Tag Archives: writing life

February 20, 2023 · 3:43 pm

From the SFWC

This past weekend at the 19th San Francisco Writers Conference, I had an incredibly productive and enriching experience! The conference was respite from the difficult reality of the post storm disaster affecting my family and home. Reconnecting with professional contacts and networking with others in the industry is crucial and I’d let too many other things distract me since the Before Times. I was able to catch up with old friends, make new ones, and add to my network of professionals of the industry. I decided on a new writing project while there, wrote the pitch on Saturday morning and by that night’s Gala and Open Mic, I’d reworked and revised, received feedback from the ever gracious Michael Larsen and Katherine Sands, and been the lucky random person in the room during David Henry Sterry’s Keynote to receive feedback in front of the everyone attending!

I came empty handed to SWFC#19 without manuscript, proposal notes or a planned pitch to make. As one SFWC tribemate remarked, I entered the conference “shellshocked” from current circumstances. By Sunday, I understood the validity of that observation. By then, after three days of workshops, discussions, and fellowship, and having written, revised, revised, revised and delivered a poem at Open Mic, I felt more like myself for the first time this year. Writing is my core, it feeds my soul. There’s been a drought. I’m back at the well.

Returning home with only one backpack full of new books to read, I’ve already registered for the 2024 conference. If you’ve never been to the San Francisco Writers Conference – make 2024 the year you attend. Register early, the price goes up numerous times throughout the year. Monday morning, I felt renewed energy and enthusiasm, have regained motivation and focus as I engage with my 2023 writing goals. Now the work begins!

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November 3, 2015 · 12:00 pm

In November – Novelist Chase J. Jackson

Chase J. Jackson, writes mystery, thriller, and suspense.

VAH: The kick off question is always why do you write?

CJJ: I write because writing is one of the most powerful forms of self-expression. I love the idea that I can create characters, dialogues and situations that people can relate to and can get a message from.

VAH: What got you started?

CJJ: I became a writer in the 4th grade. I remember my teacher gave an assignment with a variety of words listed and we had to create a story using those words. I wrote the story and when the teacher gave me my assignment back she asked if I got that story from somewhere. I told her I didn’t and she said it was really good. That’s when I felt like a writer.

VAH: Who were your influences:

CJJ: R.L. Stine Goosebumps and Fear Street books influenced me as a writer. My friends and I collected all of them when we were in elementary school.

VAH: What do you remember about one of your earliest stories?

CJJ: I remember writing a story in the 6th grade about one of my classmates. The teachers thought he was funny, girls loved him & all the guys thought he was so cool. So I thought, this guy has to be an alien. There’s no way someone is this well rounded in the 6th grade. So I remember writing a story about him being an alien.

VAH: And your favorite piece that you’ve written?

CJJ: My favorite piece that I’ve written to date is my first novel, Whispers In The Dark. I spent a lot of time working on this book and developing the characters and making sure there was a message that readers can take from this story.

Chase J. Jackson Bio:

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Chase J. Jackson developed an interest for writing suspense and mystery at an early age after reading all of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books. As a teenager, Chase began writing short stories and poetry based on his experiences. After winning a local poetry slam, Chase decided to bring his writing to life through the art of film. During his collegiate career at the University of West Georgia, Chase studied literature, cinematography, and film editing, ultimately graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English. Working two jobs to save money for film equipment, Chase filmed one of his short stories, Paralysis, which chronicles a teenager named Alyssa as she battles with sleep paralysis. In 2011, Paralysis was nominated for Best Film by The Peachtree Village International Film Festival.After college, Chase dedicated his time to writing his first novel Whispers in the Dark. Chase’s goal is to keep the readers interest from the very first page to the very end, keeping them on the edge of their seat until an ultimate surprise ending. Chase’s future plans include writing his second novel, The Parish Prophecies, and traveling across the country to film other various projects.

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August 23, 2015 · 3:09 pm

Bernadette Geyer Part 3

Bernadette Geyer: Writing life

VAH: More with Bernadette Geyer, this installment focusing on the writing life. Are you a full-time writer?

BG: I am a full-time freelance writer, editor, translator, and workshop instructor. All of the above are writing-related and from that I cobble together sustenance. My first love is writing poetry, but I do a lot of other things to pay the bills and buy groceries.

VAH: Would you say writing is a vocation, occupation, or profession?

BG: I consider poetry my “vocation” but for my “profession,” I write non-fiction, I provide editorial services, and I serve as a workshop instructor.

VAH: Writing for a living seems to always encompass so much beyond the creative journey. For you, when the page is blank, what gets you writing?

BG: I actually have a list of ideas for non-fiction articles I want to write and a journal full of jottings that can be developed into poems or essays. A blank page in front of me is never blank for very long. On the off chance I sit with a blank page in my journal, I sometimes just practice “observing” what’s around me. I will practice writing details, or description, or simile, or interpretation, or even just playing around with sound echoes, so that what I write builds on the sounds of the original word or observation. Sometimes, out of all that mess, will come a phrase that stands out as important and worth exploring further.

VAH: What you describe resonates with me as a means for practicing aspects of the craft. How would you describe your “process” when working on a new piece of writing?

BG: I am typically very slow in my process. When I get something onto a blank page and I think it’s promising, I will typically type it up and print it out for myself. I have a small desk in the house that I call my “editing” desk. No computer, just the desk and a chair and a lovely lamp. Most often, I will put the draft there for a while (a week or two, maybe a month, depending on what else is going on in my life at the moment) so that I can return to it with a fresh perspective. I walk past the desk very frequently because of its location and so I feel like the poem is always asserting its presence, even if subconsciously. I’ll look at it, and tweak a word. Or, I’ll scan it and have a sudden thought and then sit down and revise for an hour. Then I let it sit again. Type up a revision, print it out, let it sit some more. I usually have several poems in various stages of this process, so that it’s not usually more than a couple of months between finishing new poems. Sometimes I’ll finish a few in the course of one month! That always seems like a small miracle to me.

VAH: How about your typical writing day – what’s that like?

BG: This definitely depends on the kind of writing I am doing on a particular day. If it’s non-fiction, the day will involve a lot of research. I will sometimes forget to eat, but usually I try to tear myself away from my desk long enough to have a meal while not at the computer. I don’t typically devote a whole day to poetry, unless I am taking a workshop outside of my apartment. With my poetry, a 2-3 hour stretch is typically what I can do in a day. Sometimes the poem requires research, sometimes it requires that I get out of the apartment and wander while I think. Most poems are written in fits and starts over a long period and there is nothing “typical” about the process of writing them.

Bonus question –

VAH: Do you have a submission system or plan?

BG: My submissions are all tracked in a MSExcel file. I always note the date of the submission and how it was submitted (online, via email, post). On a separate page, I have a list of all the poems that I am actively submitting. Next to each poem I put a tic for each place to which I have submitted it. If a poem is currently under consideration at a place that does not accept sim subs, I make a special mark so that I know not to submit that poem elsewhere. I try to have poems submitted to 2-3 places at a time if those places accept sim subs. I am very methodical and persistent, albeit a little slower than many other poets I know. The Excel file is also where I track which litmags wrote encouraging personal notes on the rejection slips and specifically asked for me to submit again.

Bernadette Geyer Sampler:

Nonfiction:

“Kunstquartier Bethanien,” Slow Travel Berlin, December 2014

“The City behind the City of Berlin,” GoNOMAD, November 2014

“Fellowship Opportunities for Writers in Berlin,” Funds for Writers, September 19, 2014

“The Social Media Model,” The Los Angeles Review blog, September 4, 2010

“Making Every Word Count,” Absolute Write, July 27, 2006

“When Leaving Isn’t Easy,” Go World Travel Magazine, January 2006

Poetry:

32 Poems – Thumbelina’s Mother Speaks: To the Toad’s Mother

Heron Tree – Parable of the Great Outpouring

La Petite Zine — Contrary to Popular Belief

The Paris-American – Thanksgiving

Redux: A Literary Journal – Fire Ants Invade Hong Hock See Buddhist Temple; Remembering Is Short; Haunting

Verse Daily – Without Warning

Waccamaw – Pit

Bernadette Geyer’s first full-length collection, The Scabbard of Her Throat, was selected by Cornelius Eady as the 2013 Hilary Tham Capital Collection title, published by The Word Works in early 2013. In 2010, she received a Strauss Fellowship from the Arts Council of Fairfax County. Geyer’s poems have appeared widely in journals including North American Review, Oxford American, The Paris-American, Poet Lore, and elsewhere.

In July 2013, Geyer relocated to Berlin, Germany, where she works as a freelance writer, editor, and translator. Her non-fiction has been published most recently in Slow Travel Berlin and GoNOMAD. Geyer also leads online creative writing and social media marketing workshops for writers.

Connect online with Bernadette Geyer: Website. Facebook Page. Twitter. Blog.

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August 17, 2015 · 1:37 pm

Bernadette Geyer Parts I and 2

Poet and Nonfiction writer Bernadette Geyer is the August Three by Five highlighted author.

VAH: My favorite question and what Three by Five always begins with is – Why do you write?

BG: There are many reasons why I write. I write to get the words out of my head. Some days, I simply have to put down the phrases and narratives that appear in my head, and then other days, I return to those words to explore and fill in what feels necessary to it as a poem, or necessary to the completion of what I had begun. I also write as a way of thinking about and understanding (or trying to understand) the world around me, even if it is just understanding the importance of a pebble that a child is trying to put in her mouth.

VAH: Children explore by taste, we writers with finding the right word. Can you identify when you knew or felt like you were a writer and why?

BG: When I was in middle school, I loved Nancy Drew mysteries. I began to write my own little mystery stories during recess and some of my friends would pass around the pages as I finished them. I wrote poems in high school and then dreadful poems in college. It wasn’t until I was in my late-20s that I felt drawn back to poetry and took a community workshop. Since then, I haven’t stopped writing. Poetry is my focus, but I also write some non-fiction as well.

VAH: What would you say were your influences on your development as a writer?

BG: Reading. I read a lot. I know it sounds like a cliché but everything I read influences me. My newest “development” (if you can call it that) is a closer attention to sound in my poems. I moved to Germany in 2013 with a less-than-basic understanding of the language. My understanding of German has improved dramatically since being here, but the change made me much more attuned to sounds. Especially in the poems of a German poet I have gotten to know since moving here. She utilizes sound as a crucial part of her poem-crafting process and, though I don’t understand all of the words, I can appreciate the way the sounds echo and play off each other.

VAH: What do you remember about your first story or poem?

BG: The first poem I really remember writing was one about Dirty Windows (…stare back at you with your own eyes…). It was actually a very socially aware poem for me to write as a teen and it was published in a little local journal for high school students. I was very proud of that poem. I still remember much of it.

VAH: Is there a favorite piece you’ve written to date?

BG: That’s a very hard question to answer. There are poems that I love and that just seemed to come forth without much revision needed, and then there are poems that I love and that I invested a lot of energy in to get them where I wanted them. I think my favorite of the latter is my poem “Explaining Cremation to Our Daughter at the Dinner Table,” because it was one that I slaved over for many months and that brought in a lot of my thinking about when and how we teach our children difficult subjects that even we find hard to deal with ourselves.

VAH: That is a challenge, explaining difficult subjects that kids ask about in non-scary ways. A good well to draw from.

Let’s move on to part two of Three by Five – Writer reads.

Do you have a favorite author?

BG: I would say there is a four-way tie for my favorite author of fiction – Margaret Atwood, Jeanette Winterson, Italo Calvino, and Kurt Vonnegut. Although there are four of them, there is one reason why I appreciate them so much – imagination. Each of those authors has a very mind-expanding approach to literature and I encourage every writer to read works by them.

VAH: What is the most memorable book, story or poem you’ve read?

BG: The most memorable poem I have ever read was “Discovery” by Wisława Szymborska. The poem has a drive and suspense to it and, ultimately, a desperate terror at the potential of science and humanity. Yet the poem also conveys a sense of hope and a faith in the face of this terrible potential.

VAH: Do you have a favorite book, poem, or story?

BG: I have a favorite poem that I am always recommending to people – “A Brief for the Defense” by Jack Gilbert, from his collection Refusing Heaven. It is about the importance of finding beauty and happiness in life even in the face of all the ugliness and sorrow. Every time I hear some terrible news, I think of this poem and how important it is for us to cherish even the little pleasantries of life, and to put forth the good for people to see so that it’s not always the awfulness that gets all the attention.

VAH: Which reader are you – always finish what you started or put it down and move on if you don’t like it?

BG: As much as I would like to be a different kind of reader, I am a serial monogamist. I can only focus on one book at a time and must read all the way to the end, even if I do not enjoy the book. I always think – “maybe there’s something that will resonate on the next page!”, and for that potential, I must keep reading.

VAH: Sometimes there is something buried deep.

More Bernadette Geyer will post on the 23^rd of the month. Until then, enjoy this sampler of work available online:

Poetry:

32 Poems – Thumbelina’s Mother Speaks: To the Toad’s Mother

Heron Tree – Parable of the Great Outpouring

La Petite Zine — Contrary to Popular Belief

The Paris-American – Thanksgiving

Redux: A Literary Journal – Fire Ants Invade Hong Hock See Buddhist Temple; Remembering Is Short; Haunting

Verse Daily – Without Warning

Waccamaw – Pit

Connect online with Bernadette Geyer: Website. Facebook Page. Twitter. Blog.

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August 16, 2015 · 1:23 pm

Introducing Bernadette Geyer

Connect online with Bernadette Geyer: Website. Facebook Page. Twitter. Blog.

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August 12, 2015 · 9:20 am

July’s Three by Five – a chat with Matthew J. Pallamary

And we’re back!

An extra-long Three by Five with Matthew J. Pallamary since due to technical breakdown, he lost out on part of July. Writing life, writing community, and random facts all rolled into one.

VAH: Are you a full-time writer?

MJP: I write, edit, and teach full-time to make ends meet. If not writing, I would probably have a high level technology job as that is where I used to make my money.

VAH: Would you say writing is a vocation, occupation, or profession?

MJP: Yes – probably more aptly defined as an obsession.

VAH: Young writers often ask about writers block. When the page is blank, what gets you writing?

MJP: Getting out of my intellectual and emotional bodies and into my moving body. I go into great detail about these dynamics in my upcoming book Phantastic Fiction – A Shamanic Approach to Story.

VAH: Sounds interesting, and a different approach to writing. What is your “process” when working on a new piece of writing?

MJP: Research, gestation, outline, and then a draft.

VAH: I always find the research phase challenging. I’m inpatient.

What does your typical writing day include?

MJP: Writing, editing, and promotion.

VAH: Promotion – such a big part of the author’s job in the current publishing climate.

What about the writing community? What words of wisdom do you have for the emerging writer?

MJP: Writing = Ass in chair.

Just because it is easy to publish does not mean that you are ready. Writing is far more of a complex art and craft than people realize. One well known quote says, “There is no such thing as writing, there is only rewriting.”

If you are not doing it because you love it and have fantasies of being rich and famous, then you are in for a world of disappointment.

VAH: That is a quite often repeated quote of Robert Graves. Matthew, what choices have you made regards to traditional or independent publishing?

MJP: I am Independent all the way. I have been writing for well over thirty years and have seen and experienced all manner of disappointment and thoughtlessness as well as three agents who never did anything for me. For me, there is nothing more satisfying than having complete creative control as well as all the rights to my works.

VAH: That creative control is both enticing and challenging. Everything is now your responsibility. Getting the writing out there – what part does social media play in your writing career?

MJP: I have been involved with it from the start as a means to promote my writing and see it as a kind of necessary evil. Having said that, unfortunately it is being flooded by volumes of “not ready for prime time” crap that muddies the waters with all the desperate “Buy my book!” posts.

VAH: I’m in agreement with that. If one is going to independently publish, the standard remails make a book as good as the big publishing house does.

Have you found a benefit to writing or author?

MJP: I have been teaching my Phantastic Fiction workshops at the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference and the Southern California Writer’s Conferences for twenty five years now and have been a member of numerous other conferences, conventions, and workshops. These conferences are my writing family. Everyone needs to get input from sources outside their immediate family and friends if they want to improve. They especially need it from those with more experience to share.

VAH: What was your writing education?

MJP: Other than a creative writing class and English classes in general, I have gotten the most from hands on writing read and critique groups led by qualified professionals and by attending writer’s conferences.

Your favorite writing conferences, retreats, seminars?

The Santa Barbara Writers Conference and The Southern California Writers’ Conference.

I have taught at both of them for twenty five years and they are my family.

VAH: I’ve had the same experience with the San Francisco Writers’ Conference. A core of people I see only once a year at the conference yet I consider close friends and my writing family.

Now, a little fantastical and random life –

If you had a super power, what would it be and why?

MJP: Omniscience – so I could be everywhere at once and fully aware of everything.

VAH: Haven’t heard that one before! How about in a movie about your life and times, who would play you? What would the theme song be and why?

MJP: Mark Wahlberg – because he grew up in Dorchester where I did.

I’ve already written Spirit Matters, an award winning memoir. The song would be “Flying in A Blue Dream” by Joe Satriani because I love the energy of it.

VAH: What is a little known fact about you that will amaze and/or amuse?

MJP: I have been working extensively with visionary plants in the Amazon for fifteen years now.

VAH: What are three random, non-writing facts about you?

MJP: I am an accomplished drummer and vocalist. My mother was a famous child acrobat. I have an extensive background in technology.

VAH: And who is your biggest fan?

MJP: Margaux Dunbar Hession.

VAH: If you knew tomorrow at midnight was your last day – how would you spend it and what would your last meal be?

MJP: I would spend it in the rain forest under the influence of powerful visionary plants to get as much of a preview of “the other side” as I could, so I could have some kind of idea of where I am heading. My last meal would be Thai food.

VAH: Big, nasty bug in the kitchen – what do you do?

MJP: Help it out the door.

VAH: Favorite quote and why?

MJP: “Through the ages, countless spiritual disciplines have urged us to look within ourselves and seek the truth. Part of that truth resides in a small, dark room — one we are afraid to enter.”

It is mine from my first published book – a short story collection titled The Small Dark Room of the Soul and Other Stories.

VAH: Thank you Matthwe J. Pallamary for participating in Three by Five.

Matthew J. Pallamary’s historical novel Land Without Evil, received rave reviews along with a San Diego Book Award for mainstream fiction and was adapted into a stage and sky show by Agent Red, directed by Agent Red, and was the subject of an EMMY nominated episode of a PBS series, Arts in Context.

He has taught a Phantastic Fiction workshop at the Southern California Writers’ Conference in San Diego, Palm Springs, and Los Angeles, and at the Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference for twenty five years, and is presently Editor in Chief of Muse Harbor Publishing.

His memoir Spirit Matters took first place in the San Diego Book Awards Spiritual Book Category, and was an Award-Winning Finalist in the autobiography/memoir category of the National Best Book Awards. He frequently visits the jungles, mountains, and deserts of North, Central, and South America pursuing his studies of shamanism and ancient cultures.

Connect with Matthew J. Pallamary:

Web site. Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Smashwords author page.

Sampler:

The Small Dark Room of the Soul and other stories – Preview.

Land Without Evil.

Spirit Matters a Memoir

A Short Walk to the Other Side – A Collection of Short Stories

CyberChrist launched in December 2014

Ashley Butler, a prize winning journalist at the San Diego Times receives an email from a man who claims to have discovered immortality by turning off the aging gene in a 15 year old boy with an aging disorder. The email has pictures showing a reversal of the aging process and the names of a scientist and a company to investigate. Thinking it a hoax, she forwards the email to friends.

Though skeptical, she calls to investigate and gets a no longer in service message. When she leaves her office she overhears a news story about the death of the scientist mentioned in the email.

Ashley checks out the company mentioned in the email and discovers a gutted building. At the deceased scientist’s address she has a confrontation with an unfriendly federal investigator. Returning to her office she finds him, subpoena in hand, confiscating her computer. He tells her that the scientist who sent the email is a killer that they need help catching. When her own investigators do more checking, none of them return.

The forwarded email becomes the basis for an online church built around the boy, calling him the CyberChrist. The church claims that the Internet is the physical manifestation of the group mind of humanity and the boy is the second coming of Christ online.

The federal government tries to shut down the church, but its website replicates faster than they can stop it. While church and state battle over religious freedom online, the media and the state battle over freedom of speech.

Ashley battles to stay alive.

Due out in 2015 –

Matthew J. Pallamary’s popular Phantastic Fiction Workshop has been a staple of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and the Southern California Writer’s Conference for over twenty five years. He has also lectured at numerous other venues and led his own weekend intensive workshops.

Matt has spent extended time in the jungles, mountains, and deserts of North, Central, and South America pursuing his studies of shamanism and ancient cultures. Through his research into both the written word and the ancient beliefs of shamanism, he has uncovered the heart of what a story really is and integrated it into core dramatic concepts that also have their basis in shamanism.

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July 16, 2015 · 8:44 am

July’s Three by Five – a chat with Matthew J. Pallamary Part Two

Matthew J. Pallamary and writer reads…

VAH: Who is your favorite literary character?

MJP: Carlos Castaneda’s Don Juan and Dr. Dolittle when I was very young.

VAH: Do you have a favorite author?

MJP: Ray Bradbury. He was always passionate and supportive of other writers and he graced me with a blurb for my first short story collection. He rarely if ever gave out blurbs. I learned volumes from him.

VAH: You’re stranded in a snowstorm, stuck on a deserted island. What books would you hope to have with you or find?

MJP: War & Peace. Carlos Castaneda’s books, Hanta Yo

They all transported me to magical times and places which provided great escapes.

VAH: What is the most memorable book, story or poem you’ve read?

MJP: My mother handed me The Exorcist when I was in high school. I went into my bedroom at 7:30 that night and emerged 7:30 the following morning when I finished it.

VAH: Do you have a favorite book, poem, or story and why?

MJP: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance stands out as it delves into the nature of truth, logic, and perception.

VAH: What author or books keep you up at night because you can’t put them down?

MJP: Nothing since The Exorcist, but I am admittedly a bit burned out and jaded after reading, critiquing and editing thousands of manuscripts.

VAH: Which reader are you – always finish what you started or put it down and move on if you don’t like it? Why?

MJP: Once I start, I finish 99% of the time. Something can be learned, even from bad writing and stories.

More Matthew J. Pallamary this month, on days that end in 3.

San Diego, CA

Connect with Matthew J. Pallamary:

Web site. Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Smashwords author page.

Sampler:

The Small Dark Room of the Soul and other stories – Preview.

Land Without Evil.

CyberChrist launched in December 2014

Though skeptical, she calls to investigate and gets a no longer in service message. When she leaves her office she overhears a news story about the death of the scientist mentioned in the email.

Ashley battles to stay alive.

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July 3, 2015 · 6:55 pm

July’s Three by Five – a chat with Matthew J. Pallamary

Welcome Matthew J. Pallamary. Let’s start with writer beginnings.

VAH: Three by Five always starts with asking why do you write?

MJP: I am passionate about my search for truth and meaning and I believe that I have a unique perspective on reality that comes from a life time of exploration, particularly in non-rational and non-ordinary shamanic realms that defy description and can only be experienced directly. Most people never get to experience reality in these ways, so I have spent a lifetime trying to articulate them to give my readers a glimpse of an expansive perspective that pushes the boundaries of the “known” world.

VAH: Why did you become a writer and when did you know or feel like you were a writer?

MJP: English was by far my best subject in school. Everything else was secondary. I won school wide spelling bees and excelled as a storyteller. When I took a creative writing course in college I had to write an essay, which was to be turned in as a first draft to the teacher, then re-written and typed out for a final grade. I wrote my first draft about my first experience skydiving in longhand and when the teacher read it, she said, “This is excellent. You don’t have to do anything else. You get an “A”.”

VAH: Any influences on your development as a writer?

MJP: I was blessed to be taken in and more or less adopted by the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference where I had the tremendous good fortune to be mentored by Ray Bradbury, Charles Schulz, leading L.A. Times film critic Charles Champlin, and Barnaby Conrad as well as learning from Elmore Leonard, Robert B. Parker, Gore Vidal, and many others. In San Diego, I have had an awesome friendship with science fiction writer David Brin.

VAH: What do you remember about your first piece of writing?

MJP: I am also a drummer and a vocalist, so my first poem/songs were about my search for truth and meaning. My first published piece was an article titled “Whose Reality is it Anyway?” which was published in an inspirational magazine. It had to do with the multitude of different ways that people view the world.

VAH: What is the favorite piece you’ve written to date?

MJP: I remember reading an interview with Billy Joel many years ago where he was asked, “What is your favorite song that you have written?”

His answer that I have paraphrased here was, “They are all my children and though they are different in popularity and achievements, I love them all equally.”

More Matthew J. Pallamary this month, on days that end in 3.

San Diego, CA

Connect with Matthew J. Pallamary:

Web site. Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Smashwords author page.

Sampler:

The Small Dark Room of the Soul and other stories – Preview.

Land Without Evil.

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June 23, 2015 · 4:15 pm

Carol A. Stephen – Writing Life and Community

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Back with Carol A. Stephen with the writing life and writing community.

VAH: Are you a full time writer?

CAS: I am a retired small “a” accountant/credit professional, so I am free to write or not as I choose. Except, of course, for the compulsions!

VAH: Is writing vocation, occupation, or profession?

CAS: I’d say a vocation. I do it because I am compelled and because I have a love for language.

VAH: When the page is blank what gets you writing?

CAS: Reading other poets, finding a good writing prompt. Occasionally something will come from just brainstorming/wild-minding, but not very often. I have to read.

VAH: What is your “process” when working on a new piece of writing?

CAS: To start with, I usually have an “earworm” phrase demanding to be written down. If I have a list of words, I might just start writing in a word association kind of way and the poem may take off from there. I have a couple of projects in mind, but poems are more likely to come from specific phrases rather than just a more general theme.

VAH: Do you have a submission system or plan?

CAS: That is on my list of resolutions every year. I don’t know what holds me back, but I don’t submit regularly.

VAH: What does your typical writing day include?

CAS: Many distractions on the internet. Writing new poems takes precedence over polishing ones already written. The best poems are always the newest ones. That might be why I don’t submit as often as I think I should!

VAH: What words of wisdom do you have for the emerging writer?

CAS: Read, read, read. Try new techniques, especially those new forms that you think won’t work for you. And submit! (Yes, wisdom I should include in my own plans!)

VAH: What choices have you made regards to traditional or independent publishing?

CAS: Most of my individual published poems have been in online magazines where I’ve been successful submitting before. Of my three chapbooks, one I published myself, another was under a friend’s imprint, and the new one is published by a small press run by a poet I’ve “known” online for years. I’m a late bloomer, and not sure I want to wait the long times it takes for traditional publishing to take place. Online publishing also reaches a larger audience, even more quickly than self-publishing.

VAH: What part does social media play in your writing career?

CAS: I have a blog, where I write about literary events in and around Ottawa, Ontario, but also to showcase my poetry and my chapbooks. I’m on Facebook and Twitter and recently have become more active on Tumblr.

VAH: Do you belong to writing or author organizations?

CAS: I am a member of the League of Canadian Poets, The Ontario Poetry Society and I belong to a small poetry group, The Field Stones. I am rejoining the board of Arts Carleton Place, where I live, and I am a former member of Canadian Authors Association, National Capital Region.

VAH: Do you have any favorite online sites or blogs that you find useful or interesting?

CAS: Poetry Foundation, Academy of American Poets, Places for Writers, Winning Writers, Found Poetry Review, Ron Silliman’s blog, Bill Moyers.com, Writers Digest, and many others.

VAH:What was your writing education?

CAS: In high school we studied it as part of the English curriculum. Since 2006, I’ve taken an online course at Algonquin College, and a follow-up private course with the same instructor, as well as a 10-week Stanford course with James Arthur and later a week-long retreat with him in Lenox, Mass.

VAH: Writing conferences, retreats, seminars – any favorites and why?

CAS: The retreat [mentioned earlier] with James Arthur was a chance to work in group with some of the poets I’d met in the online Stanford class, as well as time to discuss my work one-on-one with James. I’ve participated in several weekend “master” workshops through Ottawa’s Tree Reading Series with prominent Canadian poets. These were amazing opportunities to work with some of Canada’s top poets in a small class (max 12 participants) I also attended a 5-day writing conference through Canadian Authors Association, which provided workshops across various genres, and opportunities to network that have been invaluable.

Thank you Carol A. Stephen for contributing your thoughts on writing and the writing life.

Sample Carol’s work:

Carol reading her work here.

Howe and Stephen (the light ekphrastic)

Stephen and Karkar (the light ekphrastic)

Imworld and Stephen (the light ekphrastic)

Learning to Dance (Silver Birch Press)

Waiting for Green Mornings (Silver Birch Press)

In a Moment She’ll Unfurl (the light ekphrastic)

Carol A. Stephen is a Canadian poet, poetry selector for Bywords Journal and a member of the League of Canadian Poets. She’s served on boards of Canadian Authors Association, National Capital Region (CAA-NCR), Arts Carleton Place and Tree Reading Series Ottawa. Carol coordinated CAA’s poetry circle 2008-2013.

Her poetry has appeared in Bywords Quarterly Journal, Tree Press/phaphours press chapbooks and online at The Light Ekphrastic and Silver Birch Press. Chapbooks: Above the Hum of Yellow Jackets, Bondi Studios, 2011 and Architectural Variations, Quillfyre Publishing, 2012. Ink Dogs in my Shoe, Dec. 2014 from Nose In Book Publishing, Castlegar B.C.

Awards: 3rd Prize CAA 2012 National Capital Writing Contest for Walking in Thomson’s Red Sumac. Honourable Mentions: VERSeFest, Poetry for the End of the World, 2012, Arborealis 2012 and 2008 Ontario Poetry Society, Double Your Pleasure 2013 Ontario Poetry Society and CAA’s 2008 and 2011 National Capital Writing Contest.

Recent publication: In December, 2014 her third chapbook, Ink Dogs in my Shoes, was published by Nose In Book Publishing, Castlegar, B.C. This is a chapbook of poems all containing some element of three in them. Subjects range from garden to writing process to nonsense rhymes, and some explore conceptual poetry or experiment with wordplay.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS: Twitter. Facebook. Blog

Three by Five posts on days that end in threes.

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June 13, 2015 · 12:37 am

Carol A. Stephen – Writer Reads

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VAH: Who is your favorite literary character?

CAS: I can’t choose between Custard, the Cowardly Dragon and The Cheshire Cat.

VAH: Do you have a favorite author?

CAS: Perhaps Richard Wagamese, a Canadian First Nations author, who wrote Dream Wheels. It won the Canadian Authors Association award for fiction in 2007. I read a single line from the back cover and was hooked. Wagamese is a powerful storyteller, one of the best I’ve read. He weaves together both compelling story and First Nations customs which are fascinating. Many books I read and forget but not this one.

VAH: You’re stranded in a snowstorm, stuck on a deserted island. What books would you hope to have with you or find? Why these choices?

CAS: Poetry for sure, but not a single author. An anthology, a big one, with poets from the 20th and 21st century and a book of writing prompts, perhaps The Poet’s Companion, so that I am inspired to keep writing. Novels that have interesting older women, characters that get into odd situations but all’s well in the end. Romance optional. Humor essential!

VAH: What is the most memorable book, story or poem you’ve read? How so?

CAS: I started to say The Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley, something my parents read to me when I was a child. I always remember two characters: Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby and Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid. I recall it as a morality tale for children, but I think even more influential would have to be A Child’s Garden of Verses, Robert Louis Stevenson. That book probably was my first acquaintance with poetry and some of the poems still stay with me today.

VAH: Do you have a favorite book, poem, or story?

CAS: I have a lot of favorite poems, but I will share this one:

“The Hush of the Very Good” Todd Boss (c 2008)

I’m not sure how I first came to this poem, but I remember hearing Todd Boss read The Hush of the Very Good online. The poem describes a kiss, a particularly good kiss, while juxtaposing it with a metaphoric small boat. The images are so vividly drawn using simple language. But it isn’t just that. Visually, it’s the unusual way the lines break, short lines clinging to the right margins, then back to the left, like waves the wake of a boat makes.

The poem asks questions, draws the reader in. It’s a poem to be read aloud, to wrap your tongue around long ohhh sounds and soft sibilants, sounds are very reminiscent of ocean and waves, the whisper of reeds, and the poem slows down, then speeds up through short words and hard consonants, b, p, d. It’s just such a lush poem to read out loud.

Next installment – Carol A. Stephen shares about her writing community.

Sample her work:

Learning to Dance (Silver Birch Press)

Waiting for Green Mornings (Silver Birch Press)

In a Moment She’ll Unfurl (the light ekphrastic)

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS: Twitter. Facebook. Blog

Three by Five posts on days that end in threes.