Memoirous

I’ve started to be a little more intentional about booking seminars (I’m open!) and promoting my Substack and books. Sort of. I was asked recently to be on a podcast, Written in the Stars , put out by Lansing Community College. Thanks for reading Freeze Frame: How to Write Flash Memoir! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. I chatted with John Szilagyi and Robin Moore about books and writing and particularly flash. John asked an interesting question–about what got me into writing. Hmmmmm. It seems I’ve always been doing it. There were no outside motivators, such as an encouraging adult or teacher. If anything, my parents and classroom teacher tried to snuff out the creative spark. I remember my dad coming home from a parent/teacher conference with a sheaf of papers. Random writing from my desk at school. The teacher complained to Dad that I was fooling around when I should have been working/paying attention. Dad handed my writing to me and told me I could write a...

 While I'm in transit please enjoy some family related writing, my daughter's latest published piece The Heron and the Gravedigger by Grace Hertenstein tinyurl.com/23t2amz4

 While I'm in transit please enjoy some recently published writing Biking my way through the pandemic by Jane Hertenstein https://quaranzine.uk/issue-5-mindset/blog-post-title-four-hjcpy

 While I'm in transit please enjoy some recently published writing: Horse Affair by Jane Hertenstein The Horse Fair 1852–55 Rosa Bonheur   https://heymrswinkler.com/2021/04/08/new-edition-of-teach-write-available/ click on 2021-spring-summer_revised.pdf page 46

 While I'm in transit enjoy some past writing: Laundry Day by Jane Hertenstein https://funnypearls.com/2021/05/laundry-day/

As a writing discipline Flash can be very useful. In this day and age of web content, many designers are looking for people for can write small and effectively. I’ve been writing flash now for at least ten years. More and more of the pieces accepted for publication are 3,000 words or less—some as short as 50 words. I believe all writers need to be trained in the art of flash. Much like in archery—you aim for the bull’s eye and then move a degree to the left or right of it, leaving the final analysis to the reader to hit the target. My job is to get you close, bring the context into view. All writing is about perspective and a small piece can offer in a minimum amount of words something completely out of the box. One thing I try to do with my writing is to take for instance something that just happened, actually happened to me that I’m thinking about. Then I add something else, and something else, and combine them into a story salad. I’m not sure where this thing ...

Does this sound like progress: Someday our brains will be able to upload. So that new manuscript or novel you’ve been thinking about will finally get written. Advances in technology are moving toward just this. Already there is BrainNet which allows brain-to-brain communication for collaboration purposes. And, at this point in time, it is not a far step to imagine a device for the physically challenged where they can think a command and their chair steers them along. Perhaps in the future what we think can immediately be transmitted/translated onto a screen then sent via email or even telepathically. Except I can envision a few small glitches. Who of us hasn’t gotten into trouble for inadvertently sending something out that goes viral in a bad way, that badly worded email to reply-all? Not everything we thing needs to be said, least of all put out there. I imagine many YouTube vloggers will one day cringe when they revisit earlier posts. Just like how political candidate\s ...

At the terrific journal Yea, Tenderness I have a new piece up starting the week of January 28. It’s entitled: The 7 Stages of Replacing Things Based on the 7 Stages of Grief—losing things and grief, same thing. In this day and age I’ve found that Amazon Prime can work virtual miracles. We have the ability to get WHATEVER we want—and usually within 3 standard shipping days. Alas, not everything can be replaced. 

Been working on this for awhile, the state I've been in lately: Doctor-Prescribed, Number 1 Once or twice daily, Levitra Over an extended period, Victoza I am confronted by mortality, Januvia Postmenopausal women are at high-risk, Boniva For fracture, Prolia, The urgent need to go, Viagra Sudden tightening in the stomach, Humira Tired restless legs, Orencia Insomnia, disrupted sleep, Lunestra Make more tears, Jublia Shortness of breath, Spiriva Heartburn, heartache, Ranexa Overall achingness, Zetia Do not take, Lyrica If agitation or changes in mood occur, Cymbalta If your depression worsens, Truvada Or if you have suicidal thoughts, Dulera Or if you experience hallucinations, paranoia, or confusion, Latuda In some rare cases, death, Avandia Stop and seek help immediately, Nyulasta Is there a cure for all that ails, Namenda This lonely broken heart?