Trisha Sugarek's Blog, page 98

An Ode to Our Cats....Hank and me

In this two part post, I write about the love of cats.  I know, I know!  You either hate 'em or love 'em. Both camps are die-hards.  You can't live with one or you can't live without one, or two, or three!  For all of Charles Bukowski's hard living, boozing, philandering, drunken brawls and genius writing, he was a complete softie when it came to cats....even cats that weren't his own.  He inspired me to write this ode to my dear old Shadow who died and to my new cat, 'Wild Thang'.  In part two I feature his poetry about his cats.

An Ode to our Cats….Hank and me

she was a feral kitten in the back alley

hiding under the deck

she crept out one day while I sat in the

sun, reading and

the first time I picked Shadow up

she shit all over me, so afraid

she was of any human

Next time, she didn’t shit on me and

slowly we became friends

for the next sixteen years

she was one hundred and twelve

when she died

 

Now I have a new cat

on some days she is called Fiona

when she decides to be a lady

but on other days, she’s called Wild Thang (her secret name)

or Monkey as she loves to climb up high

she answers to all three

 

She joined our family at age twelve weeks

now eight months later, she thinks

she’s a dog but with the wisdom of a cat

her family is me and two golden retrievers

she does as they do

She comes when I call her or them

she follows them when they move through

the house

When the dogs are taking a nap

and are not paying attention, she walks by

nonchalantly, you know the way cats do

and then she plops her body down on their faces

the dogs suffer her with great patience

She has golden green eyes and a mask on her face

good thing too, because she's a bit of a bandit

she talks to me and I find myself answering her

she has the spirit of her ancestors, the Abyssinians

inquisitive, loyal, funny, and loving

© by Trisha Sugarek

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Don't miss Part II of An Ode to Cats....Hank and Me  (Thursday 9/26)

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DON'T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   "The Writer's Corner"

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Tasha Alexander, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Raymond Benson, Andrew Grant, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers' special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is October's author and Patrick Taylor will join us in November.  Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author.

To receive my posts sign up for my   On the home page, enter your email address. Click on "join my blog". You need to confirm in an email from 'Writer at Play' . Thanks!

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An Interview with Tasha Alexander (part 3)

The conclusion to my Interview with mystery writer, Tasha Alexander

Tasha and husband, author, Andrew Grant

Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from "no book" to "finished book" look like?

A. The first part of “no book” land is a barren, hideous wasteland. You’re sure you’ll never have a book-worthy idea again. You’re sure you should have gone to law school. You wonder if it’s too late. Then, as you’re reading, doing research, a little idea comes to you and you start developing it, researching it, playing with it. Pretty soon it coalesces and then you enter into the everything-is-possible-and-beautiful stage. A stage that never lasts long enough. In this stage, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the book. It can be the best thing you’ve ever written. It has no flaws. It will change your life.

All this is possible, of course, because you have not yet written a single word. Once you start writing, the book immediately loses all its shiny goodness. Instead of the theoretical perfection it was in your head, it becomes what every writer recognizes—a first draft. From there comes revision (my favorite part), and finally, completion. I generally have my agent read before I turn in manuscripts to my editor, primarily because Anne has a fantastic editorial brain. After my editor reads, I revise, and then the book starts to take on a life of its own. It goes into production, where it is copyedited, typeset, and proofread. It gets a cover and jacket copy, a marketing plan, and advanced reading copies. When eventually, it is released, I will have finished writing another entire book that will leave my hands in time for me to go on tour. And it all starts again.

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Tea at Harewood House, England. Research trip for "Behind the Shattered Glass"

Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters ? 

A. Emily, my protagonist, popped into my head entirely on her own. Out of the blue, I had an image of a young Victorian woman standing on the cliff path on the Greek island of Santorini. By asking myself questions about her (e.g., how on earth could a young Victorian woman find herself there?), I got to know her extremely well. Sometimes I’m motivated by real people of the era—Walburga, Lady Paget, for example, or the Impressionist painters. More often than not, however, characters come to me when I’m thinking about the time and place I’m planning to set a book.

Q. What inspired your story/stories ? 

A. Every single book I’ve read has inspired me in one way or another. Reading is a great motivator for writing, because there is a way in which writing is the ultimate form of reading. It’s the one time you can be guaranteed a novel turns out exactly the way you’d like it to. Elizabeth Peter’s Amelia Peabody series had an enormous impact on me. I would like to think Amelia wouldn’t totally disapprove of Emily—although Emily is not quite so radical as Amelia. Give her time, though. She’s still young.

Q. Have you? Or do you want to write in another genre`? 

High Tea at Harewood House

A. I haven’t written in another genre, although I did do one book, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, in a different time period. Every once in a while I flirt with the idea of writing something contemporary, but that is primarily on days when I am frustrated by the restrictions necessary to doing accurate historical fiction. At those times, I think it would be so, so lovely to be able to use any word in the language without having to consult the OED to make sure it was in use at the time the book is set. That said, I have always been passionate about historical fiction. It has always been my favorite thing to read, and I’m not sure I could ever abandon it.

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COMING SOON!  October 15th ** The release of her new book, "Behind the Shattered Glass"

     A series recommended by this blogger  **  To read Part 1 of Interview  click here

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DON'T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   "The Writer's Corner"

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Tasha Alexander, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Raymond Benson, Andrew Grant, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers' special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is October's author and Patrick Taylor will join us in November.  Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author.

To receive my posts sign up for my   On the home page, enter your email address. Click on "join my blog". You need to confirm in an email from 'Writer at Play' . Thanks!

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Grand Country Houses, Victorian England, Murder! Delicious! an Inteview with Tasha Alexander (part 2)

Burton Agnes Hall

Part 2...my Interview with Tasha Alexander

Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?

A. Writing a first draft is the most intense part of the process for me. When I’m doing research, kicking around or fleshing out plot ideas, or revising, I can interact with other people, run my household, etc. etc. But drafting is another story altogether. I have a daily word count goal when I’m drafting and will not stop until I have reached it. I get very focused on what I’m doing and am barely functional in other capacities. When I was in this mode last year, my son asked me to make him pancakes for lunch. I did. Unfortunately, however, instead of using the recipe I have made thousands of times, I randomly followed one on the opposite page of the cookbook, not realizing what I had done until I noticed the batter seemed weird. My head was completely in the book. We ordered pizza. Which just goes to prove that sometimes it’s better to let pizza boxes pile up than to try to cook.

Funnily enough, cooking is a huge part of my writing process—just earlier and later in the life of the book. It’s my favorite thing to do when I’ve got ideas percolating in the back of my brain. You think you’re browning meat for Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon, but all of a sudden you realize you’ve figured out some incredible detail that will bring your characters to life or solved a plot puzzle. Sometimes actively thinking about these things isn’t as effective as giving your mind space to work it out on its own, if that makes sense.

Author, Tasha Alexander at Haddon Hall

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

A. Just about ten years ago. I had spent years working a variety of soul-crushing jobs, all the while saying that I wanted to be a writer, until my son was born. At that point, it was easy to say I still wanted to be a writer but that I couldn’t right now because I had a baby (it’s very, very simple to come up with excuses not to write, isn’t it?). When he was three and a half, I had a moment in which I realized I was either going to have to stop saying I wanted to be a writer or I was going to have to write something. The next day I started work on what became my first book, And Only to Deceive.

Q. How long after that were you published?

A. I got an agent for the manuscript on St. Patrick’s Day in 2003 and spent a few months working on revisions. The book was ready to go in late October, but Anne (whose decisions are always, always sound) thought it would be best to wait to submit until after the holidays. So we went out in mid-January of 2004. The book sold

The ruins at Burton Agnes Hall, Tasha and her handsome husband, author Andrew Grant

in about two weeks, and was published in 2005.

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DON'T MISS PART 3 of this fascinating interview with best selling author, Tasha Alexander

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Tasha Alexander is the New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Emily series and the novel ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE. She attended the University of Notre Dame, where she studied English and Medieval History. Her work has been nominated for numerous awards and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She and her husband, novelist Andrew Grant, divide their time between Chicago and the UK.

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DON'T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   "The Writer's Corner"

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Tasha Alexander, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Raymond Benson,  Andrew Grant, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers' special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August's author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is October's author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author.

To receive my posts sign up for my   On the home page, enter your email address. Click on "join my blog". You need to confirm in an email from 'Writer at Play' . Thanks!

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"Bertie the Bookworm and the Bully Boys" now an Audio Book!

A story book with full color illustrations

The third in the Fabled Forest Series, "Bertie, the Bookworm and the Bully Boys" is now available as an AUDIO BOOK  at www.audible.com and www.amazon.com as well as www.iTunes. com

Bertie, the bookworm is the fabled forest's elder and teacher. Every week he has a spelling and reading circle where everyone is welcomed. Slam and his gang of bully boys are forever teasing, disrupting, and bullying Bertie and the group of faeries and woodland creatures. Pansy, the pixie is a new character in this third of the Fabled Forest series. She is a defender of reading, truth, and Bertie. Cheets, our beloved elf from past books gets in with the wrong crowd and his friends are worried that he will become the newest member of the Bully Boys. Best friends with Cheets, Pansy is determined to save her friend.  The story teaches gentle lessons about literacy, bullying and ageism.

In an October post I'll tell you more about the adventures of producing AUDIO books.....meeting new people, choosing a narrator, (a young opera singer from Switzerland)....the character voices she was able to create.  Listen to Sample

 

Also available as a paperback and  on AUDIO  are "The Exciting Exploits of an Effervescent Elf",  "Stanley, the Stalwart Dragon, and "Emma and the Lost Unicorn".

  or visit my store here

Lady Emily sails into the Salon to Find a Dead Body! Interview with Author, Tasha Alexander (1 of 3)

 

                   Let's peek into Tasha's writing world....    "any delay opens the door to the possibility of not writing at all."

 INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR, TASHA ALEXANDER

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? 

A. Before I started to write, I had this idea—an idea many of us have at the beginning—that I would need the right sort of space in which to work. I had visions of lovely bookshelf-lined rooms with big windows and a large antique table. Reality was that I lived in an attic apartment in New Haven, where the only think that might be construed as an office or study was an unfinished section of the attic (no windows) where we had draped canvas to form a ceiling that would keep the bats from dive-bombing whoever was sitting at the computer. Not being a fan of bats, I learned quickly to be adaptable. It turns out where you write isn’t so important as it might seem. I can write in an airport lounge, a coffee shop, on a bench waiting for my son to come out of his drawing class. My preferred spot at home is my bedroom. For some reason, sitting in bed is the one place I can work without ever getting wrist or shoulder pain (you’d think it would be an ergonomic nightmare, but it’s not). I don’t have a desk (or an antique table of any size), but most of  our apartment is bookshelf-lined, so that part of the fantasy came true. And I do have a wonderful dining room table, my favorite spot for reading through and marking up manuscripts when I revise.

Many book shelves in author, Tasha Alexander's home

In the end, what matters is getting to work.   Anyone who has tried to write knows how easily life intervenes. The more flexible a writer can be about the circumstances in which he can write, the more he will write. As your career goes on, you do start to have more control over things, and that is a lovely thing. I wrote Death in the Floating City in a 15th century apartment in Venice and madly appreciated every single second I was there. That book screamed for me to be in its location while I was writing. A research trip wasn’t enough.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

A. Not really. My main thing is to start working as quickly as possible—rituals would give me an excuse to delay, and any delay opens the door to the possibility of not writing at all. I get going as soon as my son leaves for school. I drink a lot of tea, but find that it

Authors, Tasha Alexander and Andrew Grant

often goes cold when I’m writing.

Q. What is your mode of writing? (long hand? Pencil? Computer? Etc.)

A. Computer, computer, computer. When I’m in research mode I take notes by hand in Moleskine notebooks, but could not possibly write a manuscript in longhand. It would take me three hundred years.

Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative?

A. After ten years of writing, one thing that I can say with absolute confidence is this: The Muse is an Unreliable Hag. If you want to earn your living as a writer, it is critically important to remember this. You cannot, cannot sit around waiting for inspiration to strike. First, because it might never come, or come at such lengthy intervals as to make completing a novel impossible. Second, because a working writer has to write. You will have an agent, editors, readers, all of whom are depending on you to deliver your manuscript on time. Writing is a creative endeavor, but it is also a job, and you must conduct yourself as a professional. You must learn to train your mind to work when you need to work, not when the Muse decides to come back from the Maldives. Me, I’ve never been to the Maldives, but I’m pretty convince if I went it would be hard to drag me back.

Part two of the Interview will be posted on September 17th.

Don't miss my Review of 'Behind the Shattered Glass' on October 15th

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DON'T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   "The Writer's Corner"

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Tasha Alexander, Raymond Benson, Andrew Grant, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers' special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August's author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is November's author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author.

To receive my posts sign up for my   On the home page, enter your email address. Click on "join my blog". You need to confirm in an email from 'Writer at Play' . Thanks!

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How To Write A Stage Play...12 Tips

Last week I was telling you about an idea for a stage play that a friend/colleague in theatre offered me, many years ago.   How "The Art of Murder" came to be.   I am always asked 'how can you be so prolific?',  'how do you write so many plays?' 'where do you get your ideas?' and so forth.

So I thought what a perfect time to give my readers twelve tips on writing their first stage play.  After all, 45 play scripts ago and and seventeen years earlier I began writing my first script.

                        TWELVE TIPS TO GET YOU STARTED    (Part 3)

1.  Format is very important.  So buy a play script or go on line to check out a format.  If you submit your new play to anyone they will not read it if it is not in a proper format. There are also softwares out there that offer auto-format.  sample.playwrite.format  (here is a two page format)

2. Each page represents approximately one minute of time on stage.  So if you have a play that is 200 pages long, that won't work.  Audiences aren't going to sit for more than one and a half hours unless you are providing a circus, a fire drill, sex, and an earthquake.  Audiences are even reluctant to sit through "The Iceman Cometh" a classic by Eugene O'Neill.  It runs close to 3 hours.You should keep your full length script to about 100 pages which equals 1.6 hours of stage time.  For a one act divide that by 2.  For a ten minute play your script should be from 10-15 pages.

3.  Leave lots of white space.  One day when your play is being produced, actors will need a place to make notes in the script during rehearsal.  This is a sample of an actor's working script.  An actor usually 'highlights' their lines and writes the director's blocking in the margins.

4.  The blocking (in italics) is where you give the actors instructions on when and where to move.  But, keep it short and sweet.  Remember you will have a director who has their own ideas of where he/she wants their actors to be.

5.  Remember your script has to work on a stage.  If your story takes place in more than one locale, you have to be aware of the logistics of a 'set' change. So keep it simple to start.

6.  Now here's the, sometimes, hard part:  everything you want the audience to know is conveyed in the dialogue.  Unlike a short story or a novel, where you can write as much description as you'd like to, a play script has none of that.  NO description.

7.  Always, always tell the reader/director/actor how many people are in the cast and their gender and ages.  So in the beginning of your script you will have a 'character list'  stating the character's name, who they are germane to the story, and their age and physical appearance.  sample.charac.list.page

8.  If you write a script with six to eight to twelve men in it, YOU ARE DOOMED.  Men are extremely hard to cast (they're just not out there and if they are, their jobs and families prevent them from auditioning) and so most directors are looking for a play with a reasonably small cast with more women than men.  Under six to eight actors and two-thirds, women.

9.  If this is your first play writing attempt, write about something you know.  Maybe a family story.  One of my first plays was about my days in Hollywood as an actor. 

10.  Your dialogue is EVERYTHING.  You will be judged on IT alone.  So try to be original, snappy, and funny.  Even the most dramatic, tragic play has pathos.

11.  The format for a stage play is entirely different from a screenplay.  Don't confuse the two.  With a stage play, you are limited to what can be physically accomplished on a stage.  With a screenplay you can have several locations, interior and exterior....pretty much whatever the budget will allow.

12. Send your finished script out...then send it out again and .....again.  Most community theatres are receptive to receiving scripts.  Don't get discouraged!  You will get rejected.  I wish you could see my 'rejection letter' file!  LOL  KEEP SENDING IT OUT!!

Click here to read how one of my plays was conceived.

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DON'T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!   "The Writer's Corner"

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Raymond Benson, Tasha Alexander, Andrew Grant, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers' special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!    Sue Grafton was August's author with a bonus later in the month featuring Cathy Lamb. September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is November's author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author.

To receive my posts sign up for my   Go to the home page; On the right side you'll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on "join my blog". You need to confirm in an email from 'Writer at Play' . Thanks!

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Villagers Theatre in New Jersey to produce "Emma and the Lost Unicorn"

NEWS!!  My first,  in the series The Fabled Forest Series (children's plays),   will be a part of

Villagers Theatre’s  2013-2014  Season! 

Located in Somerset, New Jersey this community theatre has two stages and a diverse season.

March 8--16 with Fri., Sat., and Sunday performances

Tickets: $15.

Reservations:  732-873-2710

Visit their web site for more...

http://www.villagerstheatre.com/viewproductions/emma-and-the-lost-unicorn/

Rainey, the unicorn, is a prince who has been banished, for centuries, by the warlock, Hazard. He can never return home unless Emma solves more riddles than Kodak. Hazard’s Lieutenant reveals his secret weakness. The fable ends with a surprise twist which will delight readers young and old. While written for children, this fairy tale is sophisticated enough to appeal to adults as well.

Queens, warlocks, faeries, elves, unicorns, handmaidens, scary henchmen and one small mortal girl child, in an enchanted forest. The rhetorical owl and naughty elf provide much laughter. This parable offers many subtle lessons.

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DON'T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   "The Writer's Corner"

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Raymond Benson, Andrew Grant, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers' special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August's author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is October's author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author.

 

 

 

An Idea..A Gift...A new Play! (part two)

   This past Tuesday I started the story about where the idea came, from to write this play.  Here is the rest of the excerpt.....if you like it, write to me and I'll send you the script,  FREE!  (offer expires 12/1/13) 

And Next TUESDAY,  I offer twelve TIPS on how to write a stage play!

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(MONTY resumes to paint for a few beats. A door slams down on the street and a woman’s voice is heard.)

VOICE (Off.) Hello, Samantha. Where’re you off to in such a rush?

(MONTY rushes to the window and looks down.)

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) Hi, Mrs. Jessup. Just got a call. They want me to audition. Do I look all right?

VOICE (Off.) You’re a blonde now, dear. And so quick!

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) It’s a..um…a wig..for the audition.

VOICE (Off.) Well, brunette or blonde, you look lovely, as always.

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) Do you need anything from the market? I’m stopping by on my way home.

VOICE (Off.) A quart of milk, if you can, dear. And a half pound of locks if it’s fresh.

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) You got it, Mrs. J.

VOICE (Off.) Wait just a moment, I’ll get my pocket book.

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) No, it’s okay. You can pay me when I get home. Gotta go…..see you later.

VOICE (Off.) You’re such a good girl. Bye.

(MONTY resumes to paint for a few beats. A door slams down on the street and a woman’s voice is heard.)

VOICE (Off.) Hello, Samantha. Where’re you off to in such a rush?

(MONTY rushes to the window and looks down.)

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) Hi, Mrs. Jessup. Just got a call. They want me to audition. Do I look all right?

VOICE (Off.) You’re a blonde now, dear. And so quick!to read the entire post

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) It’s a..um…a wig..for the audition.

VOICE (Off.) Well, brunette or blonde, you look lovely, as always.

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) Do you need anything from the market? I’m stopping by on my way home.

VOICE (Off.) A quart of milk, if you can, dear. And a half pound of locks if it’s fresh.

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) You got it, Mrs. J.

VOICE (Off.) Wait just a moment, I’ll get my pocket book.

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) No, it’s okay. You can pay me when I get home. Gotta go…..see you later.

VOICE (Off.) You’re such a good girl. Bye.

(MONTY watches a beat and then rushes back to HIS easel. HE carelessly discards the canvas on HIS easel and grabs a fresh one.)

MONTY. (to himself) Spectacular! A blonde in a red dress. I must paint her rushing down the street, her skirt swirling around her knees.

(MONTY dashes some red paint on the canvas; picking up a new brush, HE begins the blonde hair.)

MONTY. (to himself) She’s so damn pretty and so good to the old folks on the street. I have got to find a way to meet her without looking like a total doofus.

(HE wa nders back to the window and stars out longingly.)

MONTY. Maybe, if I asked her, Mrs. Jessup would introduce us..............

Scene Two

(At Rise: The studio. Early morning.)

(MONTY sits at a small table. HE is rumpled and HIS hair is spiky from sleeping on it. HE holds a cup of coffee with both hands. A knock at the door. MONTY rises and crosses.)

MONTY. (grumbling to himself) Christ, who can that be?

(MONTY crosses to the door,unlocks a few locks and opens the door. A tall, handsome man, in a suit and tie is standing there. HE flashes HIS badge.)

ROARKE. Montgomery Anderson?

MONTY. Yes.

ROARKE. I’m Detective Roarke. NYPD Homicide.

MONTY. Huh?

ROARKE. NYPD, Homicide. Can I come in?

MONTY. NYPD….like in police? I don’t understand.

ROARKE. If I could just come in and explain and ask you a few questions?

(MONTY backs up and opens the door wider in a gesture of inviting the detective in. ROARKE enters and MONTY closes the door.)  

MONTY. What’s this about?

(Excerpt: "The Art of Murder")  Click here to read Part I

It was such fun writing this one act and I want to thank that long-ago crew member for gifting me with this story idea.  Remember, take inspiration wherever it is offered, even if it is years later. 

 

 

 

 

 

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DON'T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   "The Writer's Corner"

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Raymond Benson, Andrew Grant, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers' special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August's author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is October's author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author.

To receive my posts sign up for my   On the home page,  enter your email address. Click on "join my blog". You need to confirm in an email from 'Writer at Play'.  Thanks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An Idea...A Gift...A New Play! "The Art of Murder"

                  Let's see....I think it was 2005 and we were in rehearsals for "Cheatin'" in Port Aransas, Texas.  I was the director and we had pulled together a terrific cast.  The title pretty much tells you the story line but the fun part and what made it so funny was it was set in....where else?...... Texas and was filled with good ole' boys and girls.

It was the highest grossing play for that theatre in many a year and won

Best Production and Best Set Design (thanks to Janis Johnson's contribution).  I was very proud of the cast and crew!

 

 

 

 

But here's the story I wanted to tell you.....one night after rehearsal we all went out for a couple of beers, as actors are wont to do, and to blow off a little steam.  It was a fairly large cast so we pulled some tables together and ordered pitchers.

As the evening wore on one of my crew....sorry his name escapes me; it must have been Billy Bob or Bubba or Junior...leaned over the table and said, "Trish I've had this great idea for a play script for years but I know I'll never write it....hell, I wouldn't know where to begin....and you're a writer so I want to give you the idea."  I nodded politely and listened.  It wasn't the first time I had been told by someone that they 'wanted to write someday' or that they had a great idea and I should start writing it down.  His idea for a story was this:  a reclusive artist watches a woman from his windows and paints her on canvas after canvas....over and over.  Then one day the woman ends up dead.

I told him it was a great story line but that I didn't write murder mysteries and he should try writing it himself.  Then someone down the table shouted to me and that was that!

One day recently, a drawer way in the back of my brain popped open and out spilled this idea that Bubba had given me over a few beers, eight years ago.  And the whole story (well, except for the ending) was suddenly there in my mind's eye.  A cold water, walk up loft in the Village, a young reclusive artist, a beautiful girl in a red dress who lives across the street, and the old folks sitting out on their stoops.  Here's an excerpt for your reading pleasure.  Tip:  for those of you who have never read a play script, think of the italics as a description in a novel. 'Beat' = 'pause'.

Scene One  "The Art of Murder" ©  by Trisha Sugarek

(At Rise: A loft studio in Greenwich Village. Late afternoon. While there are many paintings it is apparent that one subject has been painted again and again.  MONTY is painting at HIS easel. HE is a little paint smeared. HE hears voices from the street.)

VOICE (Off.) Hey, beautiful! You’re home early.

(Brush in one hand, palette in the other, MONTY crosses to the windows and peers into the street below. The lilting laughter of a young woman is heard.)

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) (joking) Hey, Mr. Murray. Your wife know you’re trying to pick up women in the street?

VOICE (Off.) No…..and don’t you tell on me. My old woman would give me what for…bothering a young lady like you.

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) Your secret is safe with me…for a price.

VOICE (Off.) (teasing) Oh yeah, what’s that?

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) Some fresh bagels from your bakery.

VOICE (Off.) You got a deal…I’ll bring them home with me tomorrow.

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) Thanks, Mr. Murray! I’ll look forward to them. Bye, now.

VOICE (Off.) Bye, beautiful. See you later.

(MONTY’s shoulders slump and HE sighs. HE crosses back to his easel.)

MONTY. (to himself aloud)  Monty, you’re pathetic. Jeez…how can that old guy be so easy with her.  You can’t even say ‘hello’ to her in the street. What the fuck’s the matter with you?

(MONTY resumes to paint for a few beats. A door slams down on the street and a woman’s voice is heard.)

VOICE (Off.) Hello, Samantha. Where’re you off to in such a rush?

(MONTY rushes to the window and looks down.)

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) Hi, Mrs. Jessup. Just got a call. They want me to audition. Do I look all right?

VOICE (Off.) You’re a blonde now, dear. And so quick!

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) It’s a..um…a wig..for the audition.

VOICE (Off.) Well, brunette or blonde, you look lovely, as always.

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) Do you need anything from the market? I’m stopping by on my way home.

VOICE (Off.) A quart of milk, if you can, dear. And a half pound of locks if it’s fresh.

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) You got it, Mrs. J.

VOICE (Off.) Wait just a moment, I’ll get my pocket book.

SAMANTHA. (Voice Off.) No, it’s okay. You can pay me when I get home. Gotta go…..see you later.

VOICE (Off.) You’re such a good girl. Bye.

Come back Thursday to read more!

September 10th:  12 Tips on How to Write Your First Stage Play

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DON'T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!   "The Writer's Corner"

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Raymond Benson, Andrew Grant, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers' special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!    Sue Grafton was August's author with a bonus later in the month featuring Cathy Lamb. and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is October's author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author.

To receive my posts sign up for my   Go to the home page; On the right side you'll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on "join my blog". You need to confirm in an email from 'Writer at Play' . Thanks!

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'Give them a rocky past, harsh problems,debilitating grief and sunny joy'. Part 3 of our chat with author Cathy Lamb

        Part 3 of my Interview with author, Cathy Lamb

I first discovered this author when I was looking for something new to read;  Henry's Sisters is still a favorite of mine.  Cathy quickly became one of my top ten authors. TS

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Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?

A. I start sketching them out in my journal. I first figure out what they do professionally. I then put family and friends around them. The family and friends are not the easiest people, although some are there for humorous purposes only.

I give them a rocky past, harsh problems and difficult challenges, debilitating grief and sunny joy. They get quirks, talents, and a lot of flaws, too. All this can be discovered as the draft is written and each edit is applied. I don’t know everything about my characters when I start writing that first draft. I let them live and breathe. I watch them. I write down what they’re saying, how they’re saying it. What makes them cry or throw things. What makes them fall in love. What has hurt them the most and how they’ve contributed to their own issues. It’s like watching a movie in my own head.

Q. What inspires your story/stories ?

A. Everything. Julia’s Chocolates came to life when I had an image in my head of a woman throwing her wedding dress up into a dead, gnarled tree on a deserted, dusty street. The Last Time I Was Me was inspired when I imagined a woman using an Exacto knife to open up her cheating boyfriend’s condom and slipping peanut oil into the condom using an eye dropper. She sealed it back up with a hot glue gun. The boyfriend is allergic to nuts. So is my husband. I was mad at him that night and a whole story came to me, laying in bed, two in the morning, and I thought of that condom and his allergies.

Such A Pretty Face was inspired when I wrote an article for Oregon Health Sciences University about bariatric surgery for obese people. What a journey that was for them. A Different Kind of Normal was inspired by my interest in people’s ancestral lines. If You Could See What I See was inspired by colorful lingerie, tree houses, blood, and a family owned business.

When I’m writing books, something I see during the day, part of a conversation, a person…all of those things can end up in my book that night, although I’ll twist and curl and turn them inside out to suit the story.

Q. When is your next book coming out? (or) What are you working on? 

A. If You Could See What I See is out August 1, 2013. Here’s the first chapter:

Black.

That’s what he was wearing when it happened. I never wear black anymore. He ended up wearing red, too.

That’s what killed my soul. The red.

He haunts me. He stalks me.

For over a year, I have tried to outrun him.

It hasn’t worked.

My name is Meggie.

I live in a tree house.

I am working on my next book, which is untitled for the moment, but due in December. Argh. December? Really?

Q. Do you want to write in another genre?

A. I would love to write screenplays. I would love to learn how to write a play. When I have time, I’ll learn how to do that. I think people should always try new things and meet new people, so it’s on the list! I do write short stories for anthologies and I love the short story format. Short. Sweet. Tight storyline. Easy to edit. Done.

Q. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

A. I go to book groups all the time. Sometimes I visit in person, often we visit using Skype. Email me at CathyLamb@frontier.com if you’d like me to join your group for the evening. I’m happy to come.

Thank you for having me on your blog!

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Click here to read Part I

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DON'T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!      "The Writer's Corner"

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Raymond Benson, Andrew Grant, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers' special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  Sue Grafton is August's author with a bonus chat with Cathy Lamb.  September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is November's author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter.  Raymond Benson is January's author. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my posts sign up for my   On the Home page, you can enter your email address. Click on "join my blog". You need to confirm in an email from 'Writer at Play' . Thanks!