Baked Ziti and Enlightenment: A Guest Post from Author Lorraine Ash

Today I'm honored to be hosting author Lorraine Ash as part of her WOW! Women on Writing Blog Tour. Lorraine is promoting her spiritual memoir, Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life. Stop back by on Aug. 28 for my review of her book. In the meantime, here's a little more about Lorraine and and Self and Soul.

Book Synopsis:
Are you living a life of quiet desperation? Questioning what it means to succeed? Wondering if your efforts matter? In this uplifting memoir, Lorraine Ash uses her own life experiences to explore inner landscapes where the seeds of divine healing and insight reside. These are the landscapes on which we create our own meaning and find the resiliency to thrive in a changing and challenging world.

Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life is available in a variety of formats and online stores, all presented here, http://lorraineash.com/selfsoul.htm. It has also just become available as a digital audiobook. Find it at Audible.com and Amazon.com as well as in the iTunes store.

About the Author:
Lorraine Ash, M.A., is a New Jersey author, award-winning journalist, essayist, book editor, and writing teacher. Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life, is her second book. Her first memoir, Life Touches Life: A Mother’s Story of Stillbirth and Healing, was published by NewSage Press.  Lorraine also is a veteran journalist whose feature articles and series have won seventeen national, state, and regional awards and have appeared in daily newspapers across the country. Lorraine belongs to the  Association of Writers and Writing Programs and Investigative Reporters and Editors. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Bill.

You can reach Lorraine here:
Website/blog: www.LorraineAsh.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LorraineAshAuthor
Twitter: @LorraineVAsh
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lorraine-ash/45/77/650

Baked Ziti and Enlightenment

Image courtesy ©Andrea Skjold | Dreamstime.com

When I think about which people inspired me to make a difference in life, I see they all had a common trait. Some were brilliant, others creative, some powerful, others powerless. But all were kind.

In graduate school at Fordham University, I was in awe of one professor—an Ivy League scholar, brilliant actor and writer, original thinker, recovering alcoholic, and seasoned life traveler. He had the brains and wit to cut down students who struggled through his classes. But he never did.

A most unlikely Coca-Cola

One hot summer afternoon, I fell ill and was curled up on the floor of a bathroom stall in the Communications Department of the university. At least the tile was cool. Otherwise, I was miserable. I heard the door open and then the clink of an aluminum can on the floor. Looking down, I saw the professor’s hand, the one with the big onyx ring, slide a frosty Coca-Cola to me under the door of the stall.

“Coke syrup,” he said. “It always works. I’ll be here if you need anything.”

Such a simple action. I have remembered it all these years.

Dozens of baked zitis

Decades later, in the early days after my daughter was stillborn and I was barely interested enough in life to brush my teeth, a friend delivered many meals, each lovingly prepared by someone in the newsroom where I worked. The first one I ate was baked ziti, prepared by a reporter’s wife. It was the best I ever tasted. Wanting to always remember how I felt eating that meal, and wanting to create the feeling for others, I asked for the recipe, written in her hand.

For years now, I have cooked and delivered baked ziti to dozens of others in need, hopefully to the same effect. As my old Aunt Esther, a true Italian cook, used to say, as she rubbed her hands together, “A little pasta and cheese, that’s all you need.”

Kindness always possible

Metaphysics, cosmology, psychology, religious rules—they’re all complicated. But in the midst of any so-called important endeavor, the simplicity of kindness is always possible. By extension, cruelty, condescension, pretension, and coldness are never necessary. Jesus said it best, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

It’s a teaching within anyone’s power to achieve. A smile. A Coca-Cola. An encouraging word. A little pasta and cheese. That’s all.

Questions: Have you ever been nourished by another person’s simple act of kindness? In what ways are you the most kind?

Lorraine Ash, M.A., is a New Jersey author, award-winning journalist, essayist, book editor, and 

writing teacher. Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life, her second book, is available in a variety of formats and online stores, all presented here, http://lorraineash.com/selfsoul.htm. Reach Lorraine at www.LorraineAsh.com, www.facebook.com/LorraineAshAuthor , or @LorraineVAsh.

Back to School for Writers and Other (Hopefully!) Helpful Blog Posts

My kids started back to school this week so I've been working hard to get things checked off my writing/editing to-do list and clear the pile of paperwork on my desk. Speaking of my desk, I recently repainted my office a much lighter, more cheerful shade, and it's hard to believe how much more time I've been spending in here since then! The old color was an earthy olive, and while it was nice and very traditional, it didn't make for the most inviting writing space, especially at night with no overhead lighting. Oh, and on a whim, I picked up one of those cool wall decals from Target for a little pop of inspiration (see photos above).

In lieu of a regular post, I wanted to share some of my guest posts from WOW Women on Writing's Muffin blog, including one I wrote last year around this time:

As the mother of two children in elementary school, the past few weeks have been a little crazy with back-to-school clothes shopping, purchasing and sorting school supplies and meeting with our new teachers to discuss expectations for their learning this year. Read the rest here.

Other recent posts:

Did you travel anywhere fun this summer? Find out how I make the most of my vacations by turning trips into article queries and assignments.

Remember that Facebook game "25 Things You Don't Know About Me?" I broke it down into ten things for fun.

Book Review: Panic by Lauren Oliver

I raced through the book Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, and when I read the synopsis to her latest book, Panic, it definitely piqued my interest. I took the book with me on vacation last week and quickly became immersed in the world of Carp, New York, and the teens who lived there and made the choice to participate in the survival game that the book is named after.

Synopsis:
Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a poor town of twelve thousand people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do. Heather never thought she would compete in panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors. She'd never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game; he's sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he's not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for. For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

My Thoughts:

The book is told from the perspective of two different narrators, Dodge and Heather. If done well, this set-up is a great way to build suspense in a book because you aren't exactly sure what the other characters are thinking, or in this case, are plotting. I easily related to the character of Heather, desperate to escape life from the Fresh Pines Mobile Home Park and fiercely protective of younger sister Lily. On the night of the annual Panic kick-off, she makes the rash decision to compete in the game after her boyfriend callously dumps her, figuring there's a lot she and her sister can do with the $67,000 cash prize. Heather's best girlfriend, Nat Velez, also competes in the game, but I found her character a lot harder to like. She's manipulative, moody, fickle, and uses people to get what she wants, including Heather. I absolutely loved Bishop, Heather's best "guy" friend who so clearly wants to be more, even if I did figure out his secret about halfway through the book. Dodge, the other character perspective we see, was also pretty likable, with revenge being his reason for competing in the game. 

Speaking of the game, the challenges presented by the mysterious anonymous judges kept me holding my breath each time they appeared. Crossing a six-lane busy highway blindfolded in the dark? Stepping into a fenced in pasture with two tigers? Never in my lifetime! But desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess.

Oliver carefully weaves a tale of teen angst and survival with skillfully crafted setting and dialogue. I could easily picture the hardscrabble town of Carp and the desperation any teen would have to get out of there. The book has a dystopian tone even while set in a contemporary setting, which I know will appeal to many teen readers.

Book Review: The Fourth Wall by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo

About the book:
The Fourth Wall is a fabulously written first novel. When Marin was little and monsters chased her through nightmares, she learned to weave her own dreams. Her mother called the lucid dreaming a gift, and when an accident takes her mother and leaves her baby brother an empty shell, Marin uses this gift to spin a new reality for herself. One without time or sorrow. A world without memory.

But just when Marin thinks she’s safe in her make-believe fantasy world, the monsters come back and her dream turns to a nightmare. Something in the dream doesn’t want Marin to wake up. In order to heal herself and her family, Marin must face the truth she’s forgotten and conquer what lies behind the fourth wall.

Genre: Young Adult, Fiction


Publisher: WiDo Publishing (June 10, 2014)
ISBN: 978-1-937178-51-2




Twitter hashtag: #FourthWall

About the Author: 

Elizabeth grew up writing short stories and bad poetry before escaping the cold winters of Wyoming and settling in the Sonoran Desert. She lives in Tempe, Arizona with her husband and two children, Abigail and Gabriel. She still loves to write, but fortunately gave up on poetry. The Fourth Wall is her first novel.

Elizabeth’s creative nonfiction has appeared in Brain, Child, Phoenix New Times, Literary Mama and Babble.com, and is forthcoming in Brevity. Elizabeth is also an award-winning fiction writer; her short stories have been published in The Portland Review, Hospital Drive, SLAB Literary Magazine, and Bartleby Snopes. Links to her work and information on classes/critiques can be found at http://www.elizabethmarianaranjo.com/.



Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/elizabethmarianaranjo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.m.naranjo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/emarianaranjo

Review:
Her mother once called it a gift. Ten years ago, when Marin was five, a little girl with a big imagination and a closet full of monsters. At night she could dream them to life. She watched them creep from corners and spun them down through in her consciousness in all their wretched glory.

From the opening pages of The Fourth Wall, the author's powerful use of imagery drew me in. I felt like I could physically feel the ache of loss permeating through Marin's entire being. I wanted to weep for both Marin and her father, worn thin by their circumstances but determined to care for Michael, Marin's brother who withdrew into himself emotionally and physically after the death of Marin's mother.

For the most part, The Fourth Wall alternates between chapters reflecting the dream world Marin has created for herself (this is where the descriptions are the most vivid, with a cougar, an elf, a foreboding forest and crashing waves) and what's happening in the real world as Marin navigates her way through a new school, determined to keep to herself and help out at home as much as she can. Soon, though, much to Marin's chagrin, she is invited to attend group therapy sessions with a counselor and several of her classmates at school (including a charming boy named Frankie), and both of Marin's worlds begin to shift and change.

Both Marin and her father, Tom, are very realistic and likable characters. In fact, what I liked most about the books was the character development. The main characters are well-rounded and you know enough about them that you can actually close your eyes and picture what they might look like. I also found myself rooting for Michael to get better and start showing signs of progress, and when I actually found out what was causing him to withdraw, it was a total surprise to me and one that I did not see coming. The Fourth Wall is classified as YA but it has a universal appeal. I can easily see both adults and teens picking it up and finding themselves mesmerized in the story.

*Giveaway!* I have one e-book copy of The Fourth Wall to give away to a lucky reader! Check out the Rafflecopter form below for easy ways to earn entries into the drawing.

To see where else Elizabeth is stopping on her tour and other places to win a copy of the book, visit this page.

a Rafflecopter giveaway





Product Review for Fireflies: A Writer's Notebook

As the editor of a regional parenting magazine, I am inundated with requests for book and product reviews. But very rarely does something grab my attention as much as the press release for Fireflies: A Writer's Notebook.

Inspirational writer and teacher Coleen Murtagh Paratore wants to encourage writers of all ages, whether they are students, teachers or parents. With her latest release, Fireflies: A Writer’s Notebook (Little Pickle Press), she helps prove that if you can dream it, you can write about it. In the introduction to the notebook, Paratore reminisces about chasing fireflies in the dark during her childhood summers, and says that . . . “ideas are just like fireflies. You never know when they will flicker. That’s what makes writing so fascinating. Ideas surprise us the same way fireflies spark and we must catch them, fast as we can, before they fly away.”

I often get caught up in the cycle of either writing and editing fiction or writing magazine copy, and it can leave me feeling like both my energy and creativity are zapped when I'm under a tight deadline. I can honestly tell you my fingers are itching to pick this journal off my pile of typewritten article notes and have a little fun with these prompts.

Fireflies is full of colorful design, writing prompts and inspirational quotes from other writers such as Kate DiCamillo. There are sections where you can record emotions, dreams, curiosities, top ten lists of your favorite things, traditions, birth and deaths, hellos and goodbyes, and so much more. It makes a great gift for writers both young and old.

Fireflies: A Writer’s Notebook is available at www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and everywhere books are sold.

The Summertime Writing Life

The past month has been slightly insane, so I apologize for not giving this blog the attention it deserves. I always forget how hectic the last two weeks of school get with various special events, last day of school parties and field trips and scrambling at the last minute to get our teachers some well-deserved end-of-year gifts. To top it all off, we got a puppy on Memorial Day weekend, and I'd forgotten how much time is spent potty-training, making sure she doesn't electrocute herself on a power cord, and trying to prevent her from having an accident on the one small rug left in the downstairs part of the house (of course)!

The newest member of our family on the left.

I always have a hard time balancing having my kids home over the summer with completing my contract work and sending out new article queries. This year I'm also revising both a YA and MG novel so I can have the opening pages critiqued at our local SCBWI Conference in mid-September, which I don't get paid for, unfortunately. I really don't have the option of sending my kids to camps all summer long so I can work (camps for two kids can get expensive) but I do try to send them to at least two camps so I can meet pressing deadlines and attend meetings. The rest of the time we work out an arrangement where I try to work during the morning hours and we do extracurricular activities like the library, piano lessons, playdates or the pool in the afternoons. Because they are now both 8 and 11, it works out pretty well for us. They like having the time to relax at home, and I like not having to shuttle them back and forth to school and pack lunches for a few months.

I started my freelance writing career by writing about my kids, so I was excited to get the chance to interview Kerrie McLoughlin,  a fellow mom writer and author of the e-book "Make Money to Write About Your Kids: Get Published in Parenting and Family Magazines" over at WOW! Women on Writing. It helped motivate me to begin querying regional parenting magazines again with my own list of reprints.

Happy (Summertime) Writing!

In the (Freelancing) Field

I watch a lot of crime shows, and I always love when the agents say they are out "in the field." Sometimes my work as a freelance writer takes me out in the field, too, although it's much different in my case. I'm usually not out there covering hard news but meeting with people for human interest profiles.

This past week I was working on a local article about families with unusual pets. I met with a family that runs a business presenting wildlife encounters to local schools and the community. I got to meet their enormous animal family, and it was such a great experience. It really helps a story come alive when I get to meet with the people (or in the case, animals!) I'm writing about in person. This family has probably more than 25 animals from varying species. Remember the blue Macaws from the movie "Rio?" I got up close and personal with a red Macaw, who had gorgeous rainbow-colored feathers but was a little hesitant to show off for me. I also got to meet four very sweet and sassy female Italian greyhounds (can I get one now?), two degas (cousins of the chinchillas), two chinchillas, a Blue Tongue Skink, an Argentinian Tegu and an Emperor Scorpion from Africa. Who do you think this girl was most afraid of? If you guessed the scorpion, you would be right. I grew up in Texas and never had a friendly encounter with a scorpion, so I was too hesitant to hold it.

All in all I had a great experience and I feel like the extra time I took meeting this family really added some color and descriptive details to my article.

Have you been on any interesting assignments lately?