Valerie J. Brooks is an accomplished writer, workshop leader, a participant in the Willamette Writers Speakers Series, a member of the Oregon Writers Colony as a writer in residency. Valerie says, “I’m launching my own little ship into the giant waters of the web. Welcome to Gobsmacked: Confessions of a Working Writer. Take a gander,…
Do You Have Grannie Annie Stories Ready to Share? There’s still time for students to discover a story from their family’s history, write and edit their story (and illustrate it if they wish), and submit their story to The Grannie Annie to be considered for publication in Grannie Annie, Vol. 6. Submission Deadline Stories and…
My friend Holly Banks introduced me (via Facebook) to Tom Strini Senior Arts Editor and partner of the Third Coast Review. They worked together at Halpin Music in Alton, Illinois during the early seventies. She taught piano and he taught guitar. We both attended SIUE at the same time. Since then he has been the…
Take a thread from these thoughts and write for at least 10 minutes…and then 10 minutes more…to tap into your mind on the topic of connection and barriers to connection. Connection and the possibility for connection surrounds us. The oxygen we breathe together connects us. What do we share? What brings people together? What separates…
This message speaks to the inherent power of poetry, how we reach for necessary words at times when any words are difficult to find. The recent memorial service in Tucson concluded with a reading of W.S. Merwin’s poem “To the New Year.” We share this poem with you and wish you peace in the New…
Denien Robbins or Author Exposure reviewed The Spirit of a Woman: Stories to Empower and Inspire edited by Terry Laszlo-Gopadze and published by Santa Monica Press. Robbins’ review begins: “Most of us have known at least one incredible woman in our lives. She is the one with an unlimited supply of inner strength and determination…
More news on “Spirit of a Woman: Stories to Empower and Inspire.” I continue to be pleased that my story “Sliding Glass Door” is included in this fine anthology. “New Dimensions” radio featured The Spirit of a Woman on their worldwide radio broadcast. Titled: “The Power of Stories to Heal with Terry László-Gopadze.” Hosted by…
Womens Memoirs published my story “Passage into Elderhood: Happy 60th birthday” on my 2011 birthday December 29th exactly two years after I celebrated my 60th birthday by returning to Ghana. Long ago a Ghanaian friend asked me, “Janet, what kind of old woman do you want to be?” This story is the answer to his…
Happy creative 2011. Here’s my first post of 2011 for Telling Her Stories, a blogging collaborative focused on memoir. My column is “Creative Catalyst” (thus the title below). 11 Creative Catalyst Nudges for 2011
2010 is leaving. After a few hours, it’ll be gone. Really? Let’s ask ourselves, can a moment, let alone an entire 12-month period, suddenly vanish as the clock ticks 12 midnight? Boy! That’s almost like accusing the year of escaping in the middle of the night like a thief after stealing something from our lives….