Tag Archives: writing

April 1, 2015 · 2:42 pm

Three by Five Schedule Update

Three by Five has really taken off this year. The author interview series that highlights a different author or indie publishing professional with five questions (usually) over three – five days during a month has filled up 2015! During this year, you’ll find the following authors highlighted here:

Currently in March is Laurie Kolp. Coming in April is poet Rebecca Foust. In May, Poet and Novelist Mariah E. Wilson. In June, Canadian Poet Carol Stephen. In July, Novel and Memoir author Matthew Pallamary. In August, Poet and Non-fiction author Bernadette Geyer. In September, Hiatus. In October, Fiction and Non-fiction writer Sam Slaughter. In November, Novelist and cinematographer Chase J. Jackson. In December, Memoir author Kelly Kittel. Then, welcoming in 2016, January’s Three by Five will host the 2015 Runner-up and Honorable Mention for this year’s Emerging Writer Prize, Caroline Zarlengo Sposto. The February, 2016 Three by Five featured author will be the 2016 Winner of the Victoria A. Hudson Emerging Writer Prize. In March, Poet Ronnie K. Stephens will lead the rest of 2016. In April 2016, Science Fiction & Fantasy author Edward McKeown.

Don’t let the schedule deter you if interested in being highlighted in the Three by Five interview series. Additionally, occasionally the schedule is open to change in order to highlight an author with a book publishing during a specific month.

Three by Five interviews publish on days that end in three every month. Find out what why an author writes, what inspires them, who they read, and what their writing life is like. Discover their work and maybe find a whole new author to follow and enjoy.

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Tagged as 3x5, author interview, Bernadette Geyer, Carol Stephen, Caroline Zarlengo Sposto, Chase J. Jackson, Edward McKeown, emerging writer, fiction, interview, Kelly Kittel, Laurie Kolp, Mariah E. Wilson, Matthew Pallamary, nonfiction, poem, poet, poetry, Rebecca Foust, Ronnier K. Stephens, Sam Slaughter, SFWC, Three by Five, vicki hudson, writer, writing, writing life

April 1, 2015 · 9:45 am

Three by Five Welcomes Poet Rebecca Foust in April

Rebecca Foust was the 2014 Dartmouth Poet in Residence and is the recipient of fellowships from the Frost Place and the MacDowell Colony. Her fifth book, Paradise Drive won the 2015 Press 53 Award for Poetry. Molly Peacock calls it “jagged” and “fresh” and Thomas Lux says “There is great music in these poems, and sonnet after sonnet is masterful. Not si beck 2 nce Berryman’s Henry have I been so engaged by a persona.”

Foust’s poems are widely published and appear in current or next issues of the Hudson Review, Massachusetts Review, Mid-American Review, North American Review, Southern Indiana Review, and other journals. Her book reviews and essays have published in American Book Review, Calyx, Chautauqua, Prairie Schooner, and Rumpus, and her essay, “Venn Diagram” won the 2014 Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Award and appears in the current issue of Malahat Review.

Find Rebecca Foust on the web and social media:

Website. Twitter. Facebook. Paradise Drive

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March 30, 2015 · 12:10 am

Three by Five Presents Laurie Kolp Part IV Bonus

Welcome back to Three by Five’s conversation with Poet Laurie Kolp. March closes out with some bonus questions about the writing community and a little randomness.

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

LK: Up to this point I have chosen traditional publishing (my first poetry book, Upon the Blue Couch, was published by Winter Goose Publishing). I am a perfectionist and I worry that I’ll mess something up if I try to do it myself.

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

LK: I think it’s very important in getting your name out there and building an online presence is crucial in this day and age.

VAH: Do you belong to writing or author organizations and what benefit have you found in doing so?

LK: Yes. I’m President of Texas Gulf Coast Writers and am actively involved in the Poetry Society of Texas. I think it’s important for support, critique and fellowship.

VAH: Do you have any favorite online sites or blogs that you find useful or interesting? I love Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides, The Found Poetry Review blog, and Diane Lockward’s monthly newsletters.

VAH: Let’s have a little fun. If you had a super power, what would it be and why?

LK: I wish I had the power to spread love throughout the world because then we could all live in peace.

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

LK: One time in junior high I was on my way to a slumber party. My parents stopped at a 7-11 so I could run in and buy candy while they waited for me in the car. When I came out of the store, they watched me get into the wrong car. I must have been in la-la land!

VAH: Three random, non-writing facts about you?

LK: I received a nursing scholarship to the nursing program at the college in my hometown, but wanted so badly to attend Texas A&M University, which didn’t have nursing at the time, that I ditched it after a year and transferred. That first year at A&M, I thought I should choose a degree that would make a lot of money (as if degrees were menu items) so declared business only to nearly fail Economics and Accounting. So I went into teaching. I did this because my sister was a teacher. My mom and grandmother were piano teachers. I knew it wasn’t what I was meant to do though. It wasn’t until I began writing seriously in 2006 that I knew my purpose.

VAH: Favorite quote and why?

LK: I am nobody, who are you? Emily Dickinson… I just love this quote because I can relate to it on many levels.

Thank you Laurie Kolp for participating with Three by Five, the author (and other interesting people) interview series. New interviews publish on days that end in 3 (and sometimes that start with three!)

Enjoy a sampling of her work:

Poems published at Verse Virtual.

What Sunday School Taught Him at Deep Water Literary Journal

Mother, In the Raw at Amarillo Bay

Whirls of Brokenness at Black Heart Magazine

Time Warp at City Lit Rag .

Forbidden Fruit at the Blue Fifth Review.

Social media –
Website
Twitter
Facebook

Upon the Blue Couch is a compelling collection of diverse poems certain to intrigue the reader with its courageous look into one woman’s turbulent journey through adulthood. With a comfortable blue couch as the common thread throughout the years, we are shown all the highs and lows of life while some things remain a constant source of peace. This blue couch, if only it could talk, may just reveal the secrets to happiness based on the experiences it has unwittingly been a part of.

Three by Five interviews publish on days that end in 3!

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Tagged as 3x5, author interview, Elizabeth Alexander, Harper Lee, Laurie Kolp, poem, poet, Roald Dahl, Three by Five, writer, writing, writing life

March 23, 2015 · 1:02 pm

Three by Five Presents Laurie Kolp Part III

Part III with Laurie Kolp

VAH: Is writing vocation, occupation, or profession?

LK: Hmm… I seem to think it’s a little of all three. It takes dedication, time and determination to get through all the hills and valleys.

VAH: Like the valley of writers block? When the page is blank what gets you writing?

LK: I’ll write a found poem, or use word lists to get me started. I once painted a picture when I was in a drought and it did wonders with my creativity. Sometimes I must fool my muse.

VAH: The imagery of drought for when the writing isn’t flowing is rich. How do you approach a working on a new piece of writing – what’s your process?

LK: I’ll write the rough draft and begin working on a second the same day. The next few days I work on it until I think it might be ready (because no poem of mine ever seems finished). Then I don’t look at it for a week, maybe two or three. That’s when the real editing begins.

VAH: I’ve noticed that the more experienced writers that take part in Three by Five all comment on the importance of revision, often similar to as you have. The real work starts after the initial drafts.

What does your typical writing day include?

LK: My schedule varies. I write best in the morning, so I’ll sit at my computer for several hours. Then I take a break… go to the gym, run errands, etc. After lunch I’m back at it until it’s time to go get the kids from school. I’ll start back up in the evening. Of course, within those times, I’ll check Facebook, Twitter, etc. I’ll read poems and research venues for publication.

VAH: You’ve been at this a while. So what words of wisdom do you have for the emerging writer?

LK: Find a critique group for support. Don’t get discouraged by rejections because we all get them. Keep on keeping on and your hard work will eventually pay off.

There you have it! More with Poet Laurie Kolp at the end of the month when we have some bonus questions.

Enjoy a sampling of her work:

Poems published at Verse Virtual.

What Sunday School Taught Him at Deep Water Literary Journal

Mother, In the Raw at Amarillo Bay

Whirls of Brokenness at Black Heart Magazine

Time Warp at City Lit Rag .

Forbidden Fruit at the Blue Fifth Review.

Social media –
Website
Twitter
Facebook

Three by Five interviews publish on days that end in 3!

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Tagged as 3x5, author interview, Elizabeth Alexander, Harper Lee, Laurie Kolp, poem, poet, Roald Dahl, Three by Five, writer, writing, writing life

March 13, 2015 · 12:36 am

Three by Five Presents Laurie Kolp Part II

Back for with Laurie Kolp with the second installment of this month’s Three by Five, which focuses on what the writer reads.

VAH: Laurie, do you have a favorite literary character?

LK: Scout Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird

VAH: What would you say is the most memorable book you’ve read?

LK: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It touched me on many levels and has a universal message that should never be forgotten. Things aren’t ever as they seem.

VAH: That is so true.

VAH: And a favorite author?

LK: Roald Dahl

VAH: Ooooo, Dahl is one of my all-time favorites also!

LK: I fell in love with him when I taught second grade. I love his imagination and quirky characters.

VAH: Dahl is a great author for kids. My mom read him to us every year. But he has some dark stuff for adults too.

Do you have another favorite book, poem, or story?

LK: Praise Song for Today, Praise Song for Struggle by Elizabeth Alexander.

VAH: That was read at President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009.

LK: I love this poem because I think the mightiest word should be love, too.

For more with Laurie Kolp, return on days that end in three during the month of March.

Enjoy a sampling of her work:

Mother, In the Raw at Amarillo Bay

Whirls of Brokenness at Black Heart Magazine

Time Warp at City Lit Rag .

Forbidden Fruit at the Blue Fifth Review.

Social media –
Website
Twitter
Facebook

Three by Five interviews publish on days that end in 3!

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Tagged as 3x5, author interview, Elizabeth Alexander, Harper Lee, Laurie Kolp, poem, poet, Roald Dahl, Three by Five, writer, writing, writing life

March 12, 2015 · 12:08 am

After SFWC – Kristen Falso Capaldi

Last month, Kristen Falso Capaldi, the recipient of the Victoria A. Hudson Emerging Writer Prize 2015, spent a weekend in San Francisco at the San Francisco Writers Conference. Read about her adventure at the conference. On her blog, she writers:

“Many writers will attest to this: It’s hard to say “I’m a writer” without feeling like some kind of fraud. It’s so much easier to say I’m a teacher, a baker, candle-stick maker (well, maybe not the last one). And while none of us should be in it for the rewards, rewards certainly don’t hurt.

So when I received the exciting news that I won the Victoria Hudson Emerging Writer Prize, I was just a bit more than ecstatic. Winning this scholarship to attend the 2015 San Francisco Writers Conference meant a great deal to me. “Yippee!” I shouted to no one in particular. “I am a writer-albeit in a mostly unpaid-wallpapering-my-house-with-rejections kind of way- but I’m a writer.” After four days jam-packed with eye-opening and inspiring sessions, where I met cool, interesting people who are toiling away at a plethora of amazing projects, I declare that nobody should be afraid to admit to being a writer. In fact, get a t-shirt or a tattoo. Get both.”

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March 3, 2015 · 12:56 am

Three by Five Presents Laurie Kolp Part I

VAH: Welcome Laurie Kolp! Glad to have you participating with Three by Five. The first question and what I think in many ways is one of the most interesting is why do you write?

LK: I write because it’s like breathing to me. It’s not only like breathing, it’s talking. I’ve always been quiet and never felt comfortable voicing my thoughts/feelings when growing up. Writing enabled me to do that and still does. It’s a cleansing process for me; letting out all that’s floating around in my head gives me a sense of freedom. I always feel better after getting things down on paper. Don’t we all share a need to express ourselves in one way or the other? For me, it’s poetry.

VAH: The fabric of your being. Let’s discuss why did you became a writer?

LK: I started writing before the age of 10 as a way to escape and express my thoughts… also, to appease my overactive imagination. I don’t think I felt like an “official” writer until I was published. The first place I ever shared my poetry online was at Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides. There I met some wonderful poet friends and thirteen of us formed a group we called the Baker’s Dozen where we wrote daily to prompts and encouraged one another.

VAH: I’ve had a similar internal conversation – I’m not writing, am I still a writer? Haven’t published in a while, am I still a writer? That sentiment seems to be part of the development process. Any influences on your development as a writer?

LK: There have many along the way, but two very special ladies- Diane and Mary- are the ones who really pushed me to write my story and supported me the whole way through.

VAH: So – your first written creation – what was it?

LK: When I was a kid, I kept a journal chapter book. It was about two best friends who lived in a beach town and all their little adventures.

VAH: That might be an interesting read. Reminds me of my own first story about a gigantic chicken wanting to take over the world. What is the favorite piece you’ve written to date?

LK: The Tryst, which published in the 2015 Poet’s Market.

VAH: I so enjoyed reading that!

For more with Laurie Kolp, return on days that end in three during the month of March.

Enjoy a sampling of her work:

Time Warp at City Lit Rag .

Forbidden Fruit at the Blue Fifth Review.

Social media –
Website
Twitter
Facebook

Three by Five interviews publish on days that end in 3!

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February 18, 2015 · 11:17 am

Readers – What Would You Add?

In 2011, No Red Pen: Writers, Writing Groups & Critique was published just in time for that year’s San Francisco Writers Conference. Now I’m looking at completing a revised 3rd edition. I’m interested in what readers of No Red Pen think was missing in the original book or what could use a little more depth of discussion. Now’s your chance to let me know by using the feedback form below.

Additionally, I have a survey that asks about individual experiences with writing groups and critique. Please take a few minutes and give your thoughts and opinions by participating in the Creative Writing Critique Experiences.

Thanks for your feedback and for participating in the survey.

While you’re at it, have you signed up for the newsletter yet?

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Tagged as creative writing, critique, emerging writer, fiction, found poem, life, newsletter, No Red Pen, nonfiction, poet, poetry, survey, vicki hudson, writing, writing life

February 11, 2015 · 12:16 am

2015 Emerging Writer Prize Winning Essay

“WOULDN’T YOU RATHER MAKE CHEESE?”

MUSINGS ON WHY I WRITE, AND WHY I CHOOSE TO DO IT SO EARLY

by Kristen Falso-Capaldi

2015 Victoria A. Hudson Emerging Writer Prize Honoree

5:00 a.m. is cold and dark. Trust me on this. In deepest January, when the wind outside is warning me about the bitter walk to the car, I just want to cover my head and snooze. I do snooze, but only once. At 5:09 a.m., I am up. I write. Everyday.

I was a writer before I even knew how to write. My childhood was filled with plot twists and dialogue contrived for imaginary friends, dolls and neighborhood kids, the unwitting stars of my theater. I began a novel after college, then another in my late twenties. In my thirties, I finished a third, then stopped writing for years while I nursed the wounds of rejection. I wrote a few short stories, song lyrics, kept a journal. But most of the time, I was doing other things — making jewelry and practicing yoga and learning to make cheese. Really, my mozzarella was epic.

I loved talking about writing. “Someday, when I have the time,” I said. “I will write. I’m a writer, after all.” Talking, as they say, isn’t doing.

About a year ago, something happened. I spent the summer of 2013 focused on changing careers. My job as a public high school teacher was taking its toll. As I sought out the perfect opportunity for an ex-PR-professional-turned-educator, I dug into the recesses of my laptop, hoping to uncover a half-decent resume. I found, instead, a number of fictional pieces I’d left for dead.

This is where I found Blake, the protagonist of novel number four, while he grieved his dead wife. And Catherine, the teenager who came to work at a factory in the summer of ’87 and left the men there spellbound. And Henry, a weak middle-school teacher who turned into a manly TV character for one day. They were all there, their stories broken off by imaginary ellipsis. They needed me.

The job market was as dry as the Sahara, but I was too busy writing to feel badly about it. By the end of August, I finished a first draft of novel number four and completed three short stories. I was going back to my classroom, but I needed to write.

Just like talking isn’t doing, needing isn’t wanting. I’d been at this place before. I accepted I probably wouldn’t fit writing into my life once the school year got rolling.

“You always stop writing eventually,” my inner voice said. “Wouldn’t you rather make cheese?”

But guess what? When you truly want to do something, you find a way to fit it in.

It turns out I wanted to write. It also turns out 5:09 a.m. is when I can fit it in. 365+ early-morning writing sessions later, I have written several short stories and micro-fiction pieces, four drafts of my novel, a first draft of a new novel, two screenplays and a generous handful of song lyrics.

I write because I can no longer picture my life without it. The rewards have been small, but encouraging. Henry, the weak middle-school teacher was introduced to readers in the December 2013 issue of Underground Voices magazine, and a screenplay I co-wrote received an official selection at the Houston Comedy Film Festival. So, I keep trying and hoping that someone will want to know Blake and Catherine and all the others who haven’t even been born yet.

I’m going to make some coffee now. It’s very early, and I’ve got lots to say before I leave for work.

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February 2, 2015 · 12:51 pm

Emerging Writer Prize Honorable Mention: Caroline Zarlengo Sposto

I WRITE BECAUSE

I write because it is the first thing I recall ever wanting to do.

It was a time when paperboys threw Sunday newspapers on to damp lawns from early morning bicycles and children skinned their knees on playgrounds and their mothers painted the
wounds with coral red Mercurochrome and no particular concern.

Before I was old enough to go to school and labor over the alphabet letters in a Big Chief pad with an over-sized pencil, I sat at home making loopy shapes on old paper grocery bags with a crayon. Then I lined up my stuffed animals and read them my stories. They looked on with serious, plush faces and rapt, unblinking plastic eyes, giving no indication they were wise to the fact that I was improvising with the help of scrawled gibberish.

Once I was six, inches shy of four feet tall, barely forty pounds, and compelled to wear dresses to school, even on snow days, I learned the letters and how to attach phonetic sounds to them by rote.

Having to walk in this manner, before I could run, was a painstaking process for me, and not an easy one. I wanted to use all of those tools but did not know how, and for long months,
I felt consigned to the margins.
A lifetime later, and near the mid-‐century mark, my own children are grown, and I am, at long last, able to stop doing work-‐for-‐hire corporate communications and instead write
from my heart.

My little shelf of small anthologies with my essays, poems and stories is growing. So is my list of urls.
I keep scrawling, keep improvising, keep sorting and parsing my thoughts – often not knowing what I think until I read my own words.

My little dog sits on the sofa beside me, wagging her tail, and looking at me with blinking eyes that give no indication she thinks her owner is anything less than a wit and a thinker.
I dream that perhaps one little verse or essay or tale might remain alive when I am gone.

I write because writing is the final thing I want to do.

For more about Caroline Zarlengo Sposto, visit her website.