CAMEO: MARLA CANTRELL

Posted on by Louise Canfield


Congratulations to Marla Cantrell, recently awarded the Arkansas Art Council’s Individual Artist Fellowship for her work in short fiction. These prestigious fellowships enable artists to devote creative time to their arts.A person sitting on the ground in front of water.

Marla grew up in the River Valley and writes about Arkansas’ people, heritage and culture. About the award, Marla says, “I am so honored to receive this fellowship and to represent Arkansas and the River Valley in our state’s artist community. Arkansas, with its beauty, culture and rich history, is the thread that runs through my fiction, and I’m so proud to be part of the art community of this great state.â€

Earlier this year, Marla also won first place in the White County Writers Contest at the 2014 Arkansas Writers’ Conference. A prolific writer, Marla has been published in Show Off Anthology, http://bit.ly/1qCCWWk, Deep South Magazine, http://deepsouthmag.com, Long Story Short, http://amzn.to/1n9YOpA , Word Haus, http://www.wordhaus.com and the Center for Writing Excellence, 3rd Annual Fiction Anthology. http://amzn.to/1xE7lbK Marla is Managing Editor of Do South Magazine, http://dosouthmagazine.com where she is often a featured author.

Congratulations, Marla. You do Southern Women proud! Keep your great stories coming our way!

More about Marla, her work and the Individual Artist Fellowship can be found at her website, Southern Pencil http://bit.ly/1qI921w.

Writer’s Workshop

Posted on by Louise Canfield


A person sitting on the ground in front of water.It has been my great joy and privilege to have spent the past week at Elizabeth Rosner’s Writer’s Workshop in Matha’s Vineyard.  (Liz is the cool lady in the photo.) Find out more about her workshops, speaking engagements,  and most importantly,  her exciting new novel, Electric City, at her website http://bit.ly/1upN2KC.

My expectations were exceeded.  Liz’s morning talks were  inspiring and packed with practical writing tools.   She is a born writer and a talented teacher who knows instinctively how to balance  discipline with playfulness in writing and respect with challenge in teaching.   The  experience has given me a  better sense of my  “voice,†and has helped me to envision a more workable  path toward  my goals.

Afternoon reading sessions were informative,  encouraging,  contemplative and always surprising. The writers (my “writing buddies)   came from diverse parts of the country and  backgrounds,  had varied writing experiences and aspirations,  and were wonderfully supportive.   Much fun and rowdy laughter always followed the sessions at our incredible gourmet dinners.

The workshop was held in Martha’s Vineyard at the Noepe Center for the Literary Arts, a restful and supportive space for artists of all types, situated conveniently in historic Edgartown.  More about the Noepe Center’s history and services can be found at their website http://noepecenter.org.  It goes without saying that Martha’s Vineyard is an ideal setting for a writing workshop.

So thank all y’all.    Liz, for your outstanding teaching and mentoring,  Justin and Jack  for keeping everything running smoothly,  all my “writing buddies† for your support and encouragement,  and  Chef Nisa, for those incredible dinners!  It was an amazing week.

Writing Process Blog Tour

Posted on by Louise Canfield


I’m excited to participate in The Writing Process Blog Tour.   It works like this.  A writer answers four questions about her writing and then hands off the baton to two more writers, who do the same.   It gives us a great chance to meet new authors and to visit their blogs

Mary Adler (aka M.A. Adler), member of SheWrites and author of the mystery,  In the Shadow of Lies, http://amzn.to/1pC4LyK handed the gavel to Marylee MacDonald and Marylee handed it on to me.  Marylee is the author of Montpelier Tomorrow, http://amzn.to/Y76mBe a literary novel about a mid-life mom, Coleen Gallagher, who gets sucked into becoming her dying son-in-law’s caregiver but soon discovers that the dying man isn’t noble and she can’t go on being Superwoman.

You can find out more about Marylee on her Authors Guild website, http://www.maryleemacdonald.us or visit her blog on Goodreads. http://bit.ly/1rJQstN

Here are my answers to the four questions

What am I working on?

I am writing  a novel based on the life of a woman in rural N. Louisiana in the years just after the Civil War.  It is fiction, but many incidents and characters are based on real-life experiences.   This is a large undertaking requiring a great deal of research, so in the meantime, I blog about the lives of women in rural Louisiana.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

My challenge, like that of all writers of historical fiction,  is to create authentic characters and place them in historical context in such a way that modern readers identify with and care about them.  My work is somewhat unique in that little is known about this  group of women.

Why do I write what I do? 

The voices of these women have been little heard, if at all.  My hope is that my work can shine a light into the shadows of their heroic lives.

What is my process

I set aside time for writing every morning.  However my best writing is done when I can devote a block of time, at least a  day or two,  solely to writing.   I do my best work when I feel as though the ideas are coming through me and not from me.  I’ve never had anything usable result from forcing myself to write.  If I don’t feel inspired to write, it’s usually because I’m not listening.   I may need more research,  quiet walks in the woods, or just to read some really good writing.  My Goodreads reading list is indispensable for those times.  Once I am awake to them again, my characters begin chattering among themselves, often at maddeningly inappropriate times.  I don’t worry too much if I can’t get to a notebook to write it down;  if they really have something to say, they’ll be back.

Now for next week’s lineup:

PATRICIAN McCARTHY

Patrician McCarthy is the first Mien Shiang expert to translate this ancient art and science for the mainstream American public. She founded in 2000 The Mien Shiang Institute in Santa Monica, Ca., to teach the Taoist techniques of Medical Facial Diagnosis and Face Reading, and Taoist Five Element theory.

For nearly 30 years she has taught the powerful implications of Face Reading and the Taoist Five Elements to medical practitioners, lawyers, Olympic athletes, and corporate CEOs and their teams from Procter & Gamble, The Gap, Mattel, Inc., KPMG and other Fortune 500 companies.

In conjunction with the renowned Yo San University in Los Angles, CA., she established the first Medical Certificate Program in Mien Shiang, as well as the first Medical Certificate courses in Environmental Medicine (Feng Shui).

Connect with her at

Blog: http://mienshiang.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patrician.mccarthy?fref=hovercard

MARILYN BOSTICK

Marilyn Bostick is a writer of riveting dark romantic fiction and Sci-Fi.  Her enthusiasm for telling tales was cultivated by years of reading Stephen King, Dean Koontz, J.D. Robb, and Ben Bova.  Armed with a flashlight beneath bed covers or in the comfort of a recliner, she became acquainted with the characters that would haunt her for a lifetime.  Marilyn’s unwavering creativity challenged her to refine her writing, and it was that passion that kept her motivated to achieve her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing for Entertainment at Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida.  The tools she learned at the University cemented her resolve to perfect her craft and to bring her descriptively compelling stories to the next level. Her short stories Time and Revenge were published in Full Sail University’s magazine the Aviator. Time was published in the fifth issue on May 29, 2012, and Revenge was published in the eighth issue on March 4, 2013.

Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/marilyntbostick1

Twitter =https://twitter.com/marilyntbostick

LinkedIn = www.linkedin.com/pub/marilyn-bostick/39/2b1/896/

Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/115018786419947785735/about

Website http://www.mtbostick.com

MoMo’s Teacakes

Posted on by Louise Canfield


Watching my grandmother (MoMo) make Teacakes is one of my most cherished childhood memories. A person sitting on the ground in front of water. And I loved getting the spoon to lick, (or sometimes the bowl!) while the aroma of the cookies baking filled the kitchen.  (Nowadays cake mixes carry warnings about not eating raw dough.  Really? )

Since MoMo didn’t need a recipe for Teacakes, all that remains is what I can remember.  Below is the recipe I use for my own grandchildren or for anyone needing serious comfort food.  It’s a combination of other traditional recipes and what I remember.

Flour was always sifted to make it lighter and more uniform.  Also it had no preservatives, and therefore could have weevil larvae and other undesirables (preservative-free enthusiasts, take note). Since she churned her own butter, she added a little salt.  Flavorings were purchased from the “Watkins Man.”    (Watkins is still the best vanilla, in my mind.)  Electricity  wasn’t available in our part of the country until after her death,  so she relied on an icebox for the most perishable items; milk not being among them.  Cows were milked every morning to provide milk for the day.  Cream was skimmed for churning into butter and excess milk was “soured” for cooking.

INGREDIENTS
4 cups white flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup sour milk (or buttermilk)
1/2 pound soft butter
Pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
1 teaspoon flavoring; vanilla, lemon or almond

DIRECTIONS

Using  a wooden spoon, cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl.   In another bowl mix the sifted flour, baking soda, and baking powder and add to creamed butter in thirds. Then add eggs, milk and flavoring.  Mix until a soft dough forms.

Roll out dough on a floured surface to about 1/4-inch thick. Cut into shapes and bake in a moderate oven (350 deg) until light brown, about 10 minutes. Dust with sugar and let cool.  This recipe  will make about 2 dozen “cake-like” cookies.  They are best when one or two days old, served with cold milk.

 

Why write?

Posted on by Louise Canfield


A person sitting on the ground in front of water.As of 8:00 P.M. tonight, 48,173,673 books are available from Amazon.  Of those, over 3 million titles were in literature and fiction, over 1 million in spirituality and religion, over 500,000 in biography and memoir, and almost 2 million in money and business.  Of these, 2,535,376 were e-books,  103,023 were released in the past 30 days and 46,226 were self-published.  And that’s just Amazon.

What are all those books about?  Who wrote them?  Who READS them?  More to the point, who buys them, and which ones?  Food for thought if one aspires to writing as a career.  Even if writing is an avocation, it gives one pause.

So why write? Why indeed.  Aside from the discouraging statistics  above, there are many practical reasons  NOT to write.  Here are a few that come to mind:

1.  The world does not want and certainly does not need a book about “My Heroic Life,† no matter how interesting I think it has been.  Everyone thinks their life is the most interesting.

2.  Writing is hard work and extremely time-consuming.  It’s hard to find  time to get dressed and eat balanced meals, let alone sustain human relationships (although dogs are more forgiving).

3.  Writers must endure increasing levels of rejection.  First come the humiliating rejection letters from publishers.  Then once published, threats of lawsuits from outraged relatives alleging exposure of their disgusting secrets, and, if one is finally successful, hate mail from crazies.  Writers, overly sensitive by nature, are ill-prepared for such abuse and cannot afford the psychological care needed to overcome it.

4.  Writing is expensive.  First there is the laptop – a must-have.  One needs a well-stocked library of classics and writers in one’s genre as well as a respectable stash of writers’ self-help books, membership in writers guilds, attendance at workshops, and (highly recommended) a cabin in the wilderness without distractions of neighbors, family, and social media.

5.  Writing is not good for your health.  Working for long hours at a computer is linked to a myriad of health problems including back pain, headache, poor diet, and depression, to name a few.

I could name others; there are many  excellent reasons not to write.  To tell the truth,  I can’t really think of a good reason to write.  Can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, I write because – It’s just what I do.

 

Coming home

Posted on by Louise Canfield


A person sitting on the ground in front of water.

“Where we love is home –

home that our feet may leave

but not our hearts.”

                                                                                                                             Oliver Wendell Holmes

I think we are all born looking for home.   As I spun my teen-age dreams of fame and fortune in far away places, I did not know that I was longing for home.   I believed I belonged elsewhere.  We were poor country people.   The prospect of living what I perceived to be the limited, suffocating lives of my mother and my grandmother sent me into a panic.   And so I set about to reinvent myself.

After many years,  a lot of hard work and a great deal more good luck,  I had attained a great education, a prestigious career, a great family, and a good zip code.  I believed I had recreated myself.   I even changed my name.  I seldom thought about that little country girl  desperate to escape her origins.  But just below the surface of consciousness,  vague discontent simmered; a little voice struggled to be heard.   I read self-help books,  learned yoga, practiced transcendental meditation,  smoked too much and drank too much,  but the most I could ever get was temporary relief.   At the next challenge, the next life crises,  the scaffolding of my latest self-improvement program would collapse and once again, I would be left with the old familiar unease, a small voice whispering “Listen! Listen to me!”

Then  one day,  I turned on the TV to distract me from boring household chores and by chance a movie was playing about a family eerily like the one of my childhood.   In that imaginary family, I saw for the first time the beauty of my own, their courage, resilience, strength, and goodness.  I began to sob uncontrollably.  Feelings suppressed for years rose to the surface and I could no longer avoid the truth.   I  no longer wanted to avoid the truth.   Painful as it was, I had to see that  I had confused “home” with material things, comfort and appearances,  overlooking or refusing to see,  the  strengths of my heritage; the breathtaking beauty of my birthplace, the creativity and resourcefulness of my people.   I had  ignored the circumstances of place and time that constrained them, the everyday challenges of daily life that limited their choices beyond anything I ever knew or could imagine.  Sadly, I had discounted the enduring values  that were my inheritance.  Ironically, I was the one living the limited life!   I believed my heritage was an impediment to my pursuit of the “good life,” a view in which, sadly, I was aided by popular culture.  And to some extent it might have been true.  But oh,  how much easier  life might have been if only I had had the courage to be all that I am, to apply the wisdom instilled in me from birth as well as that I had learned  to life’s problems.  It was as though I had spent my whole life stubbornly hopping on one foot instead of walking.

Some people seen to know, but I had to learn that heritage cannot be denied.   It is the soil from which we spring.  It is never perfect soil.  It will require tilling and weeding. But we cannot escape it. It is who we are. We can only choose to be nourished and grow from it or to pull ourselves out by the roots and wither.

And so I have cone  home.   With open eyes, an open heart and a passion to embrace my birthplace, to learn the stories of my  foremothers and to tell them before they are lost in the dust of history. I owe them that and so much more.