Category: Art and Humanity Framed in the Photofeature Story

Middle: Maureen A. Miller with Tink in April of 2021. Copyright by Maureen A. Miller. Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? The name, DISTANT MEMORY was coined before I barely had the plot defined. Though the book is entirely a work of…… Continue reading #242 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Maureen A. Miller’s DISTANT MEMORY

Right: Freeman Ng in April of 2020. Copyright by Freema Ng          Writer Freeman Ng, 60, grew up in the San Francisco bay area all of this life.  He’s seen many sunsets; the light dancing across the San Francisco bay; plenty of stars; and full moons; There is something about a haiku – something that…… Continue reading Feature on Haiku Poet Freeman Ng “Where Its Shadow Went”

Middle: William Luvaas in 2021. Credit Lucinda Luvaas and Copyright by William and Lucinda Luvaas. On February 1, 2013 Spuyten Duyvil Press published Ashes Rain Down A Story Cycle by William Luvaas.  The collection of ten short stories centers on two fictional California communities, the mountain community Sluggards Creek and a community on the Mendocino…… Continue reading FICTION WRITER WILLIAM LUVAAS, HIS NEW BOOK ASHES RAIN DOWN: A STORY CYCLE

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? I started thinking about this poem when I learned of Kim’s diagnosis, in April of 2020, of breast cancer which had metastasized in several places, including her brain.  I knew…… Continue reading #291 Backstory of the Poem: Barbara Crooker’s “A VILLANELLE FOR KIM”

Grace Bauer in July of 2016. Copyright by Grace Bauer 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 an ongoing series of “Ms. Schadenfreude” poems I’ve been working on (on and off) for…… Continue reading #290 Backstory of the Poem: Grace Bauer’s “Ms. Schadenfreude: The Early Years”

 What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? I started in May 2019 and finished August 2020 Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work?  And please describe in detail.  And can you please include a photo?…… Continue reading #241 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Karla M. Jay’s IT HAPPENED IN SILENCE.

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? I chose Repairing the Hive, Ekstasis Editions, 2020 http://www.ekstasiseditions.com/recenthtml/repairingthehive.htm I think most fiction writers, who live with the characters in their heads while writing, regard their invisibles as unborn babies. When born, we are reluctant to…… Continue reading #240 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Linda Rogers’s REPAIRING THE HIVE

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us?  Hostile Witness, A Josie Bates Thriller. No other titles were considered for this book or any book I have written. For me a title drives the plot, the story, and the overarching theme of a work.…… Continue reading #239 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Rebecca Forster’s HOSTILE WITNESS

“Li Young Lee has become the best selling or has sold through the most collections of poetry, even more so than Sylvia Plath in the last forty years. He’s anthologized in every language there is.  He’s really a pure poet – he’s trying to make the words evaporate on the page.” Thom Ward, Editor of…… Continue reading LI-YOUNG LEE: THE POET AND HIS PHILOSOPHY

“I don’t have any more money.” “There is always more money, whiteman,” the second man shouted at me.  He stepped closer to me, like trying to crowd me in.  “White people are the richest in the world.  Therefore, when there is a whiteman, there is always more money.” “No more money,” I said and shook…… Continue reading D’Souza’s Whiteman: Most Anticipated Book

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? It is more difficult than I thought to narrow down the most emotional poem I’ve written! There are a few really close candidates including one I wrote about my grandfather’s…… Continue reading #289 Backstory of the Poem: John Findura’s “THE LAST STRAW”

“During my five years in the People’s Temple, I was sometimes in and sometimes out. There were times that I believed that he was God  and there were times I did not.” –Nell Juanell Smart In early 1972, Nell Juanell Smart picked up her seven-year-old daughter Terri from the church that her uncle Jim McElvane…… Continue reading SHE CALLED HIM FATHER

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? Throughout the many years I lived full-time in Buenos Aires, there was a sense of an inevitable return to my husband’s country — where we’d lived previously — at some…… Continue reading #288 Backstory of the Poem: Sophie Segura’s “Ghazal for a Marginal Sea”

Poet Activist Jan Steckel can be described as a jack-of-all-trades:  a pediatrician doctor; an individual with a disability; a fiction writer;  a nonfiction writer; and poet. More importantly she’s an activist:  for immigration; women; LGBT; and individuals with disabilities.  The one constant in her life has been her imagination, which she considers her savior and…… Continue reading CRC Blog Feature on Poet and Activist Jan Steckel: The Chronology of An Imagination

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?  In 2011, I started writing a poem sequence called ‘Autobiochemistry’. The poems in the sequence are mainly autobiographical, but each poem is linked to an element of the periodic table.…… Continue reading #287 Backstory of the Poem: Tricia Dearborn’s “‘[50] Tin”

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? My new novel is titled LILACS in the DUST BOWL. It was inspired by a photo of my father holding a bunch of lilacs on my grandmother Lukia’s farm in Manitoba during the Great Depression.  I…… Continue reading #238 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Diana Stevan’s LILACS IN THE DUST BOWL

Shana Ritter. Copyright by Shana Ritter. 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 was written in response to a prompt: Tell us about snow but don’t use the words: snow, white, powder, ice, flake, blanket.…… Continue reading #286 Backstory of the Poem: Shana Ritter’s “What’s Gone”

            It was Mother’s Day, May 11, 2008, and Dawn Allen Pollock had so much to be thankful for:  her husband Dr. Forrest Pollock was the senior pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church, and their six children, Courtney, Brooke, Preston, Hope, Blake, and Kirk were happy and healthy.          The day started out beautifully.  Brother…… Continue reading THE TRIANGLE OF THE STORYBOOK MARRIAGE

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? “Elegy For the Red Dress” came into being via a writing prompt from the wonderful poet Cecilia Woloch. http://ceciliawoloch.squarespace.com/ The prompt was more-or-less as follows: write an elegy for an…… Continue reading #285 Backstory of the Poem: Los Angeles Poet Laureate Lynne Thompson’s “Elegy For the Red Dress”

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? My book is When Death Strikes, and I can’t begin to tell you how long it took to come up with it. This is the fourth in a series, which started with Run and Hide, followed…… Continue reading #237 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: F. Alan McDermott’s WHEN DEATH STRIKES

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? Gunpowder Green was always going to be the title of this book. It came from the name of the first story in the book, and I just fell in love with the title. Gunpowder Green sounds…… Continue reading #236 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Paul W. Feenstra’s short story “Gangway To War” from his short story collection GUNPOWDER GREEN

You know what you’re getting when you open a Harlequin romance novel.  No matter what kind of angst the characters go through they will be happy and committed to each other at the end of the book.  Unfortunately, life isn’t always like that, so it’s nice to read a book where you know everything will…… Continue reading Nothing Touches The Heart Like A Harlequin

       As an archeologist and historian, Hubbs wanted to record some of the stories his ancestors told his great Uncle Ezra Hagerman as well as eye witness account stories from Ezra himself.  Ezra passed down stories of Hubbs’s great great-great grandfather Jonathan Wright, his great-great grandmother Melinda Wright, his great-great Uncle Sam Wright who swam…… Continue reading CRC Blog Feature on Historical Writer M.E. Hubbs: Fiction and History Are The Perfect Mix

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? The title is The Lines Between Us: A Novel.  I considered titles referring to the fact that the historical part of the novel takes place in the seventeenth century, during Spain’s Golden Age. Perhaps, The Golden…… Continue reading #235 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: Rebecca D’Harlingue’s THE LINES BETWEEN US: A NOVEL

So when Joseph arrived, they pulled off his beautiful robe, and threw him into the pit.  This pit was normally used to store water, but it was empty at the time.                                                                            Genesis 37: 23-24 New Living Translation      Then just as they were sitting down to eat, they noticed a caravan of camels in the distance…… Continue reading “OUT OF THE PITT” by Anonymous Guest Writer