Category: Art and Humanity Framed in the Photofeature Story

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? My children’s picture book is called “Samantha’s Sandwich Stand”. It is illustrated by the wonderful Nathan Caro Fréchette and published by Renaissance. I always had this name in mind for the book since it was written…… Continue reading #271 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Sonia Saikaley’s Children’s Picture Book “Samantha’s Sandwich Stand”

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us?  The name of my novel is NOUS NOUS (French for “we ourselves”). Honestly, I can’t remember any other title I considered. I worked for a bit without a title, but when I wrote a scene with…… Continue reading #270 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: John Vanderslice’s “NOUS NOUS”

What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? I began writing this piece of fiction in 2018 (BELOW LEFT) and finished the final draft 2021 (BELOW RIGHT).  The title of this three-page piece is “The Things You Lose:  An Elusive Kind…… Continue reading #269 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Bill Meissner’s short story “The Things You Lose: An Elusive Kind of Light” from his short-story collection LIGHT AT THE EDGE OF THE FIELD.

November 10, 2021 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: María José Salmeron lapepaneworleans@gmail.com   504-315-0009 Local flamenco dancer María José Salmerón welcomes Spanish superstar Joaquín Grilo to New Orleans to help tell the story of her search for identity and the joy of finding community through her Spanish roots and Flamenco.  An “Empire” in himself, Maestro Grilo…… Continue reading New Orleans Chateau Flamenco Festival – Direct from Spain “GRILO”

What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? I wrote Just an Ordinary Woman Breathing as a single, long essay arranged into five parts/sections. The impetus to write this book came about truing a panel at AWP in Chicago in the spring of 2012 – early…… Continue reading #021 The Magnification of One Memory in Memoir: Julie Marie Wade’s “Just an Ordinary Woman Breathing”

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? My new novel is called Shoot the Moonlight Out. The title comes from a Garland Jeffreys song I love. I had to look back at my earliest notes to see if I had considered another title.…… Continue reading #268 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: William Boyle’s SHOOT THE MOONLIGHT OUT

What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? I began writing in 1998. The first version was almost 200,000 words. Several trusted friends and mentors read it and made suggestions. Donna Besel in 1998. Copyright by Donna Besel. The editor (Harriet Richards) of my first book,…… Continue reading #020 The Magnification of One Memory in Memoir: Donna Besel’s “The Unraveling: Incest and the Destruction of a Family”

Your first memory of Jesus Christ as a child? I grew up attending Church, so Jesus was always around and discussed. I can’t narrow a specific moment in my childhood, but I recall watching one of those dramas queued to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” with a girl playing a lost character and then Jesus…… Continue reading What We’re Working With (Or the Trials and Tribulations of Making Sense of Your 20s) “Words From a Twenty-Something Woman” Guest Blog Post by Natalie Bassie

When did you begin writing “Plastic Box” and when did you finish this piece of fiction? I began brainstorming “Plastic Box” at the beginning of September 2020. It’s when notetaking began. I became a notetaking fool: in the car at red lights, on my daily walks, in line at the grocery store. This is when…… Continue reading #267 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Ron D’Alena’s short story “Plastic Box” from his short story collection The Madness of Being.

Name of fiction work?  And were there other names that you considered? My novel is called The Beautiful Place.  When I started writing it and wasn’t yet sure what it was, I called it Something. What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you finished the piece of…… Continue reading #266 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Lee Gowan’s “The Beautiful Place”

What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir?  It feels like I started writing this memoir in April 4, 1981 when my cousin Karen was killed and I saw my father cry for the first time.  I felt like I was outside my body, watching the…… Continue reading #19 The Magnification of One Memory in Memoir: Elle Johnson’s “The Officer’s Daughter: A Memoir of Family and Forgiveness”

What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? I began writing Rare Bird in late October 2012 and completed it in September 2013. It was published by Convergent Books, a division of Random House in September 2014. Anna Whiston-Donaldson in 2012. Copyright by Anna Whiston-Donaldson Where…… Continue reading #018 Magnification of One Memory in Memoir: Anna Whiston-Donaldson’s “Rare Bird: A Memoir of Loss and Love”

Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? This poem is part of my collection Balancing:  Poems of the Female Immigrant Experience, in the Upper Midwest, 1830-1930. I worked on the collection for perhaps twenty years, so I…… Continue reading #330 Backstory of the Poem: Kathleen Ernst’s “Joy in the Morning”

Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? Where and when did you start the poem? Usually, poems come to me in a dream state, often after reading poetry in the morning. I begin with lines scratched in…… Continue reading #328 Backstory of the Poem: Wendy T. Carlisle’s “Thirteen”

What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? After my mother died in January, 2009, I started writing letters to her. It was therapy for me – a way to get through the grief and anxiety that I thought was lasting way longer than “normal.” I…… Continue reading #017 Magnification of One Memory in Memoir: Mary McSwain Steele’s “BETTY”

What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? The glib part of me wants to say that I’ve been working on this memoir my entire life. After all, we are the meaning-makers of our lives and when there are huge gaps in the narrative, we seek…… Continue reading #016 The Magnification of One Memory In Memoir: C. Vargas McPherson’s “INHERITING OUR NAMES: AN IMAGINED TRUE MEMOIR OF SPAIN’S PACT OF FORGETTING”

Left: Wren Wright in August of 2021. Copyright by Wren Wright What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? It wasn’t a straight, even line from conception to publication, and it took longer than I originally anticipated. My memoir spans less than 6 years—from the time…… Continue reading #015 Magnification of One Memory In Memoir: Wren Wright’s The Grapes of Dementia

Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? At the time of initially writing this poem, I had conceived an idea to write a series of poems based on nursery rhymes and children’s fairytales. Initially this poem was…… Continue reading #327 Backstory of the Poem: Stewart Shaw’s “What little blk gurls are made of”

What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? I started in March 2020 and finished in June 2021. Updated the postscript in August 2021. I did not know I was writing a memoir when I began writing essays about the pandemic in NYC for The Village…… Continue reading #014 The Magnification of One Memory In Memoir: Kate Walter’s Behind the Mask: Living Alone in the Epicenter

What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? I began writing this memoir about ten years. It’s a story about my search for my Irish roots. My Irish mother gave birth to me in England and returned to Ireland, alone, soon after I was born. I…… Continue reading #013 The Magnification of One Memory In Memoir: Sylvia Greene’s Finding the Homeplace.

Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? This poem emerged from a writing class unlike any other I have ever taken. It was taught by the unique Christopher Bursk, beloved teacher, mentor to so many poets, especially…… Continue reading #326 Backstory of the Poem: Faith Paulsen’s “Poem In Response To Steve Nolan”

What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? I began writing this book in 2018 on my own. Then decided to do a he said/she said type of writing so for a year my husband and I have been co-writing the memoir together. I hope to have it completed…… Continue reading #012 The Magnification of One Memory in Memoir: Dawn and Sal Vecchio’s BREAKING THE CHAINS OF SIN: A Testimony of Love, Life, and Meth.

Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? Although it’s hard to remember the exact circumstances around the writing of this poem, this is what I know: I was in graduate school at Florida International University, and I was constantly obsessed…… Continue reading #325 Backstory of the Poem: Alabama Poet Laureate Ashley M. Jones’s “Racially Content at Christmastime”

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us?  Harvesting the Sky. There weren’t any other names because once I knew the story was about a special apple from Kazakhstan, I knew this had to be the title. The title has hidden meaning so if…… Continue reading #265 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Karen Hugg’s Harvesting the Sky

Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? This poem is part of What Shot Did You Ever Take, the book of poems I co-wrote with Brian Oliu. This book of poems is inspired by the Rocky series…… Continue reading #324 Backstory of the Poem: Jason McCall’s “Rocky II”