Welcome to my guest blog fest

For the next three and a half weeks I’m going to turn Choices over to the voices of other wonderful and experienced writers. I’ve asked twelve people whom I’ve either met personally or online to tell you about their lives, their writing, and their marketing experiences.

I feel so fortunate that they have agreed to be my guests and participate in this blog fest. I hope you will keep coming back to read more and more as the days go by. You’ll find the information interesting and very helpful.

Here’s my guest blog fest lineup in order of appearance:

August 24: Susan Weidener

An author, editor and former journalist with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Susan leads writing workshops and started the Women's Writing Circle, www.susanweidener.com a support and critique group for writers in suburban Philadelphia. 

August 26: Deborah Kalan

Deborah has been writing about real life since she was in the fifth grade and received a diary with lock and key for her 10th birthday. Even at that young age she found that people in ordinary situations made for intriguing writing. 

Deborah also writes poetry and fiction and finds the short short story to be one of her favorite genres.

August 28: Victoria Noe

Victoria has been a writer most of her life, but didn’t admit it until 2009. Besides her Friend Grief series, her freelance articles have appeared in Chicago Tribune and Windy City Times. She also reviews books on BroadwayWorld.com.

August 30: Ace Antonio Hall

Ace’s true labor of love is writing Zombie horror and character-driven plots featuring female protagonists. He continues to write short stories and build on the world of Sylva Slasher. Plus he loves women with gray hair.

September 3: Meryl Hartstein

Meryl is a published author, strategic life and relationship coach, celebrity confidence expert, guest speaker, and founder of “Bounce Back Women” a non-for profit organization. Her anthology in development is Bounce Back Women, comprised of stories from celebrities, Olympians and other powerful women about how they overcame adversity.

September 5: Chanel Brenner

Chanel is a writer living in Los Angeles with her husband and their five-year-old son. She is the winner of the First Annual Write Place At the Write Time poetry contest, judged by Ellen Bass, for her poem, “July 28^th, 2012.” I met Chanel at a poetry workshop in May led by Richard Jones.

September 7: Eleanor Vincent

Eleanor’s memoir, Swimming with Maya: A Mother’s Story, traces the life and death of her 19-year-old daughter and the subsequent donation of Maya’s organs and tissues. Published by Dream of Things, Swimming with Maya portrays a mother’s struggle to recover after a devastating loss and shows how the bonds between donors and recipients can have a positive impact on grief recovery.

September 9: Jerry Waxler Part 1 and September 15: Jerry Waxler Part 2

Jerry traces the emergence of the Memoir Revolution through his own journey from rebellion and chaos in the 60s; from mysticism to computers in the 70s; and from receiving talk therapy to providing it in the 80s and 90s.

September 11: Sherrey Meyer

Sherrey had always dreamed of writing something other than pleadings and legal documents, anything else!  Once she retired she couldn’t stay away from the computer, and so she began to write. We hope to read her memoir very soon.

September 13: Linda Joy Myers

Linda Joy, president of the National Association of Memoir Writers, began NAMW to support other memoir writers in their quest to find their story, to find healing and hope through story. Her memoir, Don't Call Me Mother, is a must read.

September 17: Karen Levy

Born in Israel, Karen spent most of her childhood traveling between her native land and the United States. Commuting between these two countries and having a keen eye for detail have afforded Karen the knowledge necessary to recount the immigrant experience in a very candid style.

September 19: Kathy Pooler

Kathy is a writer and a retired Family Nurse Practitioner who is working on a memoir about how the power of hope through her faith in God has helped her to transform, heal and transcend life’s obstacles and disappointments: divorce, single parenting, loving and letting go of an alcoholic son, cancer and heart failure to live a life of joy and contentment.

Thank you all for being here. I'm blown away by all that I've read.

Introducing my new writing friend, Deborah Kalan

Deborah and I met in Pilates class. We never said more than hello for about six months until one day I mentioned I had to rush away after class because I had a lot of work to do. She asked what I did, and when I said I am a writer, her eyes lit up. She said, “I’m a writer too.” And our friendship was off and running. I’ve read a lot of her stories, and I totally agree. She is a writer. I’m so happy to introduce her work to you.

My Writing Life

By Deborah Kalan

I have been writing seriously since my eleventh birthday when I received a leatherette diary the color of blue Irises. The diary was secured with a little strap that had a gold lock and two gold keys. On the front of it were the words “Dear Diary.” Each page was divided into five sections of about five lines, which in my 11-year-old mind, restricted me to extremely brief entries. 

In those days, I mostly wrote about boys. The cute ones, the creepy ones, the ones that liked me, the ones that I liked who didn’t like me. Because the blank pages were there, I felt compelled to write. I remember always feeling a sense of accomplishment, completion, when I finished my daily entry.

As my writing progressed, I wrote in a variety of journals, which I often spent hours choosing. A new journal is like a new beginning for me. The cover has to speak to me. The size and weight of it needs to feel just right. I often have two or more journals that I write in simultaneously. At one period in my life when I was going through a difficult time with my daughter, I had a “negative” journal and a “positive” one. It helped me to keep the bad karma in a separate place so that it wouldn’t spill over and spoil the good stuff.

In the beginning, along with journaling, I wrote children’s stories.  But, as my children grew and matured, I began to lose the child’s voice that was in me. It was then that my writing turned to grown up fiction, as well as essays and poetry. I knew I had a talent for writing, but because I rarely submitted my work and was not published, I had a difficult time calling myself a writer. One day I read something that said,  “if you write, you’re a writer.” I have since kept that as a sort of mantra for my self-identity. 

Other than my husband and my beautiful 91-year-old mother, who are my biggest fans, I rarely shared my writing with anyone. Just recently, through the encouragement of a dear friend of mine who is an accomplished author, I have begun to expose myself through my writing on various social network sights. After working on a piece, tweaking it, re-tweaking it, reading and rereading it, I paste it, and post it and swallow a satisfying gulp of achievement.  And then I wait. I check the sight every few minutes at first. Did anyone see it? Did anyone like it? Did they comment? And then the kudos start to come in. Sometimes there are a few comments. Sometimes a lot and sometimes none. It feels great to send my words out to the universe and hope that something I say, some group of words or stack of sentences might affect someone in a positive, reflective way. That’s when I know if I’m asked “what do you do”? I can casually and with great confidence say. “I’m a writer.”

About Deborah: The only problem with Deborah’s living arrangement is that I don’t get to see enough of her. I’m so happy to have this wonderful new friend in my life.

Deborah likes to describe her dual residences as living “bi-coastal.” She and her husband Harvey, of 41 plus years, and their “senior” dog Jackson, split their time between their homes in California. One is near the coast of Manhattan Beach and the other one is near the “coast” of Calabasas Lake. They have two grown and married children and two amazing grandchildren who are also Deborah’s devoted fans.

You can find Deborah on Facebook and read some of her stories on Storylane.

Introducing my guests

For a change of pace I’m going to devote the next three weeks to the voices of other wonderful and experienced writers and publishers. I’ve asked eight people whom I’ve either met personally or online to tell you about their writing, publishing, and marketing experiences.

I feel so fortunate that they have agreed to be my guests here on Choices. I hope you will keep coming back for more and more. You’ll find the information interesting and very helpful to your writing lives.

Here’s my guest lineup in order of appearance:

Sharon Lippincott            November 26

Sharon is the author of The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing, knows she's been successful. Her insightful questions and observations have challenged people in many areas for decades. Today they are primarily aimed at students in her lifestory and creative writing classes along with readers of her blog, forum posts, book reviews, and other publications.

Kathleen Pooler            November 29

Kathy is a writer and a retired Family Nurse Practitioner who is working on a memoir about how the power of hope through her faith in God has helped her to transform, heal and transcend life’s obstacles and disappointments: divorce, single parenting, loving and letting go of an alcoholic son, cancer and heart failure to live a life of joy and contentment.

Mike O’Mary                      December 2

Mike is founding dreamer of Dream of Things (my publisher), and a writer of essays, fiction, drama, and sketch comedy. He says, “I started Dream of Things because I wanted to find ways for us to work together more often. I also hope to make a lot of new friends and to work with many of them. Dream of Things is a place where other “dreamers” can share their ideas and stories and have fun in the process.”

Deborah Kalan                 December 5

Deborah says, “It feels great to send my words out to the universe and hope that something I say, some group of words or stack of sentences might affect someone in a positive, reflective way. That’s when I know if I’m asked ‘what do you do’? I can casually and with great confidence say, ‘I’m a writer.’”

Cheryl Stahle                    December 7

Cheryl, author of Slices of Life: the Art and Craft of Memoir Writing, is a memoirist, writing coach, teacher and author. She has set as her life mission to help people tell their life stories using her years of experience as a writing coach combined with a slightly off-center perspective of the world.

Keith Alan Hamilton     December 10

Keith says, “I’m a publisher, editor, poet, writer and cell phone photographer.  I have a mind that fires on all cylinders; I think and think and think about everything, often to the point of mania, which leads to mental fatigue with extreme lows of prolonged depression.  I have thought of suicide so often, I’ve gotten used to it as a part of me being me.”  

Sonia Marsh             December 13

Sonia is a “Gutsy” woman who can pack her carry-on and move to another country in one day. She’s a motivational speaker who inspires her audiences to get out of their comfort zone and take a risk. She says everyone has a “My Gutsy Story”; some just need a little help to uncover theirs. Her story, told in her travel memoir Freeways to Flip-Flops: A Family’s Year of Gutsy Living on a Tropical Island, is about chucking it all and uprooting her family to reconnect on an island in Belize.

Doreen Cox               December 16

Doreen’s first book, Adventures in Mother-Sitting, is a memoir of her three years as a full-time caregiver. The experience as her mother’s caregiver offered the ultimate spiritual adventure, bringing to the author bittersweet lessons related to trust, faith, unconditional love and compassion.