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Featured Member Interview – Joanne Rodrigues

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Joanne Rodrigues is an experienced data scientist and enterprise manager with a master’s degree in Mathematics, Demography, and Political Science, and a bachelor’s degree in International Political Economy from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. While in Washington D.C., she was a research assistant at the Center for Population and Health and the White House Counsel of Economic Advisors. She pioneered new techniques at Sony PlayStation, led all of MeYou Health’s data science efforts, and founded a company ClinicPriceCheck.com, featured on TechCrunch Battlefield SF 2020. She has experience authoring technical books. Her latest book, Product Analytics: Applied Data Science Techniques for Actionable Consumer Insights, was part of Addison-Wesley’s Data and Analytics Series. She’s recently joined as the Membership & Tech Manager for the Women’s National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter.

Let’s start by talking a bit about your writing process. What inspires you as a reader and a writer?

(JR): What inspires me most is exploring the world through a new perspective (while also acknowledging it’s probably not fresh, given the approx.12 billion people who have lived throughout human history). 

Additionally, I enjoy uncovering connections that defy wisdom, challenging prevalent narratives and tropes that lack truth. As someone who identifies as neurodivergent and has a profound curiosity about people and society, particularly about social order and how society functions, writing and reading is a perfect medium to explore humanity.

What do you tend to read in your free time, and can you share a recent book or piece that impacted you?

(JR): I have a passion for thrillers and technical books. At the moment, I’m engrossed in “When Justice Sleeps” by Stacey Abrams. What captivates me most is Abrams’ skillful integration of real-world political elements concerning the Supreme Court and judiciary within the fictional narrative. 

Could you tell me a little more about your latest book, Product Analytics: Applied Data Science Techniques for Actionable Consumer Insights? What encouraged you to write it, and how do you think it could help readers hoping to understand and grow their customer base?

(JR): The reason that I wanted to write this book is simple: when I started working as a data scientist on a web product, there were very few books available on how to work with consumer data. My managers were demanding insights on how to improve the business, to increase revenue and lower costs, but my training in algorithms and machine learning really didn’t provide the tools needed to do the job. I met lots of people like me ranging from marketers to executives that really didn’t know what to do with all this newfound data. Many made million dollars plus mistakes because they misunderstood why customers were doing what they were doing. The goal of the book is to fill that gap — provide the appropriate steps and application examples of how to apply statistical inference in drawing insights from consumer behavior. While not focused solely on growing a user base, the book explores how to generate actionable business insights related to consumer behavior from applied statistics and machine learning techniques. 

You have an extensive academic and professional background in data science, mathematics, demography, and political science. When did you first realize that you’d like to work with data at a deeper level?

(JR): I’ve always been fascinated by society and human behavior. Data is a way to learn about human behavior in the aggregate. In the early 2010s, during the explosion of clickstream data representing vast amounts of aggregated human behavior, I found myself drawn into data science. This flood of information was exciting, offering opportunities to explore the nuances of social behavior through millions of online interactions and decisions.

Do you have any tips for new writers, non-fiction or otherwise?

(JR): Living with dyslexia and an auditory processing disorder has presented formidable challenges in reading and writing. Precise auditory processing plays a pivotal role in comprehending both written and spoken communication. However, due to my poor processing, I miss the subtle nuances in speech, such as transitions in conversations. For this reason, I struggled for years to add those transitions to my speech and writing.

As you can imagine, I had to develop coping mechanisms for my hearing, reading, and writing deficiencies. It taught me life is all about developing coping mechanisms for your weaknesses and forging forward on your strengths. To this day, I am a slow reader, but that has never stopped me from writing prolifically and learning how to mimic other writers’ use of transitions.

Books are a beautiful medium of human expression – and one that lasts the tests of time – unlike social media. Don’t give up on books. 

The universe is constantly changing and you have no idea where it will be next, so get a day job and then follow your dreams! 

Finally, I hear that you’re currently working on a few other writing projects, a thriller and a memoir. Is there anything that you can share about these upcoming books?

(JR): Nope, I want to keep those under wraps until I finish them. 

Featured Member Interview – Leslie Kirk Campbell

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Photo taken by Art Bodner

Leslie Kirk Campbell is the inspiring author of the short fiction collection The Man with Eight Pairs of Legs and the founder of Ripe Fruit Writing in SF. She emphasizes the importance of one’s identity, freedom, and self will through her own personal experiences across her various works.

How would you describe yourself as an author? What inspires your creativity and writing style?

(LKC): I fell in love with language when I was 9 years old, the way a dancer falls in love with her body. I began as a poet, getting an MA in Poetry from San Francisco State and teaching poetry there as well as to children of all ages with California Poets in the Schools. Later in life, I evolved into a short fiction writer, which is where I relish using the art of languaging now. I care about people (my characters) but I also care about ideas: memory, freedom, violation, loving across unexpected borders. More than anything, I thrill at the orchestration of music that words can make. For 30 years, with Ripe Fruit Writing, the creative writing school I founded, I have trained adult students to know what a poet knows about language as a foundation for writing in any genre. Imagination. Perception. Love of Language. Courage. Compassion. Commitment. These are the six qualities that converge to create powerful writing that flows from the heart.

Tell us about your collection of short stories within your book “The Man with Eight Pairs of Legs”. What is the message behind each of these stories?

(LKC): The eight stories in “The Man with Eight Pairs of Legs,” my debut short fiction collection, written in my sixties, are the first stories I have ever written and are where I cut my teeth on fiction. (Note to seniors: it is never too late!) I simply wrote the stories I needed to write, most based on ideas, images, or dreams I had been carrying around with me for the 20 years I was raising my two sons. When gathering stories for a collection, I discovered it had been my body that had been talking to me the whole time. These stories explore ways our bodies are marked by memory, sometimes visibly – scars, bruises, tracks, tattoos – sometimes invisibly over generations. I am interested in stories that balance on a blade of danger, stories with characters who are pushed to the edge. My goal is to create stories that will engage the reader’s heart, mind and body simultaneously. I have no specific message. My hope is that my stories will deepen the compassion of the reader as they have deepened my own through the long process of writing them.

Aside from being a writer, what type of activities/hobbies do you participate in during your free time?

(LKC): I am a woman who loves ritual. My daily sacred place of ritual is my garden. On weekends, I often spend timeless hours tending to my flowers and plants. I talk to them, delight in the visitations of birds, butterflies, the occasional squirrel. I love to read literature daily – poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction – and, occasionally, to see a film that does on the screen what I ache for on the page. I love teaching my students. I fall in love with them and delight in the true, language-loving pieces they write in my Greenhouse of the Imagination. I consider all my time to be free time because I am passionate about everything I do. My friendships, both with friends and family, are my lodestone. My identity as a mother is a primary one.

Panelist Leslie Kirk Campbell at the Podium

How have your personal stories/experiences shaped your short fiction collection in regards to freedom, identity and self-worth?

(LKC): I believe in the ‘writing faith,’ that we always write what we need to write. What my body has experienced, my dreams, my emotional landscape, the people I have known, the places I have been, all gird the stories I write. Writing is an excavation. I have to pull everything out. I come from bi-cultural, bi-regional parents. I am bisexual. I have lived in many places. We hold multitudes. And I, too, am many things. All of who I am converges in my art so that I am most myself when I am absorbed in arranging words on the page. When I received my MFA in fiction from Bennington at 62, I finally felt AUTHORIZED. Having an award-winning book and reading my stories to audiences across the country, has solidified my identity as an artist and made me whole.

What are your plans for the future? Anything we should look forward to such as new book releases?

(LKC): I am deep into working on a second short story collection, Free Radicals. I am fascinated by people whose lives are guided by unusual passions, moved by the bonds between parents and their children, intrigued by mortality, and curious about the meaning of freedom in its many forms. I am exploring these themes in the stories I am currently writing.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

(LKC): THAT’S PLENTY!!

Find out more about Leslie Kirk Campbell. 

Featured Member Interview – Miera Rao

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Tell us about who you are as a writer. What inspires the creativity behind your writing?

(MR): Growing up in India, I enjoyed books that brought different parts of the world into my little nook. Reading was an inexpensive way to take trips without buying a plane ticket or packing my bags! Apart from the stories themselves, the richness of the settings brought places to life in my mind. It stoked my love of travel. When I ultimately visited these places, it was almost a sense of coming home. Thanks to the vivid details portrayed, places and things looked and felt familiar. I hope to do that in my writing. I write fiction, non-fiction and poetry. I like an element of surprise in my stories.

Inspiration comes from different sources — from the world around me, from other writers, a random word or phrase heard in the passing that sticks with you for years and begs to be given a story. I am intrigued by human interactions and the what-ifs of a situation.

The good news: Inspiration is everywhere, ripe for the picking. The bad news: There is more inspiration than I can ever hope to write about!

Aside from being an author, do you have any other interests or hobbies that you partake in during your free time?

(MR): When I step away from writing, I like to step into my dancing shoes. I enjoy the Argentine Tango and Salsa. Music is like a magic portal; it lays bare the heart and soul of a culture and I adore the romance of Spanish songs. I also have a yen for collecting stationery, though I don’t need another journal, cards or writing instrument.

I love antiquing. One of my all-time favorite finds are these metal letterpress blocks that I came upon when antiquing in Brighton. Treasure! They brought together my love of letters, travel and antiquing! Discovering new neighborhoods locally is also fun; sometimes, even taking a different route to familiar places can feel wholly different and gives me a new perspective. I also enjoy the opera and am the Newsletter Editor for the Friends of Opera San José.

Your poem “Désolée” won first place for the Effie Lee Morris Award. What was your inspiration for this piece? What are some key takeaways that you would like to highlight?

(MR): Désolée was born from a place of despair. The tragic Paradise fires were raging when I wrote it. Two years later, in 2020, “destruction and disease” did come knocking very urgently on our doors (destruction of life as we knew it), so one of my friends said I should tear up the poem and throw it away (hard to do with a digital version) because she found this unsettling and prophetic. The poem is from the perspective of a soon-to-be mother who is loath to bring her children into this world. I remember feeling like this when I was expecting, but things are so much worse now. Each year the fires have got worse. The air quality has become worse. Climate concerns aside, wars have wrecked the world.

Désolée is an apology to the future generations. It is a dystopic projection of a macabre childhood that could be seemingly normal. Where would children play hide and seek after Earth is ravaged? No trees to hide behind nor treehouses in their backyard, but coffins would become hiding places. All that is left to amuse themselves with are gruesome games played with blown-up body parts. It was a dark poem to write. There was more gore in my drafts, but I cut it short — maybe a good thing!

I appreciate your positive outlook on the environment and moving towards a better world. Is there any advice or specific practices you would recommend in order to combat climate change and become more eco-friendly?

(MR): It was quite a shock when I learnt that all the plastic I was painstakingly recycling was not actually being recycled or even recyclable. According to Greenpeace only 9% gets recycled — worldwide. So, if most plastics were not getting recycled, the only thing I could do was to limit my consumption of plastics. We can wait for policies to effect change and corporations to step up to the plate, but in parallel, we, as individuals, are not powerless. Small changes to our lifestyles will collectively make a big difference.

Think “no waste” or “little waste” when buying things. The following are just a few tips for our day-to-day lives:

Grocery shopping: Skip plastic bagging larger items. Do we need a sack of potatoes or our milk in a plastic bag? Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumber, and other larger fruits and vegetables don’t need the smaller veggie bags either. Best to take your own bags, of course.

Delivery: Bundle items together, when you can, rather than using One-Day Delivery. Re-use packaging boxes and materials, or offer to share with your friends and community before recycling them.

Laundry: Use eco-friendly laundry detergent sheets — these eliminate the gigantic plastic jugs altogether and some are also free of parabens, phthalates and bleaches. Wait until you have a full load before doing laundry.

Parties: Be a maverick! Be daring and have parties without balloons. Mylar balloons never degrade. Helium is a non-renewable resource that is used in the medical field — not to be taken lightly. Latex balloons take about four years to degrade. Its “biodegradable” claims have been found to be greenwashing. Instead, opt for festoons and bunting in paper or cloth. Making and stringing these with friends and family can be a great social activity.

My articles on how to be kinder to Earth and to oceans have more tips. #SaveSoil

What is the story behind your upcoming non-fiction novel “Crushing Etiquette”?

(MR): My trip to the UK unexpectedly opened up the opportunity to write “Crushing Etiquette”. I was training at The British School of Etiquette (now Excellence) in London to become an etiquette coach. I just happened to share with the Principal, Philip Sykes, that writing an etiquette book was on my wish list. Once I finished training, he invited me to collaborate on a book with him.

Crushing Etiquette Book CoverIt was a fun book to write and a great partnership. There is something for readers who enjoy language, trivia and fun facts, as well as those who want to get right into the crux of things. Rather than just have “rules” I interviewed people internationally to share anecdotes from their lives to make a point. Some of these stories will make you laugh; others are of the “OMG, really?” nature.

Apart from social, dining, business and social-media etiquette, Philip and I wanted to bring in emotional intelligence, as E.Q. plays an important part in how one navigates one’s relationships. We also included international etiquette, the art of conversation and listening – all designed to give readers a boost in different aspects of their lives.

Crushing Etiquette has been a labor of love and the labor for birthing it has been a long one! There have been unexpected hiccups and hurdles to contend with, along the way. We have not set a launch date yet, but have our fingers crossed for early 2024.

Tell us about your spiritual poetry book and how it relates to who you are as a writer/author.

(MR): The Pandemic was a terrible time for the whole world, of course. I had some additional challenges that set me on the spiritual path. Forced to withdraw from the outside world, I connected with my inner world, through the teachings of India’s famous mystic, Sadhguru. His course, Inner Engineering, helped me stay mentally strong and gave me tools to find inner joy, rather than depending on external circumstances to be joyful. Through Sadhguru, I found the Divine Feminine, Devi, and was astounded by how the Universe supports you.

The title poem “33 Syllables” was inspired by a feeling of humility when trying to make an offering to God, during an Indian festival. Here is a sneak peek: a short poem and a haiku.

33 Syllables

what can I offer you Devi

flowers… coconut…

milk… moong?

there’s nothing I can call my own Dear One

even my breath is your gift.

 

Doggess

through Ginger’s deep gaze

you look at me. I call You

my girl, lovingly.

Connecting with the self, the marvelous life around us and the larger whole are the themes of my upcoming chapbook. My poems are not religious, but rather a universal reflection on life and the magic of creation. 

What’s next for you? Is there anything else you would like to add or your possible plans for the future? 

(MR): Currently, I have a number of loose ends that are threatening to trip me.  Once I tie them up nicely, and get “Crushing Etiquette” to lift off, I would like to focus on my short fiction. This will be a collection of stories based on my immigrant experiences, which deal with expectations from the family you left behind, trying to fit in, of being new, being the other. 

I would also like to grow my business  Top Form Academy where I teach business communication and etiquette. I love the a-ha moments when students and clients understand the Why of doing something, rather than thinking they are following a random rule. Or when students come back and say how the course gave them confidence to handle a new situation. My favorite program? Afternoon Tea — hands down (and pinkies in)! 

 

Featured Member Interview – Isidra Mencos

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Interview by Fran Quittel

Arriving from Barcelona to study in the United States in 1992, WNBA-SF Board member and author Isidra Mencos talks about her recent memoir Promenade of Desire—A Barcelona Memoir (She Writes Press, October 2022), her expanding writing career, and how she uses her talent to both write and also strategically market her work.  

Isidra speaking at AWP 2023As we began your interview, Isidra, I asked you to read one of your favorite passages from your writing, and you selected a key moment in your memoir when you discover salsa music and dancing. You said this is really the re-opening of your body to sensuality after sexual trauma. I’d love to hear how a woman born near Barcelona in Franco’s Spain was able to write this open, self-revealing work and the journey that enabled you to do this?   

(IM): Yes, absolutely. I was born in Spain, in my grandfather’s house in Santa Margarita, a small Catalan town close to Barcelona, while my family was on vacation. I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Spain, where I studied Spanish and French Literature. Then, because I was dating a guy in the United States who discussed studying here, I applied to enter a Ph.D. program in Spanish and Latin American Literature at the University of California in Berkeley. I really didn’t even know what a Ph.D. program was and what it would entail. Initially I thought the PhD lasted only two years, as it did in Spain, and that I would return to Barcelona after I finished. However, the Ph.D. program at Berkeley took six years, and after I met the man who became my husband three years later, I got married and stayed in the U.S.   

Did you become an academic after your studies at Berkeley?

(IM): Actually only for a short time. Since there really weren’t full-time positions in my major, I worked in two jobs for about eight years. I became a lecturer at UC Berkeley, and I also launched my business as an editor for Spanish speaking media.  My big breakthrough came in 2006, when I decided to expand my work totally outside of academia and I found a job with a digital company called babycenter.com which was launching its website and digital products in Spanish. I was hired as the Executive Editor of Baby Center en Español, and then was promoted to Editorial Director of the Americas, managing the company’s teams in Latin America, including Brazil, Spain, and also in Canada. I stayed with babycenter.com for 10 years and then in 2016, I decided to focus more on creative writing. At the same time, I launched my own business as a writing coach, developmental editor and ghostwriter. I am also a certified interpreter.

Were you already writing creatively in English? 

(IM): My trajectory was not exactly a straight line. Initially, I wrote in Spanish. I published a book of short stories in Spanish at the end of the 90’s and I also wrote an academic book published in Catalan which won an award in Barcelona, but I didn’t write consistently at that time.

However, in 2014, I started taking classes online in memoir writing offered by Stanford University, and I needed to present my work in English. This meant that although I always wrote in English, I only started writing creatively in English in 2015, after I was in the United States for 25 years.  

Does writing in English work for you?

(IM):  Yes, very well. Actually I think in English and I love writing in English—with occasional help from a Thesaurus! I love language and words, and being multi-lingual has several advantages. First of all, my memoir was about my sexual awakening: my journey from repressed Catholic girl to becoming a seductive and empowered salsa dancer as Spain transitioned from dictatorship to democracy.  By writing in English, I could be more open about this awakening and feel “freer” because my family doesn’t read English. Although eventually the book will come out in Spanish, this gave me a soft landing with fewer things to worry about. Also, Spanish is 20% longer than English, more florid with longer grammar structures.  When I am writing in English, I feel I have a more precise voice, a more direct voice.

So, did you go directly from babycenter.com in Spanish to Promenade of Desire in English?

(IM):  Yes. The book of short stories in Spanish that I published many years ago came out when I knew nothing about the literary world. It was published in a tiny edition by two women I met at a writers’ conference who had just launched a publishing house in Texas. They really had no distribution, and I had no idea about marketing. While I did a successful event to launch the book, I mostly just gave those books away. I wasn’t serious about launching myself as a writer and after that, I didn’t write creatively for many years.

However, it was my dream to be a committed writer, which I decided to do in 2016 when I gave up what was a very plush corporate job with a lot of prestige for my love of writing. 

How did you support yourself?

(IM):  I was actually the main breadwinner in my family for a long time and I had to organize my finances and support my family at the same time I was reaching out to live my dream. When I made this switch, my husband – who is now a DJ working gigs- worked in a non-profit and then there was a recession in 2008 and he was only working part-time. However, I had saved money and had vested stock options which could help me during the first three years after leaving my job.  Additionally, I had the support of my family.  I knew that my husband and my son, who was not even a teenager then, would support me by tightening their belts. I also worked part-time and used my saved income, and my family said we could live a modest life and we would survive.

How much writing have you done since 2016?

(IM): Since 2016, I’ve only had the one book, Promenade of Desire. I’m working on my next book now. But I’ve also had personal essays published in literary and general magazines, like Wired or The Chicago Quarterly Review. One of my essays, “My Books and I,” was listed as Notable in 2019 in the Best American Essays Anthology.

You are also a very strong in marketing what you write.  Can you share any tips with us?

(IM):  While I love the creativity of writing, I also love reaching my readers, and I pay a lot of attention to my website and social media.   When I started, I had a pretty well developed experience in digital marketing because I had been managing the online content in my corporate job, so that was a big help. But I am constantly educating myself, and I found the marketing webinars that She Writes Press offered quite useful. I also took mastermind courses and workshops on how to create an author’s website, start a newsletter, and so on. When I started working with my web designer, I understood how to choose what to show and what to communicate in an author’s website. My designer chose a theme, and I gave him the content. I change the website’s content as often as needed. Right now I am changing the events page to “Keynotes and Talks”, for example.  Additionally, I belong to several writers groups and I am always learning from other writers.   

What do you emphasize in your marketing?

(IM):  My website gives a well-rounded picture of who I am as an author and it has three main areas: my book, public speaking, and my business.

When I launched the website, I wanted people to subscribe to my newsletter because, I didn’t have the book yet. Now I want to sell the book, so it is the first thing I have on my website so people can read reviews and they can make their purchase. 

Then we have “Events” or rather now “Keynotes and Talks.”  I love public speaking, teaching and connecting with people. These are indirect marketing methods that I use where I offer information that is enlightening, inspiring and entertaining, instead of talking about my book. Currently I am teaching the history of Spain and its transition from dictatorship to democracy at OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) in several universities.  It’s a topic that not many people can teach well. It relates to the historical context of my memoir and helps sell my book indirectly by bringing value and information to my audience. I also speak at conferences on the craft of writing and about inspirational topics for women. 

For example, “How to choose a great title for your book” and “Truth in memoir” are not about my book directly but they touch topics related to my book so people often feel they want to know what else I have to offer and check my book out. I also do the public speaking events, both paid and unpaid, because they help me reach increasingly bigger audiences.  

The third part of my website is the “Work with me” tab where people can see what I offer as a writing coach, development editor and ghostwriter.

How does the WNBA-SF Chapter fit into your activities?

(IM):  I served on the Board for our chapter and I love the literary community that connects me with other writers. I love our high caliber events that enable writers to learn how to pitch their work and our various literary readings. This year we had a new book release party featuring ten WNBA member books which was fantastic. I also help moderate panels and suggest topics. For Pitch-O-Rama 2023, I am the head of the marketing committee.

Any final advice?

(IM): Of course! Check out my book!

This interview was conducted by fellow WNBA-SF Board Member Fran Quittel, ComputerWorld’s (now retired) career columnist and business author.  Fran is also the author of The Central Park Lost Mitten Party which celebrates the magical powers of lost objects inside New York City’s iconic Central Park.

 

Featured Member Interview – Nita Sweeney

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From studying journalism to practicing law to combatting depression by running with her dog, Nita Sweeney has returned to her passion of writing, sharing her life discoveries for herself and others.

In this interview, Nita Sweeney talks to us about her newest book Make Every Move a Meditation, now available for preorder, and her trajectory and perspective as a writer.

To begin, how were you first introduced to the practice of meditation?

Nita Sweeney (NS): This is my favorite story. It starts with, “There was this guy.”

In my early thirties I began to date a man who meditated. I really liked him. One day, he asked, “Wanna sit?” I replied, “Wanna what?” He was talking about meditation. I agreed, and he set the microwave timer for five minutes. His primary instruction was “Try not to fidget.” But I couldn’t not fidget.

That was thirty years ago. That man and I will soon have been married 29 years.

Could you talk to us about your newest book, Make Every Move a Meditation? Is it primarily targeted towards someone new to meditation or do you believe someone already familiar with the practice could enjoy it too?

Make Every Move a Meditation

NS: I hope Make Every Move a Meditation will appeal to both audiences.

While I give specific, detailed instructions a beginner can follow, some of the techniques might be unfamiliar to people who have practiced before. Most meditation instruction suggests sitting or walking practice. Although movement meditation is not new, it is also not commonly taught.

There is an assumption that you must sit still in order to develop the calm and concentration necessary for effective meditation practice. I agree that a still body can create conditions to help the mind calm on its own. However, stillness is not necessary. Plus, I suggest doing both sitting and moving practice.

Before you practiced meditation, what were your initial thoughts on the practice? Did it match your expectations or was it completely different than you had imagined?

NS: I’d heard about various types of meditation and I thought they were exotic and odd. But as I continued to practice alongside that guy, because I liked him, I eventually experienced the calm and concentration that comes from meditation practice.

That made me want to continue regardless of him. As it turned out, he continued too, so we have a fine partnership.

What led you to writing about mental health and practicing meditation?

NS: I write about mental health and meditation based on my own experience because putting words on a page is a way to digest what happens to me. It helps me understand life at a deeper level.

I’ve been writing for many years and when I was looking for a book project that would sell, my journey of using running to treat my mental health symptoms occurred to me as a marketable and interesting idea. Apparently, it was.

I’d also been writing about meditation for many years in the hope of creating an accessible instruction book. I meditate while I run and that improves my mental health. That combination resulted in another book.

What lessons did you learn from writing Depression Hates a Moving Target? How is Make Every Move a Meditation different?

NS: Depression Hates a Moving Target taught me how difficult it is to capture the experience of mental illness. I did my best. People who have been there get it. Those are my target readers—people who have touched the darkness. I’m always happy / sad when someone who reads that book says they feel like I’m in their mind.

That first book is a running and mental health memoir. It can be used as a training manual, and many people use it that way, but it is more about my inner experience of being someone who lives with bipolar disorder and how some days just getting up is a victory.

Make Every Move a Meditation also includes examples from my life, but they are purely instructive. I wrote it intending to instruct readers how to meditate while they move. I began the book by explaining why someone might bother meditating at all, and especially why someone might bother meditating while they’re exercising. Don’t we already have enough to do? I do my best to convince the reader it is worth the effort. And then, step-by-step, I show them how it’s done.

Does meditation ever help inspire new writing ideas to you? Conversely, do you find writing to be a meditative experience?

NS: Yes and yes! Although I choose an object of meditation during any meditative interval, thoughts naturally arise. Sometimes those include ideas about a writing project. The idea for what I hope to be my next book, a daily meditation practice guide for living in the moment, came to me nearly 30 years ago during a brief period of meditation in a recovery meeting. During practice, when my mind calms down, those “ah ha” moments happen all the time.

The angst-ridden journals I scrawled as a teenager may have also counted as meditative writing because they brought me back to the moment. And, I always felt better after. I was less angry, more calm, and able to make better decisions.

Later, I found Natalie Goldberg’s book, Writing Down the Bones. Once I began doing her Zen-based writing practice method, I saw the connection, the overlap between writing and meditation.

What writing advice do you have for those struggling to put their pen to the paper?

NS: Try something. Anything. Set a timer and go for 10 minutes without stopping. If you can’t do that, set a timer and go for 10 minutes and write an outline about what you want to write.

There is no one way to do it. Each of our brains is different. I can tell you what works for me. You can go try that and fail miserably. You have to find your own way and once you find it you have to trust it. And that might work for one project or two projects and then it might stop working. The next project might require a different way.

Also, read a lot. Read in the genre you want to write in. Let it wash over you, flow through you. You will absorb it unconsciously. But the thinking types will want to study it as if that author was a mentor. Pick it apart. See how they’re doing it. Be an apprentice. And let that inspire you. But remember when you read a book, it has been edited over and over and over. You are not reading someone’s first drafts.

Coming from a journalism and law background, were you always able to envision having a career as a writer? What is an unexpected challenge that comes with being a writer?

NS: When I was young, I told my father I wanted to be a writer. He responded that writing was an excellent skill which would serve me in whatever profession I chose. I didn’t know any writers and the message I heard, whether intended or not, was that writing was not an acceptable profession. I knew I wanted to write, but I didn’t know what that looked like.

I tend to be a practical person, so instead of studying English or creative writing, I chose journalism. That seemed like a better way to earn a living. Because I was smart and could write, the college counselor directed me toward law school. I was able to stay in the practice of law as long as I did because I could research and write well. But in the firm where I worked, promotion required trial work and client development. That was not my skill set. Eventually, I found my way back to journalism, writing magazine feature articles. And ultimately, I wound up doing what I really wanted: writing books.

What have you been reading lately?

NS: I just finished A Mindful Nation by Congressman Tim Ryan, who is running for Senate in Ohio where I live. His well-written book offers a variety of uses for mindfulness meditation practice including basic instructions for environments such as schools, health care settings, and the military. I really enjoyed it.

Do you have any other topics or genres you’d like to write about next?

NS: There’s always that unfinished novel about the unicorn barista who unknowingly joins a troop of homeless forest people trying to save some ancient trees.

I’d also like to finish the early drafts of different memoirs about my relationship with various family members. And poetry beckons. I want to write it all.

Nita Sweeney is the award-winning wellness author of the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink and co-creator of the writing journal, You Should Be Writing: A Journal of Inspiration & Instruction to Keep Your Pen Moving. Her upcoming book, Make Every Move a Meditation was featured in the Wall Street Journal. Nita lives in central Ohio with her husband, Ed, and their yellow Labrador retriever, Scarlet. Download your free copy of Nita’s eBook Three Tools for a Happier, Healthier Mind.

Featured Member Interview—Marlena Fiol, PhD 

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Journeying from business academic writing to penning an intimate memoir, a sweeping historical saga, and a titillating book of short stories, Marlena Fiol talks about her upcoming novel CALLED

Conducting this interview is Nita Sweeney, author of the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target and co-creator of You Should Be Writing. 

Nita Sweeney (NS): Before I ask about things specific to writing, tell our members, with the world still on a bit of a pandemic roller coaster, how have you been taking care of yourself? 
Marlena Fiol (MF): I am very fortunate to be ‘locked up’ with my best friend and soulmate, Ed.  

NS: Your memoir, Nothing Bad Between Us, dives into your complicated relationship with your father and the healing that took place over the years. What prompted you to write about that relationship? 

MF: Initially, I began journaling as a way to confront and acknowledge the abuse and suffering that occurred when I was a kid, as well as to honor the healing that eventually took place. I published a number of those journal entries as literary essays. My readers asked me to share more of my journey, which led me to write the memoir. 

NS: Now that the book has been out for a little while, is there anything you would change about the writing or promotion? 
MF: There’s really nothing I would change about the writing. I feel honored every time I hear from readers and reviewers that the story of my journey from abuse to forgiveness has touched people’s lives.  

NS: Tell us about your newest book, CALLED. 
MF: Thank you for this opportunity to speak about this story! CALLED is an expansive historical saga that brings to life the extraordinary contributions of two medical pioneers in the wilds of Paraguay.

In their fierce determination to save floundering communities across the country, and to battle the stigma and shame of leprosy, John and Clara faced intractable opposition from many fronts: a medical community that rejected their unorthodox and revolutionary practices, governments that threatened imprisonment, and neighboring villagers who vowed to kill them.

Based on true events that span six decades, CALLED is an epic tale of fearless adventure and heroism that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit persevering in the face of fear, rebellious subversion, and terrorism.

The book was released November 2, 2021. It is now available on Amazon.

NS: How did you come up with the premise for CALLED? 
MF: The premise is embodied in the well-publicized real lives of the story’s protagonists John and Clara Schmidt.

In the words of one of our reviewers: “At its root, CALLED is a story of how a deep and durable faith inspires and sustains a true visionary. But no matter how holy, visionary, and transformative we may be, we are all mortal. It takes a different kind of faith to reach for the sky, knowing all the while that we are forever planted on the ground.” 

NS: In addition to memoir and fiction, you’ve written for academia and business for many years. Does your writing process vary by genre or by project? Could you share something about that with the WNBA-SF members? 
MF: My writing process does not vary by genre or by project. In all cases, it involves writing many, many drafts, some of which never see the light of day. 

NS: What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever heard? 
MF: “You can’t do it.” 

NS: And the best?  
MF: That a very imperfect first draft is a worthy target. 

NS: Has your writing life turned out differently than you expected? If so, how? 
MF: Much different. If you had told me six years ago that I would be writing literary fiction and nonfiction, I would have laughed at you! Whereas I consciously chose my business research and writing career, I have felt called to the writing Ed and I are now engaged in. 

NS: Is there anything you would change about your writing and publication journey? 

MF: In retrospect, I wish I had self-published my memoir, rather than seeking the support of a publisher. I have learned that in today’s wired world, it is relatively easy to produce and market one’s book without the traditional publishing channels. Ed and I have enjoyed the freedom to effectively produce and promote the print book, eBook, and audiobook of our new book, CALLED. 

NS: Is there something you wish you had known about writing and publication earlier in your life? 
MF: I wish I had known how much the publishing industry has changed, and how advantageous it is to self-publish in today’s world. 

NS: What are you currently reading for inspiration? 
MF: Ed and I were the official sponsor of author Tayari Jones at this year’s San Diego Writer’s Festival. Her latest novel An American Marriage inspires and admonishes. It is a serious commentary on social injustice wrapped in a titillating love story. 

NS: What’s next? 
MF: Our next book, titled One More Time, is a series of short stories about love, adventure, and taking life to the limit. And of course, we will continue to create, record, and deliver weekly episodes of our YouTube show Becoming Who We Truly Are. To learn more, please visit marlenafiol.com. 

Marlena Fiol, PhD, is a globally recognized author, scholar, and speaker. She is a spiritual seeker whose work explores the depths of who we are and what’s possible in our lives. Her significant body of publications on the topic, coupled with her own raw identity-changing experiences, makes her uniquely qualified to write about personal transformational change.

She holds a PhD in Strategic Management from the University of Illinois and has taught on the faculties of New York University and the University of Colorado. Marlena is the author of Nothing Bad Between Us: A Mennonite Missionary’s Daughter Finds Healing in Her Brokenness, and, together with Ed O’Connor, Separately To Together and Reclaiming Your Future.

Their latest book CALLED is now available. Learn more about Marlena via her website. 

Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte

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Interview by B Lynn Goodwin

In honor of Black History Month, WNBA-SF proudly shares this author interview of Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte, author of Betrayal on the Bayou.

WNBA-SF Chapter engages in a continuous commitment and intentional practice of assuring the presence and meaningful participation and celebration of Black, Indigenous, and people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, historically marginalized identities, and people with disabilities, in its programming, membership and leadership. 

This interview first appeared on the website WriterAdvice.com and is reprinted with permission.

Cover or a book with words and an image of trees and a swamp

Betrayal on the Bayou

Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte’s Betrayal on the Bayou is a fascinating novel that delves into some heartbreaking issues around race, justice, and the noir code in the fictitious Louisiana town of Tassin.

In the midst of the Louisiana Bayou in the 1800s, there was a three-tiered culture: slaves, free people of color, and whites. When a young, white widower from Paris arrives with his daughter he marries a Tassin woman, who has money and power,  and then takes a Creole lover. After a while he builds his lover, Margot, a house identical to his wife, Marie’s, and sets them side by side. He encourages feuds, discord, and his personal superiority. As the story unfolds we learn about the injustices a white man could perpetrate without consequences in the 1800s. Readers will be left wondering how much has changed today in this fast-paced debut novel.

Bize-Boutte is an award-winning writer, poet, and Pushcart Nominee. In this interview she talks about her experiences.

BLG: Tell us when you knew you were a writer. Who encouraged you to tell your stories? 

SJBB: I am from a family of storytellers and voracious readers, so writing was a natural addition to that portfolio.  I knew I was a writer at 12 years old when my parents bought me a Smith Corona typewriter and I wrote my first story. I had imagined stories before then and wrote a few things down in pencil, but my passion was not solidified and off to the races until I was gifted that typewriter.  Incidentally, my first story was about pencils.  

BLG:  Are there real experiences you’ve observed or heard about woven into your novel? Can you give us a couple of examples? 

SJBB: As you know, fiction is always informed by lived reality and for Betrayal on the Bayou that is an embedded fact.  I tell people my imagination has always been my best friend and so, the combination and sometimes hybrid presentation of fact and imagination are present in the novel.   

As an example, one of the lead characters, Margot, is a mixture of the personalities, essences, physical attributes, occupations, and unfathomable heartbreak of several of the most important women in my life, the women who shaped me. In Margot, people who know me will see my mother who never completely overcame her tragedies and yet was a woman of incomparable substance and will, my aunt who made clothing, from the hats to the shoes, for Hollywood’s famous, my great-aunt who flourished in the Jim Crow south despite the restrictions on her very being, and me, a Black woman in America, and all that means. Those who don’t will discover my truths in this work of fiction.

Another example is the phrase, “the rain she come, the bsic pass on you,” from a story my father told us as children.  I took that phrase and re-imagined it as connected to my novel and gave it a new and different life with a more expansive meaning within the Creole and code noir culture I was describing and a commentary on how a myriad of things may have been in the fictional Louisiana town I built. In other words, I did what I do when I write fiction. I took a speck of something, added a dose of imagination, and blew it up into a story all its own. 

BLG: I’ve been fascinated by Creoles since I found a reference to them in a poem in my 7th grade reader. What inspired you to write about Creoles and their struggles in Louisiana? 

SJBB: My father was a Creole from Louisiana. I did not want to write a biography; I have already done many published stories and articles on my parents.  Yet, I was compelled to write something about the Creoles and one day, after ten years of procrastination, all the stories I had been told over the years, all the summer visits, all the food and the joy, and the deceptions came together with imagination and boom, it was all just there, fully formed, the words hitting the pages like magic.   

But the book is not just about the Creoles. Far from it. There are many human and structural characters woven into the novel. In addition to the people in the story, I explore aspects of colorism, elitism, gender bias, inequality, sexism, and what I consider other “betrayals” in the world I created inspired by a culture with which I am familiar.  I put it all in.  I let it all out. 

BLG: Which characters and events were hardest to write about? Why? 

SJBB: The hardest was Margot’s heartbreak.  It is a horrifying cruelty born of racial hatred.  It was the scene that took me 10 years to be able to write.  It was extremely difficult and written through a torrent of tears. Once I knew I could write the passage, I knew the rest of the book would just fall out.  And it did. Another difficult character was Marie.  Her torment was inspired by the life of a close relative, who floated on the surface to avoid destruction.   

BLG: How did writing poetry influence your process? 

SJBB: My penchant for the poetic often results in uniquely formed prose in my story writing.  In poetry, I believe that every line is a poem, and my stories are heavily influenced by that. It also means that in my story writing, I do not always adhere to traditional grammatical and phraseology conventions, which can be misunderstood or unaccepted by some and cause “editors” to pull out the red pen and provide “corrections.”  But it is my voice, and I will always be true to it. Because the ultimate gift to me as a writer is reaching those who can “see” my writing.

BLG: I admire your confidence. Has teaching improved your writing? How? 

SJBB: I don’t think teaching has improved my writing, but I do feel strongly that sharing what I have learned with others is a part of the circle of writing.  By that I mean, I am comfortable with the way I express myself with words and I teach to help others feel the same and to share what I know, what I have learned and what I am still discovering. 

BLG: What do you hope readers will take from  Betrayal on the Bayou? 

SJBB: That there are many stories of people, particularly Black people, that some may not know.  That we are complex beings.  That colorism and racism are cruel and not always visible. That just because you don’t know about something, doesn’t mean it did not happen.  That things that went on, pairings that occurred, are not new things, but existed long ago in different and sometimes, the same, settings. That there are some very bad people in this world.  That there are angels. That we must save and nourish the angels among us.

BLG: Was it always your intention to publish the book independently or did you submit to agents first? What advice can you give readers about independent publishing?  

SJBB: When an unplanned opportunity arose to “pitch” the story to a traditional publisher, I took advantage of it, but I knew there was no interest when their eyes glazed over and they said, “Well it sounds like a story worth telling.” Since I had always wanted to publish on my own to protect my “voice,” I took that route, and I am happy that I did.  I feel I told the story I wanted to tell in the ways that I wanted to tell it, without interference or lack of understanding by an outside party. 

My advice for independent publishing is twofold: 

Make sure you carve out adequate time to market your work. People need to see you and your writing in as many venues as you can reach. 

Invest in a good editor. I thought I had, but unfortunately, I had not.  The bad thing is copies got out with mostly punctuation errors.  The good thing is, since my independently published book is print on demand, I was able to get the mistakes corrected and have the book re-posted.  But I also have to say that some of the strongest and best reviews I received were on the early uncorrected copies, proving that for some, even the worst editing job can’t get in the way of a solid story.  Even now, I suspect we did not catch all the errors, but neither did Ernest Hemingway, Walter Mosley, or Sue Grafton, and many other famous, best-selling authors.  I consider myself to be in good company and am happy about the response to my book. 

BLG: What are you working on now and where can people learn more about you?  

SJBB: In a bit of a departure from Betrayal on the Bayou, which is, at times, dystopian, I am in the process of writing a sci-fi novel. The first chapter won an award in the 2021 San Francisco Writers Conference Writing Contest and is published in their 2021 anthology.   

You can read more about me and what I am up to at: www.sheryljbize-boutte.com. Thank you again for this interview opportunity. 

BLG: Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. I agree that your voice comes through loudly and clearly. You’ve done a great job of sharing a part of the culture that many people would like to know more about.

Looking for a book that is both historical and timely? Looking for a fast-moving story that will grab and hold you? Get a copy of Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte’s Betrayal on the Bayou.

In Memory of Beatrice Bowles (1943-2021)

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Written by Gini Grossenbacher

With great sadness, we announce the passing of our luminous WNBA-San Francisco Chapter member, Beatrice Bowles, who died October 19, 2021. Though born of two influential San Francisco families, the Crowleys and the Bowles, she veered away from her high society roots in the 1970s to fulfill her literary dream. She characterized herself as “a storyteller, writer, and recording artist of wonder tales that connect children to nature’s deep joys and eternal wisdom.” 

Her love of the natural world encompassed the mythical and cultural underpinnings that connect all living things. Her readers and listeners encounter adventurous youngsters, bullies, and magical spiders in her Spider Grandmother’s Web of Wonders. The stories tantalize young listeners with questions about the origins of life on earth and our reasons for being. 

Her legacy continues in her book entitled Spider Secrets: Stories of Spiders that connect creatures and their cultures. Not only do her books and audios spark children’s imaginations, but they also connect listeners to the natural world we often neglect. Not satisfied to leave us only young children’s books, she was working on the YA novel, A Ring of Riddles, described as “vivid . . . pulsing with imagination . . . a mythical coming-of-age adventure.”  

On her website, she tells us of the earliest memories which sparked her sense of wonder. In addition to stories involving the natural world, she claimed to love stories featuring “goodness triumphing over evil and of kindness defeating greed,” which in her words, “gave me courage, hope, and faith in justice.”

Her children inspired her to practice the art of storytelling, and she cites the Spider Grandmother, the Hopi godmother of storytelling, as the inspiration behind her live performances, audio and print storybooks. She discovered a new kind of storytelling called the Adventures of The Garden Children involving the placement of toys and found objects in the garden, then weaving a story around each scene. 

She produced several audio storybooks that feature traditional cultural tales, including Heaven’s a Garden in the Heart and Cloudspinner and The Hungry Serpent for which Sara Buchanan MacLean wrote the original music. Beatrice’s three wishes for her listeners were fostering emotional connections, opening our hearts to nature, and making imaginative connections. She encouraged her audiences to activate their visual abilities, inhabit wonder tales, and find similarities among various cultures’ stories. She recorded five audio storybooks/CDs of world wonder tales with original musical settings and was a Voting Member of the Grammy’s Recording Academy.

Audiences appreciated Beatrice’s weaving of the garden theme throughout her work. She often referred to the family property on Russian Hill that she renamed “Harmony Hill.” She said, “I grew up in this magical garden, hated to leave at age nine, and missed the place ever after. What a joy to come home again, buy the house from my uncle for a song, and raise my two children here beneath a mighty cork oak that my grandmother had planted in her garden just uphill.

“After a party-loving bachelor-renter had let the garden go wild for thirty years, I faced three years of ripping out ivy! Then I began to learn from experts and to plant fragrant woodland perennials and ornamental trees. When the grand dame of English gardening, Rosemary Verey, came to visit, she asked me to write about growing up here. My essay, ‘A Child’s Inheritance,’ is the first chapter in her book, Secret Gardens (Ebury Press, London, 1992).

“When garden writer Joan Hockaday, my neighbor and friend, brought Frank Cabot, founder of The Garden Conservancy, to visit, his word for this garden was ‘luminous.’ On the spot, he enchanted me into joining the Garden Conservancy, and I now sit on its West Coast Council.

Joan featured my garden for March in her book, The Gardens of San Francisco. The garden inspires me every day.” 

Beatrice Bowles performed at Filoli, San Francisco Botanical Garden, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Marin Art & Garden Center, and countless schools. She spoke at conferences on the arts from Washington, D.C., to Sintra, Portugal. 

Fellow storyteller and WNBA-SF friend, Kate Farrell, attended Beatrice Bowles’ Memorial, November 23, 2021, at the Hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park with hundreds in attendance. Farrell reports, “The champagne and tea reception was lavish with all the trappings of a British high tea, a tiered service of tea cakes and savory sandwiches. One of the large serving tables featured Bea’s latest book, Spider Grandmother’s Web of Wonders, fancifully decorated by a family member with table centerpiece decor inspired by the book, a blend of floral photographs, myths, and folktales.” 

 

 

WNBA readers are encouraged to visit her vibrant website, which captures the spirit of Beatrice Bowles. We mourn her loss yet are grateful for her legacy.

https://www.beatricebowles.com/

 

Featured Member Interview—Concha Delgado Gaitan

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Scholarly Writing to General Nonfiction:
Author Drawn to Power of Community

Interview of Concha Delgado Gaitan, Ph. D. by Nita Sweeney

Nita Sweeney (NS): Before we dive into questions specific to writing, tell our members, with the world beginning to open but many still being cautious, how have you been taking care of yourself?

Concha Delgado Gaitan (CDG): From the beginning of the pandemic, I felt the need to stay as healthy as possible to work with my publisher and complete the last phase of publishing my 10th book. I couldn’t visit friends, museums, theaters, bookstores, or music venues. Protecting my physical as well as my mind and spirit became part of my daily routine.

Following a morning meditation, I did Yoga or QiGong. A healthy breakfast held me till early afternoon.  Walking the hills around our house gave me stamina.  I wore out two pairs of shoes during that period. Although we missed going out to eat at our favorite restaurants, cooking dinner every evening became a playful and creative discipline that both my husband and I looked forward to enjoying. When restaurants opened for take-out, we supported them frequently.

Additionally, the two most important ways that helped me keep my focus during this past year included daily talking or texting with a family member and friend.  And I also played more than ever before with my four cats. They create amusing distractions effortlessly. Their playfulness felt especially healing during part of my 2020 year as I recovered from (non-covid related) pneumonia.

NS: You’ve been a university professor in Anthropology & Education for much of your career. How does that interplay with your writing?

CDG: At Stanford University, I studied Anthropology and Education, emphasizing ethnographic research of culturally diverse communities in the US. My research expertise earned me invitations to research Latino, Hmong, Native Alaskan Athabaskan, Russian Refugee, and Laotian communities as a Professor at the University of California, Davis. Through face-to-face interaction, observations, and interviews, I understood the people’s lives and language and wrote books that represented their stories of empowerment in these underrepresented communities.

In an academic style, I began shaping my underlying premise, highlighting the importance of social justice in our educational system, our public policies, and the resources of the communities that I studied. I wrote over 70 scholarly essays. My first book, Literacy for Empowerment, described a community I researched. The book received great reviews and became very popular within the Anthropology and Education field. It was the first such story written about the importance and uses of literacy in a Latino community. 

My need for writing the book was to have a book for one of my research seminars. Although it was an academic book, it read like a story of a community finding its voice, which students and colleagues applauded. It seemed that I had found a voice. Other books followed as among some of the scholarly books I wrote during this period included, Protean Literacy, The Power of Community, and Crossing Cultural Borders. These books became the stories that led me to write stories applicable lessons for practicing educators.

After conducting ethnographic research in numerous communities, I felt it was essential to take the academic stories to a practical level. These different books reached a broader educational audience that works directly with students, families, and communities. Those titles include Involving Latino Parents in the Schools and Building Culturally Responsive Classrooms and Creating a College Culture for Latino Students. I felt that it was especially important to write the book about getting students to college when I learned that only 16% of Latino students who enter a 4-year college complete and graduate.

NS: What led you to the writing life?

CDG: I was a reader from the early years. Reading was something my mother always insisted on—that we have a book in hand. The only writing I did during those years was in English classes.

Teaching has been my mission throughout my life. After teaching elementary school, I became a school principal at the age of 26. I was the first woman principal in an Eastside San Jose school district. I was always interested in books throughout those years, and my writing effort consisted of daily journals and notebooks filled with my thoughts, disappointments, and successes. I wrote short magazine-length critiques and commentaries about children’s literature for culturally diverse students and the shortage of books that depicted these cultures in authentic ways.

My studies at Stanford pushed me into formal writing that professors evaluated. Reading opened many doors for me in my life. I’ve believed that writing about topics that inspired me would also reach those interested in the same issues. I treasure that connection with people—many of whom I know and even more that I meet through my writing.

NS: Tell us about your work in social justice and any role that played in your writing.

CDG: Social justice themes thread through many of my writings.  Discrimination has silenced the voices of many communities of color.  Through the people’s lives that I observed, I recognize my responsibility to make their stories known. 

When I wrote books about a community, I discussed it with them in a language they understood. It was part of my relationship with the communities I studied. They trusted me to write about them because they had a voice in the story about them.

In my books, I tell people’s stories of building community despite the discrimination and economic challenges.  Their stories depict the inequalities that people experience in culturally diverse communities.  I describe how people find justice by organizing themselves to change their living conditions and empower themselves. They break barriers and participate fully in the educational, social, and political institutions where they reside.  Parents work to ensure that their children obtain greater access to resources to improve their lives.

NS: You suffered a health crisis and subsequently wrote a memoir. Would you like to share something about that with us? What helped you with that writing process?

CDG: After years as a senior professor at the University of California Davis, my health took an unexpected downward turn. What I knew as my active life of being a professor and enjoying daily hour-long walks, belly dancing, salsa, and traveling around the country and overseas to lecture to work with my Anthropology and Education colleagues came to a screeching halt for a short time. One night I was awakened by severe full-body pain and high fever, the likes of which I’d never experienced. Initially, emergency rooms diagnosed me with flu-like symptoms and sent me home to rest. I spent weeks with my body weakening more each day. It would take weeks of additional visits to the specialist to diagnose me with Systemic Lupus.

Throughout the ten years that followed I continued my professorship while keeping copious notes that filled books of my health story as it unfolded. After I became stronger, I needed to change my profession and my life in general. In rethinking my career, I committed to putting my health first. I left the University and began my independent subcontract business doing community consulting, research, and writing, which I managed from my home office. Another commitment I made to myself was to end my relationship—not only with the man I was with but also with every other workaholic man that encouraged my workaholic pace.

As my new healthier life took shape, I wrote my memoir Prickly Cactus. The book took a few years to leave my desk because it was the first time writing such a personal account of my life. It was therapeutic since my life was unfolding as I wrote about the transformation that were occurring. Writing a memoir pushed me to write quite differently than my past professional books. One way I thought I could break some of my pattern of writing was to take fiction writing classes to stretch me out of my familiar writing format. In the process, I became good friends with my writing teacher. Since then, she has been a great coach; she influenced my style as I competed Prickly Cactus.  Writing my memoir taught me how to write to a general audience about a personal matter–my health.

By the time I completed Prickly Cactus, I had decided to try marriage for the second time. I married my dear partner, Dudley whom I met before I began writing Prickly Cactus. 

NS: You are a prolific writer. Can you share some tips with the WNBA-SF members as to how you produce such a large number and variety of works?

CDG: My enthusiasm for writing satisfies my appetite for learning about the topics that I write.  I also learn new techniques. My love for the people and their stories of resilience has been my joy and driving force in writing.

Where my work routine is concerned, I’m very disciplined.  However, in recent years, I find myself writing in spurts according to my inspiration rather than in defined blocks of time. It’s been productive and more satisfying at this point. I suppose it’s a form of discipline.

NS: Are you ever surprised in the writing process?  If so, how and when?

CDG: My surprises became major lessons. I’ll mention a couple of them. Moving from academic to professional books for practicing educators required me to write in a language that was accessible to educators without using the academic jargon commonly found in scholarly books.

Another new twist occurred when I wrote, Prickly Cactus called for still a different style of language used to tell a story. I wanted to describe my experience so that my younger family members would be able to read without oversimplifying the story. I fought the impulse to cite every date and new concept. And writing about my life included family members. I wanted to make sure that they felt comfortable with their names in the book. I maintained my writer’s integrity and ensured that I would not slight my story while remaining on speaking terms with family members.

NS: Is there something you wish you had been told or not told, earlier about writing?

CDG: Well into my doctoral studies, a professor at Stanford told me that I shouldn’t continue my doctoral studies because I didn’t know how to write and that I would never learn how to write academically well enough to earn a degree.  Her comments rattled me because I took it personally; I lost time and self-confidence, which took time to heal. I could have used that time more productively to work on my studies. After talking with a few professors whose teaching, I respected, I felt ready to continue my Stanford studies.

One-and-a-half years later, I graduated with a Ph.D., and I had published two scholarly articles. I am grateful that I did not devalue my work or stop writing because it was only the beginning of my rich and meaningful storytelling career in four different writing categories: academic for researchers, a memoir on health and healing, educational books for practicing educators, and aging for a general audience.

NS: In a conversation we had before this interview, we discussed aging. How has that impacted your writing?

CDG: Generally, I feel that age does not define who I am or what I do. I don’t typically relate to people according to age. I feel comfortable in intergenerational groups. This might be because we have a large family representing three age levels. We’re a close family and relate to each other comfortably across age groups. However, more recent years, I have become more aware of being a senior baby boomer as my closest friends and colleagues talk about being at this stage of our lives. The prominent issues on people’s minds include discussions on health, work, traveling, caring for parents, and losing spouses. Our conversations piqued my interest enough to research and write my recent book, Wings of a Firebird—The Power of Relationships in our Later Years. I feel strongly that aging in this society needs to be discussed and written from as many perspectives as can lead us to more humanistic policies for this age group.

NS: What is next for you, writing-wise?

CDG: My book Wings of a Firebird gives us a window into the diversity of experiences of aging in our country and the need for policies and resources to support the largest growing demographic. The storytellers in my book spoke of their meaningful relationships. However, there was one type of relationship that did not appear in this book, which I feel merits attention as it plays out in the lives of older adults. The Pandemic exposed more areas for us to explore about seniors in our society. I’m vague about the specifics of my next topic because I read a great deal and interview many people to shape and clarify my topic. I’ve begun doing that type of research to see what story unfolds. Stay tuned. 

Concha Delgado Gaitan has written extensively in the field of Anthropology and Education. Her works emphasize social justice issues of unrepresented communities. The National American Anthropological Association/Council of Anthropology named the presidential Fellowship in her honor. She also received the Anthropology and Education Award from that organization for her lifetime contribution to the field. In her capacity as a professor and researcher, she has worked with communities including Latino, Russian Refugees, Alaskans Native students, Hmong, and transnational populations in Mexico and Spain, where she has also lectured on her books.

Delgado Gaitan’s wealth of experience as an elementary teacher, school principal, and university professor enriches her family-community-school research.

Her book Involving Latino Families in the Schools was a best seller in Corwin Press, and Prickly Cactus was a best seller in the category of “Women’s Health” when it was released by Cypress House Press on Amazon.

Other titles of Delgado Gaitan’s books include Literacy for Empowerment; Crossing Cultural Borders; The Power of Community; Protean Literacy; Crossing Cultural Borders; and School and Society; Building A College Culture for Latino Students.

Her recent book is Wings of a Firebird; the Power of Relationships in our Later Years. It marks the beginning of a new direction in her writing, a focus on issues of older adults in our society.

For more information, visit her website. 

Interview by Nita Sweeney, author of the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink and co-creator of You Should Be Writing: A Journal of Inspiration & Instruction to Keep Your Pen Moving

Featured Member Interview – Gail Newman

By

Poet’s latest book captures stories of the Holocaust, is a tribute to the living and the dead.

by Nita Sweeney, author of the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink and co-creator of You Should Be Writing: A Journal of Inspiration & Instruction to Keep Your Pen Moving

Nita Sweeney (NS): Before we dive into questions specific to writing, tell our members, with the world beginning to open ever-so-slightly, but still somewhat suspended, how are you taking care of yourself?

(GN): I divide my time between San Francisco and Sebastopol, and now that it’s spring I’m mostly in Sebastopol—gardening, cooking, reading, writing. The garden is blooming, the flowers raising their heads, opening buds, beaming with self-adoration. I’m with my husband, and our son is with us, so I am not alone. I don’t need a multitude, and solitude has always been my companion, but it feels wonderful to get together with friends again, unmasked, with some sense of renewed freedom.

NS: What led you to the writing life?

Gail Newman (GN): Before I was a writer, I was a reader. When I was a child, my mother often took me to the library. My ambition was to read through the shelves alphabetically. I found the world—adventure, friendship, travel, excitement—between the pages. I wanted to be a writer like Jo in Little Women, eating apples up in the attic with ink stained fingers. My grandfather was a journalist and although I never knew him, I like to think that writing is in my blood.

NS: Have you always preferred to write poetry? If so, what drew you to it and what keeps you there?

GN: I loved poetry, but I didn’t know I could write it until, in my mid 20’s, I joined a women’s workshop suggested by a friend. This was during the height of the women’s movement, a time when feminist presses began to emerge and publish women’s poetry in anthologies and collections. Once I began to write poetry, I felt a depth of perception and form of expression that absorbed me. Robert Frost said, “A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.” I think that is an apt description. 

NS: Your most recent poetry collection, Blood Memory, “traces the path of Holocaust survivors from Poland to America during and after World War II.” What brought you to write about the Holocaust at this time in your life and at this time in history?

GN: These poems have been in me all my life. I tried to write about the Holocaust and my family when I was younger, but I think I needed more experience as a writer and more distance as a child of survivors. 

When my father died, I started writing more poems about him and my mother. I decided then, in a conscious way, to write a book of poems about my parents’ lives. 

The book is a narrative that tells a story based on what my parents told me as well as my own experience and research. I think the book is a tribute to the living and the dead, and my own realization of the importance of memory and heritage. 

I didn’t know that the book would be released at this particular moment in history when antisemitism and racism-against blacks, Asian, Muslims, immigrants-has come again into our public consciousness. 

NS: If there is one key message that you want readers to get from your book, what would it be?

GN: I think of the poem, Try to Praise the Mutilated World by Adam Zagajewski. People can withstand the most horrific experiences and build meaningful and even joyful lives. We remember the Holocaust to honor the living and the dead. And we remember so that we will be vigilant and compassionate, so that we don’t stand idle when others, of any religion, culture or race, experience bigotry, hatred, or genocide. 

We remember the Holocaust in the hope that it will never happen again in any nation, to any people. We want to remember the past, those who died, our heritage and our people. We want to remember so we can live with compassion. We remember so we will not stand as silent witness to others’ suffering.

NS: You were born in Germany, raised in Los Angeles, and have lived many years in the Bay Area. What impact, if any, do these places have on your work?

GN: Though I don’t remember Germany, or the war, my parents’ lives is part of my inherited memory. The title of my book, Blood Memory, refers to what we carry with us from our parent’s past, from the places we came from and the events that brought us to the present. 

Los Angeles enters my poems in a kind of reverie of childhood and growing up. Moments flicker into my mind in the form of images, snapshots, and evoke feelings that inspire poems.

The Bay Area had a big impact on my work. It was there that I discovered poetry. I was drawn to City Lights [bookstore] in North Beach. I felt the history of the city, writers’ breath in the air and in the streets.

NS: Writers love to hear how other writers work. What is your process? Is it the same from book to book? 

GN: I would say, looking back on my life, that my writing is erratic. I don’t have a set routine. I don’t get up and go to my desk at a specific time. I love to sit by a window, gazing out, drinking coffee, daydreaming. Some nights, when I wake with the lines of a poem in my head, I get up and go to the computer. I don’t have to turn the light on, but type by the Apple’s glow. 

When I write I enter a kind of meditative state, but I think it’s just natural to my writing process and doesn’t come from training or conscious effort. I might go back later to make the details more precise. That is the editor stepping in to perfect the craft. I see images in my mind. Some are memories, some imagination. I remember once bemoaning to another writer about my poor memory and she said, “You’re a poet. Make it up.” That gave me a lot of freedom.

NS: Are you ever surprised in the writing process? If so, how and when?

GN: Writing poetry is a process of discovery, so I’m always surprised. I love poems with a turn, when a thought or images pivots into unknown territory or makes a surprising connection. It’s like walking around a corner in an unfamiliar neighborhood. 

NS: Tell us about the publishing journey of Blood Memory. 

GN: I entered a number of contests, about twenty, sponsored by small press poetry book publishers. Then I began to wait. I expected to wait a long time. I expected rejections. I thought I would continue to submit the following year. One morning I received an email from Marsh Hawk Press asking for a hard copy of my manuscript. Because I was among the finalists, my book would be read by the judge, Marge Piercy. This alone was an honor. I was surprised and thrilled to receive an email a few weeks later saying that I was the first-place winner and that Marge Piercy had chosen my book.

NS: Please share a favorite writing or publishing tip with our WNBA-SF members? Is there one thing you return to again and again, or something you wish you had known or realized much earlier?

GN: Aim high. Try and try again. If your work is rejected, don’t feel rejected. When you submit to publications — journals, magazines, contests — acceptance may be dependent on many factors. Have faith in yourself.

NS: What’s next for you writing-wise?

GN: When I finished Blood Memory, I thought, what will I write about now, without a specific idea? The answer is: everything. Small moments, the most ordinary objects can become the subject of a poem. I’m writing about time, the way it changes, slows down, speeds up, the past coming closer, the present fading away. I may remember a feeling, a sensation, and the memory grows into a poem.

I’m still writing about my parents. So maybe it’s a story that has no end. Some teachers have asked about using the book to teach Holocaust Studies, and since I’m an educator, I could help or become involved in that. I would love to share my book with readers in other countries, especially Eastern Europe, and to use it as a message of hope, resilience, and resistance.

Gail Newman was born after WW II in a displaced persons camp in Lansberg, Germany. The daughter of Polish Holocaust survivors, she was raised in a community of Jewish immigrants in Los Angeles where her mother, who recently celebrated her 100th birthday, still lives. 

Gail has worked as an educator at the San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum, and as a poet-teacher for California Poets in the Schools. Co-founder and editor of Room, a Women’s Literary Journal, Gail also edited Inside Out, a book of poetry lessons for teachers, and two collections of children’s poems, C is for California and Dear Earth. 

Her poems have appeared in journals including Canary, Prairie Schooner, Calyx, Nimrod International, The Bellingham Review, and in anthologies including Ghosts of the Holocaust, The Doll Collection, and Fog and Light. A book of poetry, One World, was published by Moon Tide Press. 

Blood Memory, chosen by Marge Piercy for the Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize was published in 2020. Piercy writes: 

Writing about the Holocaust can be difficult now, not that it was ever easy….those who know, who went through it, are dying off. Those who deny what happened multiply. To make fresh powerful poems rooted in Shoah is amazing.

www.gailnewmanpoet.com

 For signed copies of Blood Memory, please contact Gail through her website.

Facebook: Gail Newman