Author Spotlight: An Interview with Alice Eve Cohen

Not too long ago I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing a gripping memoir by Alice Even Cohen.  If you haven't stopped by that post you absolutely should as there is an opportunity for you to win a copy of What I thought I Knew.  In the meantime the author took some time to answer a few questions for me.

1. What are you reading right now?

I’m in the middle of a fantastic YA novel called, Going Bovine, by Libba Bray—a trippy, profound, surreal, hilarious and heartbreaking coming of age story.

2. Are there any authors you would name as influences?

So many! In no particular order, I’ve been influenced by these authors, among others:
Lorrie Moore, Abigail Thomas, David Sedaris, Frank McCourt, William Steig, Barbara Kingsolver, Tony Kuschner, Anna Deavere Smith, E.B. White, Sharon Creech, Jhumpa Lahiri, Lewis Carol, Virginia Woolf, Zora Neale Hurston, William Carver, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Arundhati Roy, August Wilson, Charles Dickens, Tennessee Williams, J.K. Rowling, Patricia McCormick, William Faulkner, Maurice Sendak, Bertolt Brecht, Diane Ackerman, Vladimir Nabakov, Oliver Sacks…

3. What was the book that most influenced your life and why?

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. It was the first novel I ever read. I was about seven years old, and I was utterly transported. It opened a door for me into reading as a journey of the imagination, and it made me want to write.

4. What are your 5 favorite books and why?

It’s impossible to choose just five! My favorites change regularly, depending on my mood, and on what I’ve been reading most recently. I love each of these books, because reading them is a transformative experience, and because each one, in its own way, is mind-blowing and perfect.
• Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech
• The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
• The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner
• Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
• Angels in America, by Tony Kuschner
• The Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri
• Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt

5. What are your favorite books to give others?

Well …I like giving friends books that I’ve written, and any book by anyone on my list of favorite authors, and whatever I happen to be in the middle of reading and enjoying.

6. What’s next?

Reread Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

7. What is on your bookshelf?

The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss
Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
Love Letters: An Anthology of Passion
The Three-Dog Life, by Abigail Thomas
A Little History of the World, by E.H. Gombrich
Angels and Ages, by Adam Gopnik
The Thing About Life is that One Day You’ll be Dead, by David Shields
A Natural History of the Senses, by Diane Ackerman
The Center of the Universe, by Nancy Bachrach
Perfection, by Julie Metz
Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann
Where I’m Calling From, by William Carver
The Book of Questions, by Pablo Neruda
The Snowy Day, by Jack Keats
Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
Zagat New York City Restaurant Guide


8. What isn’t on your bookshelf but should be?

Patti Smith’s memoir, “Just Kids”

9. What books would people be surprised to learn that you own?

I own loads of children’s books that my kids have outgrown but that I still love to read and reread and re-re-read. My daughters put their old books in a giveaway pile; I pilfer the pile and put my favorite children’s books by my bed.

10. What question are you never asked in an interview but wish you were?

I’m asked a wonderful variety of questions. No unfulfilled interview yearnings that I can think of.

11. What is a typical day for you?

Wake at 6:45, have breakfast with my ten-year-old daughter Eliana, take her to her school (both of us trying to read on the subway, unless we’re squished like sardines into the rush-hour train, which pretty much rules out reading), get an awesome cup of coffee in the Village (either drink it in a paper cup while walking, or sit down and have coffee with a friend), write for three or four hours, either in my living room or at The Writers Room in Greenwich Village, (while trying very hard not to be distracted by email and FaceBook), quick lunch (whatever’s in the fridge), go for a bike ride—either around Central Park, or bike on the Greenway, the bike path along the Hudson River, up to the Little Red Light House and the George Washington Bridge–(or be lazy and take a nap instead of biking, an excellent rainy day alternative), prepare to teach, take care of boring chores, pick up my daughter from school and seek the right balance of homework and play, make dinner and eat with family (my husband Michael and I take turns cooking), teach my playwriting class to college students at The New School, take the subway home (while trying to get reading done), have a glass of wine with Michael while watching John Stewart and Stephen Colbert on TV, listen to music, and go to bed way too late.


12. Are you a book collector? Do you collect any particular genre?

Nope, not a collector. I love libraries and book stores, so I can keep changing what’s on my book shelf.

Find Alice Eve Cohen on the web at:  http://www.aliceevecohen.com

Thank you for answering all of my bookish questions.  Its always interesting to see what authors are reading.  I'm already adding some of your answers to my TBR list.

Author Spotlight: Hana Samek Norton

Today I have the pleasure of hosting Hana Samek Norton at Teresa's Reading Corner.  Her book, The Sixth Surrender is a 2010 Finalist in the New Mexico Book Awards.  Come back tomorrow for more about The Sixth Surrender tomorrow. 

Five and a Half Rules I Learned about Writing

By Hana Samek Norton

During a recent book signing, the book store manager mentioned that quite often her customers would ask her about how to get their book onto the book shelves—a book they haven’t written yet. Sometimes they say they have an idea for a book, but don’t know how to do it.

Frankly, the book store manager’s words surprised me – doesn’t everyone know that you have to WRITE a book first? I think, however, that the question is in fact the “how to,”  or more precisely, WHERE to start. Actually, a good question.

For those who have already ventured into writing, there seem to be “rules” in the writing world for just about anything—plot, characters, setting—and getting started on that first or latest project. If any of those “rules” work for you, great! But the most difficult thing still seems to be that “where/how” to start.

Many of my accomplished friends love to write—I don’t, and I hate them (just kidding). It may seem like a heresy to confess it, but I really don’t like “to write.”  I like to dawdle over research—occupational hazard of a historian. So here are my five rules and a half rules from getting me to “THE END”.

1. Deadline. I have to have a dead line. It’s the “dead” that inspires me more than anything else. A page in the next l5 minutes is a good deadline for me.
2. The tighter the deadline the better. Thirteen minutes and counting—the characters start shouting at me to sit down and start typing. 
3.  Ok, ok--start typing while they are doing something interesting. 
4. “Bad” characters are always doing something interesting.
5. What next—where are all these guys heading?  I reach for Chris Vogel’s The Writer’s Journey . He knows where they all ought to be heading and how to get them there.

     5 1/2 Repeat

Hana’s passion for the Middle Ages dates to a childhood exploring the ruins of castles and cloisters in the (now) Czech Republic. She also developed that “lurid taste in fiction,” by reading dog-eared novels full of the drama and melodrama of history. She graduated with an MA from the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, and a Ph. D. (both in history, of course), from the University of New Mexico where she currently resides. She is married to an Englishman, teaches part-time, and works as a historical consultant.




Her latest book is The Sixth Surrender.


You can visit her website at http://www.thesixthsurrender.com

Author Spotlight: Julie Metz the author of Perfection

Last week I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing Perfection by Julie Metz.  This week she's stopping by with some words of wisdom for the readers of Teresa's Reading Corner.

The Art of Stopping

For a person whose life has been an extreme motion whirlwind of work and mothering for the last seven years, my first thought in considering this theme was that I’d have nothing useful to say. But in truth, the only thing that has kept me sane has been learning to stop. And for me, that really meant learning. I’ve been a yoga student for the last fifteen years. Yoga classes have provided a wonderful place to let my mind get quieter while strengthening my body and sense of self. For me the most difficult poses have always been the short meditation at the beginning of class and the “corpse pose” at the end of class, where we lie still on our back for several minutes.

            I always hoped that one day I’d really learn how to just sit still without completely freaking out. This past February I made the rash decision to sign up for a three-day silent Zen retreat. I had no prior experience with Zen, and little knowledge, except from reading Natalie Goldberg’s beautiful memoir Long Quiet Highway, but there was something about the simplicity, dedication, and rigor of the practice as described in that book that appealed to my worker bee nature. I registered sight unseen, perhaps a good thing, for had I understood that I was about to subject myself to Zen bootcamp I might never have gone.

            Over the course of the weekend I learned all about the art of stopping. Each day we had two sessions consisting of three 30-minute sittings. We sat in the same spot for all the sittings, so I became intimate with the hole in the left sock of the woman sitting in front of me, the pain in my hips, and, even more painfully, with the chatter in my head that just would not quit. In between sitting sessions, we did silent walking meditation outdoors. I noticed so many details with refreshed senses—a fearless bird singing in a tall pine, the late winter light, the gusts blowing up from the river nearby. Meals were silent. I ate slowly and fidgeted less. I had nowhere else to go, nothing else to do. At night I sat still on my bed, and looked at the mountain framed by my small-paned window.

            Back at home, I told my boyfriend of six years about my new discovery. To my surprise (for he moves through life like a terrier chasing a stick), he was intrigued. We began sitting together several evenings a week before bed. We bow, I read a short passage from a book of Zen teachings, and we sit for ten to fifteen minutes. The first minutes are spent frantically running through lists in my head: things my daughter needs for school, laundry I forgot to put in the dryer, work deadlines. Then I see myself doing that and can find a quieter way to be. After several months, sitting itself has become a pleasurable posture and I look forward to the shared quiet time when we both take time to take some good breaths and find a good place to just stop our day.

            I have signed up for another retreat this winter—as I am sure I have much more to learn about the art of stopping.

           

Julie Metz is the New York Times bestselling author of PERFECTION, A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal, which was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection for 2009. The paperback edition was released by Voice/Hyperion in May 2010. The recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship, Ms. Metz lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York where she is currently at work on a novel.



Thank you so much for those fantastic words.  I know I am terrible at slowing down, let alone stopping.  I enjoy yoga, but I've not ever been able to really slow down and let my thoughts wander in and out of my mind without spending time on them.  Meditation is one of those things that I keep meaning to get to... maybe I should make it a priority this winter.

What about you, do my wonderful readers have any words of wisdom about slowing down?

Author Spotlight: Jenny Nelson

Today we get to chat a bit with Jenny Nelson whose debut novel is Georgia's Kitchen.  

Tell us briefly about the writing process for this book.

When I was in high school I enrolled in a summer-long creative writing program taught by Michael Cunningham, a terrific teacher and a phenomenal writer. By the end of the program, I promised myself that “one day” I’d write a novel. I continued writing short stories throughout college and after, the idea of writing a full-on novel still bouncing around my brain. It wasn’t until my daughters were about two that I decided to do something about it. I’d left my job to be a stay-at-home mom, and it seemed like the perfect time to try my hand at that novel. I’ve always been fascinated by chefs and restaurants and how a calm, well-run dining room reflects none of the chaos taking place in the cramped, hot kitchen just inches away. As my ideas about my book and Georgia and who she was began to crystallize, I knew that she had to be a chef. No other career encapsulated who she was in quite the same way.

I enrolled in a writing class where I wrote the first chapter of what became Georgia’s Kitchen (which I basically scrapped in my next go round). I took another class, feeling that I needed the structure and the deadlines, but when I’d written 50 pages or so I decided to continue writing on my own. I’d write during the day, when my kids were in preschool, or when my sitter was with them, or at night, if I was working out an important scene. I finished the first draft and let it sit for a few weeks and then did a total revise, and then another and another. Finally, I realized that I could spend the rest of my life revising this one novel and if I ever wanted to see it published, I needed to start submitting to agents. I enjoyed the agent process, because it felt like I was being pro-active with my book, getting it out there instead of holing up with my laptop and fixing a scene or two here, a sentence or two there (which can be addictive). Soon after, I found my agent and then began the revision process anew. At long last, the manuscript was ready and we sold it to Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, which is now called Gallery Books. And here we are!

What is a "must read" book in your beach bag this summer?

There are so many. The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen, Sag Harbor, by Colson Whitehead, The Girl Who Played With Fire (loved the first), Little Bee by Chris Cleave, One Day by David Nicholls.

When you frequent your favorite Italian restaurant (name and location please), what’s your order of choice (including antipasti, cocktails or wine)?

My favorite Italian restaurant is Mercato, in Red Hook, NY, where the chef/owner is Francesco Buitoni (as in the pasta), who’s from Rome and whose pedigree includes stints at several Mario Batali restaurants. As my husband says, Francesco’s the real deal.

I’d start with a glass of prosecco, share an antipasto plate with my husband, work my way into the kale, pecorino and pine nut salad (my fave, plus it makes me feel somewhat virtuous), and a glass of Roero Arneis (I much prefer white wine to red, sacrilegious but true), then either a simple pasta al pomodoro (his is amazing) or maybe the seared scallops or orata, if it’s on the menu. For dessert, a few sinful bites of Francesco’s tiramisu, which my husband orders no matter how stuffed he is and which I eat, no matter how stuffed I am.

The end of summer has come upon us, what's your favorite summer activity and favorite summer destination?

There are so many things I love to do in the summer -- gardening, biking, going to outdoor concerts and catching summer flicks are a few of my favorites, but there’s nothing I love more than a sunny afternoon around the pool with good food and good friends. Give me a barbecue, some burgers (veggie for me), fresh corn, a couple salads, my wonderful daughters and husband, throw in another family or two – and ice cream, of course – and I’m the happiest gal in the world.

As for a destination, this year I spent a couple days in Santa Barbara, which was really amazing. The beaches are lovely, though the water is way too cold for me!

Thanks Jenny!  I really enjoyed Georgia's Kitchen and immediately passed it on to my grandmother and fellow reader to enjoy.

Check out Jenny's website at http://www.jennynelsonauthor.com/
You can also find her on facebook and twitter!

Author Spotlight: Lisa Unger

Please welcome Lisa Unger to Teresa's Reading Corner.  Lisa's most recent release of Fragile immediately hit the best seller list.  I was lucky enough to get a guest post from her.  Enjoy!

Closing the Door

By

Lisa Unger

 

 

There’s a village in my computer -- friends, fans, readers, and colleagues.  It’s a populous, sometimes chaotic little burg always bustling with news, gossip, opinions and potential excitement.  It’s very attractive to the writer, the quiet, semi-recluse who is often alone in her own head.  When the words dry up and the blank page seems a mile long, this other world is a click away. In a heartbeat, I might be swept from solitude into the virtual current that is our modern world.

 

Of course, this is the last the thing I need.  The business of writing a novel is a long meandering road into the self, into the imagination. And it’s a road the writer travels alone.  In the quiet spaces, the empty moments of my life, the path often becomes the most clear. If my attention is too focused outward, rather than inward, I may lose the trail.  I’ll have to redouble my efforts to find the way back.

 

As with all things, it’s a matter of balance. But the line I walk between the quiet and solitude I need to create, and the gregariousness necessary to promote my work can be particularly tricky.  It’s very easy to get lured from the quiet into the hubbub.  But it’s difficult to get back to where I need to be to write well.  It requires effort to close the door and focus the mind again. A shift from Word to Mail or Safari, where suddenly I’m posting on Facebook or answering email can represent an hour-long distraction.  One thing leads to another.  Insidiously, these activities masquerade as work.  I am productive, I can tell myself.  I am writing!  And maybe, in some sense, that’s true.  I’m just not writing my novel.

 

And now the distractions are portable. Even exercising, my best personal blank space, where all narrative problems are solved, where inspiration often lives and breathes, I can check my email or log on to Facebook.  If I am not mindful, I could fill every blank spot with something less significant than creative thought.

 

I love the village in my computer.  There’s little validation in the day-to-day life of a writer; sometimes we ache for a connection.  These days, the world is at our fingertips. The same instruments we use to create, allow us to connect in unprecedented ways.  But as much as we sometimes want to join in village life, it’s the writer’s responsibility, most of the time, to remain in margins.  Writers don’t belong in the town center; we’re not a part of the main stream.  We have to stand apart to observe well, and we have to observe well to write well.

 

In one of my favorite books about the craft, On Writing, Stephen King says that writers have to write with “the door closed.” When the book first published, Mr. King probably didn’t even know how hard it would become for writers to do that. Sometimes it feels like a Herculean, though virtual, effort -- as though I’m pressing my body against a thumping door, the world outside clamoring to get in. Or maybe it’s me, clamoring to get out of my own head.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.

 

When I sit down to write these days, I find it’s best if I turn off my access to the Internet.  Because of the mommy factor, my time to write is limited and precious.  I’ve removed certain applications from my phone to protect the blank spaces in my life. There’s no phone in my office. In the moments that are pregnant with thought, ideas, creative day dreaming, the real work is done; the actual placement of words on the page sometimes feels like the last 5% of the process. Of course, like all organic processes, there is an ebb and a flow to writing.  One does not exist without the other.  The writer needs to be vigilant in protecting both, confident in the knowledge that the village will be there when we choose, finally, to open the door.

You can visit her website at:  http://www.lisaunger.com/

 

Author Spotlight: Jane Porter

Last week I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing She's Gone Country by Jane Porter.  Today I have a the honor of sharing a guest post with you.

One of my favorite things about writing SHE’S GONE COUNTRY was the setting.  I love Texas.  And I love big sky, wide open spaces, and miles of golden fields spreading out in every direction.  My grandfather was Texan, too, and a cattle rancher so I've always been pretty comfortable in jeans and boots. 

Most people don't know that I love country music and wrote SHE’S GONE COUNTRY to a  playmix of Brad Paisley,  Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill,  Trace Adkins, Keith Urban, and Martina McBride.

Years ago I worked for American Airlines and one of my favorite memories of working in and out of DFW was a weekend spent in San Antonio.  I found everything about San Antonio irresistible--touring the Alamo, the Riverwalk, restaurants, and by far the best Tex-Mex food I've ever eaten in my life.  Texas definitely brings out the cowgirl in me, a cowgirl that was shaped by vacations on our ranch 40 miles east of Paso Robles, California.

Vacations on the family ranch meant we were essentially camping.  There were no phone or TV.  No dishwasher, washing machine, or dryer.  Dinner was grilling outside.  Breakfast was pancakes.  And showers were short because all of our water came from the well pumped by a battered old windmill.

It was on the ranch that I learned about campfire stories, building jigsaw puzzles, and playing a mean game of Gin Rummy.  The ranch meant riding horses and hiking and looking for pollywogs in the creek below the house.  We tramped through the dry grass with little rattle snake bite kits in our back pockets and knew exactly what to do if we came across a rattler sunning himself on rocks or the grass. 

My kids have never been to the ranch.  But I think it's time.  They think roughing it is life without an Xbox.  Wait until they experience a couple weeks without a radio or a TV!

Thank you Jane, I look forward to reading more of your work.  

Please check out Jane Porter's website at www.janeporter.com

Author Spotlight: James Hayman

Yesterday I reviewed the fantastic suspense novel,  The Chill of Night.  Today I'd like to welcome the author of The Chill of Night to Teresa's Reading Corner.

When an Aging, Gray-Haired Mystery Writer Becomes a 25 year-old Female Schizophrenic


by James Hayman


Did you hear the one about the bearded, gray-haired male geezer who somehow managed to turn himself into a twenty-five female schizophrenic?  No?  Believe me it happened. It happened to me. And it wasn’t the first time I became somebody else.

Living inside the heads of different kinds of characters is something good writers have to do all the time. Writers of mysteries and thrillers as well as writers of so-called literary fiction.
But creating the character of Abby Quinn, the young schizophrenic woman who is a central character in my newest Mike McCabe thriller, The Chill of Night, was one of the most challenging and most fascinating experiences of my writing life.

Abby, for those of you who haven’t read the book yet, is a young woman with a history of mental illness. She hears Voices that aren’t there. She sees visions that aren’t there. When she’s good about taking her anti-psychotic medication, these things are pretty much under control.  But when she goes off her meds or runs into something majorly traumatic, all bets are off.

And one freezing night on an island in Maine that’s exactly what happens.  Abby sees a murder.  She’s sure she’s seen it.  Or is she?  She runs to the local police station and tells the cop on duty what she has seen.  Or thinks she has seen.

The cop knows Abby’s history and assumes she’s hallucinating.  He doesn’t even bother reporting what she has told him.  But then a body turns up and McCabe realizes the actual details of the crime match Abby’s story so precisely that what she must really have seen what she says she saw. But by then she’s gone. And a murderer is trying to find her.

I wrote a good portion of The Chill of Night in Abby’s voice, from Abby’s point of view. To be able to do that, to get the voice right, I had to really get into Abby’s head. To see what she sees, and to hear the Voices she hears.  To become in a very real sense, Abby Quinn.
To help me get it right, I read personal memoirs written by a number young schizophrenic women.  Two in particular helped me.  The Quiet Room:A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness by Lori Schiller and Amanda Bennett and The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn Saks.

These allowed me to get into the head of Abby Quinn. To experience, as I wrote, exactly what a young woman in her condition might experience under similar circumstances. It was sometimes frightening.  But it was also very revealing and very rewarding.  In the end, I think Abby became my favorite character of all those I’ve ever created.  In a very real sense, she and I have become one.

James Hayman is the author of the new thriller novel, The Chill of Night.  Visit James on the web at www.jameshaymanthrillers.com.

Author Spotlight: Holly Christine

Last week I had the pleasure of reviewing Tuesday Tells it Slant by Holly Christine.  This week I get to welcome Holly to Teresa's Reading Corner to talk a little about character development and her inspiration for Tuesday.  Please welcome Holly Christine!

I’m a collector. I write down bits of dialogue, character traits that I find interesting, concepts; you name it. I have piles of information. When I’m ready to do something with them, I pull together all of my little notes and rip off a piece of the 18 x 24” drawing paper that I really should be buying in bulk. The paper is the perfect size for putting bits of a character together: their physical descriptions, their mannerisms, their intentions, and the way they present themselves. Each character gets a piece of paper. After I’ve finished pulling the characters together, I use another sheet of drawing paper and give each character their own bubble. I then connect the character bubbles with lines and write down the nature of their relationship. It’s fun to watch all of my little sticky notes come together as characters instead of small, random notes!

The inspiration for Tuesday Tells it Slant came about during a ride into work. I was singing along to John Mayer’s Who Says and part of the song is about someone who wants to be free of their past, to rewrite their own history. So I started to brainstorm; how could someone rewrite their past? Why would they want to? I was also inspired by an Emily Dickinson poem that I studied in college: Tell all the Truth but tell it Slant. I ended up using a Dickinson poem (she wrote so many about memory) to preface each chapter.  I spent an entire semester studying Emily Dickinson, so that part of Tuesday came from me. It’s funny how bits of a writer’s life come out in their writing. I’m glad that I could put my Dickinson knowledge to use!

Holly, Thank you so much for stopping by Teresa's Reading Corner Today.  I really enjoyed Tuesday Tells it Slant.  I am looking forward to checking out your other work.

For more information on Tuesday Tells it Slant or Holly Christine, please stop by one of these links!
www.twitter.com/hollyrambles

http://www.hollychristineonline.com/

Buy the Book: http://www.amazon.com/Tuesday-Tells-Slant-Holly-Christine/dp/1450571212/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266689057&sr=8-2

Buy for Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Tuesday-Tells-it-Slant-ebook/dp/B0034KYT9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1263756191&sr=8-1


I do not receive any compensation if you use either of these links.  They are provided purely for the convenience of the reader.

Author Spotlight: Renee Wiggins

Please welcome Renee Wiggins author of Transformations: Give up the Struggle to Teresa's Reading Corner.

Q. Tell me about you?
a. Renee Wiggins has mentored, trained and changed lives in the health and wellness industry for more than 20 years. A strong believer and encourager in living an authentic, healthy lifestyle  programs that are tailored to the clients needs, goals. Renee Wiggins is registered dietitian and  certified Massage therapist. She is the author of several book including "Stress Down and Lift Up'


Q.  Where did you get your inspiration  or idea for this book?
I wrote Transformations in response to situation I saw all around me. I saw women and men struggling simply because they didn't know that change is not a negative thing. When we are open to taking ourselves from one level to the next , we take our power back, chains are broken, and positive things begin to happen in our lives.

Q. What is one thing about your book that makes it different from other books on the market?
A. My book is unique  because it is based on real-life situations , as opposed to theory. I wrote  this book with a sincere desire to heal and to help.

Q. Do you plan subsequent books?

Yes, I am currently writing Part Two of my current book, Transformations:Give UP The Struggle.This book will be a collection of non-fiction and fiction stories of people who danced through some of life's most turbulent storms. It 's my hope that these stories will provide the strength and guidance others my need to change their lives.


Thank you for this interview, Renee , good luck with your book tour 

You can also visit Renee on her website.

Red Rain by Tim Wendel- A Review an Interview and a Giveaway

Synopsis from Goodreads:  As the B-29 bombers began to pound Tokyo and most of the other major Japanese cities to rubble, the Japanese military became desperate to find a way to once again instill fear in its enemies. Out of such efforts was born the greatest secret of WWII — the fire balloon. One woman, Yoshi, camouflaging her identity, is sent to uncover these delicate but deadly creations.

My thoughts:With my new fascination for the historical fiction genre, the synopsis of Red Rain intrigued me. I've only read one other novel recently that focused on this time period.  Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas focused on the lives of Japanese Americans in the internment camps and their trials within the community.  While it starts out in the internment camp, Red Rain quickly moves to Tokyo and gives perspective on the war from that front. 

Wendel does an excellent job of explaining the instruments of war to the reader (me) who isn't familiar with them.  Since the fire balloons are such a major part of the story, he starts out with a preface explaining them and the position that the US Government took on them during the war.  


He immediately introduces the main characters so that the reader has time to get to know them, but doesn't drag it out to the point that you are waiting for something to happen.  The characters are easily liked so you are quickly invested in the story.

Neil Starling is fighting the war from his new and slightly unusual posting in the US and Yoshi is fighting as best she can from her posting in Tokyo.  The story switches back and forth between the two fronts exposing the reader to the different battle each faces for the same cause.  

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII stories.  There is the war aspect that will appeal to some, but there is also an element of interpersonal relationships that will appeal to others.

I really enjoyed Wendel's writing style and am looking forward to reading some of his other titles which include his newest release High Heat and Castro's Curveball.  


In addition to writing Tim teaches fiction and non fiction writing at Johns Hopkins University.  (I wonder if they offer a long distance option, I think I'd like to take his class)


As part of the Blog Tour I had the pleasure of interviewing Tim.  Please welcome Tim Wendel to Teresa's Reading Corner.

How much time do you have to spend researching for your novels?

I’ll research for a few months and then I’ll force myself to start writing. Researching can be a lot of fun, especially in the Washington, D.C., area, where I live. I’ve seen several of my peers begin researching a new project and starting having so much fun at the Library of Congress or National Archives that they forget to start putting words on the page. So, I like to get writing and when I reach a dead end, I’ll research some more. A dead end could be an area I don’t understand or it could be a major scene that I’m trying to pull off and I don’t have enough sensory details yet. That’s when I’m back researching again.

What is the first assignment a student receives when they step into your classroom?

Motivation is a key for me. So, in the first class I often ask why they are here. Many of classes are held in the early evening, so they’re missing dinner, perhaps their favorite TV show, to be in a classroom with me and other writers. So I ask them why? It’s important to understand motivation. If you cannot articulate your own then it’s perhaps even more difficult to know your characters’ motivations. Why they are doing this rather than that?

What book are your reading right now?

I often have several books in play. Right now I’m reading THE WAR OF ART by Steven Pressfield and EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON by S.C. Gwynne. The later has been a tremendous read. It’s about the Comanches, which were the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. They held the territory that eventually became big chunks of Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico. They held it against the Spanish, French and, for a long time, the Americans. I love history. I thought I knew U.S. history, but I didn’t realize what a force the Comanches were. After that I’ll finish the final book of Stein Larsson’s “The Girl” trilogy.

Who would you say is your biggest influence and why?

I always enjoyed reading as a kid. My family grew up in the country, between Buffalo and Rochester in Western New York. Of course, this well before cable television and the Internet, so reading was what you had. My parents were big readers and going to the local library was a huge deal. We went every weekend during the winter. Richard Ford, who I’ve had the good fortune to do a workshop with, once said that if you love reading then it’s only natural to try writing yourself. That’s what I started to do by junior high school. I wasn’t particularly good back then. I was a lousy speller, for example. But I worked on several newspapers in college and then after graduation. They were a great proving ground. I covered everything from fires and murders to sports events and concerts. That period really improved my ability to write and do it on deadline. Later on in my career, I wanted to learn more about writing and that first took me to conferences at Squaw Valley and then to do graduate work at Johns Hopkins University.
To me, nothing is more satisfying that writing well. 

What are your five favorite books and why?

Oh, that’s a tough one. I’ve had the good fortune to study under Ford, Oakley Hall, Carolyn Doty, Alice McDermott, Marita Golden, Margot Livesey, John Casey and Nicholas Delbanco. I’ve learned so much from all of their works. Perhaps I should give you the titles I tend to come back to while teaching my grad-level classes at Johns Hopkins.

Topping the list would THE GREAT GATSBY by Fitzgerald. To me, it’s perhaps the best use of first-person narration. Recently in my fiction workshops, I’ve been assigning WHO WILL RUN THE FROG HOSPITAL? by Lorrie Moore and CITIES OF THE PLAIN by Cormac McCarthy. Two very different works, but both employ similar plotting devices. I love the voice in Bob Dylan’s CHRONICLES. And, finally, I return to Michael Ondaatje’s IN THE SKIN OF A LION every few years. Of course, he wrote THE ENGLISH PATIENT, but I really enjoy this one.

I see that you've just released High Heat, do you have anything else coming up?

I’m still doing some promotion for HIGH HEAT. But I just finished a new novel, OVER THE FALLS, which we’re beginning to shop around. It’s set just east of Niagara Falls, where I grew up, and asks questions that Gatsby fans will find a touch familiar: Can we remake the past? Do we dare?

 Are there any upcoming releases that you are looking forward to picking up?

Thomas Mallon is working on a novel about Watergate, which I’m looking forward to. Also, I’m keeping an eye out for Stephen Hunter’s next thriller. I don’t read a lot in that genre, but his major scenes are so well choreographed.

Is there something that you've been meaning to read, but never get to?

I’ve learned a lot about myth and story construction from Joseph Campbell and I have read several of his books, including the classic THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES. But the guy was too prolific. I cannot seem to catch up. The same goes for Joyce Carol Oates. We share the same hometown – Lockport, N.Y. I was born in Philadelphia, but my family moved soon afterward and I was raised in Lockport, which is on the Erie Canal. Remember the song that went, “Low bridge, everybody down?” We learned that in my elementary school. Anyway, some readers know that Joyce Carol Oates is also from Lockport. I finally got a chance to meet her a few years ago. She grew up on the west side of Lockport, which has changed a great deal in recent decades. She asked where I’d grown up and I told it was the other side of town, the east side, along Canal Road. Her eyes got big and she replied, “That’s the real Lockport.” Still not sure what to think of that.

 What is your typical day like?

I write in the morning. That’s the time that works best for me. It used to be evening, but I think raising two kids drove that out of me. On a good day, I’ll work until about noon and then the phone will start ringing or there will be some material to chase down on the research end.

What question are you never asked in an interview, but wish you were?  What is the answer to that question?

I suppose it’s a question my writing students kind of ask but not quite. They want to know if there’s some magic formula for doing a book. As in if you do X amount of work, it will result in what kind of book, even how many pages. Of course, each book is different and that’s some of the fun as well as the heartbreak with it all. I believe you have to carry a story with you for a time. You cannot just work on it when you’re inspired. Sometimes the most “blah” days can lead to real revelations and epiphanies about your story.

I wrote my first novel, CASTRO’S CURVEBALL, on the D.C. Metro, the local subway. At the time, I had an intense day job with USA Today. I didn’t have much free time, but I tried to write at least a page in my spiral notebook every day on the Metro going to work. One day I almost didn’t write. It seemed to be pointless. But with my stop only minutes away, I got out my notebook and started to write in a voice that I like to think is more desperate and innocent than my own. I ended up rewriting my first novel in that voice, the voice of Billy Bryan, the washed-up ballplayer in Havana. I’m convinced that if I hadn’t picked up my pen that day, that voice/character would have moved on to some other writer.

In closing, I’d urge readers to check out the YouTube book trailers for RED RAIN and even HIGH HEAT. These days a writer has to be part promoter, too. Both of these are short and can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gULjPukGrHc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjOQatCEB4I&feature=channel

And people can always reach me through my web site, www.timwendel.com

Thanks for your time, Tim

Thank you Tim!  This has been my favorite interview so far!

Thanks to Tim and the lovely people at Writers Lair Books I have one copy of Red Rain to giveaway to my loyal readers.   This giveaway will be open until Friday July 23rd at 12 AM Mountain Time.  I will choose the winner using Random.org and will email them notification giving them 48 hours to respond.  If I don't hear from the first winner within 48 hours I will choose another winner.  Good Luck!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of Red Rain from the Author and Writers Lair Books to participate in this blog tour.  This is my honest opinion of the book.

Author Spotlight: Sam Hilliard

Today I am featuring a guest post by author Sam Hilliard author of The Last Track, a Mike Brody Mystery.

Please welcome, Sam Hilliard.

So how do these New Age writers shoot down the sloth monster that seems a ready-made date for those in such a sedentary profession? Here’s a sample writer’s workout routine. It’s a careful blend of resistance training and aerobics, and of course sensible eating.

NOTE: This strenuous routine may not be appropriate for all writers. Please consult your physician before making any changes in your own diet or physical regimen.

6:40 AM – Crawl from bed to bathroom. Feed cats on return to bed.

6:42 AM – Meditate.

7:59 AM – Beat the alarm clock to pulp for interrupting morning meditation session.

8:10 AM – Steal paper off a neighboring lawn, running back to home quickly so they don’t throw garbage at you again.

8:20 AM – Complain about crappy coffee.

8:45 AM – Shower, dress (in something besides a robe), eat breakfast and read purloined paper.

9:10 AM – Commence Power meditation while positioned horizontally with head supported by pillows.

11:13 AM – Interrupt meditation to curse world for not having written a word.

11:19 AM – Screw around on Internet, checking mail, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and stock quotes. Tell your editor you’re deep into “research” when they call to ask how the book is coming along.

11:59 AM – Write for seven minutes and then make lunch.

12:59 PM – Return from lunch. Resume writing. Break every forty five minutes to stretch or eat something crunchy, whichever feels better.

2:00 PM – Doritos break.

2:17 PM – Mid-day caffeine break.

4:56 PM – Read the day’s pages. Curse world for forcing you to read your own written words.

5:30 PM – Eat a balanced dinner that includes at least one of the following food groups: pizza, tacos, hot dogs, donuts, or beer.

6:10 PM – Think about working out. Just thinking about it usually makes you feel better about not

 doing it.

7:30 PM – Channel surf while holding some form of alcoholic beverage in your other hand.

9:35 PM – Read (hopefully someone else’s work).

11:14 PM – Wake  up to cat licking drool off your face, and retire for evening’s meditation, but not before final power snack from one or more of the following food groups: cheez whiz, potato chips, or leftover Chinese.

11:20 PM – Begin evening meditation session.

Thank you Sam!  Come back tomorrow for my review of The Last Track.  You won't want to miss it.

Author Spotlight on Cheryl Snell and a Giveaway

I had the opportunity to ask Cheryl Snell, the author of Shiva's Arms a couple of questions. 

1. What is a typical day for you?

I was trained as a classical pianist and the habit of music is as ingrained in me as the habit of writing, so I begin my day by listening to Bach. Then, I read until my head is full of language and I’m ready to write. I juggle poetry and fiction, plus the occasional review---maybe that’s why I never suffer from writer’s block.

The rest of my day is spent with family and friends, doing ordinary things. The only difference is, I do them from my bed. I have a neurological problem that keeps me there.

2. What is on your bookshelf?

Let me look: I’ve got at least a thousand volumes. On the shelf I can see from here, there’s the complete works of Shakespeare, some Faulkner, and Henry James, The Brothers Karamazov, The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead, John Dos Passos's U.S.A. trilogy, C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters.

3. What isn’t on your bookshelf but should be?

More novels by poets. Where are my books by Jack Kerouac, Kathy Acker, Michael Ondaatje, Randall Jarrell, James Schulyer, Thomas Wolfe, Kenneth Patchen, Djuna Barnes, Henry Green, John Crowley, Tobias Hill, and Elizabeth Smart? Maybe in a box in the basement.

4. What question are you never asked in an interview but wish you were?

What is your true subject?

5. What’s next?

Another volume of short stories with post- modern American, quirky characters. The stories are in a very different authorial voice from the long fiction. Another project is another collaboration with my artist sister on a poetry and art book, like these: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0035LS8I2. Also, I’ve made progress on another novel about Nela (the sister in Shiva’s Arms) that will try to give her a happy ending. No guarantee though---at a certain point in their development, my characters seem to have their own plans, and I can’t force them back into mine. Mary Lee Settle advised that empathy without identity was one way to keep control of a character, but it's very hard to maintain that distance. In early drafts of Shiva’s Arms, for instance, I insisted that the character of Shiva treat Alice badly throughout the book. But as the women became fleshier on the page, it seemed inevitable that their relationship relax a little. When Amma offers Alice the other half of her banana during Golu, the festival of women's friendship, the stage is set for a new beginning. The Christian ideal and power of reconciliation dovetailed into the Hindu belief system in the cycle of birth and re-birth, and turned out to be one of the most important themes in the book.

6. Anything else you'd like to share?

My whereabouts on the Web-
 

                Publisher: http://writerslairbooks.com

               Author’s blog: http://shivasarms.blogspot.com

               Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Snell/e/B002BOD4AG

My video channel: http://www.youtube.com/cherylsnell3

Thank you Cheryl for stopping by Teresa's Reading Corner today.  I guess I should have asked that one question... "What is your true subject".  If you happen to stop  by, maybe you can answer it for us.  I'm looking up to your follow up on Nela, she was one of my favorite characters.

If you would like to win a copy of Shiva's Arms please leave a comment or question for Cheryl with your email address (or have it accessible in your profile).  The Giveaway will be open until 7/16/2010 12:00 Mountain Time.  Winner will be chosen using Random.org.  I will notify the winner via email and announcement on the Blog.  The winner will have 48 hours to get back to me with their address or I will have to select another winner.  Good Luck!

Author Spotlight: Michael Ruddy

Today's Author Spotlight is shining on Michael Ruddy who wrote Conflicts with Interest.  Please welcome him as he tells us about inspiration.

Make Me Write It

An inspiration that not only creates a plot line, but a novel and writing vocation as well——the best way to explain it? Let’s say you experience something in life that you know is not legitimate. You’re not completely sure though, because you’re still thinking naively that most of the world is trustworthy. But after a few more coincidences it’s obvious, the probability of events proves highly improbable. Now you are focused.

You begin to suspect and question——everything that has one dollar of interest in conflict with your genuine belief of fair and just. It’s the same from any viewpoint. The answers become an unbelievable convergence of conflict from many different directions, even related parties with different interests.

You become party to a lawsuit that unfolds slowly as you learn the legal process. “Can it be true?” you ask yourself——then start examining each detail of conflict for a better understanding and possible explanation. Instead, only validating the corruption laced into the present day system. More disappointment.

Why didn’t anyone teach you about this? Why has nothing been published on the topic; or the possibility, if nothing else?

It has been said that anger and frustration equal motivation. Call it inspirational anger, perhaps, but there was a need to tell the story of frustration for others. And, once I started processing the frustration, it acted in a therapeutic way … giving way to exposing more stories to come … wanting the reader to derive a real-life benefit from each story.

——Michael Ruddy, Author of Conflicts with Interest.

Michael Ruddy is a graduate of the University of Denver with a degree in engineering administration. He has spent the last forty years associated with both the commercial and residential disciplines of the construction industry, which inspired many of the events in his novel, Conflicts with Interest. Currently, he resides in Boulder, CO with his wife, five children, dog and cutting horses. While the author has been published in short-story format, Conflicts with Interest is his debut novel.

You can find Michael online at www.rodeopublishing.com

Thank you Michael!

Author Spotlight: Stephen V. Masse

Yesterday I introduced you to Stephen V. Masse who wrote Short Circus.  Today he has been kind enough to drop by Teresa's Reading Corner with a Guest Post. 

For a kid who grew up in a house full of books and music, I must admit I was a reluctant reader. I loved stories, but preferred them to be read to me. My mother must still remember word-for-word many stories she read to me dozens of times. My father often made up stories to tell me. When I was six, (first grade) I learned to read for myself. My older brother was a quick study and learned to read when he was four. But I was somewhat hyperactive, and preferred playing outdoors to reading. Stories that were short and highly illustrated were okay, chapter books were punishment pretty much right through grammar school. One of the books I remember best was THE BOXCAR CHILDREN, read to the class by our fourth grade teacher. I loved that book, even though I didn’t read it for myself.

My mother had an uphill battle on her hands. It was part of the job description of being a kid in our family to go to the library every 2 weeks, and get 2 books to read. I mostly wimped out and got short illustrated books from Doctor Seuss and the like. Most of the books I got from the library ended up on top of a bureau or under the bed until they were overdue. Unread. I did start to enjoy the Danny Dunn series in fifth or sixth grade, and got my imagination so fired up that I would go off and write my own Danny Dunn stories. Filling 3 pages in those days took about as much of me as filling 300 now. My parents were highly amused that I would write so vigorously and read so . . . not.

On Saturdays we would go to the Charlestown Boys Club, where my father had a part-time job. Weekdays he taught English at a junior high school, nights he was a bartender, and Saturdays he worked the “games room” at the boys club, where a hundred boys played pool, checkers, chess, watched “Fury” and “Casper the Friendly Ghost” on TV, and had fistfights. The games room could also be set up as an auditorium, and each Saturday afternoon the room would be darkened for a movie. We got into the movie free if we helped set up the folding chairs. Upstairs was the Boys Club Library, where “Miss D” presided at her old oak desk. “Miss D” was actually Mrs. DeSimone, who cleverly got us to read by starting a reading club. If you read five books, you would get a prize. After reading each book, you had to go to her desk, where she would go through the book with you and ask a few questions, and then she would record it on your record. I don’t remember how many books I read there, nor do I remember the prizes, but I clearly remember “Miss D.”

The big change came in eighth grade. One evening my parents discovered that “To Kill a Mockingbird” was on TV, and I watched it with them. When my father told me that there was also a book, and he could get it for me at his school, I jumped at the chance. I devoured the book and decided that reading was an open door to an incredible world that I wanted to be a part of, and it’s been that way since.

What a great story.  I remember the summer reading program that I was involved in like it was yesterday.  It was sponsored by Pizza Hut.  For every 10 books you read you could get a free personal pan pizza.  I ate A LOT  of pizza that summer!

Thanks for dropping by Stephen.  I look forward to picking up some more of your work.  If you would like to learn more about Stephen, please stop by his website.

Author Spotlight: Katherine Center

 I recently had the opportunity to chat with Katherine Center who has written three books.  I've read two of them and can tell you that they are absolutely outstanding.  The only reason I haven't read the third is that I haven't been able to find it locally.   Her most recent work, Get Lucky was just released at the beginning of April.  Her two previous works are The Bright Side of Disaster, and Everyone is Beautiful.



1. Is there an author that has inspired you?  If so, who?

Many, many, many. Too many to count! I get infatuated with authors and gobble them up--really almost like trying to absorb them into my cellular structure. In college, I was crazy for Lorrie Moore. In graduate school it was David Sedaris (and still is). I am totally fascinated by the intersection of comedy and heartbreak, and I'm always drawn to writers whose work is both funny and bittersweet.

2. What are you currently reading?

I am working my way through a non-fiction book about whales called The Whale, by Philip Hoare. But this month has been off-the-charts busy, so it's very slow going!

3. What is your favorite part about writing books?

The writing itself (as opposed to the publicizing) is always, always a happy thing for me. I do not suffer from writer's block. I have a list of at least 30 ideas for stories just waiting in line for their turn. Holding a story in your head and watching it come to life is so magical it actually gives me a butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling sometimes. In fact, writing a novel is very much like reading a novel that you're really into--you do that same thing of reading at stoplights and setting the book open on the kitchen counter while you're chopping dinner so you can steal a few more pages. Except with writing, you're stealing time to write, not read.

4. When someone asks you for a book recommendation, is there one that you always recommend?

It depends a lot on what people are looking for when they ask, but Jane Austen's Persuasion, Richard Ford's Independence Day, David Sedaris's Naked, and Anita Diamant's The Red Tent come up over and over. Within the genre of contemporary women's fiction, I love to recommend Sarah Dunn's The Big Love, Laura Zigman's Animal Husbandry, Emily Giffin's Something Borrowed, Lolly Winston's Good Grief, Marisa de los Santos's Love Walked In, and Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife. I'm sorry--did you ask for just one?

5. If you aren't enjoying a book do you finish it anyway or put it down? If you put it down, how much time do you allow before making that decision?

I put it down! But that's a new thing since I had kids. Before that, I felt duty-bound to finish. Now, there just aren't enough hours in the day. I have a 50 page rule. If it's not happening for me by page 50, I move on. Too many books in the world to waste time!

6. How long did it take you to write Get Lucky?

It takes about a year. I am actually a very fast writer, and also very obsessive when I have a project going. If that pesky thing called real life didn't need attention, I would just eat and sleep the story until it was done. As it is, I have to work my imaginary friends in when the real people in my life don't need me!


Anything else that you'd like to share?

Well, I have a fancy new website that we just redesigned to celebrate Get Lucky coming out, and it has a page with gorgeous blog buttons. We're about to do a new batch, too. I love them, and I wish I could get them as tattoos.

http://www.katherinecenter.com/buttons

Also, in addition to writing novels, I've started making video essays. I feel very proud of them, and I'm always hoping people will discover them and share them with friends!

http://www.katherinecenter.com/videos


A big thank you to Katherine for taking the time to answer my questions.  I hope you will go and check out Katherine's website, its pretty cool!