Search: Lunis Flower of Hidden.
* * *
In closing, I hope you will all stop by Glenda's rich red blogsite. From that point, you can find out where to buy her book and even read the first chapter of her novel, THE SEARCH: LUNIS FLOWER OF HIDDEN. Thank you Glenda for the great responses.
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