Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

What, Why, How: Charlene Diane Jones

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WHAT? I write across years, across pages, across oceans of memory. My poetry has been published widely in Canada and the US reaching a peak in 1996 with my poetry partner Linda Stitt in our book Bliss Pig. Says it all, really, but then after some time, more writing. Through a vision, the plot and characters for my novel The Stain rose to consciousness. I put it all down nicely on yellow … [Read more...]

Helen Peppe on Honesty and Memoir: Pigs Can’t Swim

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Helen Peppe's memoir, Pigs Can't Swim, is a pinnacle of family dysfunction: funny, heart wrenching, stupefying and sometimes infuriating. Her parents' insistence on nonsensical rules, old wive's tales and skewed morals befuddle the youngest child of nine raised in the backwoods of Maine. Here is a girl who is told by her parents that their house is haunted, is convinced she's to blame when a … [Read more...]

Vampira – She’s like Family

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Shirtail Relatives My cousin says we should call ourselves "shirttail relatives" of Vampira. Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira, was born in 1921 in Petsamo, Finland. My grandmother, who was also born in Finland, had the same last name. They both lived in Ohio for a spell. Who knows -- maybe they were indeed distant cousins. Vampira claimed she was related to the Finnish Olympian, Paavo Nurmi, so maybe … [Read more...]

Reading in Public: How I Conquered my Fears

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Most people are terrified to speak in public. As a writer who's read in more coffee shops and libraries than I can count, I was once terrified, too. Here are two of my worst moments, and 10 thoughts about how to get over your fears of public speaking. Very first reading The very first time I read a poem in a tiny coffee shop in southeast Detroit, I had backed up to lean against a wall to keep … [Read more...]

How I Learned to Be a Friend

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I don't remember how old I was when I met Jennifer. Maybe six or seven. She and her family moved into a house three doors from ours on a quiet cul-de-sac with only 20 other houses with great big yards in Independence, Ohio. My only playmate until then was a boy. My heart just about burst with joy when I met Jen. All Day, Every Day It seemed we were together nearly every day, all day. Inside, … [Read more...]