Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

Creative Brain vs. Numbers: A Love-Hate Math Story Problem

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In My Head, Math is a Doodle My brain glitches over whether to say hundreds or thousands. It's as if I can't associate the words with the numbers. It’s embarrassing. I feel like a child. The other day Don sat down at the table with a paper and pen, and we talked numbers. He wrote: 100 = This is one hundred. 1000 = This is a thousand.12,000 = This is twelve thousand. . . and so … [Read more...]

Romance rides high on the genre wave. Maybe.

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According to Trends? I'm sure you've seen this map if you use Facebook. Romance is the most popular genre according to search inquiries based on Google trends from the last twelve months. Yes, romance claims the wildly beating hearts of readers in 22 states across the U.S.  How do we know this? Apparently, a software firm called Cloudwards looked at search inquiries for major genres. … [Read more...]

10 Character Tips Every Novelist Should Know

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Create compelling characters Doing this takes time and work When I was drafting Love and Other Incurable Ailments, I had to determine why a woman would give up her life and her job and move to another state in pursuit of a man she didn't know--it wasn't enough that Serenity was simply unhappy or lonely. It had to make sense to the reader. I also wanted Serenity to be a prickly … [Read more...]

Not Everyone is Going to Like You

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For the camera and beyond: When I was a girl, my father would often encourage me to clown around for the camera. We enjoyed being silly together, but I soon learned to enjoy acting out. In this picture of me with my Raggedy Ann doll, I distinctly remember my father telling me to act surprised about something. It strikes me as strangely unnatural, but he laughed. I'm sure he loved … [Read more...]

What, Why, How: Poet Karin Hoffecker

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What: My poetry is grounded in both external and internal landscapes. I have always been fascinated with the visual arts and nature—they are often subjects that appear in my poems. The poetry I write, honoring my internal map, is the result of exploring deep emotions shaped by experiences of loss and grief. Losing my adult son to a sudden and unexpected pulmonary embolism and both my parents … [Read more...]