Writers and Writing: Cyn Riley and Anne Bradford

Writer’s Block airs every Tuesday, at 9 a.m. MST on KFUN/KLVF, streaming live at www.kfunonline.com

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Listen to the podcast at http://wbvandermeer.podbean.com/2012/08/11/guests-cyn-riley-and-anne-bradford/

Collaborative Script Writing Brings Out the Best

CYN RILEY AND ANNE BRADFORD

Over the Edge V, Frack You is writing at its twisted best, not that the content is twisted… exactly, but the process of developing the script for the satirical outing is a process of birth by bits. Playwrights Cyn Riley and Anne Bradford spend a year getting ready from one production to the next.

Wait, that’s not right, Cyn said on Writer’s Block Tuesday they begin talking about writing the next one right after the current production ends, and then it’s November... January… February… March… about April they get down to business, over biscuits and tea.

It isn’t quite that way. Anne has ideas percolating in her head all year and throws them out to Cyn, who catches them on the fly and runs with them, crafting them into vignettes that will be played out this year on Por Que Fun Radio. There’s a bit of a send up on that as well, but I didn’t know that until I read the Optic front page story on Friday.

Over the Edge takes no prisoners. It’s topical, a trifle political (or is that an oxymoron), suggestive, satirical and just plain fun. 

Cyn and Anne not only wrote the show, they’re actively involved, Cyn as director and Anne doing “something,” she didn’t say what.

Script writing has its challenges. Cyn said you must visualize how the action is going to play out. It’s a matter of making the dialogue work in the framework of the play and the set. Recurring characters and newbies are woven into the story line, a factor that in the past has had audiences lining up for every performance.

Anne’s wacky since of the absurd makes her a perfect foil. “I just start thinking about how this or that would work out if this or that happened,” she said in her Brit accent. “I tell Cyn and she writes it up for the character who is most likely to speak those lines.”

Does it take a while to put the dialogue and scenes to paper? Cyn says she can knock it together in two days, once the idea is there. That doesn’t mean the script is cast in concrete. “We’re rewriting sometimes up to final rehearsals. If it’s not working we make it work.”

Over the Edge is meant to be funny. Audiences are ready and willing to laugh at the situations depicted on stage understanding fully that they are laughing at life and at themselves.

“That’s the chemistry that makes theater work,” Cyn said. “It’s different with each audience. The actors have learned to be ready for that. What got a laugh one night won’t get one the next. Or something one audience didn’t think was funny, another will laugh at.”

Script development is more than writing down words and collaboration has its own chemistry. The mix of Cyn and Anne continues to work because each contributes to the process in different ways. “The best part of writing the show is going to Anne’s for tea and biscuits,” Cyn said. They both laugh at this and then talk about what’s hard. There are a lot of ideas. Because of time constraints not all of them can be used. That’s part of the collaboration as well, pulling everything together into a seamless work. 

Over the Edge: Frack You, will be performed Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m., and at 3 p.m. on Sunday. All performances are at Sala de Madrid on the New Mexico Highlands University campus. Advance tickets are available at Tome on the Range and from ace ticket seller, Em Krall. General admission is $10, senior citizens $8, students with ID $5 and children under 12, $3.

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Writing and Writers: Alvin Korte, Ph.D

Writer’s Block airs every Tuesday, at 9 a.m. MST on KFUN/KLVF, streaming live at www.kfunonline.com

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Listen to the podcast at http://wbvandermeer.podbean.com/2012/08/11/guest-dr-alvin-korte/

 

Author Explores Hispano Culture

DR. ALVIN KORTE

Alvin Korte has an interesting background primarily centered around education and social work. He has bachelor’s degree from New Mexico Highlands University where he majored in psychology and biology with coursework in sociology. He received his masters in social work from Arizona State University and completed a doctorate at the University of Denver. He also attended a year of doctoral coursework at Washington University in St. Louis. He says he has had many careers in social work. 

“I was a school social worker in Phoenix and later in Taos Municipal Schools.  was I also a public welfare administrator charged with everything from child welfare to food stamps and everything in between.  

He taught for 27 years at NMHU, and has conducted research in aging, developmental disabilities and juvenile delinquency. He has long been an advocate for the elderly and a “…somewhat lobbyist on housing in Washington."

    

After leaving the university in 1999, he created the first domestic violence program in Las Vegas in 2003, and continued with the program until 2011.                                                                                                

He now spends time doing a genealogy and social study of one family of Bacas and Kortes.  I am part of an effort to study some of the German immigrant families in Mora in Territorial Days. He said he is also studying corruption using matrix methods. Last year the Las Vegas City and Rough Rider Memorial Museum published a booklet called Southwest Swastikas, which explains the emblems usage in Native American and other cultures.

In the midst of all that he wrote Nosotros, a book on Northern New Mexico Hispanics, which was the primary topic of our on-air discussion. The following is a summary of our discussion in Alvin’s own words.

Q&A With Alvin Korte:

WB: In what ways is your book, Nosotros, A study of Everyday Meanings in Hispano New Mexico an academic exploration of Hispano culture? 

AK: Nosotros is an academic book in that it uses two theoretic perspectives from Sociology.  It takes as its theoretical perspective the social philosophy of Alfred Schutz and the ethnomethology of Reyes Ramos and others. 

WB: What prompted you to write the book?

AK: Schutz was interested in the way people in everyday life made sense of everyday life. Life is naturally occurring and never given any attention unless conflict causes people to examine the “what’s going on” in this scene. Reyes Ramos was also interested in the way persons in everyday life made sense of their problematic events in their lives. He was an ethnomethologist (ethno meaning folks not ethnics). One other academic besides Ramos in of course Dr. Tomas Atencio.  His idea is called resolano, the south side of the houses where old men would collect to ponder the great questions of life. Atencio was interested in collecting this wisdom which he called El Oro del Barrio from people in everyday life. It is academic in that one uses the available literature to open these areas for study. I took classes with Dr. David Franks at the University of Denver. He taught a really crazy sociology class.  Sometimes we didn’t if we were coming or going. Dr. Clark Knowlton pushed many of us to study Hispanos way after we had graduated. Both Knowlton and Franks were inspiring teachers. I also hooked into the work of psychotherapist Dr. Rollo May to put these ideas from Existential Phenomenology  into use for psychotherapy. I first posed the question of a book to Dr. Knowlton who encouraged me to attempt such an undertaking. I found so much to write about. When I used to have more freedom I taught seminars on this material. It always went well. For many years we had to teach something about “cultural competence” but the books that purportedly were about such competence really sucked.   

WB: What audience is the book written for?

AK: I think this book could be useful to people working with Hispanos in a clinical setting but I’m not holding my breath. The book was used by a former student in a cultural counseling class this summer. I don’t know if the book was useful. I didn’t intend this book to be a social problems book. I worked very hard to make the book useful for someone who needed to understand what she or he might be up against, the nature of their problem but little about what do you do about the problem. I just don’t think one can define a problem in terms of its remediation.  

As an example, the whole idea behind Mancornado is to describe what happens in situations where the old  girlfriend is running around with a new guy and this guy experiencing loss, anger stalking or in many cases lands up in domestic violence class. Presenting the idea as I developed one guy said, “¡Eso me esta pasando a mi!”  A lot of the material has applications in so called mental health settings. I would hope that not only should academics read the book, but others. I know of five anthropologists who are reading it

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WB: What value is the book as a way to understand how modern Hispano culture is influenced by present day society?

AK: There are huge inroads being made by American culture on Hispano belief systems, values or language. Obviously if one no longer knows how to speak Spanish then one is not in a position to understand  some who have better understanding. We can’t communicate with our compatriots. Recently one gal at Walmart in dealing with an older customer apologized to him saying “Ya se me acabo el espanol” (I ran out of Spanish.) Yet one sees elements of culture being remembered, reconnected to its past. If re-membered then it isn’t forgotten. Two weeks ago I saw en entriega de novios. Not only was it well done but people in the party saw something of how it was done in the past. This is a reviving of cultural memory. Some of what we are--what we believe in--has a long history in Spain. The first corrido was written in 1060. Of course they were called romances. The corrido is very versatile. Rosita Alveres is a very old song written in 1910 and yet I still hear some of these songs New Mexico.  

WB: Talk about oral tradition. You include a lot of poetry in the book, which gives a broader sense of the depth of cultural expression.

AK: One of the chapters I didn’t want to write was the second chapter on the oral tradition. The more I got into it the more I appreciated it as a source of meaning. Dichos are highly developed social knowledge. Dr. Aurelio Espinoza from Stanford was collecting dichos, refranes in 1916. I see where they are republishing Dr. Sabine Ulibarri’s stories from Tierra Amarilla. I heard some guys doing hip hop in Spanish. This group was from Milwaukee. I thought at the time that the dicho could be used as a hip hop to teach kids value lessons. It would fit so nicely!  

I covered a lot of poetry that I found in a book by Drs. Anselmo Arrellano and Julian Vigil. It is an awesome collection of historical events. There are poems about people leaving Mora to go work as shepherds. One poem tells of the loneliness and brutal dry summer sheepherding in 1932 in Wyoming. Others tell of the 120 Combat Engineers on their way to go fight in Italy in WWII. One gets the sense of the meaning of these events. Additionally our oral tradition was used to provide grieving families with support. Andelica Gallegos would write these recuerdos for her neighbors in Taos.

WB: In the book you have a chapter on mortification. What does that mean and what is its implication in Hispano culture?

AK: We have to suspend what we believe or see in order to take a radical position toward the phenomena we are considering. It is called rendering reality strange (Natonson). I was talking in class one time about family violence. An older gentleman asked me, “Is that an example of mortificacion.”  Wow. It caused me to start an inquiry about mortification. It meant that this fellow was creating a hell for his Mexican-origin wife. She was using this word to describe what she was feeling. My folks used to say that my mentally ill sister was a mortification for them (Esta muchacha es pura mortificación, parece que nos pucieron una maldicion). Phenomenology attempts to get to the essence of a thing.  The essence of mortification is an experience of the death of a self, as an elderly couple in Questa said. “Junior’s drinking is pure mortificación for us.” They were saying that because of Junior’s drinking they couldn’t be parents to him, support him or give him counsel. They experienced this role as mortification. Schutz gave a nice idea by calling these experiences as typifications. Mrs. Benitez typified her situation as a mortificación. Hispanos have many typifications. I set out to document these typifications on a variety of everyday experiences. A woman dealing with a son-in-law who put a gun to her head experienced mortification. One cannot act in these situations. If one cannot act, meaning dies. This is mortification – a death of the self. This idea the basis of depression, as Ernest Becker taught us.

WB: Talk a little about the chapter having to do with shame, respect and joking around. I’ve been present when what started out as a joke turns into a shouting match.

AK: Carria is a joking exchange and part of the oral tradition. Every morning I hear it at the breakfast table when one of the guys gets ribbed about something he did of failed to do. It is not malicious just good natured ribbing. Carria comes from the carriles (chin straps) on soldiers’ helmets in Spain. Thus carria in a slap on the face. Sometimes these games become vicious. In most cases this goes on all the time where men are working. Cabula is also an insult only it is so abstract that the person getting it is not aware of being insulted. These are skilled philosophers plying their trade. One guy who sold rocks for a living took on an engineer. All of us caught the line he was playing out while the highly educated, credentialed engineer never got it. True cabulla. Face is what we present to the world, for others to uphold or deface. Face is also our cara. Face has a public and a private component. If the private part can be reached the face of the other can desecrate his or her value.  We have a name for such persons who disrespect. We call them descarado – literally without face or unable to handle the face or “line” the other has presented in the interaction. 

WB: What was the greatest challenge to writing the book? 

AK: I suppose the biggest problem was taking phenomenology and ethnomethodology as serious. I was trained in statistical and research methodology. Phen and ethno methods advocate  a different approach to research. They value the descriptive and the interpretive rather than the statistical, methodological based on the logical positivist.  Gertz, an anthropologist, called it thick description.   Some people have dismissed it as philosophy or irrelevant. Next would be the innumerable evaluations and re-writes. I’m sure there are bugs in the text. There were days which turned into weeks when I didn’t feel like writing. Dead spots of non-productivity when nothing productive or positive would occur. Writing is a solitary endeavor. One has to be a fanatic to write. I imagine it is the same problem in painting, or creating music.

WB: Did your research change your perceptions about how Hispano culture has evolved? 

AK: This is a difficult question to answer. This was not the goal of my studies. My aim was to look at typifications and attempt of consider issues of social interaction (inter-subjectivity), meaning (which is elusive), intentionality of consciousness, and other ideas from Existential Phenomenology and as found in the Encyclopedia of Phenomenology.  In short I also wanted to see how these ideas might be useful beyond the work of May and Becker. One of the ideas I added was the idea of a cultural history. 

Nosotros, A study of Everyday Meanings in Hispano New Mexico is available at Tome on the Range in Las Vegas, or at most online retailers. 

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Writers & Writing: Ray John de Aragon

Writer’s Block airs every Tuesday, at 9 a.m. MST on KFUN/KLVF, streaming live at www.kfunonline.com

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Ray John de Aragon

 

Author celebrates Hispanic culture and traditions

Ray John de Aragon is an educator at heart, which is good because he has spent much of his adult life creating learning opportunities for young people in Las Vegas and Los Lunas school districts. He is Las Vegas born and a lifelong student of life, Hispano culture and art. He follows dual disciplines, finding time to write definitive books based on stories he heard growing up, and a curiosity that lead him to write a book that corrected erroneous understanding of the state's early history.

As an artist he is creative while staying true to the traditions of style and interpretation. His writing has won a number of awards and he has been the subject of a number of articles and books. His enthusiasm about his work never stands in the way of his getting it right. He is a careful researcher and a dedicated historian. 

Below I share Ray John's responses to the questions we discussed during his Writer's Block segment July 17.

 

WB: Please start by telling the audience what you’ve been up to.

RJ: I’ve been working on a new project titled, The Hidden History of Spanish New Mexico.  This book will tell the story of the four hundred year history of the state and will include something about the heritage, culture, and traditions with information that is not readily available in any other book.

WB: Your books and art celebrate Hispano culture.  Share with us your thoughts on keeping one’s cultural traditions alive in an ever-changing world.

RJ: I don’t think people actually realize how much of how we react to things, our habits, and basic knowledge comes from those that came before us.  Cultural tradition is what shapes us as human beings, and it will continue to shape us on into the future.

WB: You’ve written a number of books, all of which have stood the test of time, creating a compendium of information that brings understanding to old Spanish and northern New Mexico traditions, and shines the light of understanding on often flawed depictions of history. Tell us about some of the books you’ve written and how your work has influenced or changed how we view the past.

RJ: I wrote my book, Padre Martínez and Bishop Lamy, because I was incensed at the way our legendary folk hero priest Padre Antonio José Martínez was depicted in Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop. Although it was a historical fictional novel people took it as the truth and saw the padre as an immoral lecherous priest. I felt I needed to counter that denigrating portrayal with the truth. I attempted to do the same thing with my book, Hermanos de La Luz, Brothers of the Light to present a more balanced look at the Penitente Brotherhood of New Mexico. The truth is most people want to hear about some rituals which have been sensationalized, rather than what was going on in the world around them. Actually their rituals reflected their faith and the strength it took to make it in a tough world and the penance they felt was needed to remind them that good moral decisions could only be made by picking up their cross and carry it, which was harder than taking the easy way out. Besides, the persecution they and their families endured by people who did not understand a culture different from theirs was a much greater penance than what they would have ever chosen. They were constantly being dragged out of their homes and beaten and sometimes they and their families were killed. It wasn’t meant to be a secretive society, but throughout history, from ancient times to now, the world has not always been kind to things they could not understand. I think my books have opened up an understanding and appreciation of the rich cultural and historical heritage and legacy of the four hundred year old Spanish history of New Mexico.

WB: How do you balance the time it takes to create a work of physical art and the artistic expression of writing, both of which take a monumental amount of time?

RJ: I go by the inspiration I feel at the time. If I feel like painting, I paint. If I feel like writing, I write.  If you want to do something bad enough, you sacrifice. Some people get to go on vacation, watch TV, sleep, etc., sometimes I have to give those things up and work on what I believe in.

WB:  Let’s talk about New Mexico Legends and Lore. Now, I’m Hispanic, on my mother’s side. I grew up learning what she remembered of stories she grew up with in Arizona, where my grandfather was a country sheriff and a sheepherder, but those stories were watered down, I think, by the fact we didn’t live in community with the traditions she grew up with. I will say, however, that in this book I recall similar types of stories. Do these stories sort of cross all cultures and come out in different ways?

RJ: I think that in all cultures the world over there are stories that have been passed down from one generation to the next that teach lessons or follow universal themes. It doesn’t matter what the color of our skin is, how our culture or traditions are different. We all want to be treated with dignity, to be loved, to be taken care of, to wish that our children could always be safe and protected. We are a very creative people and we find ways of expressing ourselves by making it interesting, magical, or frightful. Whatever works to get our point across. What youth wants to hear, “Don’t go into a canal with rushing water or ditch filled to the brim with water because you could drown!” Doesn’t it make a more lasting impression if one says, “I’ve heard that La Llorona is always looking for children who go near the water in the arroyos and if she catches them, they might not ever see their family again. So be very careful. You never know…” 

WB: What prompted you to put together this particular collection?

RJ: When I told the stories in the book to students at schools, at presentations around the state, at conferences, and at university classrooms I always enjoyed seeing how kids and adults would respond.  Since people seemed to be enthralled by the stories, I wrote them down.

WB: What stories resonated with you as a child and has that changed as you’ve matured?

The story of La Llorona is one I grew up with living next to the Arroyo Manteca near the Old Town Plaza here in Las Vegas. Of course my mother told me the story to keep me away from the arroyo, but as I grew older, my friends and I searched for La Llorona in the arroyo by day, but never by night. I decided to write a full-length book on La Llorona, The Legend of La Llorona, which is still in print. As a child I didn’t understand why the stories were told, but as an adult I understand the value in those stories. In today’s society, kids watch programs or play games where blood is gushing, or brains are bursting out of characters heads, but there is no value in the story, no moral learned, except maybe a “how to” guide on how to do the same things, but do it before it’s done to you, or do it well enough to not get caught.  People say its not real, but when it does become real some of us are shocked, others may think they were stupid because they got caught, and still others may think, “It’s not really that big of a deal!”

WB: Of the books you’ve written which has been your favorite?

I can’t say any one book I’ve written is my favorite. Each one had a purpose. I guess I could say, my next one and the one after that is my favorite. Each new book is the infant waiting to be born.

WB: Which has had the greatest impact and why?

At this point, Padre Martinez and Bishop Lamy has had the greatest impact. It has been referred to as a revisionist history by some, I say, “Is it a revisionist history because I dare to contradict what the so called “experts” have quoted over and over again without looking at the facts?” At one time it wasn’t easy to do research by looking at documents from primary sources or as close to the primary source as possible, but today there is no excuse for rehashing what somebody else has said with the technology that is available. I would say read and reread both the pros and cons, what are the statistics, what else was going on at the time, who is saying it, why they are saying it and then make your statement. Hey, there is nothing like history, the written words of those who lived it, and time will eventually bring out the truth. New “old” documents come out of secret government folders or hidden chests everyday. We just need to look for them. Sometimes we like what we find, sometimes we don’t.

WB: You have also written children’s books.  Talk a little about that.

RJ: It always seems that I have ten different projects going at the same time. Being a Title I reading teacher I always wanted to write children’s books because I saw how kids reacted to Dr. Seuss so I wrote City of Candy and Streets of Ice Cream. It sold well and now I have several children’s books in the works.

WB: On the book cover for New Mexico Legends and Lore, you quote a common New Mexico expression, “Fear always leads us to suspect the worst.”  Do you regard that as a caution to not be fearful or a defeatist reality? As in, the worst is bound to happen so I might as well get the fear part of it out of the way up front.

RJ: This famous New Mexico dicho most probably means something like, “If at first you don’t succeed, try again.”  What it also means is keep on trying until you do. We say, “Think before you leap!”  Sometimes, we have to leap before we think or we might not ever do it!

WB: Tell us about your author event at Tome on Saturday.

RJ: Tome on the Range is having a book signing on Saturday, July 21.  I will be there to sign the books and try to answer any questions you might have. We might be able to share some stories.

Ray John concluded with these words: I guess I could say that my hometown of Las Vegas provided me with all I know about ghosts, haunted houses and the legend of Billy the Kid. Our famous Padre Martínez also came into play. What I learned and what I grew up with is now the subject of my books.

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Writing and Writers: Jane Friedman

 Writer’s Block airs every Tuesday, at 9 a.m. MST on KFUN/KLVF, streaming live at www.kfunonline.com

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On the subject of e-media and 

new opportunities

Jane Friedman

Jane Friedman recently left her position as an assistant professor of e-media at the University of Cincinnati. She is the former publisher of Writer’sDigest, the go-to magazine for writers, and has spoken on writing, publishing, and the future of media at more than 200 events since 2001. Her new role is that of online editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review.

In our interview Jane said she comes from a creative writing and liberal arts background. Before entering academia for a couple of years, she worked in traditional publishing, first at a mid-size publishing house, and later at Writer’s Digest.  

While her new position at VQR is publishing related, there are distinct differences. VQR is a non-profit entity rather than commercial, and has a more literary approach to content.

Jane talked about her past experience and her new opportunities. I asked her to share her thoughts on what e-media means both from a promotions point of view and from a consumer’s perspective.

She said e-media is a funny term. In the university environment – and perhaps in the thinking of most people – it means anything related to communication: radio, television, internet and other electronic transmissions. New media more specifically focuses on the internet and on-line tools like e-books, blogs, websites and the various other, and seemingly growing, number of social media sites.

She said prior to issuing an e-book, authors should be comfortable with the scope of the online community, pointing out that if you’re not active online it will be more difficult to create a presence. Jane had a few recommendations for authors who are internet novices.

First Things First

• Create your own website where you have all the information about your books, events, or anything that’s going on related to your work. 
•  If you have no publishing partner research what’s out there and select what will work for you. Your decision will be based on what you know about your readers and how they will respond to what you have to offer.
• There are a number of resources available, two of which Jane recommended. Bookbaby and Smashwords are well-run companies used by thousands of authors. Neither is better than the other, but each provides options suited to author needs.

The use of e-media tools is based on the assumption the people you want to reach are active online. Jane said social media typically works as a triangle. 

• Readers and the types of sites and tools they use.
• You the writer, and the sites and tools you’re comfortable with.
• Your work.

The sweet spot it where they all come together. Some tools may be better suited to specific types of writing. Prose, poetry, fiction and non-fiction present different and distinct challenges in creating an on-line presence.  

Market research is essential in determining what will work, beginning with finding out where readers are and what they're doing (looking at) on line. There is no one specific tactic or strategy. Jane said what you use depends on the work itself and what you enjoy doing. If you don’t enjoy it (blogging, tweeting, facebooking -- my word not Jane's) you won’t continue to do it, and that’s what counts; consistency over the long haul. “Efforts snowball based on small actions you do every day. Those actions give you visibility, which eventually translates into a growing audience and your platform.”

Blogability

What are the elements of a good blog? Jane gave three easy-to-follow tips. 

• Make it easy to read. Don’t use blog templates that have small type or use white type against a black background.
• Create headlines that work. Make sure headlines, taken out of the context of your blog home, attract readers. Make your headlines search-friendly and related to your topic.
• Make your blog outward focused. Think about your readers and what will interest them. Use the principles of good writing: get to the point quickly, break up the post with headlines, subheads and bulleted lists and keep the writing tight, generally no more than 500 words, unless you already have a loyal following.

The Future of Publishing

We talked briefly about The Future of Publishing: Enigma Variations, Jane’s free e-book about, well, the future of publishing. The book is a slight departure from what she was encouraged to do. She had no interest in writing about the future of publishing because nobody knows what the future holds, especially when it comes to the publishing world. When she decided to proceed with the project she elected to say something about the topic in a humorous way. This parody contains a dozen or so chapters riffing on predictions made by others. I have to say, it’s fun to read. In the final chapter Jane gives her honest opinion.  

On to new beginnings

Jane’s new adventure in publishing is taking her back to her roots. She said around Virginia Quarterly Review they sometime refer to the journal as eating your vegetables. I took that to mean it’s good and good for you. VQR is comprised of high-quality journalism, essays of nurture, and photo journalism not found in other journals

Predominately a print publication VQR has been around since 1925. While there have been some digital versions, and there is a website, the online presence needs attention. Jane’s role is to revive the journal's social media impact and look for ways to build an online community. Through her efforts she will be promoting the brand, building content that lives online and translating the print edition into an online experience. Plans are to generate unique content for the website not related to the print version.

VQR does take submissions, but Jane said now might not be a good time to submit work as management is preparing to hire a new editor. She recommends checking online for updates. 

Generally VQR is theme-based by issue and full of photo and international journalism. Additional content includes short fiction, poetry and a range of essays. Content may be best described as eclectic. Check out archived articles online, or order a print edition to see what VQR looks like in living color.

Jane’s final advice to writers is to be patient. The publishing process in any form takes time. Don’t expect results within weeks, she said, and remember, "...small actions, every day, over a long period of time will pay off."

My thanks to Jane, who in the initial stages of her new job, took time to call in and talk about writing and the online tools you can add to your tool box.

(Photo of Jane from her website)

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Writing and Writers: Melanie Atkins

Writer’s Block airs every Tuesday, at 9 a.m. MST on KFUN/KLVF, streaming live at www.kfunonline.com

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The bodies drop in these plot-driven stories

My live interview with Melanie Atkins was a great conversation about her books, her muses and her ability to turn out new work regularly and on deadline. Melanie provided brief answers to my questions via e-mail and her responses are below.

Her stories are set in the deep south and filled with hot “…cop heroes and women who know what they want. No fainting violets here.”

As an inspiration Melanie stands apart. She didn't "...really get back into writing," until 2001, but when she did, she hit it full out and with commitment. She has published 13 books since 2004 and is working on number 14.

Interview Summary:

 WB: Let’s begin with you telling us how long you’ve been writing.

MA: All my life, beginning with stories about my cats when I was a kid. I wrote some in high school, then went to college and got married, and life got in the way. I started writing again after my divorce, got serious about seeking publication in 2001, and sold my first book in 2004.

WB: Was this what you always wanted to do and why?

MA: I never really knew what I wanted to do until I found writing again. Then I knew.

WB: Tell us about getting published

MA: I'm currently published with Desert Breeze Publishing and Whiskey Creek Press, but I do have plans to self publish an older title I pulled from another publisher. I'm going to see how it goes.

WB: What is the hardest part of book creation, the writing or the promoting and business side?

MA: Promotion is definitely the hardest. So many avenues exist now online, with so many social networking venues, blogs, websites... it's mind blowing.

WB: It seems you have a pen name for some of your books. What are the reasons authors use a pen name instead of always publishing under their given name?

MA: I use a pen name for all of my books except some mainstream Southern fiction. I still use my ex-husband's name (I kept it because of the kids) and I didn't want to use that on my books. So I chose a pen name.

WB: You stated in something I read that your cats are your muses. Talk a little about that.

MA: I talk to my cats sometimes as I bounce ideas around. They look at me, giving me the idea that they're listening, even though I know they're not. Helps me think. lol

WB: Give listeners a little background about your novels and what inspired them.

MA: I write suspense set in the deep south. Everyone has always told me to "write what you know," and the south is what I know best. I've also done a lot of law enforcement research and attended a lot of conferences to help me get it right when it comes to cop info, guns, and the like. I love mysteries and sitting on the edge of my seat. So... bodies drop quite frequently in my books. The darker the story, the better.

WB: You are a prolific writer. What is your writing schedule?

MA: I write all day a couple of days a week, and partial days the rest of the time. My mother is elderly, and I have to spend time with her and run her errands, buy her groceries, etc. Let's just say I write whenever I can.

WB: What is your preferred writing method – pen and paper? Computer? And why?

MA: Computer. I could never keep up with my ideas writing longhand.

WB: What writers inspire you?

MA: I love to read Lisa Gardner, Karen Rose, Linda Castillo, John Sanford, Tess Gerritsen, and Jonathan Hayes.

WB: What are you working on now?

MA: Right now I'm writing the fifth book in my Keller County Cops series for Desert Breeze. I'm on deadline, so I need to get it done.

WB: Tell listeners how they can get your books?

MA: All of my books are up at amazon.com and many other online outlets. I also have my entire library of books on an Apple app for iPhones/iPads, and an Android app for those devices. Makes it easy for people to find all of my titles, learn where I might be signing one of my print books, and read excerpts.

To give you an idea of the books Melanie writes, here are a few of the titles: Chosen Target, Prime Suspect, Marked for Murder, Blood Rite, and Deliverance From Evil. For more about Melanie and her work, go to her website at http://melanieatkins.com

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