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RedBird-RedOak Writers …

By Kim Suhr, Maybe I’ll Learn: Snapshots of a Novice Mom

Follow this novice mom as she navigates the joys and challenges of raising kids in the Baby Einstein™ era. Determined to Do It Right!™, she recounts moments that all parents will recognize: from sibling rivalry to overcoming fears to grappling with life’s big questions. Each of these light pieces can be read in the time it takes to boil water for mac-n-cheese.

http://www.amazon.com/Maybe-Ill-Learn-Snapshots-Novice/dp/1480125520/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

By Carol Wobig, Poached is not an Option

Set in small-town and rural Wisconsin, Poached Is Not an Option is an engaging and fast-paced collection of eight stories about women of all ages. We root for them, laugh with them, and feel their pain.

http://www.amazon.com/Poached-not-option-Carol-Wobig/dp/1479139122/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

By Judy Bridges, Shut Up & Write!

The writing mentor speaks her mind, makes you laugh and lights your fire.

” …a combination of tough-love coaching and humor that inspires and shows you how to become the writer you want to be” ~Elfrieda Abbe, Publisher

“Judy Bridges is one of the most generous writing spirits I have ever met. She understands the awesome potential of a blank sheet of paper, the power of the pen, and the calling of the writer to fill the page. What a gift that she now shares her wisdom in Shut Up & Write!” ~Sheila Hanrahan, winner of Wisconsin Academy Review Award for Short Fiction (and RedBird-RedOak Writer)

Finalist: Next Generation Indie Book Awards!

http://www.redbirdstudio.com/order-info.html

By Robert Vaughan (editor): Flash Fiction Fridays

Flash Fiction Friday is a monthly radio program aired on WUWM’s Lake Effect in Milwaukee, WI. Each month host Robert Vaughan selects local writers who do a quick flash interview and read their flash fiction piece on the air. Then, Robert reads a national writer’s piece and ties the two together thematically with his co-host, Stephanie Lecci. After doing this every month in 2011, Vaughan created an anthology to honor the writers who shared their work on the radio program. Writers include Kim Suhr, Christi Craig, Elizabeth Huwiler, Guy Yasko, Jack Douthitt, Jennifer Vanderheyden, Laurel Landis, and many more.

 Flash Fiction Fridays: Robert Vaughan: 9781105460937: Amazon.com: Books

By Doug Jacobson, Night of Flames & The Katyn Order

Night of Flames

Winner 2008 “Outstanding Achievement Award” by Wisconsin Library Association

A wide-ranging historical tale of WW2, suspenseful, rich in convincingly detailed incidents, and impeccably researched. Recommended for public libraries and all collections of historical fiction. ~ The Library Journal

http://www.mcbooks.com/bookstore/product_details.php?id=743

The Katyn Order

Jacobson follows his debut, Night of Flames, with another solid WW2 thriller. ~ Publisher’s Weekly

Two impressive historical thrillers in one – will captivate history buffs and thriller fans alike. ~ The Library Journal

http://www.mcbooks.com/bookstore/product_details.php?id=1046

By Dave Thome, Fast Lane & Man Writing a Romance

Fast  Lane

Lara Dixon sets out to make playboy Clay Creighton fall in love with her…so she can dump him as soon as he’s hooked.

She’s on a mission of justice, certain that Clay’s Fast Lane media empire, with its philosophy of “fast women, fast cars and fast living,” encourages men like her ex, a Fast Lane devotee who turned out to have had not a single shred of respect for women.

Lara infiltrates Clay’s inner circle, but the more he falls for her, the more she falls for him. Lara tries to put the brakes on her plan and make the turn toward a happily-ever-after. Forces ally against her, though, and it may be too late.

Reviewers say this contemporary romance with a touch of intrigue is a fast, fun, lighthearted romp into today’s jet set.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0090UZUT2

Man Writing a Romance

When Dave Thome was writing his romance novel Fast Lane, he discovered he had plenty to learn about women and writing for women. And he discovered there was no shortage of women who where happy to tell him what he needed to know–including several in his RBRO Roundtable group. He started a blog about what he was learning, then compiled the blog–with extras–into an ebook available for download from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Writing-a-Romance-ebook/dp/B005YU8GRK/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1323470618&sr=1-2

By Dave McCormack, Man, Myth, Mountain

This novel falls into the action/adventure/paranormal realm.

It’s a story about an uptight attorney, Michael Walton who has a terrifying paranormal experience that throws his carefully ordered world into a tail spin. To the horror of his partner and his socialite wife, Walton’ stubborn nature and curiosity compel him to investigate his experience. Social and work pressures mount as Walton enters the disreputable and quirky world of paranormal research.  So strong is Walton’s compulsion to find an answer to the mystery, he  teams up with an unlikely sidekick and risks his career, marriage and even his life on a strange trek high into the Rockies. Walton does find answers. Only they are not to any of the questions he asked in the first place.

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Myth-Mountain-ebook/dp/B006HSSPY2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323268834&sr=1-1

By Lois Patton, A Bowl of Cherries, Memoir of a Childhood in Mid-Twentieth-Century America

“Readers of “A Bowl of Cherries” will discover a slice of life that could well serve as a time capsule of American life around the halfway point of the 20^th century…

Filled with disarming detail and an almost humble sense of self and acceptance, this entertaining memoir indeed captures the spirit of a very different time…

The author traces her life from her birth in Chicago in the mid-1930s to her wedding day in St. Petersburg twenty-one years later. With an easy-flowing, unpretentious narrative style, she recounts—often humorously—interesting observations of growing up. ~Gene Hull, Correspondent, Scripts Treasure Coast Publications

www.lois-patton.com

By Stan Bieda, Stella’s Barn: A Memoir

Trouble woke me up early. Only two years old, my first memory:startled from sleep, I followed my mother to the road where she covers with old burlap a dead dog, just run over.  My world was frightening and tough, from the beginning, Polish Catholic, my harsh paternal grandmother ruled our house.  The men were there to eat and sleep.  Alcohol, incest the norm in our neighborhood.  With the clothes on our back, one night, ma spirited us all away to her mother’s small subsistence farm in the country where I woke up to imagine I had died and found myself in the Garden of Eden.  Plants, animals, fishing in the old muddy river across the railroad tracks: here I could dream!  All short-lived when we moved again into our barn-like house of stark poverty and deprivation.  I learned from my mother how to ride the rapids, how to grab onto the sides of life’s often flimsy, careening boat.  Catastrophe visited us, but you will see how our story, my hope, survived.

http://www.amazon.com/Stellas-Barn-Stanley-Joseph-Bieda/dp/1456765701/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319265845&sr=1-1

By Peggy Brown, The Golden Book of Family Fun

The go-to book for today’s families looking for the most fun and creative games, activities, party ideas, and crafts to do together.  . . big bucks and TV remotes not required! There’s something for everyone in this book–from making a backyard water park, to classic outdoor games such as “Kick the Can” and “Ghost in the Graveyard,” to instructions for making a camping stove. . . plus ghost stories, card games, easy-to-make snacks, and crafts galore. Written in a witty, accessible style by one of today’s most successful game inventors and crafts experts, THE GOLDEN BOOK OF FAMILY FUN is a deluxe, affordable source for recession-proof, down-home, big fun!

http://amzn.to/sywEi3

By Wayne Mutza, Life Lines: Stories from the Firehouse and The Flame Within

In Life Lines: Stories from the Firehouse, Milwaukee firefighters and paramedics recount some of the most memorable calls of their careers. Author and former firefighter, Wayne Mutza, presents these true stories in the rescuers’ own words. These stories will make you laugh and make you cry. They will renew your respect for those who have chosen to protect and serve.

Giving an insider’s perspective on what it’s like to run into, rather than out of, a burning building, The Flame Within will also interest fans of Milwaukee history, thanks to Mutza’s memories of famous blazes from the 1970s and ’80s.

http://boswell.indiebound.com/book/9780786472765

By Leah Dobkin, Soul of the Port

Ever since her boat drifted up against the mammoth docks in Milwaukee’s harbor, Leah Dobkin has been enthralled by the evolution of the port and the city so firmly moored to it. From an era when it was a “Milwaukee Miracle” to make landfall without losing luggage to a promising future powered by alternative energy, Soul of a Port is steered by that same sense of wonder. And since the port’s story is not just one of nuts, bolts and cranes, Dobkin’s narrative is also well crewed by the characters who have given the place such a fascinating legacy. Settle in for an entertaining passage that includes a longshoreman’s poetry, the Milwaukee Clipper’s recipe for prime rib, a tugboat ghost story and much, much more.

www.leahdobkin.com

*Content is for information purposes only and was provided by the writers themselves. RedBird-RedOak Writing bears no responsibility for transactions made with the various parties.

Judy Bridges’ Shut Up & Write!

The book titled after Judy’s flagship craft and motivation class is making its debut around the Milwaukee area. Visit the link to learn more.

Another fabulous morning with the “Write ’til You’re Blue in the Face” group. Today we shared the titles of books that have inspired us on our writing journeys:

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, Natalie Goldberg

Globe Jotting: How to Write Extraordinary Travel Journals, Dave Fox

The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx

(“…an amazing example of what writing can be!”)

Bird by Bird, Anne LaMott

On Writing, Stephen King

The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life, Julia Cameron

(a “lighter” version of The Artist’s Way tailored for writers)

The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile, Noah Lukeman

In this era of digital marketing, even books get trailers. Check out this one for Karen McQuestion’s book,
A Scattered Life

Visit Karen McQuestion‘s website to find links to information about her other books, including two more to be published by AmazonEncore this fall.

Writers are among the most discriminating readers there are, and RedBird-RedOak writers are no exception.  At the Spring Showcase, Boswell Books had a table of books recommended by some of our Roundtable participants. In case you missed them, here’s a sampling…

Every writer has a stack that looks like this on the bedside table. Something tells me that mine's pretty tame compared to some others'!

What’s on your bedside table? Feel free to leave a title and mini-review in  a comment.

It will be for Karen McQuestion who recently signed a contract for her novel, A Scattered Life, with AmazonEncore, the traditional publishing division of Amazon. It’s significant to note the word “traditional” in the previous sentence because Karen has already enjoyed a large readership (plus a movie option) on the self-published e-book. On June 22, 2010, the physical book will be released.

Please note: This class is nearly at capacity. Call today to secure your spot! 414-881-7276.

Wondering how she did it? Wondering how you might use her experiences to grow a readership of your own? Mark your calendar:

Self-Publishing:
Not Just for Vanity Anymore
with Karen McQuestion
Saturday, April 17
1 pm – 4 pm
$40

Even if you think self-publishing isn’t for you, you’ll gain much from participating in this workshop. Download our Registration Form and send in your check to hold your space.

In the poem titled, “How to Eat a Poem,” Eve Miriam begins with these lines:

Don't be polite.

Bite In.

Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that
may run down your chin.
It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are.

This is exactly what I did today when I picked up the book, B is for Bad Poetry, by Pamela August Russell.

I didn’t even unzip my jacket — just plunked down in a comfy chair in Books and Co. and read it from cover to cover (laughing all the while, which was a little embarrassing!) And, yes, I bought it, too!

Incidentally, here’s what the book flap says about the book:

Pamela August Russell’s unexalted (but thoroughly hysterical) poems mock, chide, accuse, tease, joke, undermine, point and laugh at the world around us — and at anything that takes itself too seriously.

Just in case you’re looking for a gift for the irreverent writer who has everything…

How many books does it take to write a book? Sometimes quite a few!

“Write ’til You’re Blue in the Face” participants got to talking about the books we’ve found useful and inspiring on our writing journey. Here’s a list in no particular order:

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Old Friend from Far Away by Natalie Goldberg

If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland

Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande

I Ching for Writers by Sarah Jane Sloane

The Story Behind the Story by Turchi & Barrett

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

A Writer’s Book of Days by Judy Reeves (a huge fave!)

Escaping into the Open by Elizabeth Berg

How ’bout you? Which books on your shelf are dog-eared?