Entry # 234 – GOOD NEWS

By Jan Bowman
Evening Street Review will publish Jan’s story, “Kindness” in the May 2015 Issue.
The Editor of a press (later to be named) read one of Jan’s stories and wants to read her story collection, MERMAIDS & Other Stories, for possible publication.
The Roanoke Review debuts a beautiful newly designed website posted Jan’s (2012 Issue) Fiction Award Story, “Mermaids” in the Archive section and an interview with Jan from Fall (2014) in the Interview section. Link for Roanoke Review story Mermaids. Click within story sidebar for an Interview with Jan. Might need to copy & paste to browser.
https://roanoke-review.squarespace.com/mermaidsjbowman

Jan had a recent story on the short-list for the Folio Fiction Award.

Entry # 233 - "More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving" - by Dale L. Baker

“More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving” – by Dale L. Baker

Interview By Jan Bowman  December 29, 2014
Dale L. Baker is an award-winning author. She was born in Ohio, completed high school in California, graduated from college in Oregon and now lives in Hawaii and Arizona. She retired from county social services in 2003 to take care of her husband full-time. Her book More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving” (a best seller in the AZ retirement community of Westbrook Village) is usually read in one sitting, then passed on to another caregiver, if not kept for reference. Often gift copies are bought. More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving is a BRONZE MEDAL WINNER in the 2014 Living Now Book Awards and a FINALIST in the 2014 USA Best Books Awards. For more information about her writing career see her website http://msdaleLbaker.com or just Google “Ms Dale caregiver.”


Interview by Jan Bowman – December 29, 2014
Jan: Thank you, Dale, for writing this important book and agreeing to talk about it with me. You’ve said, “Every caregiver needs a support group. You might think that you don’t, but you do.” At what point in your husband’s illness did you come to that reality?
Dale: That phrase comes from a man in my old support group in Portland who was taking care of his wife. It was advice that he had been given from a colleague—“guy talk” around the water cooler. “Support group? You think you don’t need one, but you do.”
I didn’t think I needed one either until I had a melt-down at a grocery store. My husband and I had made it through the rigors of his first cancer together but when he was diagnosed with a second untreatable cancer I felt alone and overwhelmed. Helping him get better so we could go back to living happily ever after was one thing. But, watching him slowly deteriorate until I was left a widow was something entirely different. I was at a loss.
Jan: What do you wish someone had said to you and to your husband when he got the second cancer diagnosis?
Dale: No words would have helped me. A hug would have been better. People would say “let me know if I can help” but I didn’t know what to ask for at the time. Then they disappeared, waiting, I guess, for me to call them. What I needed was for someone to call me on a regular basis and say “what can I do to help today—pick up groceries?—wash a load of clothes?—sit and have a cup of tea with you? If you really want to help a caregiver, keep in touch. Be available to do little things. They are SO appreciated. Don’t wait for a crisis call.
Jan: Chapter 19 of your book offers five tips for surviving. To what do you credit your own survival in the face of the daily stress of caregiving?
Dale: Participating in a weekly support group changed my caregiver life. The other life-saving tools—breathing, yoga, respite—came later, after my mind had cleared. I had bottled up emotions that needed to be expressed and on-going decisions that had to be made. The support and practical knowledge that I received from other caregivers kept me focused on my job of taking care of both my husband and myself. Even though I was not interested in joining in at first, the time came when it was essential for me to participate. I encourage all caregivers to seek out a group that’s a comfortable fit. I gladly facilitate one in my community.
Jan: What was your initial reaction when your husband began to help you put together a “To Do” list before he died? How did that help you?
Dale: I was deeply touched with his thoughtfulness. In fact, from that moment on, his focus was on my well-being rather than his. He was my hero again—the proud strong man I married who wanted to protect and provide for me. He felt useful again. Our “To Do” activities took us away from the grind we were in of illness and pain management. It was uplifting for me—a time of joy that softened the tragedy of losing him.
Jan: How do you feel about the current “right-to-die with dignity” movement in this country?
Dale: Having lived in Oregon for most of my adult life, I am very aware of and have contributed to the death with dignity movement. I was a supporter even before I came face-to-face with loved ones in their declining years. None of my people (husband, Mom, Dad) considered ending their lives early but watching them struggle cemented my own wishes to have a different ending for myself. If I were diagnosed with a terminal illness I would not want to be the “one in the bed” for very long. It’s too hard on the “one bringing juice and pills.”
Jan: Do you plan to write about this topic or a related topic in the future?
Dale: Poetry is my first love. I am close to finishing a very personal book of photographs taken by my niece who is a professional photographer (Tamara at Every Emotion Photography). My poems open and close the book and are sprinkled through the middle. I also want to gather all my poems (many about caregiving) into one collection. In addition to the poetry work I am writing short stories again. Fans have been asking me for the full story of the long black dress and tango night that I mention in Chapter 19. It will appear in my humorous online dating manual for widows.
Jan: Is winning two book awards the highlight for you as an author?
Dale: Actually I can think of two experiences that thrilled me as much as the literary recognition.
The first one happened in my dentist’s office. When I slipped into the dental chair I saw a copy of my book lying on a table separating me from another patient on my right. My book had only been released a few weeks earlier so I was thrilled and shocked that anyone who was reading it would be having their teeth cleaned the same time I was. Not only did I have a wonderful chat with the woman who was reading my book, but my dentist took pictures of both book and my smile for her website.
The second heart-warming experience happened recently. “I survived caregiving,” a reader wrote. “This book helped.” I have received many lengthy 5 star reviews on Amazon, but this brief one sums up my mission.
About Jan Bowman
Winner of the 2011 Roanoke Review Fiction Award, Jan’s stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best American Short Stories, and a Pen/O’Henry award.  Glimmer Train named a story as Honorable Mention in the November 2012 Short Story Awards for New Writers. Jan’s stories have been finalists for the 2013 Broad River Review RASH Award for Fiction, 2013 finalists in the Phoebe Fiction Contest, 2012 “So To Speak” Fiction Contest.
Jan’s fiction has appeared in numerous publications including, Roanoke Review, Big Muddy, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, Potato Eyes and most recently, Uncertain Promise: An Anthology, Edited by Von Pittman. She is working on two collections of short stories while shopping for a publisher for a completed story collection, Mermaids & Other Stories. She has nonfiction publications in Atticus Review, Trajectory and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a weekly blog of “Reflections” on the writing life and posts regular interviews with writers and publishers.  Learn more at: www.janbowmanwriter.com

Entry # 232 – “Interview with Deepan Chatterjee”

By Jan Bowman

Interview with Deepan Chatterjee – “The First Propetical: A collection of poetry and short fiction.”
Dr. Deepan Chatterjee is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Maryland. He has over fourteen years experience (eight of them postdoctoral) in providing diagnostic evaluations, individual, family and group psychotherapy, crisis counseling, psychopharmacological consults, as well as psychological assessment services to children, adolescents, adults, couples, geriatric adults, families and criminal offenders. Dr. Chatterjee’s writing has appeared in several newspapers, online blogs and literary magazines, including The Statesman, The Telegraph, The Tower, The Harbinger, The Daily Kos, Altarum Institute’s Health Policy Forum, among others. His poetry has also been featured in art exhibitions, including “Poets and Painters” at The Artist’s Gallery in Columbia, Maryland. He is the author of a recently published collection of short fiction and poetry entitled “The First Prophetical.” Dr. Chatterjee lives with his wife in Columbia, Maryland. Learn more about him at www.drdeepanchatterjee.com.
Jan: For whom did you write this book? Who would be your ideal reader?
Deepan: I wrote this book for a variety of readers – those who grew up in a foreign country (like I did) and then immigrated to the United States, those who reside here and wish to learn about other cultures and traditions, and anyone in general who loves reading short fiction and poetry. I have tried to include a variety of stories, including a murder mystery, a O’Henry type short story with a twist and a story with a psychologist as the narrator. Also, there are a variety of poems that I feel reflect many different moods. As such, I do not have an “ideal” reader in mind.
Jan: How does your background as a Clinical Psychologist influence your writing? And why do you write?
Deepan: I think my profession has a lot to do with my writing. I see writing as a sort of therapeutic catharsis, if you will. I write to relieve the stress and anxiety that inevitably comes with my job. I also write to escape the everyday mundane world of work and family life. Writing brings me great joy, and I would love to do it full-time if I could.
Jan: Many of the short prose pieces are listed as fiction, but seem more like they could be regarded as creative nonfiction. Why did you decide to write them as fiction?
Deepan: The stories are actually fiction. I have been asked by some readers and friends who have read my book if the characters depicted in the short stories are any of my patients in real life. My answer has always been that all the characters in my stories are fictional. They are part amalgams of different patient narratives, as well as part creative imagination.
Jan: This collection combines both fiction and poetry. Which do you prefer to write?
Deepan: Both, actually. I used to write poetry a lot at one time in my earlier life. I have started writing short stories again after a long time, and feel like I am really enjoying the process. I might go back to poetry again, who knows? However, I am thinking of writing another collection of short stories in the near future.
Jan: You have three poems on the topic of “Perfection” that are separated by short prose works, tell me about those poems and why you’ve positioned them as you have in the collection?
Deepan: That is a great question.The three parts of Perfection are interspersed between a story with a shocking ending, a reflective short piece, and a murder mystery. I think I was trying to evoke a variety of emotions in the reader, going from shock to a neutral pondering to the thrill of a “detective” story. If you read the three parts of perfection, they act as buffers between the different emotional states.
Jan: I try to take at least two intensive writers workshops each year, mostly in the summer to build connections with other writers and to help me grow in my development as a writer. Have you explored taking intensive summer writing workshops, and if you did, what would you consider the most valuable thing you could gain from that experience?
Deepan: I have considered participating in intensive writer workshops before. The only thing that prevents me from doing so is my full-time job as a Clinical Psychologist. I am also a Partner in our practice, and between my full clinical caseload and the added administrative responsibilities, I haven’t had the time. However, I am hoping to make some time in future for workshops. It would be really nice connecting with other writers.
Jan: Who are among your favorite authors? What are you reading now?
Deepan: As far as prose goes, I love Ernest Hemingway, Paulo Coelho, Satyajit Ray, and Amitav Ghosh. My favorite poets are Rumi, E.E. Cummings, Rabindranath Tagore, and Walt Whitman. Right now I am reading “Beyond the Pale Motel” by Francesca Lia Block.
Jan:  How can readers find out more about your new book and perhaps order it?
Deepan:  Here are links to my website.   www.drdeepanchatterjee.com.

About My book

I have written and published a collection of my short stories and poems. This collection includes many stories that draw upon my own experiences as an immigrant and as a psychologist. I have tried to include several genres in the writing, including minimalist styles, abstract postmodern styles, as well as a murder mystery. All the stories and poems have a common psychological thread running through them. In keeping with the Eastern philosophy of “daana”, I have decided to donate all the proceeds from the sale of the book to charity. Please visit the following websites to buy this book:

Lulu

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Entry # 231 - "Tips to Beat Block & Banish Fear - using Pat Schneider's Writing Alone and With Others"

By Jan Bowman

Pat Schneider’s Writing Alone and With Others, is a fourth entry in a series about craft books that I have reread recently and found useful. And while many wonderful books on the writer’s craft are available, sometimes when the flame of inspiration flickers, it helps to read practical books on craft. In recent blog entries I have given my impressions about four books that offer ideas that have helped me improve my writing. Perhaps these will be useful to you.

Schneider’s craft book is divided into three sections.
— Part 1 – The Writer Alone - explores a range of topics essential to the individual writer, whether facing fear, finding your voice, or practicing your craft and working toward a disciplined writing life. A final topic in this section examines ethical questions writers face, whether they are concerned about spirituality, privacy and the politics of what they write.

— Part 2 – Writing with Others – guides writers through the process of working in workshops or in small writing group settings to promote healthy growth experiences. The last topic includes an insightful discussion of ways to empower the silenced, so that writers who find the process of working with others intimidating, feel empowered to grow and risk in a place of safety.

— Part 3 – Additional Exercises – offers more than 60 pages of writing exercises and story starters designed to address specific problems writers face in writing and revising. This section alone is worth the price of the book.
 
Craft books can help writers grow. Truman Capote said, “Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.”

Special Note:  I have turned off the comments section temporarily. Am having hundreds of inappropriate email/comments from websites unrelated to writing. 

Entry # 230 - Some Thoughts on the Craft Book: Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal by Alexandra Johnson

Entry # 230 – Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal by Alexandra Johnson.

By Jan Bowman Entry # 230 – Week Three – Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal by Alexandra Johnson.
Here is a third entry in a series about craft books that I have found useful. And while many wonderful books on the writer’s craft are available, sometimes when writers face a temporary lag in their productivity, when the flame of inspiration flickers a bit, it helps to read practical books on craft. I offer my impressions about these four books in no particular order, other than the order in which I plucked them from my reading desk. I hope to offer just enough information to whet your appetite for more. For the next four weeks, I will present some thoughts on each of four books that I recently reread.
A quick scan of the contents of Leaving a Trace, reveals an inviting organization of three parts that explore: Part 1 – The Successful Journal: Practical Inspiration, Part 2 – Transforming a Life: Patterns, and Part 3 – Meanings, Crossover: Moving a Journal into Creative Work. Johnson’s book inspired me to dig through dozens of my old notebooks to see what kinds of things I had recorded in more than thirty years of writing journal entries about my life and what I have seen and done.
Part One – explores ways to use past journal entries to trigger memories of events and to increase our observational skills of the world around us. Whether writers decide to use single purpose journals dedicated to topics like travel or books read, or whether they combine a range of experiences in daily journals, the journal is rich soil to replenish the imagination when we feel depleted and come up empty in our writing.

Part Two – looks at finding hidden patterns in journal entries that can only be recognized as writers see anew those topics and descriptions recorded over time.

Part Three – moves forward describing methods for using journal information in both fiction and nonfiction. Mining the journal data allows writers to “leave a trace by regaining a past and imagining a future.”


I did not reread the chapters in order. Instead I dipped into some that were particularly relevant to my current projects. And am pleased to say that after a couple of days of reading only two of my old  journals I gleaned three ideas that I will use in three stories that had stalled to a crawl.

 Special Note:  I have turned off the comments section temporarily. Am having hundreds of inappropriate email/comments from websites unrelated to writing.

Entry # 229 – More Crafty Essays About Notebooks

By Jan Bowman Week Two – Entry # 229 – looks at a collection of craft essays, Writers and Their Notebooks, edited by Diana M. Raab and with a Foreward by Phillip Lopate.


During a recent blog entry #228, I mentioned that many wonderful books on the writer’s craft are available and useful. Sometimes writers face a temporary lag in their productivity and the tiny flame of inspiration flickers a bit, and at those times, it helps to read good books on craft. I offer my impressions in no particular order, other than the order in which I plucked them from my reading desk. I hope to offer just enough information to whet your appetite for more. For the next four weeks, I will present some thoughts on each of four books that I recently reread.
Essays in Diana Raab’s (editor) Writers and Their Notebooks, explore a diverse group of writers who use journals to develop their writing craft. Section essays examine five topics. Here are my favorite essays in each section:

1. The Journal as Tool – Kim Stafford’s essay, “the Place of No Limit” examines her journal methods as she uses intuitive pocket journal notes that move from the personal into poetry (upon reflection), and her methods recording notes on her computer into files that evolve into prose. Stafford offers examples of each and sample poetry and prose that came from those notes. 
2. The Journal for Survival – Zan Bockes’ essay, “Musements and Mental Health” speaks candidly of using the journal as a tool for therapy. Bockes’ entries deal personally with her own struggles with mental illness and her attempt to use journals to cope and reach catharsis.
3. The Journal for Travel – Bonnie Morris’s essay,”Writing in Public Places” describes the process of writing in public places and the rich insights writers can gather in observational notebooks. Whether journaling at a local coffee shop, doctor’s office, or a train in China, the writer’s notebook captures specifics of essential human behaviors in particular times and places.
4. The Journal as Muse – Rebecca McClanahan’s “Thoughts on a Writer’s Journal” explores multiple purposes for writing journals in the development of a writer’s life. Journals function as compost bin, life record, confessional booth or playroom for ideas.

5. The Journal for Life – Kyoko Mori’s “Forgetting to Remember–Why I Keep a Journal” describes his memory of his grandfather’s notebook, in which details of culture, language and ancestors were carried from the old world to the new world. It’s a profoundly touching essay.

 
=========================
The following review of this collection appeared in the Midwest Book Review.
I did not write it. Wish I had.

“Writers And Their Notebooks is an anthology of essays by established and professional writers, discussing the value of simple notebooks to collect ideas, play around with words, discover new insights into evoking emotion with language, and much more. From sample journal entries that evolved into published pieces, to valuable advice for aspiring writers, to individual approaches to notebook keeping and much more, Writers And Their Notebooks is filled with tips, tricks, and techniques for getting creative juices flowing. An excellent supplementary reference for any would-be writer’s shelf.”
~Midwest Book Review

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Entry # 228 – “Crafty Readings for Beginning Writers”

By Jan Bowman Writers who want to grow in their writing do well to spend their time actually writing. But sometimes when I’m feeling burned-out in my keyboard work, I take a break and read books on the writing craft. Yes. Writing requires attention to details, just as painting or carpentry does, but writing also requires stepping back from work and looking at the resulting efforts from a distance to see how even and whole it is.
During a recent lull in my productivity I turned to four splendid books on craft and I can recommend them highly. For the next four weeks, I will present some thoughts on each of these books. Here they are in no particular order, other than the order in which I plucked them from my reading desk. I offer just enough information to whet your appetite for more, I hope.
 
Week One: Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin.  

This week let’s look at the craft book, Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin, because this is a wonderfully useful book filled with common sense discussions and exercises whether you are, as Le Guin says, “the lone navigator or the mutinous crew” in a writers’ group seeking to improve a story. She says that the title comes from a workshop she gave by the same title in 1996 and that “. . . exercises are consciousness raisers: their aim is to clarify and intensify your awareness of certain elements of prose writing and certain techniques and modes of storytelling.”

In ten short chapters, Le Guin deals with setting your sails, sheets, and jibs for keeping your writing – on course. She offers the usual attention to basic writing elements, such as grammatical issues, but explores more complex issues like point of view and voice, with great humor and examples from master writers that can help even more experienced writers stay their course. I found that Chapter Ten, “Crowding & Leaping” – and the exercises – “A Terrible Thing To Do” helped me take a new look at one of my current stagnant writing projects.

Le Guin says, “Some people see art as a matter of control. I see it mostly as a matter of self-control. It’s like this: in me there’s a story that wants to be told. It is my end; I am its means.”

Jan’s fiction has appeared in numerous publications including, Roanoke Review, Big Muddy, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, Potato Eyes and others.   She is working on two collections of short stories while shopping for a publisher for a completed story collection, Mermaids & Other Stories.  She has nonfiction publications in Atticus Review, Trajectory and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a weekly blog of “Reflections” on the writing life and posts regular interviews with writers and publishers.   Learn more at: www.janbowmanwriter.com