Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

Book Art: Crafting Paper Roses

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This fabulous table centerpiece from the wedding reception of an English teacher bride and her book-loving groom was made from a stack of books tied with a ribbon and topped with a hand-crafted paper rose. Creating paper roses from book pages is a surprisingly easy art project, even if you don't consider yourself particularly artsy. It's a fun and creative craft project for kids too. My … [Read more...]

Rod McKuen Altered Book

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King of Kitsch? Former US Poet Laureate said it was irrelevant to even speak of Rod McKuen as a poet. Pulitzer Prize-winning critic called McKuen's work gooey schmaltz. Newsweek magazine called him the King of Kitsch. In Arts and Entertainment Fads, Frank W. Hoffmann called McKuen's poetry "verse that drawled in country cadences from one shapeless line to the next." Despite the criticism, … [Read more...]

How to Cope with Writer’s Self Doubt

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I would start writing, and then say, "This is no good. No good at all." Does that sound familiar? In an interview in April's The Writer, playwright Christopher Durang explains how he coped with those nagging feelings that all writers get: After my mother passed way, I got a commission from the Phoenix Theatre... At the time, I said I was going to write a play in which everyone in the world was … [Read more...]

Get a corgi, never shower alone

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I love my Welsh Pembroke Corgi, Clementine, but lately, she's been a little clingy. Maybe she has cabin fever. Our walks have been a bit short this winter. As long as it's over 18º F and there's no wind, I've been bundling up and taking her for a walk through the cemetery, which is a block away, where it's dry and ice free, unlike all the sidewalks in my neighborhood. Just the same, we are both … [Read more...]

Get Close to your Readers through Point of View

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In any story, there’s a narrator that is separate from the writer. Point of view concerns how the narrator tells the story, and this will determine how close the relationship between the narrator and reader will be. Each point of view, from first person to third to second works differently to move the reader, and through the manipulation of point of view (POV), a writer can create intimacy or add … [Read more...]