Interview by E. Kaiser

Interview

Dear readers, I had the privilege this month of being the feature interview for author Elizabeth Kaiser also from Nebraska. Her thoughtful questions investigate the places of my childhood and the family that influences much of my world and writing. Please go to the link by clicking  Interview above.

G. K. Fralin

Poetry Analysis: The World is Too Much With Us by William Wordsworth

I forever consider myself a student of literature as well as an author. By treking through the history of poets and poetry, I begin to feel a connection. I feel a connection to the poets and history. The evolving of the science and etheral natures of the art inspire.

William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850) was born in Cockermouth, Cumberland England’s lake district. Wordsworth developed a great love of nature. The English industrial revolution was in its prime. The political climate in France and between France and Britain became hostile and he had to return to England.

 

He had traveled in his youth to France and fell in love with a French girl Annette Vallon whom he impregnated.   It was at this time he had to return to England leaving Annette behind. He never met his daughter Anne Caroline until ten years later. He never married Annette but did support her and Anne Caroline throughout his life.

 

Wordsworth was one of several “romantic” poets of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries known today as English Romantic Poets.  He worked and published extensively with Samuel Taylor Coleridge who wrote “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”   The two were also known as the “lake poets”.

 

The term romantic was applied to Wordsworth and his fellows much later by scholars.  Wordsworth defined his work as experimental because they were devoted to nature and the free flow of emotion and what he called the “real language of men.” This began a deviation from the language style of the Jacobean poets.  “The World is Too Much With Us” is a great example of Wordsworth’s devotion to writing lyric sonnets. He also wrote a work called “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” later known as the “manifest” of English Romantic poetry.   It is interesting that he wrote many of his sonnets, not in the traditional Shakespearian style, but in the Italian style. 

 

 

In “The World is Too Much With Us” Wordsworth is lamenting societies need and greed for money and things.  The industrial age was bringing in steam locomotives, machines and factories. He’d lost both parents when he was young and remained close to his sister. He was caught in the middle of political upheavals of France and between France and England. His life by this time must have seemed very noisy and out of control.

 

The World Is Too Much With Us

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune,
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

In the first lines we immediately see his complaint.   The world if often used in writing to refer to the ‘ways of the world’ or ‘worldly’. The words “late and soon” are part of a list continuing in the next line “getting and spending.”   The line break is for the purpose of the structure of the sonnet. Late and soon refers to the fast pace of the age. “I’m always late but it’s much too soon for me” is how I interpret these two words. I much prefer his brevity.

“Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!”

Here he makes a statement that has been the cry of many over the centuries.   We let our progress take away the wonders of nature to the point we don’t notice it. This does sound like a country boy. The word ‘boon’ means advantage, or benefit. By putting the words sordid and boon together, he is plainly saying that it is a disgusting or distasteful benefit. These two words cancel out each other in a division which puts our hearts at risk of losing our love for the simple and natural.

“This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune,”

The above four lines emphasize his point. Up-gathered like sleeping flowers is an image he uses to make the point of how the “winds that will be howling at all hours” are internal noises, or the noise of industry at all hours. The noise could be either internal or external, but the simile of the up-gathered flowers indicates that the hours (changes and fast pace) are stealing away harmonious unity with nature.

“It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;”

This is like an expletive. The above two lines are the venting of his anger. He’d rather be like a pagan, for instance believing in ancient Greek gods celebrating nature, than part of a world that is destroying nature’s beauty and calling itself Christian.

He is not saying he doesn’t believe in God. Instead he expresses his anger at the world to God and possibly even at God.

 

“So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.”

 

 

 

I can picture Wordsworth yelling these lines angrily standing on the shore and shaking a fist. He feels it would be so much simpler to go back the pagan beliefs of the Greeks of giving a sense of divine to all things of nature. Proteus was one of the mythological Greek gods of the sea, and Triton was the son of Poseidon and Aphrodite whose horn was a conch shell for calming or stirring the waters. 

 

Even though Wordsworth felt the need for letting powerful emotions flow

spontaneously on to the page, he also held that poetry needed to have a poetic tone and form. The body of William Wordsworth’s works is vast. Many of his poems were published after his death; however, he did publish much during his life as well. He was well educated, traveled extensively, and often dedicated his poetry to people, places and events.

Wordsworth was not the first poet or author to lament man’s disrespect for nature. He appreciated the pastoral poem and introduced the age of the Romantic poets along with his friend and mentor Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Wordsworth and Coleridge shared many ideas on poetry, nature, and published together. Wordsworth’s reputation grew in England throughout his life because of his many works and their quality. After Robert Southey died in 1846 Wordsworth was named poet Laureate of England, a high honor.This analysis is also available on Author's Den along with some of my other writing.

Elizabeth Kaiser Interview

Author Elizabeth Kaiser Interview

Elizabeth, author of Jeweler’s Apprentice, joined the Nebraska Writer’s Guild last year. She’s already working on a sequel to the timeless fantasy about a sixteen year old girl whose curiosity makes her stumble upon a secret the King can’t allow to be revealed. Sent to a mountain jeweler as an apprentice, life becomes no less fraught with adventure and intrigue as she learns the trade of crafting jewelry.

Elizabeth is an intriguing person. As I read her blog, I discovered many facets make up this beautiful gem that is the woman behind the author. I will let her explain to you how her life story lends to her mindset of fantasy.

Elizabeth, you have an eclectic interest in preferred reading. However, you’re first book is a young adult fantasy which incorporates some of your hobbies such as intricate jewelry. Tell the readers the story you related to me about your family and life on the farm.

 I'm third in my family with an older sister and brother.  I'm 28, and Abigail is my youngest sister, and best friend. She and I manage a small herd of dairy goats, (registered Alpines, their site is here.) and share so many other interests that we make a great team no matter what we're doing, whether it’s quilting, designing and sewing our own clothes, painting, drawing, or obedience training the dogs.  Although she isn't interested in writing, she loves stories, so she's my best "writing buddy" and we brainstorm on plots, characters, clichés and all things writing! She's a nit-picky perfectionist, and my first reader, so she drives me to do more and be better!

   My parents, three siblings and I live and work on the farm.  Our family business includes training, marketing and selling horses. Our operation has been blessed to have gained a really solid reputation over the years we've been in business, and buyers from all over the country bid some high money for a horse from  Double K Ranch. Abi and our oldest sister work full time in the horse area,  first training, conditioning for months, then photographing & videoing, and then making the sales. A web presence is a big part of making this successful, and I take care of a lot on that end of things.

 Dad has been quite ill to varying degrees for basically his whole life. Living a healthy lifestyle and eating a balanced, natural diet have always been a big part of our lives. We produce approximately 99% of our own vegetables and our own dairy products. We raise & butcher our own meat, can, dry, and freeze much like farm families did in the first part of the last century. This keeps the schedule very full, and there's always something next to try and add!

Mom has been into growing and using herbs for as long as I can remember, and so I am a neophyte compared to her experience! This has given me a lot of exposure. I value the knowledge I have gotten secondhand, and do try to keep picking things up as we go. Remembering all of it is the challenge! But that's one of the great things about writing, doing the research is so fascinating!

Since I like to write in pre-modern or fantasy settings; I like to slip little nuggets of fact in on the storyline. This is especially useful in the herb section, since they were so important to health care prior to very recent centuries.  

 
Abi and I are involved with the Nebraska Dairy Goat Association and I have done the cover art for its monthly newsletter for about three years now, and somewhere in there became the S.W. Director for the club. Having a monthly deadline has insisted that I focus on my drawing periodically, and I'm not able to "let it slide" like life has a tendency of doing! Lately I've been encouraging Abigail to help me out a little with a few drawings, and she did one last week that is really fantastic. Being a perfectionist, she has a tendency to hang back until she's sure she can do it perfectly. When she took the plunge and got it as far as she could, then I was able to give her a few pointers, and she was really pleased with the result. I'm so happy about this, because now her confidence is boosted and she can be bolder about tackling her art on the next! Her pencil still life, "Cheese Plate," will be appearing on a future cover, and I'm going to keep her going on this track! 

I've really been grateful for the support she's often given me on my endeavors, and I definitely try to pay that back.

How did that influence Jeweler’s Apprentice. 

We always lived out in remote areas, and so we kids grew up exploring whatever new woods we had moved next to and learning to get along with horses, cows, goats, sheep, dogs, cats, chickens, and lately turkeys. I was more the "nose in a book" type, but my siblings were my peer group, so I did what they did a lot of the time. The older two could get kind of wild, especially with horses.

I count myself blessed with a good understanding of how things were before industrialization, which sets me up to write about faraway lands in long ago times. I've always been a lover of fairy-tales, so oftentimes a serving of that gets stirred in to the mix.

Many people have commented that the setting of Jeweler's Apprentice feels very "real," as if the history actually happened somewhere. I love that compliment and credit my unique childhood for much of that.

I understand that besides the family business, you have an interest in art, along with your sister Abigail who helps review your writing. In your book Jeweler’s Apprentice your protagonist, Fia, has a younger sister Eilma. How much is Eilma like your younger sister Abigail?Eilma definitely shares many traits with Abigail, certainly being about the same span of years younger than Fia, and blonde/blue eyed, sweet and caring, quiet and thoughtful. Eilma differs in that she is more precocious as a youngster than Abi was, so in that way Eilma is borrowing traits from an older Abi and maybe some from a younger me. Abi was a picture perfect child, whereas I had a certain sense of curiosity and boldness. 

I do have to say that I'm very fond of Eilma, and was sad when the story required leaving her so soon! I hope to write her story as well someday. 

Elizabeth, you joined the Nebraska Writer’s Guild sometime last year and attended the fall conference. I’ve had such wonderful experiences with the other members of the guild. I noticed in your acknowledgments of Jeweler’s Apprentice several of the guild members are mentioned. Explain just how being a member of such an organization has advanced your writing career.

I joined NWG just before the Fall Conference 2011, and so I haven't been around in the group a whole long time. I went up to Ainsworth with two lovely ladies from my area. They were such great company.  It was my first time at a writing conference of any kind, and having made two new friends right beforehand was so nice!

I had an all-around great time at the Conference, and the part I liked best was networking with all the nice fellow writers! Everyone was so open and friendly, and it was a blast to talk with people who were all thinking along the same lines; improving craft, gaining new social media/marketing skills, and the whole publishing animal! 

After coming home I felt empowered enough to get my manuscript seriously edited, and then put out there as an e-book. This has been a huge turning point in my writing career. I've received some excellent feedback and gained fans; all of which has been like high octane fuel to my writing aspirations. It's catapulted me into a Writer instead of a hobbyist. Now I feel pressured to turn out a good manuscript within a certain time frame; always trying for each to be successively better than the last.

 So I'd say that joining the NWG was a major "plot point" in my story as writer. And I'd suggest any writer-hopeful to find a writer's group near them to get in with. Having fellow writers/storytellers there's so much information to be shared and so much encouragement to be shared as well.

Of course, a lot can be found on the internet, so folks just need to reach out and get in contact with people who share goals with them! 

Some people have commented on the depth of emotion; sorrow and anger, shown in some pieces of your writing. It's not what they expect when first meeting you. What has influenced this?

 I've had a unique life in many ways; including sadness. Dealing with severe illnesses within my immediate family... anyone who's been in that position knows it can go on forever and drive everybody to the breaking point. The repeated, unexpected losses of extended family who were very special to me, those are sorrows that don't go away. We loose things; that are, were or might have been... and it breaks our hearts.

  It all serves to show that life is precious. We are held together by a thread, and sometimes... it severs.  In all lives, things are irrevocably changed, and there's no going back.

 We deal with it. The process of grieving comes in many stages, and, as writers, I definitely think the darker days of life are the ones that we're kind of afraid to allow out into our writing. But when I have taken that chance and let it manifest, the release from within was so freeing. Writing is great therapy!

  Then I built up the courage to share with others, I was humbled by the intensity of their reactions to the honesty of the piece. It was amazing to see how it resonated with them on different levels; and it really showed me that we're not alone in feeling sorrow, anger, or fear, anymore than we are when we feel joy, hope and love.

 It's easy to think that no one understands the depth of pain, but the fact is we tend to hide our hurts behind smiles. Smiles are so important! But healing is important too, and believing the universal connections we all share is liberating in a deeply powerful way.

 I don't focus on the sad things. Happiness is a better place to live. But pathos gives our stories, and our lives, depth and layered meanings. I think recognizing this as something good is vital.

As a member of the Nebraska Writer's Guild and a fellow author, I'd like to thank the Kaiser family for moving to Nebraska. Elizabeth works hard with her family and we can expect that she will continue to put as much care and effort into her writing. With Jeweler's Apprentice available at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Jeweler%27s+Apprentice for Kindle and the promise of more books to come, I expect much from Elizabeth Kaiser.

I'm hoping that inserting this note, my blog will start showing text for interviews again. I respect that many of my followers are used to finding the monthly author interviews on this site. You have every right to expect consistency. I am going to continue trying to get this to work. The image below is a sample image and not related to any of the interviews posted here.

INTERVIEW WITH C. K. VOLNEK

Interview with C. K. Volnek

This month's interview is with Charlotte Volnek otherwise known as C. K. Volnek, a Nebraska author and Nebraska Writer's Guild Member. We lovingly call her Charlie for short. She's written and markets a goodly amount of books mostly directed for the tween and teen readers. Some of her titles are

Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island: A ghost story. Young Jack must solve the age-old mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island to stop the horrible evil haunting his island home.

A Horse Called Trouble: A young girl passed from one foster home to another is placed in a program of horse therapy. There she meets A Horse Called Trouble and must overcome her abusive past to save the horse that teaches her to love and trust again.

Secret of the Stones: Young Alex finds himself in the middle of a fantastic fix when he is gifted a box, complete with the secrets to Merlin's Magic. Through a number of comic mix-ups, Alex struggles to discover how to control the magic while solving the mysterious prophecy surrounding it.

Charlie, there is no way I have touched on the huge list of works you have published. One thing I noticed with the three stories I've mentioned is that you entertain through genres that have long fascinated children and adults alike. You take these genres and add yourself into the mix. I can't help but wish I could wear your shoes for a day and have the fun of finding these ideas and putting the characters and stories together. Can you give us a hint at how you come up with the ideas?

Thanks for having me visit with you today, Glenda. So where do I get my ideas? I have to laugh. My muse is always on the alert for a strange and new story. Articles, news stories, magazines, even listening to others talk. She’s mulling over the latest news story of a man who lost his memory after falling in a ravine. For 17 days he wandered, hitch-hiking and doing odd jobs for food before meeting someone named Emma in McDonalds. The name sparked his memory as it was the name of his grand-daughter. After all this time, the family fearing he was dead, they were all re-united in a happy ending. There’s definitely a book in there don’t you think?

Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island came alive after reading an article on the Lost Colony. My muse wouldn’t let go of the mystery of how 121 colonists simply vanished, never to be heard from again. She decided she had to come up with her own version of what happened. Of course she had to throw in a dog, a ghastly monster and some Native American folklore to complete the story.

A Horse Called Trouble is a special book to me. The story came to me after I visited a horse therapy program for tweens. It was an awesome experience and I could see how the students benefited from working with the horses. They are such majestic creatures. I also grew up with horses and have a fondness for horse stories, so it seemed a natural fit for my muse. I also struggled as a child, being shy and insecure, so I drew on many of those feelings to create a character kids can connect with. I believe most kids struggle with some kind of personal issue, whether it’s feeling unpopular, lack of confidence, or being bullied. Hopefully, they will be able to identify with Tara and learn how to cope with some of these fears along with her.

The Secret of the Stones actually fermented within my muse for many years. As my children grew up, one of their favorite movies was The Sword and the Stone. The magic of Merlin has always intrigued me and I wanted to find a new way for it to come alive to kids of today. This is a much lighter story, adding a few funny mishaps with Alex changing places his sister’s guinea pig as well as his school teacher’s spoiled parrot. But it also has a lot of mystery as Alex must discover how the magic works while also solving the riddles of the prophecy surrounding it.

Your biography reveals that part of your reason of writing for the tween to teen ages is because you had a son who hated to read. My son almost had to be hogtied to get a book into his hands. What kind of satisfaction and feedback do you get from parents and teachers of hesitant readers?

I know some kids have trouble connecting with books. They’d rather be ‘doing’ rather than ‘reading.’ (That was my middle son. Still is.) So I try to create stories tweens and teens can live along with, learning unusual bits of history and folklore, solving mysteries, and maybe even discovering a little bit about themselves as they relate with the characters.

It is just a joy hearing from students who have read my books. And luckily it’s all been great reviews so far. When attending an event at a local bookstore, I was honored and humbled by one of the students making a poster for A Horse Called Trouble and saying it was her favorite book. I didn’t need a hot air balloon to feel as high as the clouds that day. J I only hope my books can continue to be introduced to more and more teens and tweens, to offer up characters they might be able to identify with.

We've been discussing your work so far, but now for some fun. I had to laugh at your 24 item list of facts about yourself. You mention you’re the youngest of five children. Do you feel that you are still a child at heart? Do you still torment your older siblings?

 Have to chuckle at this. I don’t know if I’ve ever really grown up. I still love kid’s movies and am still one of the biggest Harry Potter fans. Age is only a number…though the knees don’t react as kindly as they once did. Ha.

As for my siblings…there is a rather large number of years between me and my siblings so I never really was the one to torment them. And unfortunately I lost my two oldest brothers at rather young ages. My first brother drowned when I was in high school and even though he was 11 years older than me, he was one of my biggest fans and a great support. He believed in me, even when I didn’t. Though it took me longer than planned to be a published author, (three small beings called children seemed to dominate my time and thoughts for some years) I hope and pray he is smiling down with pride at me for finally accomplishing my dreams.

  

I've read a lot of books that seem to try to be children's stories. Many writer's want to be Mark Twain, or Robert Louis Stevenson. We can none of us become the other author. We must read them and we can learn from them.  If we try to be them, we fall far short. I've tried and fallen flat on my face.

Charlie speaks a lot about her muse. Many writers do. To me, a muse is that file in the very center of your brain that opens your heart to a new chapter or idea. I hope that makes sense. I know the word confounded even me for a long time. Oh, I knew the definition, but how to tap it I didn't know. All I had to do was let go.

Charlie (C.K.Volnek) doesn't try to be anyone but who she is. She is that child at heart who loves it all, is curious about it all and who lets her muse guide her. Children between 8 to 19 may be the focus group for her books. (I made up those numbers, I'm not sure she said other that tweens and teens.) I can tell you, they aren't the only ones who love her books. I used to get to relive Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella,  orTreasure Island by reading them to my children. Now I don't feel the need for an excuse. I just read what I want.

To all you authors and yet to be authors, I learn much from the people I interview and the works I read. Television is getting boring, videogames too demanding, the answer I find, and I encourage is read, if you get an idea then write it. See what happens.

C. K. Volnek did just that and look at the satisfaction she has today of the little girl who drew the poster for A Horse Called Trouble. Charlie, I'm sure your brother is looking down and saying "Write on Sis, Write on."

G. K. Fralin

Short Read Newletter

July 31, 2012

Dear friends and family,

This is actually the July and possibly August newsletter. I don't have an interview for you this month.

 I hope that's not a hooray I hear.

As much as I know, many of you enjoy the interviews and upcoming news, this past month I was very ill and in hospital. Therefore, I will give a sort of memoir, or filled in story of what I've experience. I hope to make the words creative for your interest, but I will keep it true to events.

On Wednesday July something or other (the 12th I think.) I went to the doctor for an ear infection. She put me on antibiotics. Of course, that's dull enough, but that night I started to run a fever, at least so Joe pointed out. We asked our oldest grandson, Delsin, to come and stay so Joe could go ahead to work.

Delsin, my trooper that day, stayed inside and watched over me. It wasn't long and I started coughing up the red stuff. I thought it was from a raw throat, but it kept coming up. It wasn't copious, but enough for alarm so I called the doctor again and she ordered a chest x-ray.

I don't know if I vaguely remember or if I am remembering because it's what Joe told me, but I managed to call Joe home from work to take me to the hospital for the x-ray.

Is this getting boring? I'll step it up a bit.

When Joe got home, I barely knew what was going on. He couldn't get me in the van, 911 came, and took me to the Beatrice Community Hospital ER. Things seemed to happen very fast as a host of doctors and nurses swarmed around me.

An x-ray revealed a bowel blockage (yuk), and my left lung full of pneumonia.

They kept me in the ICU overnight and the next day they sent me by ambulance to St. Elizabeth's hospital in Lincoln, Ne.

What a ride. Those ambulances are very bumpy, but thank God, for them and the EMTs who watched over me on the ride.

The first few days are very blurry, but I remember the first time they allowed me to have a meal. That was the best clear liquid meal I'd ever had. The hospital Jell-O was delicious. Within a few days, I was up to the chair and walking the halls with Physical Therapy. Day by day, I improved. Finally, they allowed me a full diet, and never has dry chicken tasted yummier.

By Monday July 23rd, I was back in Beatrice on swing bed to regain my strength and build my immunities back up.

I'm home and Joe is back at work. The daily routine is such a blessing now. One has no idea how much just getting to the restroom or a chair can become a mountain until we can't do it.

God said the faith of a mustard seed is all we need.

I had many prayer warriors on my side using their mustard seeds to ask for my healing. I am so thankful to them and God for that gift.

I'll be around for a while yet it seems. I hope a bit smarter and less likely to poo poo a problem.

In other news, I've finished the first edit of my first interview for what I am currently calling Living, Successful Nebraska Authors. We all know of Willa Cather and many of our former greats, but its time the world knows Nebraska has culture. I hope someday to do something similar about my home state of Kansas.

I hope to get a chapbook of Six Short if Weird Tales out soon, less than a dollar, less even than the $0.99.

Well, that's my current story and I can't change much of it, as I blissfully don't remember it all. They did have me on small doses of morphine in the beginning, thus some of the amnesia.

Take care and God Bless you all.

Glenda

Glenda K. Fralin

aka G. K. Fralin

author The Search: Lunis Flower of Hidden

Interview with Dawn Garcia

Interview with Dawn Garcia

Dawn’s writing career to date includes freelance writing and journalism. Many of her articles and stories trace the history of places with unique significance. In each of the pieces I read, she included the human elements that make the stories. Dawn's diligent research, like many writers, makes her work special. It is that thing behind the story done without fanfare, and often without appreciation by those who haven't dug under the trees to expose the roots. She digs up the history that will remain relevant for years ahead for new researchers.

Glenda: Dawn; please give us a peek inside your upcoming novel.

Dawn: A young girl abandoned. A father living life at the bottom of a longneck bottle. An unexpected reunion.

What He Left Behind is a story about 35-year-old Kyla Richmond and the search for her absent father. It isn’t until she volunteers at the local homeless shelter that she discovers the man who purposely walked out of her life when she was nine. The man she discovers isn’t the man she dreamed she would one day find. Instead, he is a man who lives under a bridge, slowly and painfully drinking his life away.

Filled with abandonment, homelessness, and alcoholism, this novel will put Kyla to the ultimate test of forgiveness through the discovery of unconditional love.

Writing a story based on events in one’s own life takes bravery in the best of circumstances. Dawn, however has gone beyond bravery to a level of faith few people possess.

Glenda: I’ve read your biography on your website. It’s amazing that you have the time to accomplish the things you do with your volunteer work, children, web design business, freelance writing and writing your novel. Then you sent me five articles you’ve written. There is no doubt in my mind that you did a lot of research for those stories. They are full of history, tracing the linear and familial chronicles of their significance. I can only imagine that you must organize your time to fit it all together. How would you describe the development of your writing career?

Dawn: I have been writing since grade school and in high school, I started a teen novel but never finished it. I earned a degree in English at the University of Iowa and a few years after graduation, I began my journalism career. My main love of writing had been in the children’s market but I only dabbled in it to the point of it never leaving my computer screen. A year after I learned of my biological dad’s passing and the life he lived before he died, I was inspired to write that first novel, What He Left Behind.

As for organizing my time, I am fortunate to have three great kids who help and are just as involved as I am. They are compassionate about the volunteer work and they “get to go” (not have to go) to off-site work meetings with me. Since infancy, each of them has understood that I work from home and because of that, they have a great opportunity to do fun and interesting things.

Glenda: Somehow, you’ve managed to take the circumstances of your biological father’s life and turn them into a life of volunteer work with the homeless. What would possess you to be so bold as to walk up to a dirt-covered, elderly, homeless man with no more than a sign “Anything Will Help” and give him a gift?

Dawn: I thank God every day for what I have. I have so many blessings and I want to share what God has given me. When I see homelessness, I want to help. I think about how my father sat on a street corner doing the same thing as this man. I have no idea why the man was begging for money but it doesn’t matter. All it takes is one bad choice or one disaster and it could be any one of us. There is so much more I want to do but I have to tell myself that little things matter in the whole scheme of things. I can reach out to one person, one child at a time and grow from there.

Glenda: In your book, Kyla involves her family in her quest for her biological father. They are a strong support system, which is something we all need in our lives. The circumstances of Kyla’s life draw from your own. How close does the family in your book resemble your own family?

 Dawn: I have a good support system. I am close to my parents, even my stepfather who adopted my two younger brothers and I after my biological father disappeared from our lives.

 Glenda: Finally, what would you tell other writers are your most important tool, or practice in writing?

Dawn: A lot of Prayer, Time, and patience

Writers, like Dawn, know to draw from their own experience and that of others to design a story or article. The feel of a story for the reader often comes from that bit of reality that sets the story. We revise and change the events and sequences. We research deeper into the smallest factoid. Then we stretch that reality into a slim thread within the fiction.

Thus, Dawn engineers her writing career through her keyboard into freelance, special interest, journalism, to writing a full-length novel. However, that is not all that Dawn is.

Dawn is a giver in life. I doubt she realizes how much giving she does. She volunteers a good portion of her time visiting shelters and nursing homes, volunteering with church, cub scouts, and other community events bringing that spark of hope to everyone with whom she interacts. That hope includes me. I'm not homeless, penniless, or hungry. I am human and in that, we all need hope in some way.