Author Interviews: Kathleen M. Rodgers

Q&A: Authors unleashed

Kathleen Rodgers, Writer's Block guest on KFUN/KLVF, Feb. 5, grew up in a family of six kids in Clovis, N.M., home of Cannon Air Force Base and the Santa Fe Railroad. She spent countless hours in a rocking chair, daydreaming about what it would be like to be someone else. Little did she know then she was creating stories in her head. Her work has appeared in Family Circle Magazine, Air Force, Army & Navy Times, Family: The Magazine for Military Families, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Albuquerque Journal, Clovis News Journal, and in three anthologies: “Because I Fly,” by McGraw-Hill, “Lessons From Our Children,” by Health Communications, Inc. and “Hearts of Steel,” by Military Writers Society of America.

In 2008, Leatherneck Publishing released her debut novel “The Final Salute.” The following year, Army Wife Network selected it as their July 2009 book club pick and Military Writers Society of America awarded it the Silver Medal. In July 2011, the e-book edition was released by Navigator Books. That paperback edition hit the Amazon Bestseller list in 2010 and the Kindle edition November 2012.

H. What do you want people to know about you as a writer?
K. Whether I’m writing a nonfiction piece for a magazine or newspaper or working on a novel or short story, I write to get to the truth. I try to create an emotional impact that will draw my reader in. My former editor at Family Circle Magazine once told me, “Your strength as a writer is your storytelling ability.” This is around the same time that I pulled back on my freelance work and tried to concentrate on the manuscript that would grow up to become “The Final Salute.”

H. What is the earliest piece of writing you remember doing? Why did it stay with you?
K. I wrote a short mystery in seventh grade. I don’t remember the characters or much about the story, but I recall it had three main elements: a trap door, a basement, and skeletons. Looking back, I realize that story was probably my first stab at fiction. Why does it stay with me all these years? That’s the first time I can recall transferring a story in my head onto paper. Of course it was scribbled in sloppy cursive into a spiral notebook. Even then, I don’t think I stayed within the lines. Pretty risky stuff for a shy seventh grader.

H. Who most encouraged your writing?
K. The first person that comes to mind is Bill Kopf, my high school newspaper advisor at Clovis High School. Mr. Kopf let me write about Big Foot and UFOs instead of school news. He also encouraged me to enter a statewide writing contest sponsored by the New Mexico Press Women’s Association where I won first place for “Strange Blobs of Light Whiz Through the Night,” an article about UFOs. My first real boss was Mike Slinker at Eastern New Mexico University. Mike hired me as a student writer in what was then Information Services. After attending ENMU for two semesters, I moved back to Clovis and Bill Southard, the managing editor of the Clovis News Journal, hired me as a cub reporter. Initially, my job was to write first birthdays, obits and headlines. Within a week I was writing front-page feature stories.

My aunt, Kay Lamb of Albuquerque, gave me my first subscription to Writers Digest when I was a senior in high school. She, along with my late uncle gave me my first typewriter, a portable turquoise manual I carried everywhere. My mother bought me my first briefcase with my initials on the handle. Then there’s my longtime writing mentor and friend, Parris Afton Bonds, a New York Times bestselling author. I met Parris in 1984, and she has stayed steadfast in her belief in my work. My husband Tom, is a huge source of support. He pushes me to get my work done. And last but not least, my READERS. They’ve become some of my biggest cheerleaders.
H. What inspired “The Final Salute?” 
K. Two things: Fighter pilots dying in peacetime training missions, and how the brass cover up sex scandals in the military. The story is based on the years I spent as a military wife married to an Air Force fighter pilot. I was twenty-one years old when I married into the world of military aviation. A world I thought was full of parties at the Officer’s Club, the roar of jet engines, and a place where my husband and the other pilots lived on the edge of the envelope at a speed faster than the rest of us.

Early in my marriage, I learned about the other side of military aviation. The side that nobody likes to talk about when a plane goes down. When a hush goes over a squadron of men like a black pall because earth and sky have collided and one of their brothers isn’t coming home. In one year alone, my husband and I lost eleven friends in air mishaps. And this was during peacetime. But the crashes kept coming, and the death toll rose. We toasted the dead and partied on.

I learned to accept two things about my husband’s career choice: His job could kill him, and he loved every minute of it. When I started writing the novel twenty years ago, my main goal was to give a voice to the men who perished flying for their country and the women and children they left behind.

H. How did you market your book?
K. Without the help of an expensive publicist, I used modern technology and old-school methods to gain national attention for my book. Write-ups have appeared in The Associated Press, USA Today, Military Times, Family Magazine, Mobile Press-Register, Midwest Book Review, Fort Worth-Texas Magazine, the Star-Telegram, and many other publications. The Final Salute hit #1 on Amazon's Top Rated War Fiction in 2012 and #2 on Amazon's Bestseller list in Military Aviation in 2010. In 2009, Army Wife Network selected The Final Salute for their July book club, and that same year I won a Silver Medal from Military Writers Society of America.

H. Do you typically base your characters on specific people or are they composites... or are they completely created out of thin air?
K. My characters are composites of other people. I like to think of my fiction as a combination of real life and make-believe. When mixed together, you have a rich and satisfying gumbo. At least that’s my goal as a novelist.

H. What is your writing process like?
K. I whine a lot. Then I realize how lucky I am. A writing instructor at SMU reminded me recently that writing fiction is a privilege that so many people in the world don’t get to indulge in. Even when I’m writing a first draft, I’m constantly revising. I write longhand on legal pads, in journals, on Post -it-notes, in the margins of the church bulletin and on the computer. The writing life is a messy life, but it’s the only life I know.

Many years ago I was contracted to write a story about ADHD for Family Circle. The 2500 word piece was puzzled together using sticky notes, napkins, scraps of paper, index cards. In a photo my husband snapped of me at work, I’m seated on the living room floor with all those notes fanned out in front of me. There’s nothing linear about my process, but with the magic of computers, I can put it all together into some semblance of order.

Since “The Final Salute” was written on speculation, I had to impose my own deadlines, and I had to keep telling the ugly voices in my head to shut up. One voice kept asking, “Who are you to tell a story about fighter pilots? You’re a woman. You’re not even a pilot.” I learned to trust my storytelling abilities and my life experiences, and that combination gave me the authority I needed to complete the novel and put it through numerous revisions.

H. What writers inspired you as a child? What writers inspire you now?
K. I wasn’t a big reader as a child, but the book – or series – that got my attention was “The Boxcar Children.” My oldest sister and I used to act out the stories in our backyard, taking turns being each of the characters. Then imagine my delight as a young writer to learn that I'm a descendant of Samuel Langhorne Clemens on my Grandmother Virgie Clemens side. I’ve been trying to channel him for years.

Although I was born and raised in New Mexico, I’ve always been drawn to southern writers. When I was young and trying to find my own voice, I practically worshipped at the feet of Pat Conroy. My favorite African-American author is Ernest J. Gaines. I’ve read “A Lesson Before Dying,” “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” and “A Gathering of Old Men” at least twice. Mark Childress’ novel “Crazy In Alabama,” taught me that a good story could have a reader laughing and crying at the same time. That’s what I tried to do in “The Final Salute.” I tried to balance the serious stuff with lots of dark humor.

Two of my favorite female novelists are the late Carol Shields and Irish novelist Maeve Binchy. Both have a gift for turning the ordinary family situation into the dramatic without it coming across like a soap opera. That’s my goal, too.

H. What are you writing now?
K. A midlife coming-of-age novel titled “Johnnie Come Lately.” I’m about four scenes shy of completion. In the story, closet writer Johnnie Kitchen has a crisis that turns explosive, exposing a secret that tears her family apart. Still haunted by her mama’s disappearance and her father’s death in Vietnam, Johnnie turns to her journal, penning irreverent letters to the missing and dead. It’s 2007, the country is involved in two bloody wars, and her youngest son enlists in the military against her will. Rebuffed in her efforts to repair the damage she’s inflicted on her now-estranged husband, Johnnie finds herself trapped in a terrifying emotional spiral that threatens to trigger a relapse of her bulimia, which almost killed her. On top of that, a mysterious woman who looks like her mama has been seen around their small town of Portion, Texas.

After “The Final Salute” came out in late 2008, I thought I was done exploring the military in my fiction. Then my youngest son joined the Army. Let’s just say it’s had an impact on my work. My goal is to find a major publishing house, but the industry is changing so rapidly. One way or another “Johnnie Come Lately” will find an audience.

H. Where can people get “The Final Salute”?K. Thee-book edition is available at Amazon: www.thefinalsalute.com
The paperback edition is almost sold out, but used copes are available on Amazon and other online retailers.

I would like to add in conclusion that if you have a dream, go out there and chase it. God gave me a teaspoon of talent and a jug of determination. When mixed together, I milk it for all it’s worth.

Author’s website: www.kathleenMRodgers.com
Kathleen M. Rodgers
Author of the Amazon best-selling novel, THE FINAL SALUTE
Ranked #1 in Amazon's Top Rated War Fiction - 2012
http://www.kathleenMRodgers.com


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If you are an author interested in a Q&A interview on Writers' Block, e-mail your query to sharon@vandermeerbooks.com. You will be contacted for more information. The interview will appear in Happenstance, a digital magazine, and on this blog.

Sharon Vander Meer is the author of four books. She publishes Happenstance, a bi-monthly digital magazine featuring the work of talented writers in a variety of genres. Fiction, nonfiction, memoir, essays, articles and opinion pieces will be considered. Compensation is not available at this time. The magazine is available by paid subscription. Contributing writers will be given a complimentary subscription. For more information about submitting work, contact sharon@vandermeerbooks.com

Author Interviews

Q&A: Alexander Valdez

 H. Please tell our audience a little about yourself.
A. I am a graduate of the University of Southern California Cinema-Television Master’s Degee program. I learned editing there and I also apprenticed under Academy Award Winner Gray Frederickson and Albert S. Ruddy as well as his business partner Andre Morgan.

H. What are ideation tools and how do you teach the concept?
A. Ideation tools are what help a seasoned writer to make well formed story tools. Examples of Story tools I give in my book are characters or scenes. Ideation tools help these to be more polished. I put forwards the following eight elements of story: The Hero, The Arena, The Spectacle, The Goals, The Opposition, The Gain, The Benefit and the Resolve. I go into more detail and I also put forward in the Screenwriter’s Notebook, Twelve Pictographs writer’s questions. These are also in my writer’s Guide which has a free electronic version at my website, www.cinema-libre.com

H. Why did you write these books?
A. I helped a group of students while I was in film school. I found so much of what we were trying to do was repetitive to processes I have learned in other places, but how was the first time writers supposed to know where to begin? I set these books out as a series of guides, one Your Story Begins: Advance your ideas to Words, functions as my guidepost to what I hope will be a growing movement in Cinema-Libre, the other is a step-by-step fill in the blank I would like to use for each of my projects, guiding each of them to a more cinematic and exciting film.

H. How is screen writing different from writing for other media?
A. In screenwriting, so much of the number of words on the page go into the structure of cinema. Dialogue is actually normally very sparse. The majority of your writing goes into describing the physical action the motion of the motion picture will show. Many times, in cinema, the more simple the action the better. Get your characters to the point they are doing something which film can represent.

H. How do you describe your books?
A. Screenwriter’s Notebook is great for young writers, new writers and writers looking for something new in their process, designed to be helpful all the way to screenplay. It expands a writer’s basic efforts in to a simple, straightforward point towards a path any writer can use to advance their ideas to words. Your Story Begins is more of a preparation book where writers can gather their goals and measures, no matter how large or small and put themselves to the mindset of the writer.

H. What do you want your readers to get from reading these books? A. The books function in a series. The main book, Your Story Begins: Advance your ideas to words, I am hoping to ignite in the readers something primal. I begin with anthropology and the essence of story. From there, I move to propaganda and social goal. I talk about goal setting and measure, and I do use examples of other writer’s successes even a first time writer can emulate. The Screenwriter’s Notebook is a fill in the blank guide to get seasoned writer’s writing and to get novice writers focused and moving the pen. They work hand-in-hand with my Writer’s Guide, which I offer a free version of with a valid email address at my website www.cinema-libre.com. I also have a paper version available at amazon.com.

H. What are the five most important things to keep in mind when you write a screenplay?
A. Where you are going with the story, what you are building towards in cinematic showmanship, what your heroes overcome, what led your characters to the point of action, and what makes your heroes unique.

H. In the description of "The Screenwriter's Notebook" it says the book is a fill-in-the-blank guide to writing a story, which is native to you. Talk about what “writing a story, which is native to you,” means.
A. I put a lot of effort into each writer getting back from the screenwriter’s notebook what they want. My structure is intentionally to the background so what they want out of the screenplay is what they get, something they as a writer felt to be a story worth telling. We as a writers are the champions for our own stories, we are the ones who move the words on the page to make the story move. I wanted to reach writers who are passionate and give them a way where they would know how to begin. Just last week I met a woman, a dental assistant, who admitted she would love to be a writer, she comes up with plots all the time, but she didn’t know where to begin. I suggested she give these books a try.

H. The notebook format is a guide. Who will most benefit from what it has to offer?
A. The notebooks were designed with a remedial audience in mind, but I tried to make them with an artist as the audience. When someone is really just starting out, this structure will help anyone to write their main characters and opponent characters as well as support characters while taking them step-by-step through 38 scenes with guidelines and goals for the overall project, as well as sending them in the right direction to go beyond the notebook. I honestly do feel, at $6.95 they are an excellent value and I genuinely believe they can help anyone.

H. In what ways is character development different when writing a screenplay?
A. Writing for film is a deft art form. A motion picture is really about showing a story. When you write characters for a screenplay, you don’t have the advantage of portraying the inner monologue of the characters, but you do have the added advantage of showing things in their life.

H. What did you learn about yourself in the course of writing these books you didn’t know before?
A. When I was a painter’s apprentice, my interest in making films was fairly unique to the work site. Now, in the film industry, the knowledge I gained as an apprentice is the unique thing. Going over these old stories and jokes, I really took interest with some sentimentality to the old days exterior painting. One of the things I learned as an apprentice is the doingness of getting things done. I am glad to have several of these lessons fresh in my memory.

H. What are you working on now?
A. I am trying to get every thing together to offer a film festival. I’ll probably have a link up at indiegogo soon. I am also trying to get more interest at my weblogs, which I would encourage your listeners to participate in at www.cinema-libre.com. The blogs are free and open. We have made a no- derision decision, so we have a very friendly and supportive atmosphere.

H. Where can people get your books?
A. My paperback books are available at amazon.com and at my website www.cinema-libre.com, which is the only place they can get the free electronic version of my Writer’s Guide. Your Story Begins is available at the iTunes store and also for kindle and the paperback is available at amazon.com; www.cinema-libre.com is the only place they can get the hardcover other than lulu.com, my printer. If they go to amazon, just do a search with my name, Alexander Valdez, and all three are there on the first page of results. I also want to let everyone know I would love any and all participation at my weblogs and in my film movement. The weblogs are free and I am also offering a free download of the electronic version of my Writer’s Guide All you need is a valid email address.
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If you are an author interested in a Q&A interview on Writers' Block, e-mail your query to sharon@vandermeerbooks.com. You will be contacted for more information. The interview will appear in Happenstance, a digital magazine, and on this blog.

Sharon Vander Meer is the author of four books. She publishes Happenstance, a bi-monthly digital magazine featuring the work of talented writers in a variety of genres. Fiction, nonfiction, memoir, essays, articles and opinion pieces will be considered. Compensation is not available at this time. The magazine is available by paid subscription. Contributing writers will be given a complimentary subscription. For more information about submitting work, contact sharon@vandermeerbooks.com

Schedule through Jan. 29, 2013

Writer’s Block is a weekly radio program on KFUN/KLVF in Las Vegas, NM, featuring the work of writers in most every genre. To query about booking contact sharon@vandermeerbooks.com.

Jan. 8, Michael Hebler
From Michael’s website: In addition to writing, Michael is a film publicist. He began writing in college where he was fortunate enough to watch his first penned one-act play performed on stage by the Orange Coast College Theatre Department. He was hooked from that moment and the writing bug has never left. He currently has two publications, Hunt for the Chupacabra, a free e-book short story, preceding the events of Book I, Night of the Chupacabra.

Jan. 15, Blaize Nolynn

From Blaize’s website: About the book Firefighter Down, District One: Life isn’t promised. When the tones go off you never know who needs you the most or even worst, who will you set your own life down for. My father was a captain who set his life down for me in a fire. Now it is my duty to find out how that fire started and who started it. The guy that killed my father didn’t just kill him in a normal way, he killed him with his worst nightmare. My father wasn’t killed by a gang shooting or an accident, he was killed in the most painful way this person knew how to kill my father. He unleashed the animal on him and myself. I am not talking about an animal like a wild or domestic animal, I am talking about the elemental animal, the one known as fire.

Jan. 22, Mary Hanley
About the Book “Romance and Murder in the Cinque Terre: Former Special Forces Commander Drake Harrington and his partners find themselves on a trail of lust, murder, and vengeance that lead them from San Francisco to Rome, and then to the Cinque Terre area of Italy. An unexpected encounter with a beautiful brown haired woman puts Drake’s life on the line as he strives to save her from a serial killer’s need for revenge.

Jan. 29, Alexander Valdez

The discussion will be about Mr. Valdez’ books, Your Story Begins: Advance Your Ideas into Words, and the companion Screenwriter’s Notebook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finishing Your Screenplay.”   
Alexander Valdez is a National Merit Scholar and the president and visionary for Vision Quest Entertainment Incorporated. He has edited for the Spanish language television show Buscando Amor and is the author of, Your Story Begins: Advance Your Ideas into Words, and A Writer’s Guide to the Hero’s Journey: The Eight Elements of Story with Twelve Story Question Pictographs. He received a Bachelors Degree in the Fine Art of Drama and a Masters Degree in the Fine Art of Cinema-Television Production.
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To hear samples of recent Writer’s Block programs go to http://wbvandermeer.podbean.com/. To download program format go to http://www.vandermeerbooks.com/WritersBlock_copy.pdf

This is from the mid-December issue of Happenstance Literary. Get your subscription today for only $12 at http://www.vandermeerbooks.com/Subscribe.html. Through the end of December purchase a subscription for yourself and get one free for someone else. Go to this link http://www.vandermeerbooks.com/happenstance11-15-12rev.pdf to access a complimentary copy.

Happy Thanksgiving and new beginnings

I not only have change, I have a plan... sort of

 If you have read the most recent Happenstance Literary you will know Dec. 18 is the final live Writer's Block radio show featuring writers from around the country and Canada. I make this decision with some ambivalence because I do enjoy what I'm doing and am hugely grateful to Joseph Baca, owner of KFUN/KLVF, for allowing me to be on the air with the program for more than a year, and to Nancy Colalillo, owner of Tome on the Range, for sponsoring it during that time. My decision hinges in part on my age, but also on me taking on more work and having looming deadlines to meet. Add to that the launch (re-launch?) of my e-zine and you have a formula for STRESS! Something had to go.

I hope to continue Writer's Block as a Q&A in Happenstance Literary and on this blog. I'll have to see how or if I can make that work. I also intend (read will-do-it-maybe) to have book reviews on this site, some written by me and some from other sources (maybe Tome staffers?). All of this is speculative at this point because I'm trying to scale back, not ramp up. Mostly I want to get back to writing.

Please check out Happenstance Literary. The last free issue is available for reading on your computer or tablet. Just download it as a PDF or read it right from your device. I don't mind limited sharing of the zine as I want to build a loyal subscriber base, so pass it on to those who you think would be likely customers and writers for the zine. From now to the end of December take advantage of the buy one, get one free offer to new subscribers. Pay $12 for your subscription and have a second subscription sent to a friend at no cost to you. For more information about this offer e-mail sharon@vandermeerbooks.com.

Thanks for reading and have a blessed and safe holiday.

Writer's Block Guests through Nov. 20

Air time 9 a.m., MST on KFUN/KLVF, Las Vegas, NM

Not from the Las Vegas area? The show streams online at http://www.kfunonline.com

October 30

Gail Rubin has written an amazing book about death. A Good Goodbye is a realistic look at a fact of life. Death comes to everyone. What then? A Good Goodbye was the Best of Show winner in the 2011 New Mexico Book Awards. The book was also a national finalist in the 2010 Book of the Year Award, Family & Relationships category.

About the book: (From the author’s website) Just as talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, talking about funerals won’t make you dead – and your family will benefit from the conversation. A Good Goodbye addresses the Baby Boomer generation with gentle humor on the vital information about funeral arrangements that most people don’t learn about until faced with a death in the family. This easy-to-read book tells how to plan a memorial service and reception, ways to communicate the news, collect vital information before it’s needed, and write obituaries and eulogies. It also presents background on many religious traditions, new funeral trends and creative non-religious rituals, event-planning checklists, information forms for death certificates and obituaries, and cost containment. It even covers ways to honor the death of a pet and remember deceased loved ones annually.

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Did you know that among the state’s centennial project there was a website entitled 200NewMexicoPoems? The editor of the project was Lisa Hase-Jackson, a poet in her own right with work in multiple publications.

About Lisa: (From the 200NewMexicoPoem website) Lisa M. Hase-Jackson holds a Master’s Degree in English with an emphasis in poetry from Kansas State University and is a trained Creativity Coach. She has developed and facilitated poetry writing workshops and circles all over the world, beginning with the Washburn Writers Fellowship Program in Topeka, Kansas, and including the Peyongchon writers group in Anyang, South Korea and, currently, the Friday Poets Group in Albuquerque, NM. Her literary editorial experience includes working on Washburn University’s literary magazine, Inscape; two years with Kansas State University’s literary magazine, Touchstone; faciltating 200NewMexcioPoems.wordpress.com, a New Mexico Centennial endorsed project  celebrating New Mexico’s centennial through poetry; and a variety of trade newsletters. She keeps a blog at ZingaraPoet.net, which features poet interviews, writing exercises, poetry prompts, articles and poetry picks.

November 6

Bruce Halloran Rogers is a fascinating man who has figured out how to make the internet work for his particular skills. He is a prolific writer producing a voluminous amount of work on his website shortshortshort.com. For only $10 a year, three times a month you will receive a brand new original story by Bruce. They must be good, because he continues to grow his subscriber list and he keeps the ones he has.



For six years, Bruce wrote a column about the spiritual and psychological challenges of full-time fiction writing for Speculations magazine. Many of those columns have been collected in a new book, Word Work: Surviving and Thriving as a Writer (an alternate selection of the Writers Digest Book Club). He is a motivational speaker and trains workers and managers in creativity and practical problem solving.

 Myrna Haskell has put her popular syndicated column for parent of teens into, Lions and Tigersand Teens: Expert advice and support for the conscientious parent just like you.

About the book: Don’t throw up your hands and walk away. If your teen isn’t talking to you and acting in ways you don’t understand, maybe it’s time to evaluate the behavior and gain insight into what to do. Myrna Haskell has been writing about the very thing that has you baffled. Her book  is a compilation of the best installments of her column for parents of teens, teachers, siblings, grandparents… or anyone who interacts with today’s youth. Also included are several installments that have never before been published.

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November 13

Poet Luis Alberto Urrea wrote of Centennial Poet Levi Romero:

“Levi Romero is a strange kind of wizard. He can walk up a New Mexico arroyo and come back with a mysterious object full of quotidian magic. Like a rusted tobacco can the grandfathers used to roll their smokes. And when you pry open the lid, you can hear their laughter and gossip coming out. That’s what he does in poem after poem. I read his work and I learn again how to love this life.” 

Romero's first collection of poetry, In the Gathering of Silence, published in 1966, features Woodstove of My Childhood, an epic poem based on personal and communal histories. His latest collection, A Poetry of Remembrance: New and Rejected Works, with UNM Press in December 2008, sold out within a month of its publication.

(Excerpted from “Levi Romero Sows Culture Crops,” by Carolyn Gonzales, UNM Today, August 28, 2009.)
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Tome on the Range will fill the second half of the hour with featured children's books and upcoming events for fall and  and the holiday season. Guests will be children's book buyer Janet Chapman and associate Susan Cole.

November 20

John Murray grew up and was educated in the United Kingdom. He studied theology in Birmingham, England and in Toronto, Canada. His life experience has been in business, in pastoral ministry, in Christian journalism and for the last twenty years before retirement he was the Executive Director of Eurovangelism Canada. Eurovangelism is a British mission which has been working in Eastern Europe for approximately fifty years.

 About the Book: (From the author's website.) “Real Faith” covers the major issues of the Christian Faith. It begins with “Why do we believe?” It moves on to discuss who is God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit and then asks the question, “What is Christian conversion?” It also covers “Why is it so difficult to live the Christian life?” and finally leads to “What is expected of us as believers?” In other words the book discusses what we believe, why we believe it and what is expected of us because we believe it.
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Jackie Carpenter never intended to become an author. And neither did she ever expect to be a resource for persons facing a crisis in life. But Jackie took the crisis in her life, and subsequent miracle, and wove it into a dramatic and heart-wrenching story – The Bridge: Between Cell Block A and a Miracle is Psalm 91. And the Reluctant Author followed up with still another book, Georgia Justice: A Journey To Faith – a remarkable guide on how to build faith when overcome by doubt, depression and tragic events.

About the Books: In The Bridge, the author tells her story. After her son, Richard Jason Veitch, was falsely accused of felony murder, Jackie Carpenter found the odds seemingly stacked against her: there was no hope, money was of no value, and she was rendered helpless before a jury of 12. But by simply waiting on a miracle from God, she was able to experience deliverance from her troubles—all in His perfect timing. In Georgia Justice she tells a story of faith-building – a how to guide of what it takes to escape from the tightening grips of doubt and depression and begin the journey to renewed and strengthened faith, hope, and ultimate victory. It is a book everyone should read, believers and non-believers alike, those facing a tragedy now and those who have no idea a tragedy lies ahead in their tomorrows.

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That’s the line up through Nov. 20. The schedule is subject to change and while I hope to update the information I may miss from time to time. Thanks for listening to Writer's Block, and if you missed a show, be sure to check out the podcasts, which are generally posted within two days of air time.

Writing and Writers: Guests Scheduled Through Nov. 20

Air time 9 a.m., MST on KFUN/KLVF, Las Vegas, NM

Not from the Las Vegas area? The show streams online at http://www.kfunonline.com

October 30

Gail Rubin has written an amazing book about death. A Good Goodbye is a realistic look at a fact of life. Death comes to everyone. What then? A Good Goodbye was the Best of Show winner in the 2011 New Mexico Book Awards. The book was also a national finalist in the 2010 Book of the Year Award, Family & Relationships category.

About the book: (From the author’s website) Just as talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, talking about funerals won’t make you dead – and your family will benefit from the conversation. A Good Goodbye addresses the Baby Boomer generation with gentle humor on the vital information about funeral arrangements that most people don’t learn about until faced with a death in the family. This easy-to-read book tells how to plan a memorial service and reception, ways to communicate the news, collect vital information before it’s needed, and write obituaries and eulogies. It also presents background on many religious traditions, new funeral trends and creative non-religious rituals, event-planning checklists, information forms for death certificates and obituaries, and cost containment. It even covers ways to honor the death of a pet and remember deceased loved ones annually.

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Did you know that among the state’s centennial project there was a website entitled 200NewMexicoPoems? The editor to the project was Lisa Hase-Jackson, a poet in her own right with work in multiple publications.

About Lisa: (From the 200NewMexicoPoem website) Lisa M. Hase-Jackson holds a Master’s Degree in English with an emphasis in poetry from Kansas State University and is a trained Creativity Coach. She has developed and facilitated poetry writing workshops and circles all over the world, beginning with the Washburn Writers Fellowship Program in Topeka, Kansas, and including the Peyongchon writers group in Anyang, South Korea and, currently, the Friday Poets Group in Albuquerque, NM. Her literary editorial experience includes working on Washburn University’s literary magazine, Inscape; two years with Kansas State University’s literary magazine, Touchstone; faciltating 200NewMexcioPoems.wordpress.com, a New Mexico Centennial endorsed project  celebrating New Mexico’s centennial through poetry; and a variety of trade newsletters. She keeps a blog at ZingaraPoet.net, which features poet interviews, writing exercises, poetry prompts, articles and poetry picks.

November 6

Bruce Halloran Rogers is a fascinating man who has figured out how to make the internet work for his particular skills. He is a prolific writer producing a voluminous amount of work on his website shortshortshort.com. For only $10 a year, three times a month you will receive a brand new original story by Bruce. They must be good, because he continues to grow his subscriber list and he keeps the ones he has.



For six years, Bruce wrote a column about the spiritual and psychological challenges of full-time fiction writing for Speculations magazine. Many of those columns have been collected in a new book, Word Work: Surviving and Thriving as a Writer (an alternate selection of the Writers Digest Book Club). He is a motivational speaker and trains workers and managers in creativity and practical problem solving.

 Myrna Haskell has put her popular syndicated column for parent of teens into, Lions and Tigersand Teens: Expert advice and support for the conscientious parent just like you.

About the book: Don’t throw up your hands and walk away. If your teen isn’t talking to you and acting in ways you don’t understand, maybe it’s time to evaluate the behavior and gain insight into what to do. Myrna Haskell has been writing about the very thing that has you baffled. Her book  is a compilation of the best installments of her column for parents of teens, teachers, siblings, grandparents… or anyone who interacts with today’s youth. Also included are several installments that have never before been published.

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November 13

Poet Luis Alberto Urrea wrote of Centennial Poet Levi Romero:

“Levi Romero is a strange kind of wizard. He can walk up a New Mexico arroyo and come back with a mysterious object full of quotidian magic. Like a rusted tobacco can the grandfathers used to roll their smokes. And when you pry open the lid, you can hear their laughter and gossip coming out. That’s what he does in poem after poem. I read his work and I learn again how to love this life.” 

Romero's first collection of poetry, In the Gathering of Silence, published in 1966, features Woodstove of My Childhood, an epic poem based on personal and communal histories. His latest collection, A Poetry of Remembrance: New and Rejected Works, with UNM Press in December 2008, sold out within a month of its publication.

(Excerpted from “Levi Romero Sows Culture Crops,” by Carolyn Gonzales, UNM Today, August 28, 2009.)
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Tome on the Range will fill the second half of the hour with featured children's books and upcoming events for fall and  and the holiday season. Guests will be children's book buyer Janet Chapman and associate Susan Cole.

November 20

John Murray grew up and was educated in the United Kingdom. He studied theology in Birmingham, England and in Toronto, Canada. His life experience has been in business, in pastoral ministry, in Christian journalism and for the last twenty years before retirement he was the Executive Director of Eurovangelism Canada. Eurovangelism is a British mission which has been working in Eastern Europe for approximately fifty years.

 About the Book: (From the author's website.) “Real Faith” covers the major issues of the Christian Faith. It begins with “Why do we believe?” It moves on to discuss who is God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit and then asks the question, “What is Christian conversion?” It also covers “Why is it so difficult to live the Christian life?” and finally leads to “What is expected of us as believers?” In other words the book discusses what we believe, why we believe it and what is expected of us because we believe it.
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Jackie Carpenter never intended to become an author. And neither did she ever expect to be a resource for persons facing a crisis in life. But Jackie took the crisis in her life, and subsequent miracle, and wove it into a dramatic and heart-wrenching story – The Bridge: Between Cell Block A and a Miracle is Psalm 91. And the Reluctant Author followed up with still another book, Georgia Justice: A Journey To Faith – a remarkable guide on how to build faith when overcome by doubt, depression and tragic events.

About the Books: In The Bridge, the author tells her story. After her son, Richard Jason Veitch, was falsely accused of felony murder, Jackie Carpenter found the odds seemingly stacked against her: there was no hope, money was of no value, and she was rendered helpless before a jury of 12. But by simply waiting on a miracle from God, she was able to experience deliverance from her troubles—all in His perfect timing. In Georgia Justice she tells a story of faith-building – a how to guide of what it takes to escape from the tightening grips of doubt and depression and begin the journey to renewed and strengthened faith, hope, and ultimate victory. It is a book everyone should read, believers and non-believers alike, those facing a tragedy now and those who have no idea a tragedy lies ahead in their tomorrows.

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That’s the line up through Nov. 20. The schedule is subject to change and while I hope to update the information I may miss from time to time. Thanks for listening to Writer's Block, and if you missed a show, be sure to check out the podcasts, which are generally posted within two days of air time.