Poppen's Thoughts on Writing and Stuff: January 2010

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Ready - Set - Go! Spring Frenzy starts tomorrow!

January 31, 2010

If my computers were working properly, today would have been a perfect day! Nothing to do, aside from a quick shopping trip for groceries and office products for tomorrows Spring Frenzy classes.

I'm all set for the classes. Packets for the attendees are ready and I've reviewed my notes on what to say/show to make the classes come alive. As I reviewed the material, I was reminded of the very basics of writing and a refresher course in the basics is always a good thing. It's always fun and I get to meet new folks. Thru my classes, we picked up Jim and Rusty for our local writer's group. Good writers and most welcome additions to our writer's group.

Wrote more on 'Steve's Boys'. I introduced the problems Josh has been having with his amputation that he has been hiding from his wife. I've changed my mind about the ending, but I do want to leave the reader wondering at the end of this saga of the Farrell family.

Didn't get time to work on 'Mama Played for the King' for that agent. Hopefully, after this week of classes is over, I'll have time to work on it. I'm so excited that she asked for the whole book after reading 80 pages.

Oh, my kids presented me with a Kindle for Christmas. I love it!!! Of course, I downloaded 'Hannah' and 'Mota 8 - Addiction' that has my short story 'The Gift'. I downloaded the new Patterson book, 'I, Alex Cross'. We are reading Patterson's books for my book club this month. I'm really enjoying it. I down loaded about 10 books and I carry them around in my purse now on my Kindle and it takes up less space than my checkbook. It's amazing.

Debbie, her mom and a couple of other authors are coming up from Quartzite tomorrow for my short story class. Then, a couple of Havasu writers are going to join us and we going out to dinner. I sure wish she lived closer. She's such a positive person.

Got to go to bed now so I'll be alert for my classes. Creativity, learning and persisting - the jewels in a writer's work box. So I'll leave you with a quote by Isaac Asimov - "You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist."

Saturday, January 30, 2010

A Fun-Fun-Fun Day

January 30, 2010

Life has been keeping me busy this past month and I've been remiss in keeping up with my daily posts on my life in the writing world. But, today was so special that I had to drop back in.

My local writer's group, Lake Havasu City Writer's Group, had a book signing for their 2010 'Offerings from the Oasis' anthology. We flocked over to Hasting Books and Music to sell and sign books. Off and on their were about a dozen of us and we managed to sell a fair number of books. I was so pleased that they included two of my stories - 'Pastrami vs Tuna Salad' and 'Exquisite Moments'. I hope the readers enjoy them. All in all the presentation and the content is probably one of the best 'Oasis' yet. I guess we're all getting better and better!

Since I last blogged, I had another book signing down in Quartzite. Sold 4 Hannah books and 1 After the War, Before the Peace. Got a fan email from a lady in Utah saying she enjoyed Hannah so much, she has ordered After the War, .... Yahoo! Always nice to hear. We're going back down there on Feb. 7th.

Also, I've been working on the final edits for 'Abby-Finding More Than Gold'. It is due out in March from Awe-Struck Publishing. I had a great editor and I think the final product will sell nicely. The editor liked it so much, she suggests a sequel. Maybe, someday.

Still working on 'Stephen's Boys'. Poor Josh lost a leg when his plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean and Andy has gone mental from all the killing and wounding he saw on Suribachi. They are both in a hospital in Hawaii.

Having lots of computer problems! That's all I'll say, because I want to keep this blog 'G' rated!

Tomorrow, I need to practice how I'm going to moderate my Journaling and Short Story Writing classes scheduled for Mon. and Thurs or next week.

So, got to run, but let me leave you with this little quote about time and how fleeting it is these days. "Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of." Benjamin Franklin

Questions of the Week - WIN A $15 Amazon.Com Gift Certificate

In Sharon Poppen's latest release, Mama Played for the King, when Phillip is forced into the French orphanage system, he is farmed out to work in what industry?

- or -

In Poppen's best seller, Hannah, what is the name of the man Hannah spends her every waking moment trying to bring to justice.

The first correct answer to either question wins a $15 gift certificate at Amazon.com.' Send your answer as a comment to the most recent post for this blog.

Reader Lena Casper knew the name of Michael's home planet was Maurac in Poppen's novel, Regardless. Ms. Casper received a $15 Amazon gift certificate for posting that answer.

Story of the Week

The Band
By Sharon Poppen

When Buddy rounded the corner, he saw two of his band members pacing and stamping their feet to stay warm.

“Hey,” he announced his arrival. “Sorry, I’m so late. My mom was baking cookies until after eleven.
Couldn’t sneak out until I was sure she was asleep.”

“Dang, we’re freezing. You know old Jack won’t let us in until we’re all here,” said Glen.

Buddy hurried past them and rapped loudly on the service entrance to their local high school building.
Almost immediately, Jack, the black janitor, opened the door and hurried the young white boys inside.

“You’re late,” he reprimanded.

“Sorry,” said Buddy as he followed Jack through the hall and down into the boiler room in the cellar.

Jack’s son, Dwayne, was already set up and tuning his
guitar. Greetings were exchanged as the boys got their instruments ready. Buddy sang lead and played lead guitar. Dwayne played rhythm, Glen played bass, Ronnie was their drummer and all three did back-up singing.

Buddy glanced at his watch.

“Shoot! It’s already past midnight.” He looked over at Jack. “We still have to be out of here by two?”

“Pa,” begged Dwayne, “another half hour. Please?”

“Two-thirty, then you boys gotta get outta here.”

The boys gave Jack a thumbs-up as he closed the door to the almost soundproof boiler room. Jack listened for a bit as the boys began playing their version of “That’s All Right, Mama.” He smiled. Big Boy Crudup would be proud, but Elvis had nothing to worry about. Still, the boys were in tune and their voices rang with enthusiasm.

Jack went about his janitorial duties. He needed this job desperately and despite all the preaching and marching by Dr. King, even a janitor’s job was hard to
come by for a black man in Georgia in the late fifties.
\His wife was against him allowing the boys these secret practices. She just knew they’d be found out and Jack would be fired.

But Jack saw the want in his boy’s eyes and unlike most of the town, he didn’t think the new rock and roll was Satan’s music. In fact, he liked the way
gospel, blues and country music were being inter-woven to create this new fad that all the kids
were excited about. So, he let the boys sneak in every Sunday night for a couple hours of jamming. And who knows, new singers were being discovered every day. Jack felt the boys deserved their chance.

At two-thirty, Jack ushered the boys out and told them to be careful going home. And so it went for
a couple of years.

When the boys graduated, they loaded up Buddy’s old station wagon, said good-bye to their disappointed folks who hadn’t given up hope that their boys would get serious and go on to college, and headed for
Philadelphia. It seemed all the ‘discoveries’ were being made there.

Jack hugged his son, then spoke to all four boys. “Just remember, I want you boys to follow your dreams, but make sure that while you’re chasing them down, you don’t lose the real you along the way. Every morning, look in the mirror and be proud of the face staring back at you. You hear me?”

“I hear ya, Pa. I’ll do like you said,” said Dwayne while the others nodded.

Jack wished them well and waved good-bye. For a few years, he listened to all the news about rock and roll on their small black and white TV in the parlor and on the big red plastic radio in the kitchen.
He listened, but his boy and his mates were never mentioned.

*******

Thirty years later, the boys, now men, gathered for a final ‘thank you’ session with Jack. Dwayne greeted them at the side door to Rayne’s Funeral Home. He ushered them into the visiting room containing his father’s coffin.

Each man paid private respects to Jack, then Dwayne directed them to the musical instruments he had set up next to the coffin.

“Thanks for coming,” said Dwayne. “Pa was always our best and biggest supporter. Somehow, I know he’ll hear our efforts to say good-bye with the music he, and only he, allowed us to play all those years
ago.”

Buddy, now Dr. Bud Phillips, spoke for the others. “It’s our honor to get together for this special gig. Jack believed in us from the beginning. Always said we’d all do well, only we thought he meant with the band. What he really saw in us was a determination that would serve us in any field we chose.”

And so it was that Jack’s memorial service was highlighted by a band consisting of a doctor on lead guitar, high school teachers on rhythm and bass and a U.S. army major on drums.

The End

Poppen's Thoughts on Writing and Stuff

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Ready - Set - Go! Spring Frenzy starts tomorrow!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

A Fun-Fun-Fun Day

About Me

Questions of the Week - WIN A $15 Amazon.Com Gift Certificate

Story of the Week

After the War, Before the Peace - Available Now!

Hannah

Abby - Finding More Than Gold

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