Writers and Writing: Veronica Tiller

Books Photographs Track a Proud History

Veronica E. Velarde Tiller, PhD, and Mary M. Velarde, both members of the Jicarilla Apache Nation, chronicle the 1887–2000 history of the Jicarilla Apache through this pictorial history using more than 180 photographs from government archives, libraries, and tribal and family collections. Listen to the podcast of an interview with Veronica at http://wbvandermeer.podbean.com/2012/08/31/writers-and-writing-veronica-tiller/.

Writing and Writers: Tracie McMillan

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

The American Way of Eating: A Writer Becomes An Insider

From Tracie's Website

Tracie McMillan, author of The American Way of Eating, is an investigative reporter. That comes across loud and clear in her well-documented tale of the journey food takes from the field to your table. She is a talented writer who makes her experiences come to life with engaging detail mixed in with cold hard facts.

Kirkus Review wrote, “(The American Way of Eating is) “Full of personal stories of the daily struggle to put food of any kind on the table in today’s economy, McMillan’s book will force readers to question their own methods of purchasing and preparing food. Attentive foodies may already know much of the information, but on the whole, McMillan provides an eye-opening account of the route much of American food takes from the field to the table.”

I was by turns disturbed by conditions and incidents described in the book, learned from the data cited, and entertained by Tracie’s writing style. Her dedication to living within the means of whatever job she was in, a facet of her prep work for writing that was part of her research, says a lot about her dedication to getting the story. Tracie is a hard worker, everyone who worked with her over the course of her undercover investigation said so, and nothing informs understanding like living on the limited means of a farm worker, a Wal Mart employee or a kitchen worker at a restaurant. None of these are high paying jobs and managing a budget with limited resources was as much a part of the story Tracie followed in The American Way of Eating as the day-to-day challenges.

She lived for two months at each location, working with people, sharing their meals, learning about their lives and gaining an understanding of what it means to be part of the sometimes flawed machine that delivers food to supermarkets and restaurants and ultimately to our tables.

She dealt with on-the-job injuries, worked with incompetent managers, and learned that in most "super stores" food is treated with the same marketing mentality as toy trucks and batteries. She wrote about the food deserts that exist in large cities, which results in the inner city poor ending up eating whatever can be found in convenience stores (largely high in fat, sugar and salt, and low on nutrition). She became intimately acquainted with the reality of budgeting close to the bone. Through it all she recorded incidents that made dry facts wrenchingly real.

But there is the human side, revealed in the people who made her feel accepted despite being “the only white girl” in fields being harvested by immigrants and undocumented workers; landlords who extended hospitality when the budget was tight and the food pantry was light; co-workers who showed her the ropes and got her out of binds when she stubbornly insisted on powering through.

The American Way of Eating is less about food and more about life and the way most people live it. It is a wake-up call to those of us who assume all is well, when in truth many live in poverty, many work at menial and meaningless jobs and many rely on the generosity of others – inside and outside the system – to survive. The tenacity and empathy of many people Tracie encountered is a touching testament to the human spirit.

I enjoyed the interview with Tracie immensely. She is articulate, engaging and well-informed. Her award-winning articles about food, welfare and poverty have been widely published. For more information about Tracie and to read some of her work, go to www.traciemcmillan.com.

As a writer, I recommend reading this book. It’s good instruction for anyone who wants to learn what it takes to be an investigative journalist. Aside from that, it’s a darned good read. If you want to skip over the footnotes, the reading will go faster, but you will miss a lot of information that expands understanding about the subject matter and its human toll.

Excerpt from Tracie’s website: My name is Tracie McMillan. I live in Brooklyn, but I'm proud to say that I grew up in Michigan, about an hour from one of my favorite cities—Detroit. My dad was a lawnmower salesman and my mom had an English degree, and they moved us to Holly, a rural town outside of Flint, for good schools and open space. I was the oldest of three girls, and helped out at home when my mom fell ill around the time I was 7. The insurance company didn't want to pay for her care, so when she got too ill to live at home, she bounced between institutions that would hold off on charging us until the insurance company settled. She left our home when I was 12; we lost the case with the health insurance company when I was 14; and she died when I was 16.

Take time to read Tracie's bio. It helps to understand the road she has taken in life and the reason she is so good at what she does.

The American Way of Eating is available at Tome on the Range in Las Vegas, NM, in bookstores across the country and at online retailers. 
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Writing and Writers: Luke Benoit

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

All Storms Pass, a writer’s look at life in bits and pieces

Luke Benoit

Life coach and hypnotherapist Luke Benoit, author of All Storms Pass, the anti-meditations, has written a book about getting through life, based on your own self-affirmation, not based on a lifetime of hearing other people tell you what's wrong with you. Reading some of the meditations on the air during the show on Tuesday, and getting his responses about why he wrote them, made me think differently about how I regard others.

Luke pointed out that when you put your expectations and judgments on someone else, you are as good as saying, "Unless you're like me, I don't accept you.”

"That's insulting to the other person," Luke said.

Put in that context it redefines relationships as environments of acceptance rather than quagmires of rationalized discontent.

In the interview Luke came across as kind. I suspect that is his nature. He said he never intended to write a book. The meditations were thoughts he compiled and distributed to clients and friends. Over time he was encouraged to put them into book form and make them available. He finally did it and the acceptance has been overwhelming.

"I go to book signing events and the books just disappear."

Perhaps that's because everyone can see themselves in the snippets of encouragement written on the pages of, All Storms Pass.

Here are a few that resonated with me.

Today, I will stop waiting for

all the stars to align

Today I will give up the wish and the fantasy that someday

the stars will align, that someday it will be perfect and

everything will fall into place.

Because maybe this is it, right now... and the Happy Destiny

is the road and not the destination and it's already here.

___________

Sometimes I blow things

out of proportion

Sometimes I take things personally

and it hurts more than it should

when I think that you've hurt me

and sometimes

I hurt more than I should

when you blame me

and I feel compelled

to fix it.

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There is "me"

and there is who you think I am

and there is who I think I am

and beyond this, there is

who I Really am,

the True Self I have forgotten.

Today, I will learn to tell

the difference.

The meditations read like free verse poetry. All Storms Pass is a book you can pick up any time, turn to any page, and find something that will inspire you to think better of yourself, and of the world.

From Luke’s website: Luke Benoit is a Life Coach and Hypnotherapist who lives and works in Orange County, California.  He has worked as a consultant in the areas of Recovery, Personal Growth and Mental Health for 15 years, and previously worked in the film industry as a screenwriter and producer.  He holds an M.S. in Education from California State University, Long Beach and a B.F.A. in Film and Screenwriting from the USC Film School.

All Storms Pass may be ordered locally at Tome on the Range, through most on line retailers and from the author.

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Linking Writers to New Readers and Old Friends

Writing and the People Who Do It

Mind and desk equally cluttered.

I started Writers’ Block back on Nov. 1, 2011, so it is fairly new in the greater scheme of things. It has worked in some ways, and not so much in others. Overall I would say it has been successful. The listening audience is growing, locally and online, and I’m getting the sense it appeals to writers and the general public. I hear comments about how interesting people find the guests and the topics.

Particular favorites include shows that feature books by people who have dealt with traumatic life events like Ron Wootton-Green and Anne Hosansky, whose books are about grief and recovery after the death of a loved one, Cindy Charlton, whose work is in the most recent Chicken Soup for the Soul book, and Madeline Sharples’ book about her son who committed suicide following a long battle with bipolar disorder.

I created the Writers’ Block blog as a way to provide follow up to the programs each week and to talk about writing in general. The program updates include a summary of the on-air discussion and a brief review of the books we talked about. I also include links to the writers’ sites for easy access to more information about their work.

What has worked:

Tome on the Range contest winners

Guests. Wow! I can't say enough about the quality of guests I’m getting and their willingness to take time out of their day to talk to me! Amazing. The program isn’t terribly long – only an hour – so each guest gets about 25 minutes of talk time. That’s just enough to hit the high points and allow the writer to shine. 

Buy In. Writers’ Block has a sponsor, one that lends weight to the value of the show, and by its sponsorship, an endorsement of its value. Tome on the Range is an indie bookstore in Las Vegas, N.M. with a reputation for carrying the ordinary and the unique, catering to a wide variety of reading tastes. While you can get e-books online through their website, print and paper is the shop’s stock and trade. They can pretty much get anything in print. Customer service, programs for children, reading group discounts and literacy initiatives are key components of their success in a small market. Additionally they have discussion groups about topics related to books that resonate with the public and are trending as topic-worthy across the country and around the world. I thank them for all they do in and for the community. About every four to five weeks a guest from Tome comes up to talk about new reads on the shelves.

Venue. I know there are many internet-based talk shows out there, but I wouldn’t have clue-one how to make that happen. It has to be pretty simple and straightforward for this old gal. Thanks to Joseph and Loretta Baca of KFUN/KLVF Radio, I have a platform, and a pretty darned good one at that. Joseph is the tech guy and I’m (and I love this by the way) the talent. Of course the real talents are the writers I have as guests. The program streams live on the internet, expanding its audience and the reach of Writers’ Block.

What hasn’t worked (at least not as well as I’d like):

Writing prompt challenges: Every two weeks I post a writing prompt on my website and solicit writers to send in submissions. The prize is being a guest on Writers’ Block (call-in or in-studio), reading the winning entry on the air, and the gift of my e-book, Tiger Lilly. Response has been spotty at best, but I’m going to hang in there! 

Blog readership growth: Writers’ Block is a package deal in that a writer gets two shots at exposure. The first is of course being on the air, the second is the program summary in the blog, which contains links to their sites. It is largely for and about the writers, and consequently I would love to have “conversations” develop from the posts. Additionally I will be doing other writing-related posts and want feedback from that as well. I’m taking a Writer’s Digest course entitled Blogging 101, which I hope will give me a handle on how to be a more effective blogger.

Am I pleased at the progress Writers’ Block has made since November, a mere six months ago? I’ve learned in life to be grateful for every blessing, and I feel hugely blessed to be where I am today with this show. Do I have goals for the future of the program and the blog? The good Lord gave me a brain for a reason. I intend to put that brain to work on expansion and improvement.

For more about what I do, check out my other blogs, Joy in the Morning and Rambling Prose, and my website, www.vandermeerbooks.com.