But I didn’t really stray. I mean, not from writing.
Hello out there in blog land.
This to first apologize for my absence from my blog in recent weeks (months?). I have been tirelessly working to put together an anthology which includes six short stories, memoirs, from five of my students plus my mother’s – bless her heart – transcribed tape of an interview I did with her a few years ago about her love affair, then clandestine (at least for a little while) marriage to my father.
I’m delighted at the results, though, as I’ve complained about in earlier posts, the cover for the eBook on Amazon isn’t exactly what I wanted, as far as the font styles and sizes, but it’s not too far from the original cover I designed for the paperback, which they did accept, about which I am thrilled!
The title of our class anthology is: Perspectives: Sophisticated Memoirs for an Unsophisticated World – A Let’s Write! Anthology
Here’s A Copy of the Published Let’s Write! Anthology’s Copyright Page:
Perspectives: Sophisticated Memoirs for an Unsophisticated World. (A Let’s Write! Anthology) copyright © 2019 Valerie Serrano, editor.
The following stories are published as part of the Let’s Write! Anthology and each story or book excerpt is published here with the express permission of its author.
“An Unexpected Career: The Right Place at the Right Time” copyright © 2018 Roy Teixeira
“Finding Belief: How Cancer Cured My Life” copyright © 2018 Julee Sherman
“All in Our Family: One Wife’s Nightmare” copyright © 2018 Susan James
“Reflections of Our Childhood through My Brother’s Eyes: An Okie’s Memoir” copyright © 2018 Pat Vegsund
“Children of Sicilian Immigrants: A Love Story” copyright © 2018 Libby Maggio
“Kiss Your Ashes Goodbye! A One-Way Boat Trip” copyright © 2018 Joann Bostow
The Anthology’s Dedication Page:
This book is dedicated to the Let’s Write! writing students who have learned to be brave and come out writing, despite any lingering fears that show up when it’s time to publish.
These authors, through their rich stories, demonstrate to the reader how one who’s been “around the block” can tell one’s unique story which, in a surprising way, will appeal to many different types of people.
This Let’s Write! anthology is also dedicated to all those would-be writers out there who think they “can’t write” or that no one would want to read anything they write. To them I say with love: Get over yourself, roll up your sleeves, and Let’s Write!
The Acknowledgements Page:
I must first acknowledge God who puts us here to glorify Him and to love each other. Sometimes the “tough love” necessary from a writing teacher to get writers to bring out the talent they’re holding back out of fear, doesn’t seem like love.
It’s amazing how hard it can be to convince good writers that their writing will touch people out there in ways they could never imagine!
But I’m humbled by the task and always thrilled by the glorious results when ordinary people are finally brave enough, despite their fears, to first see themselves as “writers” and then to trust me and do the work.
I’d like to acknowledge each and every one of my student writers who worked hard to bring this Let’s Write! anthology to life, and I know that you who read their stories will be enriched by the following authors’ memoirs:
Roy Teixeira
Julee Sherman
Susan James
Pat Vegsund
Joann Bostow
I’d like, also, to acknowledge my mother Libby Maggio, who, while not a student of Let’s Write! has been and remains a staunch supporter of same. I thank Libby for her permission to include an excerpt of her transcribed interview in which she tells about her love affair and (clandestine) marriage to my father Anthony Joseph Maggio before and during the Second World War.
The Introduction:
I’ve always loved how the smallest minutiae of detail peculiar to the story of one’s own life in a particular place doing a particular thing can resound for someone else, living a completely different life, perhaps on the other side of the world, for whom the tiniest details ring true.
This small collection of stories and essays is a reflection of the various writers’ perspectives on the bigger categories of life (and death) via the small details of specific events in their own lives—a kind of slice of life times five here, each author generously sharing “the good, the bad, and the ugly” parts of their lives with us.
After crying and laughing along with them, we come away better, for having been let in to the privacy of their life perspectives.
Here’s a small idea of what to expect in this collection of stories:
~ “An Unexpected Career: The Right Place at the Right Time” by Roy Teixeira
The teenaged boy who landed the job of a lifetime without knowing it.
~ “Finding Belief: How Cancer Cured My Life” by Julee Sherman
The woman who hears that dreaded word “cancer” and must face her fears in silence.
~ “All in Our Family: One Wife’s Nightmare” by Susan James
The young wife and mother who finds out something terrible about her husband.
~ “Reflections of Our Childhood through My Brother’s Eyes: An Okie’s Memoir” by Pat Vegsund
A story filled with tears, laughter, and lots of heart about one Oklahoman family “movin’ on up”.
~ “Children of Sicilian Immigrants: A Love Story” by Libby Maggio
True love from childhood to the separations and trials of War World II.
~ “Kiss Your Ashes Goodbye! A One-Way Boat Trip” by Joann Bostow
Can you talk about cremation with a sense of humor? Read this and see.
My only apology is that these sometimes fun, other times sad, always interesting stories aren’t longer! But stay tuned for these authors to be publishing books and/or blogs of their own in the not-too-distant future.
Valerie Serrano, editor
Santa Rosa, California
January 2019
PS – Please feel free to contact myself or any of these authors:
So, there you have it.
All of the above is testimony to where I’ve been (right here) and what I’ve been up to for the past few months. Here’s the link to the eBook ($0.99) ( Perspectives: Sophisticated Memoirs for an Unsophisticated World – A Let’s Write! Anthology) or free with purchase of paperback. I’ll add the link to the paperback ($3.60) as soon as the book is live. I made the prices so low that I’ll receive virtually no royalties.
At some point I’ll raise the price slightly for expanded distribution, but for now you can’t beat the bargain. Please support your fellow budding writers by purchasing this book and, at the same time, enjoy their honest writing on topics from all walks of life.
Then, there’s Danny…
PS I’ll be posting more of my novel excerpts, too. That’s another apology I owe, keeping you hanging on little Danny’s story, for those who were following it. Sorry about that!
I will shortly be posting the next long-overdue excerpt (#11) in the saga of Danny and The Archangel of Hamilton Beach.
Thank you very much for putting up with me. I’m humbled if you’ve read this far!
Sincerely,
Valerie Serrano
Let's Write! Creative Writing Services -- Valerie Serrano, Editor, Book Coach 