Memoir: Parry finds herself while at sea

Check out Jackie's KDP countdown, which starts today (Nov. 21). Of Foreign Build will be (0.99 for 24 hrs, $1.99 for 24 hours and $2.99 for 24 hours, then back up to the regular price) 

Welcome to Jackie Parry. Originally from the UK, Jackie is now an adopted Australian. She grew up with horses in the UK, but in her twenties she ran away to Australia and met and married Noel. They decided to buy a boat and set sail. Together they have sailed around the world one-and-a-half-times and had many ocean and inland waterway adventures. Now, Jackie (and Noel) are commercial skippers and maritime teachers. Currently Jackie is exploring the French canals on a Dutch barge with her Australian husband.

What brings your writing into focus-- the characters, the stories, the love of words? I will be writing fiction next year. So far I have published two non-fiction books. To answer your question though, the characters and the path they are on. Words fascinate me also. From an early age I was enchanted with the fact that black words on white paper could evoke such intense emotions (see the last question). I found this incredible and still do. So, what I am trying to say, it is the blending of characters, stories, scenes, senses and words and a balance of all these, too.

How do you find time to write and do a demanding job? If you really want to write, you find the time. How? I get up early and forget about breakfast - that is my time, in thirty minutes you can write a lot of words! I write during breaks and lunchtime. I have been known to stay late at work, hide away and write.

Would you share a bit about your next project? My next book is called A Standard Journey. It is about an extraordinary journey Noel (my husband) and I took with five horses (Standardbreds) and a tent. Living with five animals and all seven of us relying on each other was an incredible experience. The bond we fostered was stronger than I ever imagined. It is not a book about how to go trekking with horses – indeed we did not do it that well (as you will see)! But we did rescue our five boys, adopted them, and they turned from scared, blinkered beasts into magnificent members of our family. I will be donating a percentage of sales of this books to helping save more horses. You may be able to tell, horses are a great passion of mine.

What are your top three reasons for writing? (1) The voices in my head, I have to get them out. Well, maybe it isn’t so much the voices – it’s the words, the ideas, the scenes. I just can’t stop. I have never suffered with writer’s block. (2) I have too many ideas that I need to release from my head. (3) To empty my head onto paper is very cathartic for me.

What's the highest compliment someone could make about your writing? You made me laugh, you made me cry.’ (Someone did say this to me after reading Of Foreign Build).

OF FOREIGN BUILD: After suffering an emotionally-brutal bereavement and against her counsellor’s advice, Jackie ran away. Suddenly within a new culture, with a new husband, and no friends, she was living in the obscure world of cruising with zero knowledge of boats.

Crashing within the first twenty-four hours, Jackie realised life would never be the same again; a floating home with no fridge or hot water, and with a dinghy instead of a car. Suffering self doubts, she became fearful of her new world.

The first off-shore voyage took Jackie into a ferocious storm, which battered her physically and mentally. Amid the raging seas, Jackie shed the fear she’d been harbouring.

Soon she was blissfully voyaging around the world, but she still carried the mixed emotions of losing one man, while falling head over heels in love with another.

Not only did Jackie deal successfully with the challenges of her new existence, she also battled with the testosterone fuelled nautical world to become both a professional captain and a qualified maritime teacher.

Most importantly, Jackie found herself.

Website: www.jackieparry.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoelAndJackiesJourneys

Twitter: @nandjjourneys

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/jackieparry7543/

Of Foreign Build: http://www.amazon.com/Foreign-Build-Corporate-Sea-Gypsy-Woman-ebook/dp/B00OQBWJJE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415116513&sr=8-1&keywords=of+foreign+build

Cruisers' AA: http://www.amazon.com/Cruisers-AA-Accumulated-Acumen-ebook/dp/B00OQ938WI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415119609&sr=8-1&keywords=Cruisers%27+AA

Becky Lewellen Povich: Writing is like trying to solve math word problems

The Writers' Lens welcomes Becky Lewellen Povich, a fellow writer from the St. Louis Writers Guild!

Becky was born in Illinois and has lived in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Germany, and Washington State, making Missouri her home since the 1970s. She loved reading books from a very young age, and also enjoyed writing letters to pen pals. That was really the beginning of her writing career, although she never looked at it that way. She was almost 50 years old when a family crisis brought out the writer in her and she hasn’t been the same since! Before and during the years she spent writing her memoir, From Pigtails to Chin Hairs: A Memoir & More, Becky had stories published in Chicken Soup for the Soul books, other anthologies, newspapers, and journals. She’s presently working on the memoir’s sequel, due out sometime in 2015.

What brings your writing into focus-- the characters, the stories, the love of words? Stories are what brings my writing into focus. MY stories, MY memories, and how I relate them to the reader.

Fill-in the blanks: Writing/Editing books is like trying to solve math word problems. You never know what kind of answer, or how many answers you’ll come up with!

What's your favorite way to interact with fans/readers? That would definitely be in person. I love to talk about my writing journey; how it’s never too late to discover a talent that’s been undetected for so many years. I like to tell the story of how I didn’t even realize I could write until I was 48 years old. I enjoy motivating others to try their hand at something they long to do, whether it’s writing, painting, playing music, etc. Life is way too short to not go for our dreams. I truly believe in Thoreau’s quote: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagtined

***

In From Pigtails to Chin Hairs: A Memoir & More, Becky Lewellen Povich takes us from her young Illinois childhood in the 1950s to present day life in St. Peters, Missouri. Each chapter is a scene from everyday life and/or unexpected events written in the way only Povich can, with humor and poignancy woven into them. She relates tales of Christmases, summertime fun, selling homemade potholders, and putting on parades with neighborhood friends. Also her fear of the dentist and her parents’ scheme to help, plus long car rides visiting grandparents in Greenfield, Iowa.

She willingly shares the bittersweet times, too, which include her parents' divorce, major disappointments, preteen and teenage angst, a whack on her head from a falling crowbar, and her ill-fated first marriage, spent mostly in Germany. She also comically writes about her happy second marriage, cell phones, dishwashers, and how she was born with a klutz gene.

  

Blog: http://beckypovich.blogspot.com/

Website: http://www.beckypovich.com/ (Book can be purchased here via Pay Pal)

Where to buy Becky's memoir:

STL Books & Gifts, 100 W. Jefferson, Kirkwood, Mo 63122

Thistle & Clover, 407 S. Main, St Charles, Mo 63301

Miss Aimee B’s, 837 First Capital Drive, St. Charles, Mo 63301

http://www.amazon.com/  (Also available for Kindle)

Linda Austin: Memoir shares elements of fiction writing

Guest Post by Linda Austin

    November is National Lifewriting Month where everyone, writer or not, is encouraged to work on writing down their own stories or those of their family members, particularly elders. Lifewriting captures personal stories, often including history and culture, and may provide inspiration and healing. While memoir has gotten a bad rap the last few years as several authors have been outed for telling blatant lies or accused by family members of great exaggeration, memoir really is nonfiction. But, it is narrative nonfiction, a peculiar cross between nonfiction and fiction.

    A good memoir is not a stuffy history book immersed in dates and facts or a boring recitation of what happened. It is telling a story that happens to be true, and telling it in living color. A memoir may have one overall story arc or be a series of short stories following the path of an overall arc. Like fiction, each chapter must entice and lead the reader to the next.

    A memoir should begin with a hook, have a plot, and bring the reader into the protagonist’s life with realistic dialog and well-developed characters—just as in fiction. Plot should include conflict and resolution. The writer must stick with a theme, avoid distractions, and be skillful if including backstory. Common memoir themes include overcoming tragedy or abuse, surviving or dealing with an illness, learning an important life lesson, discovering oneself. They say a good writer can turn even the most boring life into an interesting story, but then no one actually has a boring life.

    Some memoirs are a series of short stories with an overall theme. Imagine a chapter book from elementary school, or a series of related flash fiction pieces. Each chapter can stand alone with a little hook and a final sentence of resolution or summary. This type of memoir is more common when telling stories that focus on culture or history, such as growing up on a farm or growing up in the 60s. This style is also effective for humorous memoir, say, about parenting experiences or moving to a different country.

    Perhaps the main difference between memoir and fiction is that fiction, even fantasy, must be believable, whereas in memoir, the truth can seem impossible.

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Linda Austin wrote and published Cherry Blossoms in Twilight, her mother's memoir of growing up in Japan around WWII, and became an advocate of lifewriting. She encourages others via her Moonbridgebooks.com website to write their stories or that of their elders as legacy gifts for their families. 

Recently Linda published Poems That Come to Mind, a collection of short poems, mostly haiku and tanka, inspired by the journey through her mother’s Alzheimer’s care.

 

Dancing with the Devil

When writing mysteries, crime dramas, and horror writers, sometimes have to delve into the darkest part of humanity and what it means to be human. This Monday, The Writers' Lens is going to give its readers an opportunity to do the same. This week we're giving away a free copy of Dancing with the Devil by Louis Diaz and Neil Hirschfield.

Dancing with the Devil is one of the most accurate, painful and memorizing memoirs regarding undercover work that I have read. Most people get snippets of news and tiny peek at the war on organized crime across the television sets over breakfast or dinner and then go about their daily lives believing that they are completely safe from the terror is just outside the door. We often forget that there are human "sheepdogs" the stand between the wolves and the people. Some the "sheepdogs" wear the uniform and probably show their badge. Others must go undercover.

We rightly welcome home our veterans from wars overseas, and into family arms and friends they can find sanctuary again. But what is it like to return home every day and know that your home, your loved ones, your closest of friends, or in the middle of a war zone? What is it like to not be able to tell them what you do for fear that would put them into danger?

Reading books like Dancing with the Devil and talking to those who have lived this life would open your eyes to a world you may never have understood existed.

How do you win a free copy of this memoir?  To enter the contest, simply leave a comment or question on The Writers' Lens between now (February 6th) and midnight February 11, 2012. Please include your email so I can reach you if you win. The more comments you leave, the greater your chance of winning the contest. If you refer others to The Writers' Lens who mention your name in their comments, we will enter your name again in our random number generator along with theirs, also increasing your chances at winning! The winner will be chosen after 11:59 PM on Saturday February 11, and the announcement made on Sunday, February 12. Good luck and comment often.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com and www.thewriterslens.com. Fiction is the world where the philosopher is the most free in our society to explore the human condition as he chooses.