create Archives - Trisha Sugarek, Author, Playwright & Poet

Random Rightings….. (Truncate)

As a writer I find myself, more and more, offended and discouraged by the newest slang and the laziness of a person who doesn’t own the energy that it takes to form and speak complete words and sentences.

The phenomenon —the internet and Gen Z trend of aggressively shortening words and changing meanings—is broadly referred to as Brain Rot slang or Internet Speak or Txt Spk. The English word for this phenomenon is: (verb) Truncate — as in to shorten.
Here’s a sample list:

• Obvi ← Obvious
• Ridic ← Ridiculous
• Sus ← Suspicious
• Delulu ← Delusional
• Unforch ← Unfortunately
• Deets ← Details
• Totes ← Totally
Gorg — Gorgeous
• Sesh ← Session (e.g., “a study sesh”)
Rizz ← Charisma
• Cozzy Livs ← Cost of Living (crisis)
• Menty B ← Mental Breakdown
• Genny Lec ← General Election
• Platty Joobs ← Platinum Jubilee
• Pandemmy ← Pandemic
• Asl: “As hell” (e.g., “I’m tired asl”)
• Ong: “On God” (meaning “I swear/honestly”)
• Fr: “For real”
• Gg: “Gotta go” or “Good game”
• Wdym: “What do you mean?”
Respect: “I respect you” “I respect what you said”
• Ngl: “Not gonna lie”
• Glowy: Glow-up / glowing aesthetic
• Soft: Soft/cute vibes
• Hard: High intensity or cool (e.g., “That outfit goes hard”)
• Mid: Mediocre / middle of the road

and…..
Absolute Single-Letter Reactions. The absolute limit of abbreviation is using a single letter to mean an entire emotional response.

• W: Win (Used to show success or approval)
• L: Loss (Used to show failure or disappointment)
• F: “Pay respects” (A gaming meme used when something unfortunate happens)
• K: “Okay, whatever” (Often used to convey dismissiveness or being annoyed)
and……..

Intentional Misspelling Clippings. These words are clipped but spelled incorrectly on purpose to match internet phonetic humor.
• Pic: Picture
• Vid: Video
• Bih: Bitch
• Addy: Address
• Cap: Lie / fake

Please leave a comment whether you agree or not. I try with my writing, to illustrate how beautiful ‘language’ and the spoken word is. It is not meant to be sliced and diced!!

******************************

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.

Newest BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

The Deep South Trilogy

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

Book #11 in the True Crime Series, “World of Murder”

Trafficking in Sex, Secrets and Lies

Ripped from today’s headlines, very young girls are disappearing into the underworld of human trafficking and turning up dead. Detectives Jack O’Roarke and Stella Garcia are assigned what looks like a routine homicide pattern—until the evidence points to a sprawling network protected by money and influence. Jack, with his own secret, pushes hard and fast; Stella, precise and unflinching, follows the facts wherever they lead. Together they uncover a chain of complicity that runs from street corners to boardrooms, and a brutality that the city and some of its leaders prefer to ignore.

Available at Amazon.com or your fav bookstore (yes! I have moments of laziness)

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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my posts, sign up On the home page. Enter your email address. Watch for more interviews with authors.

A few BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

Book Review ~~ Ain’t Nuthin’ Gonna Separate Us

D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review~~

(Warning! Spoiler alert)

Hannah Mae stepped past the gunny sack that acted as a door to their shack and walked into the yard. A heavy-set woman in a hideous polyester suit struggled up the dirt path. “Can I hep’ y’all? Ya lost?”
“I’m looking for the guardian for the children of Daisy McAllister. Name’s Betty Jones. I’m from the St. Charles Home’s Ladies Auxiliary, St. Vincent De Paul Society.”

When almost adult Hannah Mae and her younger brother are left orphaned upon their mother’s death, they find themselves at the mercy of the St. Vincent De Paul Society. With her brother young enough to be considered for adoption, Hannah Mae faces the reality that, at sixteen-nearing-seventeen, she is likely to remain under the care of the Catholic Children’s Home until she comes of age to make her own way in the world.

Hannah Mae clings to one mandate—remain at her brother’s side against all odds. And so Ain’t Nuthin’ Gonna Separate Us traverses the rocky world of older siblings raising younger ones sans any family support system, fueled by Hannah Mae’s determination to not let outsiders tear them apart.

Readers who anticipate that the story will revolve around this struggle alone will be pleasantly surprised to find more depth in these still waters, because Jerry is actually a musical prodigy. Hannah Mae finds herself fostering his talent as much as she reinforces his connections to her.

Despite the focus on Hannah Mae in the beginning, the limelight edges over to Jerry’s talents, achievements, and the many changes they portend as the two stand against a world that would divide, repress, or misunderstand them.

Trisha Sugarek cultivates the environment, feel, and culture of the South, setting her story in the small Mississippi town of Laurel in the 1950s. She reviews a lifestyle that opens with siblings threatened by separation, then grows the story to fully embrace the Southern milieu.

Early descriptions cement the story with a sense of place and purpose. This creates a compelling, thought-provoking examination of influences, both personal and cultural, that drive Hannah Mae’s determination to search for remaining family roots despite the risks she takes by evading the foster care system:

Hannah Mae’s reluctance to give anyone their last name and her fear of the foster care system was outweighed by her deep desire to have access to all these lovely books. She whispered, “Hannah Mae and Gerald McAllister.”Jerry, too, grows in unexpected directions as he receives musical instruction on the harmonica that allows his innate genius to blossom. As the tale evolves, its focus shifts between Hannah Mae and Jerry’s growth as each field both new opportunities and adversity.

Whether she’s navigating the foster care system or responding to racial inequalities, Hannah Mae keeps her eyes on the ultimate goal of not just survival, but family connections and growth.

Sugarek’s outstanding, realistic portrait of the 1950s South and the forces that buffet two children reaching for more than rote safety creates a memorable tale. It will reach a wide audience, from those interested in Southern settings and portraits to readers of coming-of-age stories and sagas of survival, musical growth, and foster care struggles.

Sugarek’s attention to probing the underlying responsibilities, choices, and consequences of not just individual action, but systems geared to provide support, is especially notable:

Now a white man, unknown to all of them, was threatening to take her baby brother away from this safe home they’d made for Jerry. Hannah Mae wasn’t certain she could make the right decision for anyone.

Sugarek’s research into blues music (Muddy Waters, in particular) lends realistic background and observation into this world as she spices her own memories of the times with intensive research. This reinforces both the atmosphere and facts about the entertainment industry which dovetail over the social issues of a changing South.

All these facets are why Ain’t Nuthin’ Gonna Separate Us is a thoroughly compelling read that’s highly recommended not just for library collections interested in powerful portraits of young lives under siege, but book clubs. These audiences will find plenty of fodder for discussion in the many ways Hannah Mae and Jerry cement their relationships, values, and life connections.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my posts, sign up On the home page. Enter your email address. Watch for more interviews with authors.

A few BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

Interview with Sarah Morgan, Author

Sarah Morgan always knew she wanted to be a writer but took a slight detour along the way to train as a nurse, an experience that has found its way into many of her books. A lover of the outdoors, many of her story ideas come while hiking in wild places and she is also a keen photographer. She has been a published author for more than twenty years and lives near London, England where the rain frequently keeps her trapped in her office.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, or special space for your writing? (please provide a photo of you at work in your shed, room, closet, barn, or houseboat….) Or tell us about your ‘dream’ workspace.

SM. At the beginning of my career I worked

anywhere and everywhere. I had young children so I made sure I was flexible – I’d keep notebooks with me and scribble a few lines at every opportunity and I often worked in the evenings when they were in bed. Now I’m lucky enough to have an office at the bottom of my garden, so in the summer I work with the doors and windows open, surrounded by birdsong and the buzz of bees. It’s very relaxing and great for focus.

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.)

SM. I almost always have a cup of tea or coffee, but that’s as far as it goes! I have resisted the temptation to create rituals because I want to be able to write anywhere, at any time, regardless of the conditions. I used to write to music, but now I find I need silence although I often use music for inspiration to get me in the right ‘mood’ for the story.

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

SM. I worked behind a bar one summer and it was the most perfect job for observing human behaviour. Also great for learning to mix a drink!

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

SM. All I need is something to write on. Preferably my laptop, but if a pen and paper is all that is available I’ll use that. I find sticky notes useful because you can scribble down a line of dialogue or a plot point and put it on the wall. It’s easy to move notes around and a great way to visualize your story.

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

SM. I think it’s all about developing positive habits. Presumably you want to write, or you wouldn’t be doing it, so sometimes it helps to remind yourself why you’re doing it. Identify your temptations so that you can plan to avoid them. For example if your weakness is getting distracted by the internet then switch it off until you’ve finished your word count for the day. If you’re finding it hard to concentrate then set yourself small acheiveable goals, either in time (work for thirty minutes without distraction), or word count (write 1000 words before stopping). Having a schedule and sticking to it is often helpful.

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

SM. The characters and their situation/problem usually appear to me at the same time. Like most writers I ask myself the ‘what if’ question. No two individuals will respond to a challenge in the same way, and that’s why every story is fresh and new even when you might be exploring well trodden themes.

Q. What first inspired you to write?

Join us for part 2 Click here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my weekly posts, sign up On the home page. Enter your email address. Watch for more interviews with authors.

A few BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

Coming Soon!
A new novel by Trisha Sugarek: Ain’t Nothin’ Gonna Separate Us

Interview with Author, Tracy Sumner

USA Today Bestselling author Tracy Sumner’s storytelling career began when she picked up a historical romance on a college beach trip, and she fondly blames LaVyrle Spencer for her obsession with the genre. When she’s not writing sizzling love stories about feisty heroines and their temperamental-but-entirely-lovable heroes, Tracy enjoys reading, snowboarding, college football (Go Tigers!), yoga, and travel.

TS. I write wherever I can. In Stephen King’s book On Writing, he has thoughts about not setting yourself into a habit where you can only write in one, perfect place. Or when you feel like the muse is sitting on your shoulder. 🙂 That said, I have a writing area in my bedroom. LOL, I live in NYC and we don’t have extra space to give for offices typically. It’s cute, though, and has my writing awards and personal thing, books and swag! My dream would, of course, be to have a room that looked like a Regency library! With shelves and shelves of books!

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.)

TS. I like to write with gentle music on, no lyrics. I can’t have television or anything distracting on. I usually read the first two pages (or so) of the previous day’s work to get into the rhythm. I also edit these pages at this time, so in the end, working this way, my manuscripts are fairly clean.

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

TS. I’ve lived in Europe and Asia – and my son is adopted from Vietnam! I live in NYC, but I’m a native South Carolinian and still have a place in Beaufort, SC, too that I’ll retire to.

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

TS. I’m a right to keyboard writer! 😉

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

TS. Before Covid, I fostered kittens a lot (harder to do in NYC due to space limitations) and I adopted one of my fosters, Banksy. He’s about 8 now and is a love bug! You’ll see he has one eye. He was spray-painted as a kitten by a homeless man and rescued by the police. It damaged his eye, which was removed, and I named him Banksy, after the graffiti artist!

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

Join us next Friday for part 2 of this Interview
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my weekly posts, sign up On the home page. Enter your email address. Watch for more interviews with authors.

A few BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

A New 10-Minute Play

Eyes on the Road, Girlie is my latest offering. Just written a few days ago and now, of course, in rewrites.

Truth is funnier (and stranger) than fiction.

My housekeeper relayed this story in passing the other day. Her client is a 90-year-old woman who no longer drives but still loves her outings. So she has hired a caregiver, not to help with her meds, clean her house, help her shower, or fix her meals. No. She has hired Diana to drive her around three days a week. Sometimes they are random drives, sometimes to the nearby ocean beach, or a historic site, or to beautiful downtown Savannah with all of her charming squares. Her choices are never premeditated; always picked spontaneously on the morning of the outing. But! two things are absolute: Breakfast biscuits at McDonald’s and luncheon at Chik-Fil-A.

When I heard this story told in real time, my imagination sprung to life: this would make a charming, perhaps funny, (I never know when my writing will turn up funny) short play. And so, as often is the case, dialogue began running in my head until I was forced to write it down.

Fellow writers: Life and the people around you will supply you with all you need if you but look and listen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my weekly posts, sign up On the home page. Enter your email address. Watch for more interviews with authors.

A few BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

Do You Doubt Yourself…your writing?

I ran across a description of one of my enemies….DOUBT! And it got me to thinking. Author, Jacqueline Winspear wrote: “Doubt. Was it an emotion? A sense? Or was it just a short stubby word to describe a response that could diminish a person in a finger snap?”

I wrote earlier about my being in good company. Regardless if we writers are obscure or famous, we all doubt ourselves and our work. What if Henry Charles Bukowski, or Ernest Hemingway, or John Steinbeck had let DOUBT win? Put away their pen, dumped their scribbles into a shoe box and made a trip to the attic, got a day job and never wrote another word? It doesn’t bear thinking about.

J. Michael Straczynski: “When in ‘doubt’, blow something up.”

F.Scott Fitzgerald: “All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.”

Image result for f. scott fitzgerald

E.M. Forster: “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?”

Tapani Bagge: “Everything that doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And later on you can use it in some story.”

Maya Angelou: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

Elinor Lipman: “Critics have been described as people who go into the street after battle and shoot the wounded.”

Leo Rosten: “The only reason for being a professional writer is that you just can’t help it.”

Let’s see …..when were my worst moments? DOUBT clawing at me, whispering in my ear, crawling up my spine. Telling me that I’ll never make it, I’ll never finish a whole novel, that I don’t know the first thing about writing poetry. Writing play scripts was relatively easy for me. After all I had been in theatre reading scripts for over thirty years. And the stories simply fell out of the sky and into my brain when writing a script.

But other genre?

When I could no longer resist the urgency of writing about the women who wait outside prison walls, I researched the length of the average novel; number of pages and words. Yikes! Over 300 pages and 70,000 words. DOUBT was screaming in my ear: ‘you’ll never be able to write that many pages.’ ‘you’re a playwright; not a novelist’, ‘who do you think you’re kidding?’ But I had a true story (several of them, in fact) and all I needed to do was flesh those stories out. Write one page at a time…or even one word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my weekly posts, sign up On the home page. Enter your email address. Watch for more interviews with authors.

A few BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

Book Review ~ The Physics of Relationships

2 out of 5 stars ~~ Book Review

Even though this narration was supposed to be from the Mom, the author’s masculine voice frequently leaked through. I can’t quite put my finger on the whys or hows but there is a definite masculinity to her/his ‘dry’, analytical tone. And I never discovered her name.

The narrator is the Mom figure in the story. Unfortunately, she is just that. A talking head. Her deeper feelings aren’t explored. The narrator talks at the reader with conclusions rather than a true exploration. Is Chas guilty of ‘man-splaining’?

Early on the family unit fell into being a clique. Two husbands, one divorce, 1 male child, 1 female child, 1 best friend.

Speaking of the BFF. Amy moves in with Mom for awhile. She also is having troubles in her marriage. They end up sharing the same bedroom and bed and eventually Amy makes tentative sexual ovatures to her good friend. (This is an 8 on the ‘ick’ scale.) First of all, middle-aged BFFs would not share a bed. Except at a hotel, on holiday, and there was only one room/1 bed available and they were desperate for lodging. (Guilty!)
Why do most men think that if two women are very close friends, they must have lesbian tendencies just under the surface of the friendship?

This might have been a better book if the author had written in his own voice (as narrator) and told the story from the three men’s point of view. Greg, Lawrence, and Phil.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my weekly posts, sign up On the home page. Enter your email address. Watch for more interviews with authors.

A few BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK

News Flash! Writer Goes to Prison

From stage play to novel was an incredible journey for me as a playwright turned novelist. In playwriting, you must tell your story in 100 pages or less, definitely in less than two hours and everything you want to relate to the audience must be conveyed through the dialogue. In the theatre world, there’s a term: “method acting” which means you get as close to your character as you can. If the character you are going to portray is a prostitute, you follow and talk to whores. (been there, done that. Honolulu, 1992 ) If your character is a woman who’s husband has been in prison for the past 13 years, you get inside her head or better yet visit him in prison.

I’m a ‘method’ writer, (every chance I get.)

In 1999 I had reason to visit a men’s DOC facility. (prison). I was visiting a confessed murderer as research for one of my earlier scripts. My writing has taken me to some unexpected places to say the least. On a Sunday morning I found myself sitting in the reception area with three dozen other women. Wives, sisters, mothers, daughters of convicted felons. As I waited, I wondered how long they had been coming to visit; how long would a woman wait for her man behind bars; and what a terrible impact this must have on the children, visiting their fathers in this place. Sitting there I was suddenly compelled to write their stories. I tried to interview as many women as I could and this was no easy task.

Their closed society is cloaked in guilt and shame. But they finally let me in and I discovered, for the most part, incredibly brave and strong women. They would tell their friends and neighbors, “my husband travels with his work” to explain the man’s absence. Always appearing cheerful and strong while visiting their men, the women I spoke with, had a pull off down the highway where they would congregate (after leaving the prison) where they could cry, scream, and moan and be comforted. Where they could share, with other women who understood, what their lives were really like outside the walls. Away from the eyes of their men and the prison officials.

For someone who was so comfortable writing in the genre of ‘scripts’ this was a scary prospect. Yikes! I thought, a novel was at the very least 70,000 words and over 300 pages long. What could I possibly have to say? One year and four months later I had a 335 page novel in my hands. Evidently my characters had plenty to say! At times I was surprised and delighted with my women and their stories. At other times appalled. As many writers will tell you, at some point, the characters sort’a….no…they definitely take over and you become simply the typist.

I am hoping that my readers enjoy this journey and find some empathy for those women doing hard time outside the walls.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Writer Is Hacked (8>((

Well, as is everyone’s nightmare that owns a website (or even a computer) ,
I GOT HACKED!!
THEY DESTROYED MY WEBSITE!! #@@%%$$!!

It’s taken me weeks to get rid of the Malware. Mostly because I didn’t know where to start.

Then it took us weeks to redesign (and fix the destroyed pages) my website. That was mostly because my website is heavy on viable content, so we wanted to try to recover as much of it as possible. Mission accomplished!!

Here’s the good news! And ain’t it grand that in this life there’s always some good news if you look hard enough?
My website’s appearance got a fresh face lift. I’m so pleased with the more modern, fresh, look with lots of white space.
I hope my subscribers and new visitors enjoy it!

So, dear subscribers, visitors and fans, WE ARE BACK!! I hope in the weeks to come we will offer you book reviews, author interviews, and tips about writing, editing, and storytelling.
Love, Trish

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: