What a Great Honor…
Last month I had the honor of being selected as the featured author and keynote speaker for the Mukilteo Schools Foundation fundraiser breakfast at Boeing’s Museum of Flight.
But before I get to that amazing morning, the night before the breakfast the foundation arranged for a local restaurant, The Red Cork Bistro to close for a private Author hosting party with me, the donors and other local school supporters. The Red Cork was gracious, and provided a lovely place for a private event with great food, wine, ambiance and lively conversations. What a way to kick off the week. Thank you Mukilteo Chamber of Commerce, especially Emma Leedy who initially suggested me to the board.
The next morning was the main event at the museum. Talented student chefs made a delicious breakfast akin to what you would be served at any 5 star restaurant, and the school jazz band harkened in the event, filling the (closed to the public) museum with enticing smells and invigorating music.
When Senator Marco Liias introduced “Mukilteo’s literary treasure” I actually looked around the room wondering what other author would be speaking. Then my friend Judy Gratton tapped my leg and said, “That’s you.” So I got up and went on stage. It was a surreal moment. NEVER in all the public speaking I have done has there been a plane hanging over my head and a fuselage to the right of the stage. I couldn’t help myself, the first words out of my mouth were not from my planned speech, but instead, “WOW! What a venue. Is that a fuselage?” Of course I said that because ‘fuselage’ was the only word I knew for an immense airplane part.
Anyway, I quickly pulled myself together and spoke to the crowd about the importance, no, the life- saving magic that books are to children. In my troubled childhood of which I spoke about my soldier father’s PTSD and ultimate alcoholism, books gave me refuge, inspired me to be brave, be kind, be curious.
Here’s a short excerpt from my speech titled, Literacy is a Superpower;
“Ernest Hemingway said, ‘There is no friend as loyal as a book’. And that certainly has always been true for me. I can honestly say Books saved my life. Well, books and a neighbor, a retired school teacher, Mrs. Gordon, who recognized a traumatized child when she saw one. I was about 6 years old when she invited me into her kitchen to learn to read. I recall on the pages of those books was another world, a world of raccoon mothers who fiercely protected their young and even carried their babies in their mouths on incredible adventures, and dogs and cats who loved one another despite their obvious differences.
In every story there was peril, but Mrs. Gordon assured me everything would soon be alright if I could hang in there and remember that soon I would turn the page.
And when she said, maybe you’ll grow up to write a book someday, she altered the potential trajectory of my life. Because she knew then that I may have challenges, obstacles to overcome, and that I would need a quest, hope, something to aspire to, as do all protagonist on all long journeys, and she knew that for a child, literacy was a superpower. And it was.
Those books she gifted me became my companions, my loyal friends, as Hemmingway said.
Because to read, at any age opens a window into other worlds previously unimagined….”
Anyway, I went on about how books saved me from a troubled childhood and how literacy truly is a superpower. I got into why I wrote Return To Sender and how my dad’s PTSD inspired my protagonist, Theo Riley and his Korean War nightmares after he returned home. And how books and writing guided me through 3 tours in cancerland. “Just keep turning the page, everything will be alright.” Mrs. Gordon said. We always return to our childhood lessons, and that one has saved me time and time again.
But I circled back around to the literacy issue which is the Mukilteo Schools Organization’s mission, and I ended on this note,
“In today’s world what is more important than planting those seeds in the hearts and minds of our children? Valuing their education, their welfare and so importantly their imaginations is vital to our humanity in this otherwise chaotic and often uncaring world that can be turned topsy-turvy by a simple 140 character tweet. Well, now 280….
The Mukilteo Schools foundation literacy mission and getting books into the hands of children is one I believe in wholeheartedly. That retired teacher who put a book in my hands showed me there was a big world out there, she planted a seed of hope inside me and taught me to turn the page, everything would be alright. Books guided my future, literacy was the superpower that saved my life.”
It was a wonderful event. I hope I rose to the occasion. During the book signing SO many people came up to me and shared their stories of being the child of a soldier who struggled with PTSD or other war time traumas brought home to the families. I honor the private things they shared with me.
Teachers, and people like Mr. and Mrs. Klein who support literacy organizations earn a special place in heaven in this once a little girl, now grown reader and writer’s mind. In a time of shrinking school budgets, cutting arts programs and an overall disrespect for literacy in America, these organizations and the people who support them are vital to our survival as a literate, competitive country. I was so happy and honored to take part in this event.
ALL photographs provided by Mary Wastman photography 
Why I haven’t blogged in awhile…
I haven’t blogged in awhile because in times of chaos (personal and political) I tend to withdraw and think. I also have needed time to reexamine my words, what I say, and most importantly what I write about. Everything matters now in ways it didn’t seem to before…so what can I say that will add to the conversation rather than detract???
The #METOO movement has brought up some painful memories, unresolved issues and pain that frankly, I thought I’d dealt with but haven’t. I will write about that in a later post, when I understand what about that matters now, and how to deal with past injustices, past wounds, now, and why adding my voice may (or may not) matter in this long overdue, sweeping and universal conversation.
Today I wanted to share this bit of wisdom from Lady Gaga (that’s right, lady Gaga), because right now it’s exactly how I feel, what I think and no one has (yet) said it better and with more clarity than she. PLEASE listen for the next 2 minutes and begin to think how you can make these changes in your life, and manifest a better world one relationship, one thought, and one action at a time. We need to unify in our collective humanity, and stop hurting one another in harmful social media conversations, in hurtful words over thanksgiving dinner, or in inappropriate sexual behavior in the home or workplace, and just start helping each other. Please watch HERE. or watch below.
Featured Author at Boeing’s Future of Flight Aviation Center
I’m very happy to announce that I will be the featured speaker at the Mukilteo Schools Foundation annual fundraising breakfast in November, held at the Future of Flight Aviation Center. I’m looking forward to helping them raise money to further the education of children in the Mukilteo area. http://www.mukilteoschoolsfoundation.org/events
Want to Improve Your Writing??? Fall is a Gr8 time for Writing Courses
If you’re looking for some great fiction writing classes here in the Seattle area, below are classes taught by Scott Driscoll, that I can highly recommend. Check them out.
- Advanced Fiction Writing: Story Structure
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The fall class will be divided into three parts. In part one, we will look at how to bring drama into the real-life events that are the germ for many of the best stories (we’ll look at models from creative nonfiction and memoir). In part two, we will briefly look at non-linear or modular forms of storytelling (for those of you who want to experiment with plotless structure). In part three, (the bulk of the quarter), we will look at Franklin’s idea of the five-focus story structure and how to apply it in the service of organizing a novel. At the same time, we’ll consider Percy’s ideas for packing your stories and novels with more urgency and suspense, for trimming the bloat, and for pushing your characters to their limits while raising the stakes.
REQUIRED TEXTS
1) Writing For Story by Jon Franklin, a Plume Book, 9780452272958; 2) Thrill Me by Benjamin Percy, Graywolf Press, 9781555977597; 3) Narrative Design by Madison Smartt Bell, W.W. Norton, 0393320219; 4) Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr Scribner, 9781416573166; 5) Best American Short Stories 2016, Mariner Books, 9780544582897; 6) Oryx and Crake, a novel by Margaret Atwood, Anchor Books, 9780385721677; and 7) The Tsar of Love and Techno, a novel by Anthony Marra, Hogarth, 9780770436452. Suggested Reading: Norwegian By Night, a novel by Derek Miller 9780547934877.
Class meets: 10 Thursdays, Phinney Neighborhood Center # 3, 7-9:30 p.m., Sept. 28 through Dec. 7, a week off for Thanksgiving
2) Pop Fiction Writing: Foundations
UW Continuum, Fall 2017 Wednesday 6-9 PM, 9/27/17-10/25/17, five weeks
WRI FIC CP100 A; Reg #: 167105
Instructor: Scott Driscoll
Phone: 206 782 8587 or E-mail: sdriscol@uw.edu
Location: UW Campus, Savery 162
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is designed to explore the craft of popular fiction writing. We will cover story arc both as a linear quest for an object of desire as well as in the guise of a hero’s circular journey out from the ordinary world, through the ordeal, and back on the return. We will discuss character arc and how to use archetypes to strengthen character identity. We will also look at how to dramatize high points in your characters’ journeys through scene. For examples, we will pull form a number of texts, but our primary examples will be taken from novels chosen for this purpose. In the final week, all participants will be expected to workshop a chapter or an excerpt.
REQUIRED TEXTS
The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, Michael Wieseman Productions, 3rd Edition, 2007, Paperback: ISBN: 978-1-932907-36-0.
The Witness, by Nora Roberts, Berkeley Books, 2012. ISBN: 978-0-399-15912-1.
The Black Echo by Michael Connelly, Grand Central Publishing, 1991: ISBN: 978-1-4555-5061-6.
The texts are available at the University Bookstore.
3) FICTION WRITING: CRAFT
Class Meets: Wednesday evenings, on UW campus 6-9 PM 11/1/17-11/29/17, five weeks in November
UW Continuum WRI FIC CP101 A; Reg. # 167107
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is designed to explore fiction writing as craft. We will cover points of technique, including: story arc (linear quest vs. round hero’s journey), how to introduce an inciting incident into the familiar world, point-of-view, character arc, and reversals. We will also introduce scene structure. In class, we will discuss readings, look at examples, and do occasional “sudden writings” to practice. You’ll be given an opportunity to bring in your own work for workshopping in the final week.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Writing Fiction: A guide to Narrative Craft, 9th ed., by Burroway, Janet and Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Longman, 2011, Paperback: ISBN: 978-0-321-92316-5.
How Fiction Works, by Wood, James, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-374-17340-1.
The Best American Short Stories 2016, edited by Juno Diaz, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: ISBN: 9780544582897
The texts are available at the University Bookstore.
Winter 2018:
- Advanced Fiction Writing: Character
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The winter class will focus on “character” and “scene.” We will begin by reducing character to an essential value mobilized by a “desire” to seek a “goal.” We will next examine how character evolves on the journey through the five-focused plot structure by looking at methods of character presentation in each of the five focuses. We will also consider the role of subtext based on the assumption that characters arrive in stories with a history of repressed desires and needs. We will compare the role of character, and the amount of subtext required in the form of ghosts and revenants in popular genres to that in literary fiction. We’ll spend time walking characters through dramatized scenes. Finally, we will talk about character “reversals” and how they might evolve differently in literary stories and in popular fiction genres and we’ll consider how to use scene to design story structure.
Runs: Thursday evenings 1/4/2018 through 3/8/2018, 7-9:30 PM, Phinney Neighborhood Center #3.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Story by Robert McKee, ISBN: 9780060391683; Scene & Structure by Jack Bickham, ISBN: 9780898799064; The Art of Subtext by Charles Baxter, ISBN: 9781555974732; Reading Like A Writer by Francine Prose, ISBN: 9780060777050; The Art of Character by David Corbett, ISBN: 9780143121572; A novel or two (tba).
2) How to Build a Novel (and Write Smooth Prose)
Runs: Wednesday evenings, 6-9 PM, UW campus, 1/3/2018 – 3/7/2018, ten weeks
Course still in design. Texts will include: Writing For Story by Jon Franklin, Story by Robert McKee, Scene & Structure by Jack Bickham, and The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, Thrill Me by Benjamin Percy, and two novels (tba).
A Novel Asking Life’s Big Question…
In The Last Outrageous Woman, my friend, author Jessica Stone skillfully spins a tale about a group of elder-women who decide they’re going to plot, scheme, and organize a breakout and then the most ‘outrageous’ journey of a lifetime. This delightful story asks a big life question when the character Mattie asks of her retirement home friends, “if you could do anything, anything at all, no matter how . . . you know . . . how unlikely. Just once. What would it be?” And when one friend answers “I’d ride a camel…” Well, readers are in for a journey.
First these elder-ladies must overcome their own fears, shortcomings and family/legal/financial obstacles before they break themselves free from their ‘jailers’ at Restful Palms Retirement Home.
As the story unfolds it navigates sentiments from happy to sad, then on to triumphant, and ultimately ends on an inspirational note. This is a great read for readers and book clubs in search of a heartwarming and life-affirming story. As I read I pictured my elderly mom and her senior girlfriends in their retirement home acting just like these women. They will love this book. Great job Jessica!
