A foggy night, at a ferry landing, inspired me…(part 4)

ferry landing, poetry, foggy night, blogs, writing, I was sitting, late one night, at a ferry landing, waiting and watching the boats ferry back and forth until it was my turn to board.  Fog horns, misty fog, reflections on the black water, the screech of the gulls, and the silent hunting of the pelicans.

The wet air, the silence, the sound of a lone fog horn warning vessels of danger.  The fog smearing everything I looked at… I was inspired  to write poetry.  But the scene could have inspired a murder mystery writer to write about a body, weighted down, being slipped into the water;  or it could have inspired a romance writer to write about two lovers parting as the boat docked.  Never to be together again.  For me, it was poetry.  Here is an excerpt of what came out of that black night……..

FOGGY NIGHT  © 

The white orb, saturated with tidal flows 

peers through the veil, 

a ghost ship slips up the fog laden channel

 Night gulls’ sing with strident cries 

fog seeps in, the tide rolls out, 

day is gone, the night creeps on 

Trees, dressed in ebony, drift by 

water glistens, injectable methandienone online in uk gold and wet 

Night is soft and tender, edges blurred 

damp seeps into cloth, hair, bone 

Fog casts tents of light over the landing 

Hunters of the sea know not day nor night 

Fishers all, white feathers stark 

against the night shadows 

Palm trees, silhouetted against the ochre gauze, 

brushes hardened with black paint……

I raced home as I had nothing to write with in the car.  Opening my front door, I dropped my keys and purse onto a chair, tore off my coat as I sped down the hall to my studio.  Waking up my computer, my fingers flew across the key board, lest I forget the words that were born in the night.

To read more click here for the book, "Butterflies and Bullets"

 

 

 

 

In remembrance….9.11.12

I wrote this poetry (Haiku) after visiting the rebuilding site at ground zero September 2011.   The grief was still fresh but there was hope mixed in….   

Ground Zero 9.11.11

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

and

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

 

What’s your favorite word? Nostalgia is one of mine!

family, sisters, writing, blogs, women,     Were you there when the movie “Little Women” came out? Not the new (1994) version…the old version (1949, it’s on DVD)  with June Allyson who played Jo,  Peter Lawford as Laurie, Margaret O’Brien as Beth, Elizabeth Taylor as  Amy, and Janet Leigh (yes! from Psycho fame)  as Meg.   Do you go all nostalgic when you think about those simpler times with  Jo, Beth, Amy, and Meg?  I do.  Have you read the book by Louisa May Alcott?  She was writing about her family.

Part of me wishes I had a bunch of sisters, (be careful what you wish for, right?) part of me wishes that I had lived in a simpler time. I am a part of a family like the Marches.  My mother had  five sisters and six brothers.  I grew up with twelve aunties and uncles.  And so many cousins I still don’t know the number.

So I write about them.  I am much like Jo; writer, tomboy (in my younger days) outspoken and trying to be the very best at what I do…….writing.  

My suggestion to other writers is to write about your grandmother, great-aunt, second cousin, twice removed.  Write about what you know. Write about the past.  I am so very lucky to have the ‘Guyer girls’ to draw from …..I couldn’t make up the stories that they have given me out of their real lives.     family, women, sisters,

 

When was the last time you were behind bars? No, seriously!

This has been an incredible journey for me as a playwright turned novelist. In play writing 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.

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.

Fast forward to 2011: My heart had been nagging me for years that my stage play,(by the same name) had MORE to say. And it wouldn’t let up!!  The message was, “you have to tell the rest of these women’s stories. GET BUSY!!”

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.

My Review – The Orchid House

writing, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fictionwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fictionwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fictionwriting, creating, reviews,fiction, children's books, fiction for adults, women's fiction

 Rating: 4 quills

The Orchid House by  Lucinda Riley  is an intricately woven story of real men and women.   How the author weaves their stories and brings them all together at the end is indeed brilliant.  From a ‘grand house’ of rural England to war torn Thailand and back again.

As a child, concert pianist Julia Forrester spent many idyllic hours in the hothouse of Wharton Park, the grand estate where her grandfather tended exotic orchids. Years later, while struggling with overwhelming grief over the death of her husband and young child, she returns to this tranquil place. There she reunites with Kit Crawford, heir to the estate and her possible salvation.

When they discover an old diary, Julia seeks out her grandmother to learn the truth behind a love affair that almost destroyed the estate. Their search takes them back to the 1940s when Harry, a former heir to Wharton Park, married his young society bride, Olivia, on the eve of World War II. When the two lovers are cruelly separated, the impact will be felt for generations to come.

When the last thread is snipped the reader is satisfied and well content with a very good read.writing, authors, review, WWII, family, fiction,love

Writer shares a little wisdom…

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Going home………to Ireland 1998

Today at 4:30pm EST my wisdom (such as it is) was posted again on Care2.com with 20,000,000 members.  If you missed it in July, here it is again.Now keep in mind that I still consider myself a small town girl, stumbling through this life as best I can.  But, if I reach out and touch just one other woman and make her life a little easier, I am content.

Take a risk with your writing

homosexuality, teenagers, family, short plays, small casts, maternal love        So my series hasn’t even been on amazon.com for a week and I am experiencing sales. Why am I telling you this?  Well, it was sort of an experiment; publishing a series of single one act scripts……..
I can’t tell you how exciting this is…..’Keep it simple, stupid’ , seems to be working for me.
 
  I guess what I’m trying to do is encourage other writers to take a risk, try a new idea, challenge yourself and your writing.  What have you got to lose?  Currently there are ten of these short, one act plays.  With more to come.teenagers, new ideas, family, Billie Holiday, monologues for women, one act play, short play,teen dating violence, teenagers, high school, middle school, one act play, short plays,domestic violencebullying, bullies, high school, middle school, teens,one act, short stage play
 

“Must Read” rating for “Stanley, The Stalwart Dragon”

BookReview.com gave the first in the Fabled Forest series, “Stanley, the Stalwart Dragon” a wonderful review.  Head over to their site to see it, or read on below!

Book reviews from all genres: children's books, mystery novels, biographies, alternative health books, sci-fi books, humor, history, music and more
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Children’s Books 
Title: Stanley, The Stalwart Dragon
Author: Trisha Sugarek
Rating:  Must Read!
Publisher: CreateSpace
Reviewed by: Eric Jones

Trisha Sugarek is often known for her stage plays for children which take on a fun, but instructional tone and lend children an eye-opening narrative on the problems and decisions that come with growing up. Her first novel, “Stanley, the Stalwart Dragon”, is an extension of her stage work. Fully illustrated by Mitchell Lamar Larkins, it is a collection of life lessons rolled into a single journey, with a loveable protagonist who finds friendship and hardship out in an unfamiliar world. Stanley is very different from other dragons because he doesn’t blow fire. No, he blows bubbles. This leads him to feel ostracized with the dragon community and in a fit of anger he runs away to the woods where he’s greeted by a band of mixed races; elves, pixies, animals, clowns, and faeries all gather to remark on Stanley’s mysterious condition. What’s remarkable about Sugarek’s fiction is in her ability to draw depth into what might have simply been cartoon characters. City Slick is, without a doubt, my favorite. He has the sly veracity of a huckster, but appears genuinely friendly. He’s also illustrated to resemble Woody Wood Pecker, and although he’s not quite the villain, he plays the role of a trickster who gets Stanley into his predicament by convincing him to join the circus. Stanley moves then from a nice group of misfits to a bad group of misfits, and learns a strong lesson in comparing the two. There is no shortage of fun and interesting characters to grab children’s attention and engage their imagination. Being a playwright, Sugarek comes from a medium that’s heavy on dialog, and that transitions well into children’s fiction, making “Stanley, the Stalwart Dragon” a great book to read out loud to children. Parents can change voices to represent different characters, or they can highlight character’s lines that the children themselves can play. This is a novel, so there’s a slight issue of length. It’s best read as a serial over a number of nights rather than straight through, although the appearance of the book can be deceptive since it’s about the same height and width as children’s books like “Polar Express” or “Green Eggs and Ham”. However, Sugarek makes no bones about it being more advanced. She uses big words to stimulate her young readers such as ‘effervescent’, or ‘rhetorical’, which is a method reminiscent of the works of Roald Dahl. “Stanley, the Stalwart Dragon” is a captivating children’s novel from start to finish, a cartoonish romp through a fantastic world that’s full of jokes and lessons that will ensnare any child’s ear.

 

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A Good “beach read”

women's fiction, prison, love, new fiction,   You won’t be disappointed!  This is just a darn good story based on real women and real events.  And it opens a door on a subject that most of us women have never thought about….having to visit our man in prison.

Just as you are thinking that you know and like these three women, the story takes a dramatic turn with a shocking event.  Changing the women’s lives and friendships with each other forever.

There’s humor, family, love, suspense and sex.

FreshFiction.com said,  “This is an honest book, which means that it’s not always a happy book. It will touch your heart in ways that you wouldn’t expect and is a book well worth spending the time to read. You’ll come away with a new respect for women in this situation and a bit more understanding of why they continue supporting the men they love, no matter what.’

Click here to visit the on-line store where you can purchase this book!  Be sure, in your order to mention if you would like an autographed copy.