Wordmaster Archives - Trisha Sugarek, Author, Playwright & Poet

My Heart is Broken!

Robert Duvall, an Oscar-winning actor who starred in The Godfather and Lonesome Dove, has died at the age of 95.

I met Robert at an independent-film screening in Austin, Tx one sunny afternoon many decades ago. He attended as one of the lead actors.
Years before this I had acquired a hard copy of the play, American Buffalo (by David Mamet) starring Robert as Walter “Teach” Cole. The cover had an image of Robert and his co-stars. I had it in my bag that day, as I rushed to Robert’s side as he exited his vehicle. He greeted me as just another fan until he saw what I held in my hands.
He took it in his, replying, “Where did you find this?” Nostalgia and love for the theatre clearly written across his face.
I explained that I haunted old book stores and happened across it. Being a great fan of his work, I snapped it up. ‘Would you sign it for me?’ He did and
it remains one of my prized possessions to this day.

Duvall won his Oscar for 1983’s Tender Mercies. Robert Duvall, a prolific actor with a career in entertainment spanning 70 years, has died at the age of 95. The Oscar winner for 1983’s Tender Mercies was known for roles in films including The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lonesome Dove and many more.

The actor’s wife, Luciana, announced the news on Monday, Feb. 16 on Facebook, writing, “Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time. Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort.

To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything,” she added. “His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court. For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented. In doing so, he leaves something lasting and unforgettable to us all. Thank you for the years of support you showed Bob and for giving us this time and privacy to celebrate the memories he leaves behind.” Luciana Duvall

In spite of all Robert’s ‘tough’ roles, he was, at heart, a romantic and tender soul. He studied the tango dance for decades, even traveling to Argentina frequently to further his pursuit to master this intricate dance.

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BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

If you enjoyed this review, you might love my own stories — full of heart, grit, and unforgettable characters.

The Deep South Trilogy

Ain’t Nuthin’ Gonna Separate Us
Mother Mac’s Boarding House
Coming Soon: Book Three: Living at Mother Mac’s

Satirical Poetry

The Grass

HER. I almost forgot. The lawn looked dry.
HIM. What lawn?
HER. Ours. I noticed while I was waiting for you tonight…in the car.
HIM.I wish you wouldn’t do that. Baumgartner is always ribbing me about it.
HER. Wish I wouldn’t do what?
HIM. Wait in the car until we leave.
HER. Joey Baumgartner should mind his business.
HIM. The sprinklers have a schedule. You have to admit it’s a little nutty.
HER. Sitting in my own car, in my own driveway, in front of my own house. I wouldn’t need to if you were on time.
HIM. I’m not that late.
HER. You’re always late. You should water the grass when we get home.
HIM. It’ll be close to ten when we get home. Besides it’s not good for it.
HER. What? It’s grass.
HIM. It gets mold if you water at night.
HER. So? It’s grass.
HIM. All the experts say it’s bad for the grass.
HER. Well, my experts say it’s good for the water bill.
HIM. Fine. I’ll water the grass.

Note: Quick banter has a rhythm of its own. ‘HIM’ and ‘HER’ have been married for decades and have little left to say. When they do connect it is in a satirical, shorthanded style of ….well….poetry.

This is an excerpt from a one act play, written by this poet, entitled “Date Night”.
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Have you seen the wonderful anthology, “Radiant Verses“, that PoetrySoup.org published?
They honored two of my poems by including them in this book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~More poetry by Trisha

Writers! When self-publishing, polish up your book….

Writers! When self-publishing, polish up your book to look as professional
as possible. When I was starting out, morphing from a playwright to an author, I knew instinctually my first book should look like a traditionally published book where a team of editors and proofreaders (at a publishing house) scoured my book for mistakes, adding appropriate copyright information and acknowledgements, etc.

I brought three of my favorite authors’ books to my desk and copied whatever was in them because I had no help —just like you —but I knew my book should appear professionally presented.

📚 Format That Fails the Basics

Formatting. The importance of justified text—it gives the page clean, crisp edges and a polished appearance. Using a font that is larger than standard, yet not quite “LARGE PRINT.” should be avoided. Font size should stay at 10 or 11.

🖋️ First-Person Fatigue

The choice of tense. First-person narration can work, but be careful that it doesn’t feel like a shortcut. It’s often a sign of lazy storytelling—used to bypass deeper character development or narrative complexity.

📖 Missing Front Matter

The front matter, in a book, is very important. You should furnish copyright information that is found in all books. A list of other titles by the author is a nice touch. Acknowledgements. These omissions will make your book feel unfinished, like a draft rather than a published work.

🧂 Needs More Seasoning

A good thesaurus, by your side is always a good idea.

🙄 Stop Explaining the Joke

You are funny. Your character is funny. No need to “mansplain” your humor and plot points. Trust your readers. They’re smart. They get it.

😰 Anxiety Overload

Jill’s anxiety, a central theme, was hammered home so relentlessly that it became exhausting.

🔁 Redundant Repetition

Repetition was another issue: the author would describe Jill’s emotion or action, then immediately echo it in the next line, as herself. It felt redundant and clunky.

📉 A Weak Ending Wrapped in Explanation

After slogging through the entire book, the final paragraph delivered yet another dose of “mansplaining”—a summation of the story’s lessons, as if the narrative hadn’t made them clear. That kind of wrap-up suggests the story itself wasn’t strong enough to stand on its own.

🌐 Website Placement Misfire and Typo Trouble

And finally, as the story closes on the last page, the author tacked on her website address—without ceremony or formatting. Typically, this kind of promotional link belongs on a separate page, ideally paired with a graphic or call-to-action that feels intentional.
To make matters worse, there was a typo: “Visit Rachel’s store at store. Rachelhannaauthor.com.” That stray period and awkward phrasing made it feel rushed and unprofessional—like an afterthought rather than a curated invitation.
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📬 Want more reviews, author interviews, and behind-the-scenes glimpses into the writing life? Sign up on the — just enter your email address and never miss a post.

BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

If you enjoyed this review, you might love my own stories — full of heart, grit, and unforgettable characters.

The Deep South Trilogy

Ain’t Nuthin’ Gonna Separate Us
Mother Mac’s Boarding House
Coming Soon: Book Three: Living at Mother Mac’s

Big Release ~~ Audio Books by Trisha Sugarek

With the advent of Amazon’s latest platform, I am able to modify more of my novels

to audio

books.
I have just finished several books, including Mother Mac’s Boarding House and Ain’t Nuthin’ Gonna Separate Us.

Also, Women Outside the Walls, and

Song of the Yukon.

Coming Soon! More of the World of Murder series, in AUDIO.

Conclusion ~ Interview with author, Christina Dudley

Q. Do you think we will see, in our lifetime, the total demise of paper
books?

CD. I doubt it. They’re expensive, but plenty of people love paper books. I do think traditional publishers might start to do smaller print runs for books that aren’t expected to be blockbusters. I myself don’t do print anymore unless I want to look at maps or find it at a used bookstore, because who has the space?

Q. What makes a writer great?

CD. No two readers will ever agree on this! When I put my own fiction-reader hat on, I’m looking for books with rounded characters and plausible situations, even if it’s set in a fantasy world. Bonus points if the story makes me laugh. Not too much navel-gazing, please, and a plot with a traditional conflict-rising action-climax-denouement. I must be too old to enjoy the stories where there’s no real conflict, or where it’s resolved with 25% left to go, and then it’s just 25% of people riding off into the sunset. Yawn.
When it comes to nonfiction, which I also love, I want to learn something and have it told to me like a story. Books like The Boys in the Boat and Into Thin Air delight me.

Q. How have your life experiences influenced your writing?

CD. With Pride and Preston Lin, I threw in everything from my life, it felt like. I sent Lissie Cheng to my high school and had her live in my hometown. The family restaurant was one I ate at frequently throughout my life. My husband and I met in grad school at Stanford, so that played a prominent role. Heck, even my English country dance lessons and my time as a swim official for youth swimming made it in! And though the book takes place mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, I placed a pivotal scene at the King County Aquatic Center up in my neck of the woods, as a nod to all the hours and hours I spent there when my kids were swimming.
But even my Regencies reflect my life: my love for Austen and Regency romances; how I almost studied 18th century literature in grad school because I had a fabulous professor for an Austen seminar; how my favorite stories involve lovable families (think Laura Ingalls Wilder and Betsy-Tacy and All-of-a-Kind Family); how I love English literature in general, from Renaissance poetry to the end of the 19th century, etc.

Q. What’s your downtime look like?

CD: I walk daily, am involved at my church, belong to the same book club I’ve been in for decades, and otherwise love all things sedentary, including reading, eating, and watching baseball.

Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre?

CD. Yes! I’d love to do more contemporary romance and am excited to do another. But I’ll always love Regency.

Q. Note to Self: (a life lesson you’ve learned.)

CD. Trying to make a living wage writing is like trying to be struck by lightning. You can’t make it happen, but you can put yourself in the best places where lightning strikes.

Did you miss the beginning of my Interview with the talented, Christina Dudley?
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A few BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

PoetrySoup honors my Poem

Dear Trisha,

Congratulations, this is just a quick notice to let you know that your poem A Chip Off the Old Bukowski Block is one of the poems being featured on the PoetrySoup home page this week. Poems are rotated each day in groups of 14-16 to give each poem an equal opportunity to be displayed.

Thanks again and congratulations.

Sincerely, PoetrySoup

A Chip Off the Old Bukowski Block ©
i sit here on the toilet, looking at the cane by my side
when did this happen?
its pronged feet could, at any moment, scamper into a tidal pool,
so much does it remind me of a robotic crab
my mornings now consist of pills, shuffling to the next room to pour cereal then work up a s*** before I can leave the house
When did this happen?
bodily functions take priority as I can no longer trust this body not to embarrass me in public
when did this happen?
my knees are shot to hell
my bowels rumble and twist
my arthritis tears at me with sharp little teeth
my vision is perfect, cataracts blasted away by another robot
when did this happen?
the other day my mind went on a holiday leaving me behind, confused and blank, frightened
is this a harbinger of what’s to come
when did this happen?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have you seen the wonderful anthology, “Radiant Verses“, that PoetrySoup published.
They honored two of my poems by including them in this book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~More poetry by Trisha

Interview with Author, Christina Dudley

A Chinese American from the San Francisco Bay Area, Christina fell in love with English literature and the classics after going through an obsessive Regency-romance phase in her early teens. While her reading tastes have grown to include sci-fi with robots, survival epics, and doorstop-sized histories, love stories will always be her favorite. She and her family live in Bellevue, Washington.

Christina Dudley is the author of fourteen indie-published Regency romances, as well as the traditionally-published contemporary romance Pride and Preston Lin, a modern adaption of Austen’s classic which was named to the 2024 Best Romance lists for Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and Library Journal.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, or special space for your writing? Or tell us about your ‘dream’ workspace.

CD. I have taken over the dining room as my office because (1) it’s close to the kitchen, so I can keep heating and reheating my cup of tea; and (2) it has a big window looking out on the backyard, where I can see trees and rain and occasionally deer!

Q. Do you have any special rituals or quirks when you sit down to write? (a neat workspace, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, a glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

CD. I always start the morning with a cup of tea and waste too much time scrolling on my phone. I also always have a puzzle going on a table in another room, so that I can take little breaks, “rewarding myself” if I actually gets some words down, or letting things bounce around in my head when I’m stuck. After lunch every day, I take a half-hour walk because it’s a great way to clear my head or sort out plot points.

Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?

CD. I went down in flames on Jeopardy! in 2008, coming in dead last on my one episode because in the first round I was confounded by the clicker thingy, and in Double Jeopardy I didn’t know many of the answers. Only Final Jeopardy helped me avoid complete humiliation because it was a Dickens question!

Q. What tools do you begin with? Legal pad, spiral notebook, pencils, fountain pen, or do you go right to your keyboard?

CD. My tools are mostly online. Without the internet, I would be lost. Because, while I have a shelf of research books which I consult often, I write with the online Oxford English Dictionary open. It’s essential for checking word usages, in the endless battle to avoid anachronisms and Americanisms in my historical writing. (It’s not foolproof—since I don’t know what I don’t know—but it helps.)

Q. Do you have pets? Tell us about them and their names.

CD. Nope. Only “pets” I follow on Instagram. My youngest daughter and I send each other cute cat videos.

Q. Do you enjoy writing in other forms (playwriting, poetry, short stories, etc.)? If yes, tell us about it.

CD. This is a funny question because my other form of creative writing is skit-writing for the church Sunday school! Yep, if you need a ten-minute skit to illustrate some Bible story or concept, I’m your go-to gal. I always try to make it entertaining and relatable for all ages.

Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?

CD. I have none, since I have daily struggles with procrastination. But I firmly believe time away from the manuscript isn’t wasted because your brain, especially your subconscious, is always working.

Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?

CD. For my Regencies, because I write in series, I always start with a family situation. How many are in the family? Are they rich or poor? What is the overriding crisis they face? Once I have my family, each book is a chance to develop one character, while still checking in on or charting continuing growth of other characters.

Q. What first inspired you to write?

CD. In high school, friends and I used to write collaboratively, passing pages of ridiculous short stories back and forth. With one friend the stories were just words, while with another we tried our hand at graphic novels (she was a way better artist than I was!). But then I didn’t really write again until my kids were in elementary school, and I found myself with a few hours a day I could call my own. I had to stop again during their teenage years because bandwidth, but since I started again during the pandemic, I’ve been going strong!

Q. What comes first to you? The Characters or the Situation?

CD. They’re almost simultaneous.

Don’t miss Part II coming next week!
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A few BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

When Writing is HOT!

Dear Readers/Writers,
Since my last posting on Jan. 4th, I’ve rarely left my keyboard, each day, from 9 a.m. to sometimes as late as 6 p.m. I’ve rounded the bend with 62,000 words to date and still writing. It would be more accurate to say I am taking dictation from all the characters in my new story.
A Senior reviewer, D. Donovan, at Midwest Book Review, whom I’ve known for years, was willing to review the new book in a raw, very rough first draft so that I could glean a couple of ‘blurbs’ for the book’s cover.
I’m certainly happy I asked. Well, all I can say is Wow!

“Mother Mac’s Boarding House is an exquisite read....” and

“Additionally, the political and social milieu of the times, which passed many restrictive rules on African Americans, comes to life in the light of personal experience. This is a far more intimate, compelling manner of absorbing civil rights and American history than any nonfiction text could achieve, immersing readers in the life of Marty’s journey….”

You’ve often ‘heard’ me describe the event where I write in my head ’till it needs to spill out (no more room) and that my characters take over their own stories and I become merely the typist.

No, it doesn’t happen every time but when it does happen, I consider it the proverbial, “gift horse” and I’m not about to ignore it.

As this is a prequel to Ain’t Nuthin’ Gonna Separate Us, I’ve had to work backwards weaving the dates of that book with this one while being true to the dates of documented American history. I’ve found it to be a challenge.

Just remember, your emerging characters can tell the story far better than you, the Author, can.
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A few BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

Life, Loss, and Puffins ~~ Book Review

Life, Loss, and Puffins by Catherine Ryan Hyde is beyond profound. It is a story and a philosophy of life all rolled into one glorious novel. This reviewer had to read it twice, it is so DELICIOUS!

Two ‘throw-away’ kids seek their own path. Brave enough, even though Ru is very young and ‘freakishly smart’ and Gabriel wears eyeliner and nail polish, they navigate a harsh world to follow a dream…to see, in person, the Aroura Borealis. Driving from California to the Arctic Ocean with hardly enough gas money, much less food and lodging … the trip is no easy feat. And as they drive they form an unbreakable bond, or so Ru believes.

I recommend readers find a quiet space, a warm drink at hand, and their

COMPLETE ATTENTION. This is no ‘puff piece’. It delves into what we as humane beings, might believe or not believe. It will draw you in like a wisp of smoke until you are caught and then evaluating your own beliefs. But, please, don’t be put off by this….it’s a charming, heartwarming, lovely story that you will love!

THIS IS A MUST READ!
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Did you miss my interview with Catherine Ryan Hyde?

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A few BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

9/11 Remembered!

9/11 Memorial 2024 911.3

We haven’t forgotten that day…we, each, know exactly where we were when that terrible thing happened. That horrific thing that we never imagined could happen here. I remember I turned on the TV at about 10 that morning, going to catch up on a little news…at first, I thought I was seeing a trailer for an action movie on the screen. Then I tuned my ears in and realized the disbelieving tone to the journalist’s voice, the horror at what we were all watching across our nation. And then the unbelievable on top of the unimaginable, another plane slammed into the second Tower.

Americans gathered today in NY City, at the Pentagon, D.C., and in Pennsylvania to pay respects to the heroes lost that day.
WE AMERICANS WILL NEVER FORGET!

9/11 Memorial (2014,) I’ve been watching those terrible days on TV, relived, from 9/11/2001. The release of new, sometimes grisly, information about that horrific, bright blue, autumn day when our beloved country was invaded for the first time in our history, (if you don’t count the Brits). Over the years I have written some poetry of my reflections, my heartbreak as I visited ground zero and the firehouses [back in the early days], then observed the almost finished repair a few years back. It’s pretty for a cemetery. The building I’m not so fond of the architecture; for me, it resembles a middle finger thrusting into the same blue sky, daring them to try it again? I don’t know…………so here is my latest offering and a couple from other years on this anniversary of our souls weeping, forever changed.

the forever wound (Haiku)

A deep gaping hole
newly covered with scar flesh
a cemetery

the reflective pond
the bright thirteen year old trees
the lost souls still there

the money-men charge
fees to visit our worst time
Ah, America!

Anniversary 9.11.11

I wait to exhale
will terrorists celebrate
with their big loud bang?

walking among us
to celebrate what they did
murder innocence

today, a grief day
remember a bright, fall day
ten short years ago

Ground Zero 9.11.12

Heartache fills the chest
Terrorists murdered thousands
Pain is fresh and new

Haunts walk the gardens
Four hundred trees, firemen all
the fountain of tears

Green leafed trees stand tall
Names carved never to forget
Red, white, blue flies proud

The question begs: Have we learned anything?
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