Arleen Williams's Blog, page 17

Elena Hartwell & The Thirty-Ninth Victim: The Interview Part II

Your memoir, The Thirty-Ninth Victim, is about the tragic death of your younger sister at the hands of the Green River Killer. Writing about those events must have been incredibly difficult, though perhaps also cathartic. Tell us about what drew you to write the memoir and what the experience was like for you to relive such a horrific event.
 
Unfortunately "event" isn't quite the right word. It sounds too quick, too brief. I was an ex-pat, married to a Mexican national, and living in Mexico in 1983 when my sister disappeared. I returned to Seattle to be with my family. My sister's remains were not found until 1986. My marriage fell apart. I remarried. Gave birth. Raised my daughter. Life went on, but with an enormous dark shadow over me. I didn't have the full story of what happened to my sister and I was haunted by my ignorance for 20 years.On my father's 80th birthday, November 31, 2001, Gary Ridgway was arrested. My father died two months later. And I was falling apart. Read More ...
 

What Are You Working On ... Claudia H. Long?

I love running blog series. It's like inviting guest speakers into my classes. I get to sit back and enjoy! Today we hear from author, Claudia H. Long. If you enjoy historical fiction, you'll want to check out her books.

Claudia H. Long is the author of three novels: Josefina's Sin, The Duel for Consuelo, and The Harlot's Pen. Her fourth book, Marcela Unchained, will be out in 2016. When she isn't writing, she's a lawyer who acts as mediator for complex employment and other highly volatile matters. She enjoys belly-dancing, though she's not very good at it, tae kwon do (ditto), and hiking. She lives with her husband, several dogs and cats, and looks forward to visits from her two grown children. Follow her on Facebook, www.facebook.com/ClaudiaHLong, Twitter, @clongnovels, and at www.claudiahlong.com/blog. 
***** Arleen, thanks for having me on your blog today. What am I working on? NOTHING! Yes, the most amazing moment in a writer's life is the one where the manuscript is off to the agent, the next two books are germinating, bubbling, multiplying and dividing (I'm a little weak on science!) in my brain, and I'm working on absolutely nothing!
My next book, Marcela Unchained, is finished. This is the third in the passionate saga of the Castillo family, literary-historical fiction set in 1690-1753 in Colonial Mexico. These three stand-alone works are connected by a silken thread of one or two characters, in different times, exploring the love, betrayal, religion and philosophy of very, very tumultuous eras. In 1690 the Inquisition was in full force in Mexico, and the beautiful Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was writing her haunting poems and daring letter to the Bishop claiming a woman's right to read and write. Josefina's Sin, my book of that time, brings a landowner's wife to the vice-royal court, where she is touched by the brilliance of the poet. She also learns the price of love, and the agony of betrayal. 
The son Josefina bears at the end of the book is a complex man with a soul-wrenching secret. He falls in love with Consuelo, the healer with a deadly secret of her own. The Duel for Consuelo shines the tendrils of the Enlightenment on those secrets in 1721.
In her search for a safe house for her secretly Jewish mother, Consuelo seeks shelter at the home of Susana. Susana's daughter Marcela, then seven, has learned the covert practices of the Crypto-Jews at her mother's knee. When Marcela is fourteen, in 1720, her mother is taken by the Inquisition in the last auto-de-fe in Mexico. Sent into exile to the sliver-mining city of Zacatecas, Marcela carves a life for herself in an unforgiving land, where to survive she has to give up everything she knows and loves. She grows into a woman of power and wealth, and it is only in 1753 that she learns what it really means to sacrifice. That's the story of Marcela Unchained, which will be coming to you in 2016. 
So for now, Nothing! But in the recesses of my mind a tower is being painted...and pastry is being dipped in honey. I can say no more!

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And finally, if you have a guest post you'd like to share on this blog, email me at aw@arleenwilliams.com.

Gabbana

Every so often you get a gift, an unexpected little surprise that brightens your day and makes you feel the goodness buried under all the crap surrounding us.
This academic year got off to a tough start: the tragic death of a dear colleague, an accident on Seattle's Aurora bridge killing five students, the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon followed by three more: Northern State University, Texas Southern University and Pepper Tree Elementary. All on the same day.
In thirty years of college teaching I've never kept my classroom door locked. For the past two weeks I have. My students are as wonderful and eager to learn English as always. They come from worlds full of violence and struggle to understand the violence in this land that offers a safe haven from the hell they know. I struggle with them to understand the insanity of this violence. And we practice appropriate campus safety and disaster procedures.
I love teaching. I do not love this fear. And I am incensed by the suggestion that I and others in my profession should be packing guns to protect ourselves and our students.
When insanity seems to reign, it's the small gestures that matter most. At a division meeting, a colleague pulled out her phone. "I've got something to show you," she said. Tears welled. Tears that had no place at all. Tears that had little to do with the photo she showed me and more to do with the gesture itself. "Can you send it to me?" I managed.
Later that day I found this in my inbox:
Hi Arleen,
Gabbana is a big fan of your books!
Carolyn 

My Moment of Glory

WALKING HOME and BIKING UPHILL are on sale now through Monday for only 99 cents! RUNNING SECRETS is free to anyone with Kindle Unlimited.
We made the decision to run this special deal to build readership. Nobody's making any money with prices set so low! But maybe, just maybe a few more folks are reading my work.
At about 9 pm last night I got an email from my book manager at Booktrope, the publisher of The Alki Trilogy. She sent this screen shot: I know it's a very narrow Kindle category. I know it's just a moment, nothing more. I know that already, early Sunday morning, it's dropped to #2 (I checked). But for one brief instant, WALKING HOME was #1!
And BIKING HOME? It dropped to #1863 in Contemporary Fiction. Not a best seller, but going in the right direction. Do you think we can keep the trend going? With your help, anything is possible!

What Are You Working On ... Julia Park Tracey?

I (often) complain of being swamped (especially at this time of the year) with a college teaching gig and my writing-marketing world, and then someone comes along who wears so many hats I don't know how she knows which to put on when. Here's a post from Julia Park Tracey. Enjoy!
Julia Park Tracey is an award-winning journalist, author and blogger, with recent work on Sweatpants & Coffee, Salon, Thrillist, Paste and The Mid/Scary Mommy. She is the author of the Veronika Laynemysteries and the novel Tongues of Angels; two women's history books and a collection of poetry. Read more at www.juliaparktracey.com.Facebook: www.facebook.com.juliaparktraceyauthorTwitter: www.twitter.com/juliaparktracey *****
 I’m busy! Booktropehas just released my second mystery, Veronika Layne Has a Nose for News, of the Hot Off the Press series. With a new release there is always a lot to do, from ensuring local bookstores have the book, to checking up on reviews, alerting the local media, and hosting a launch party. I have also sent books through the mail to reviewers, and entered the book in a few online contests. The work around releasing a new book usually takes about three months before simmering down.
I’m a freelance journalist, so I usually have deadlines and stories to work on. Currently I am reviewing a book and interviewing the author for an alternative newspaper. I just finished writing up a series of food reviews for a holiday feature on specialty foods. I get to taste them, and that was scrumptious; I tasted Meyer lemon marmalade, hot-sweet chili jam, lemon-herb pita chips, two flavors of hummus and some olives, artisanal marshmallows, whiskey-pistachio brittle, and two flavors of granola. I have written about cocktails, coffee, tea, oysters, hot chocolate, organic/vegetarian fast food, and most recently, a huge variety of coffee ice creams. I love that kind of reporting, but I need to do some crunches. I also review theatre productions and am going to see Nunsense this week, with a review due Tuesday.
I spend two days a week doing some in-house work for a newspaper plus the social media for that paper; some of the work I can do from home and other tasks I perform in-office. I don’t report the news, but I format and edit press releases and articles that come in, and make corrections on proofed pages. All of these separate tasks add up to a steady income stream that allows me to pay the bills while I write non-paying stuff, like poetry or research.
Alas, poetry doesn’t pay (much), but it is very satisfying. I am the Poet Laureate of my city and I volunteer a lot in classrooms and local groups to talk about writing and books. I just participated in a read-athon to highlight banned books last week; this week I have a meeting to plan a children’s poetry contest next summer. None of these activities are paid, but they are very satisfying.
And then there’s my current mania – family history. I am in the midst of looking deeper into our roots and have uncovered a few mysteries. One of these, about my great-great-grandfather, who was an Orphan Train child, we’ve just managed to solve. He wasn’t an orphan after all, and his mother wanted him back, but it was too late. I think this will make an excellent novel some day. It’s esoteric stuff, but I really enjoy it, and it pays huge dividends in teaching me about my heritage and giving me ideas on what to write next.
Send me an email at julia.editrix@gmail.comif you have questions about my current work. I’d love to chat about writing with you!


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To read the prior posts, go to the posts listing in the left side bar. If titles are no longer visible, just click on any month to select. And finally, if you have a guest post you'd like to share on this blog, email me at aw@arleenwilliams.com.

Elena Hartwell & No Talking Dogs Press: The Interview Part I

As I head off to the Tri-TESOL conference to present No Talking Dogs: Easy Literature for Adults, I am pleased to share an interview with Elena Hartwell on Arc of a Writer. Elena began her interview with a question about writing easy novels for adults learning to read English. It was a pleasure to explain the work Pamela Hobart Carter and I have done through No Talking Dogs Press.The Interview Part I You write novels for adults learning English as a new language. How did you get started in that genre and how is that different from writing traditional novels? 
I've been teaching English as a Second Language since I was a resident assistant at a private language institute housed on the Seattle University campus back in the early 1970s. This fall quarter marks my third decade w­­orking with immigrants and refugees at South Seattle College. Through the years I've taught all levels and skill areas from low beginners to college prep.  For the past decade or so I taught the intermediate to upper levels. Not being a fan of most texts written for ESL instruction, I used Young Adult fiction. A few years back, I moved into the lower levels and YA was no longer an option. It was just too difficult. I needed books written at a first or second grade reading level that weren't picture books full of talking animals and the like. One day I was whining to my writing partner, Pamela Hobart Carter, about my struggles to find appropriate reading materials for my adult students. Her response: "I'll write one for you!" And, of course, I figured if she could do it, I could too!Long story short ... READ MORE!

Elena Hartwell & No Talking Dogs Press

As I head off to the Tri-TESOL conference to present No Talking Dogs: Easy Literature for Adults, I am pleased to share an interview with Elena Hartwell on Arc of a Writer. Elena began her interview with a question about writing easy novels for adults learning to read English. It was a pleasure to explain the work Pamela Hobart Carter and I have done through No Talking Dogs Press.The Interview Part I You write novels for adults learning English as a new language. How did you get started in that genre and how is that different from writing traditional novels? 
I've been teaching English as a Second Language since I was a resident assistant at a private language institute housed on the Seattle University campus back in the early 1970s. This fall quarter marks my third decade w­­orking with immigrants and refugees at South Seattle College. Through the years I've taught all levels and skill areas from low beginners to college prep.  For the past decade or so I taught the intermediate to upper levels. Not being a fan of most texts written for ESL instruction, I used Young Adult fiction. A few years back, I moved into the lower levels and YA was no longer an option. It was just too difficult. I needed books written at a first or second grade reading level that weren't picture books full of talking animals and the like. One day I was whining to my writing partner, Pamela Hobart Carter, about my struggles to find appropriate reading materials for my adult students. Her response: "I'll write one for you!" And, of course, I figured if she could do it, I could too!Long story short ... READ MORE!

What Are You Working On ... Kit Bakke?

The first week of the 2015-2016 academic year is upon us, and already I find myself behind schedule! My apologies for the late posting of Kit Bakke's interesting essay. Kit Bakke’s most recent book is Dancing on the Edge. Although she lived a peripatetic life for many years, she’s pretty much returned to her Seattle birthplace. ***** 
Have Words, Will Blogby Kit Bakke I’m working on a tricky historical nonfiction project, and my editor suggested I read Stephen Pyne’s book Voice& Vision. Which I have just done. Terrific book!! Well, if you are into that sort of thing. But a lot of his advice would work for fiction writers as well.
He’s not a writing teacher, he’s an environmental scientist who’s won a MacArthur fellowship and writes about wildfires among other things. He doesn’t sugar coat anything.
After providing lots of examples and thoughts about the craft and the art of writing, his last chapter is full of this sort of thing:
Writing is about choices, and among the first of those choices is to assure yourself time to work. Otherwise you are writing a diary or a blog.
There you go. If you spend all your time on the small stuff, the big stuff never happens.
He says that writing is like politics: it’s all about the art of the possible. Writers have to live with the “time, funds, sources, ideas and talent” that they have available to them. And it’s different for each of us. If you know what you have available, then you can tailor your writing project to those resources.Like most books on writing, he makes the point that “If you don’t actually write, you don’t get anything written.” The old butt-to-the-chair advice.
One bit that I liked a lot was the observation that “ideas come from writing as much as writing comes from ideas.” For his nonfiction-writing audience, he adds “Writing is a means of understanding that ought to accompany research, not appear magically at its end. With practice, you will trust your ability to make the text happen. If you write, the words will come.”
Pyne addresses the question: “When to push on and when to pull back?” by which he means, how do you know when you’ve done your absolute best. Because it’s disastrous to stop before that. Again, he says, it’s a matter of choosing—“It’s about constantly making calls regarding what is good enough. Assessing the unstable gap between what you desire and what you can do is the hardest call of all.”
Wow, no wonder writing a good book is hard … all those choices, all that risk, juggling all those slippery inputs, the dangers of stopping too soon or never really getting going at all.
OK, back to the real work.

Suicide Is Not Painless

My husband and I recently rediscovered M*A*S*H on Netflix. It's our go-to for a short evening laugh. But the theme song haunts me.  Suicide is painlessit brings on many changes and I can take or leave it if I please. …and you can do the same thing if you please.*
Suicide is not painless. It is a national tragedy. Suicide is the tenth highest cause of death in America; the third  highest among youth. Every 12.8 minutes someone takes their own life in the United States; more than 41,000 deaths annually.
Maybe I’m morbid, but these statistics catch my attention. They make me wonder about the society we live in, the values we hold. Suicide seems a silent shameful epidemic we prefer to keep in the shadows.
But then maybe not so shadowed. The Robert Altman film, M*A*S*H*, was released in 1970. The spin off television show was on the air from 1972 to 1983. Altman’s 14-year-old son, Michael B. Altman, wrote the lyrics for the theme song. 
Suicide is painlessit brings on many changes and I can take or leave it if I please.
The game of life is hard to playI'm gonna lose it anywayThe losing card I'll someday laySo this is all I have to say.*
September is National Suicide Prevention Month, but no one prevented my colleague's act of desperation  two weeks ago.
I didn't know. I didn't recognize the signs. I saw a cheerful, irreverent colleague who was deeply engaged with his students, who always had a smart-ass comment, who spent breaks between classes smoking, chatting, and laughing with other smokers - students, faculty, staff. The camaraderie of smokers could almost entice me to take up the vice once again, but unlike my colleague, I want to live.
Fall quarter begins without my colleague's laughter, his pat on the back, his encouragement, and another song loops through my mind.
Just like Pagliacci did
I try to keep my sadness hid
Smiling in the public eye
But in my lonely room I cry
the tears of a clown
When there's no one around**
  To learn more about suicide and suicide prevention, please visit:National Alliance on Mental HealthAmerican Foundation for Suicide Prevention National Suicide Prevention Lifeline      National Institute of Mental HealthThe Huffington Post
Music Sources:*Suicide is Painless: YouTube and lyrics**The Tears of a Clown: YouTube and lyrics  

What Are You Working On … A.M. Willard?

For something different, today we're going for a bit of romance from author, A.M. Willard.
Publications available from A.M. Willard include the Chances Series, Love on the Screen, and everyone’s favorite, the One Night Series. She’s also had an article published in the Writer’s Monthly Review Magazine and was just accepted into the Romance Writers of America organization in May of 2015.

A.M. Willard was born and raised in the Panhandle of Florida, but resides in Savannah, GA with her husband, son, two cats, one rotten dog, and her six chickens. Yes, we said chickens…

You can connect with A.M. Willard on her website at www.amwillard.com or subscribe to her newsletter for the latest releases, teasers, and sale alerts: http://eepurl.com/bb-Cd1
*****

What am I working on? That seems to be a loaded question these days as I just released Fading Memories and am gearing up for my next series. Once I finished Fading Memories, I was ready to dive into the third installment of The Chances Series. The funny thing was as soon as I opened up the manuscript, Frosted Sweets won the battle. In the end my focus shifted towards the new series, A Taste of Love. Soon we will have Frosted Sweets volume one of A Taste of Love Series.
In this series, I went a little nontraditional. What’s that mean? It means this. Readers are used to having a series that can either leave you with a cliffhanger, or each book can be read as a standalone. That’s not the case with Frosted Sweets. I wanted to produce a series that takes you on a journey of love, friendship, and all the beautiful things that happen in life. That could be marriage, babies, heartache, career changes, and much more. I thought long and hard about how I was going to produce these, and, of course, the first battle of will from those characters won. 
I’m pretty excited to produce this as the first installment is set to release in early December. It’s going to be a twist of contemporary romance vs. chick lit. Oh and let’s not forget about a nice dose of comedy.
After writing Fading Memories, which released back on the 12th of September, I needed something lighthearted, and fun to separate the inspirational romance. The fun fact of this is that I love being able to cross into the different genres of romance. It’s a balance of desires. One moment you can finish a heartwarming romance about grief, then bounce back to the fun-loving characters full of laughter and love. 
Stay tuned for more on what’s to come in A Taste of Love Series, and always you can you follow me on my blog for the latest in all things A.M.