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Meet the Author: Yvonne Hertzberger

Author Yvonne Hertzberger

Author Yvonne Hertzberger describes her writing as primarily character-driven. Though plot and description play an important part, she feels they are secondary to creating characters that grow and develop, that readers will identify with and want to spend time getting to know. She says, “I get into their thoughts and emotions, and even often describe the scene through the eyes of a character. I try to use language that is accessible but still literate. I believe that if you need a dictionary beside you to ‘get it’ you will not escape into the story.”

Yvonne says she is a people-watcher and derives many of her insights into the behavior of her characters from seeing how real people interact. “As well, I like to think about social issues and spiritual issues in new ways and play with how that might change how my characters see their world,” she adds. Continue reading “Meet the Author: Yvonne Hertzberger”

Meet the Author: Linda Prather

Author Linda Prather

Author Linda Prather says her early style was compared to Mary Higgins Clark, and recently to Tony Hillerman. “I think my basic style changes with my mood. It ranges from simplistic to literary. I love character driven fiction, and it isn’t unusual for my characters to take over the story and move it in directions I never expected it to take.”

She says she loves complicated stories with unique plots and sub-plots, creating characters that readers can love or hate, evoking emotion and painting pictures with words.

A single word can kick start her imagination and from there a book will flow. “I love dreaming scenes and will often go to bed and concentrate on a specific character or chapter to wake in the morning with fresh ideas and at times new characters,” she says. Continue reading “Meet the Author: Linda Prather”

Workshop Your Writing by Patricia Valdata

Author Patricia Valdata
Author Patricia Valdata

Should I Attend a Writing Workshop?

Workshops have gotten some bad press lately. Some writers claim that workshops associated with formal study programs result in cookie-cutter “workshop poems” or “New Yorker” stories. I’ve also heard horror stories about workshops where the critiques can be brutal. That’s not my idea of a productive workshop! A good workshop can help a writer generate new work, get useful feedback on a current project, and even serve as a stepping-stone to larger projects. I know one writer who took two online fiction workshops, and the stories she produced there helped her get into a top-rated low-residency MFA program.

I’ve been writing for more than 20 years, but if I hear about a writing workshop in my area, I sign up for it. I love the challenge of writing to a prompt, the fun of meeting other writers, and the pleasure of hearing or reading someone’s work-in-progress. I value getting comments about my own work-in-progress, and getting tips from more experienced writers. I’ve been going to Peter Murphy’s Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway almost every January since 1997, and more than a dozen of my published poems got their start there. When I was writing my second novel, I workshopped chapters at a local writer’s group. Finding out what worked and what didn’t work for the group members helped me shape that manuscript, which was published in 2008 as The Other Sister. Continue reading “Workshop Your Writing by Patricia Valdata”

Sneak Peek: Jasha M. Levi’s The Last Exile

The Last Exile by Jasha LeviToday, we get a sneak peek of author Jasha M. Levi’s political memoir, The Last Exile:

The road from Sarajevo in 1921 to New York in 1956 and up to the present covers a distance. It was a particularly winding and long one for the author, from the student protests against pro-Nazi government in pre-war Yugoslavia, WWII civilian confinement in Italy under Mussolini, fighting against German troops and Quislings in Dalmatia in 1944-45, battling Soviet attempts to dominate Yugoslavia, reporting from the world and the UN, and finally taking asylum in the US in despair over his country ever becoming a democratic one. In The Last Exile, Jasha Levi opens himself and the mosaic of his turbulent life and times to the public scrutiny, His readers should find his memories as compelling as his intimates always did.

The Last Exile is available on Amazon.com and other online bookstores. Continue reading “Sneak Peek: Jasha M. Levi’s The Last Exile”