Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

What, Why, How: Elizabeth Meyette

By

What: When I watched Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED Talk on Creativity, courage surged through me to submit the novel I’d written for publication. I had just retired from my career in education, and publishing that book became my first retirement goal. I was very fortunate and Love’s Destiny was published the next year. My publisher wanted a sequel, and the rest is “a little history…a little mystery…a … [Read more...]

Silverware Drawers

By

Critters The other day when cleaning sesame seeds and peppercorns from the plastic silverware tray, I noticed the varied assortment of forks and spoons we've collected over the years: a fork and butter knife from my late mother, spoons from IKEA, and various pieces from the first set of dinnerware we had over 45 years ago in our first home. We lived in a two bedroom, one bathroom ranch in … [Read more...]

What, Why, How: Ellen Meeropol

By

What: I imagine my novels balancing on a tightrope stretched between the issues that are important to me (racial and social justice, the climate emergency, feminism) and the characters who live inside the stories that grow from those themes, characters who try to figure out how to make a difference in the world. My manuscripts never start with theme or issue—they begin with characters in some … [Read more...]

Rising Sun Roll and new tricks

By

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? The implication is that old dogs (and old people) learn less well than the young, and that old folks are set in their ways. It's one of the oldest proverbial sayings in the language. The earliest example of it in print is in John Fitzherbert's The Boke of Husbandry, 1534: ...and he [a shepherd] muste teche his dogge to barke whan he … [Read more...]

The King of Outsider Art

By

Howard Finster: Leave it to Pinterest to start me on an unexpected journey. I use the site to pair interesting images with inspirational quotes for my Facebook Author Page. The quirky portrait, above, caught my eye, with cloud-like faces making the top half of the mans' head, and lettering decorating the bottom half. I'd never seen anything quite like it. However the post had no indication … [Read more...]