What was the Inspiration for Connections?
Growing up middle class, my friends were all of similar background. My interactions with people who provided services to me were cursory. I said ‘hello’ to the postman, thanked the server, the checker at the supermarket, the office receptionists. I never knew them on a personal level.
When I started teaching at the community college, I got to know them as individuals. They were my students. Their lives had situations and difficulties that I had never experienced. Many generously shared their stories with me. They became my friends; several are still in touch. They changed me for the better. My friends today are from all walks of live and my life is enriched.
I began to think. What if people from two different worlds meet and begin to really see each other, to connect? And so the idea was born. Take people from different backgrounds, give them a problem and have them connect on a human level to find a solution.
So, in fact, my students were the inspiration for many of the stories in this collection. They have my utmost thanks.
Book Clubs are the Best!
These are my people. They love reading and commit to not only reading a new book each month but to absorbing it, discussing it, and delving into its very essence. They share their unique perspectives. To be invited to interact with these descerning readers who share their insights and suggestions is invaluable to me Book Clubs are the Best!
What Does Computer Science and Mathematics Have to Do with Writing?
When my friend, Lynne, read one of my stories, and invited me to join the Long Beach RAG writer’s group, she asked a very astute question: “But you’re a computer and math person. How can you also be creative?”
I pointed out that Da Vinci was an artist and inventor; Pascal and Descartes were both philosophers and mathematicians. But the question got me thinking and the answers came easily.
Both computer science and mathematics require logic. They also have rules and processes. All these disciplines are needed to solve a puzzle—whether designing a program or proving a theory.
When we write, our plot must make sense or fall apart. A character’s behaviors must be believable. Just like programming has, at its core, language, and logic, so must our stories.
Why I’m Never Writing Alone.
When I pictured writers sitting alone at a typewriter or computer, I always wondered—is writing a lonely profession? So, when my first story demanded to be told, I sat down to write, and this is what I discovered.
My character’s name was Molly, an older woman, making dinner for her soon to arrive family. So, I asked Molly—tell me about yourself. And she did. She told me about her abusive husband, her rebellious son, and her complacent daughter. I was in Molly’s head; or perhaps, she was in mine. I realized that Molly was with me in that solitary space. We took this journey together.
Maybe this is why my stories are character driven. I want to know them, and I want the reader to know them, to see them and to understand their motivations. They are real to me in that moment.
I do not write alone.
August 25,2020
Reading, Writing and Authoring
Every Saturday, my sister, Anne, and I would make the five-block walk to the library. Cradled in my arms were the previous weeks bounty of ten picture books. Reading was an integral part of my family life. A common sight on weekends was my father, in his recliner, reading the latest Ian Fleming or John Le Carre, and the rest of the family scattered around our wood paneled den engrossed in their own literary journey.
In college, I purposely took a Philosophy course just so I’d have an excuse to read The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky. I got into the pattern of reading all an author’s works: Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Shakespeare, Poe, Thomas Mann, Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Steinbeck, and the poetry collections of Robert Frost, Yevtushenko, Ferlinghetti, among others. I still do this today.
I have always read for the enjoyment of it. Now, as I strive to become a better writer, I find my reading has an added dimension. I find myself stopping to admire the writer’s craft, like John Steinbeck’s incredible beginning paragraphs of Of Mice and Men. We see the tortured landscape and know that the area is under stress. We know, without the characters saying a word, who they are and their relationship. It is powerful and beautifully written with no pretense, no embellishment. To me, it is writing at its finest.
Today, as I write, I give credit to all the authors who joined me on this journey. I have learned much and enjoyed their creations even more. My path to writing started with reading, and I am grateful for the gifts these and other writers have shared with me
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