Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

Let your children be who they are

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Support comes in different forms I was sharing some fabulous photos of my mother, who passed away in 2013, when a childhood friend asked me if she was supportive of my writing. My first impulse was yes. Then I had to rethink the question. Was she really? It didn't always seem so. It's true my mother more than tolerated my creative pursuits. She supplied me with pencils, paints, scissors, glue, and … [Read more...]

Small vs. Indie Presses in Publishing

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Is there a difference between a small press and an indie publisher? Or are they the same thing? Independently owned At one time, small press and independent (indie) press meant the same thing: a publisher that is independently owned, and operates independent of large publishing corporations. More and more, though, writers say their books are indie-published instead of using the term … [Read more...]

A Male Horse in the Nude: Creativity

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It's important to nurture creativity in children, even if it's a little startling, or, um, not quite what we had expected. Accuracy in art, if not colors My granddaughter, Lil, age 6, had brought a coloring book of horses to amuse herself in a restaurant, so she and I colored a picture together while we waited for our food. I loved coloring as a child. I still enjoy the soothing sweep of a … [Read more...]

Lev Raphael on Writer’s Block

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Learn from reading, even books you don't like Next time you want to give up reading a particular book because 1. it bores you, 2. you can't make sense out of it, or 3. it makes you bang your head on the wall, keep reading. You can analyze it and learn from it as a writer. Maybe. Or it still might be a huge waste of your time. But isn't learning from it a far nobler idea than tossing it from a … [Read more...]

Derek’s Black Hill Spruce

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Nature can help us understand so many things about life. My eldest child took his own life in the fall of 2011 at age thirty two. As a mother, no matter how many counselors, doctors and friends tell you suicide isn’t the parent’s fault, you can’t help but wonder what you did wrong. Didn’t I cuddle him enough? Should I have been stricter. Was I too strict? The bottom line was: I failed as a … [Read more...]