How/why did you start to write?
I began writing as a catharsis for my deep grief over the
loss of my 14 year old daughter in a DWI vehicular homicide. It was poems at
first, then a short story version of the tragedy which was published in “Victimology:
an International Journal”. I also did editorials which were read on TV
stations, and wrote petitions to the judge as the trial of the drunk driver
arrived. This led to a staff journalist career for an award winning bi-weekly
newspaper, The Staten Island Register, as well as freelance journalism. My
daily newspaper published my slice of life humor and pathos stories, mostly
centered on my lost daughter and my other five children and then grandchildren.
I taught myself to write in all genres except screen writing to find which I
liked best. Almost all of my stories have been published in print magazines,
won contests and published in e-zines.
How did you become an author?
After the accident, when none in my large family were able
to speak about Noelle, I again turned to expressing my feelings through
writing. I began a memoir which would become a celebration of her life rather
than a eulogy of her death. I had it half written when I ran into a severe
memory block concerning the five years before her death, even though I could
remember each detail of the actual event. Life interrupted me as well and I was
too busy working as a freelancer, and doing inventory work at home, while
helping my oldest daughter raise her young sons. Three heart attacks, and two
open heart surgeries later, I was finally able to break through the block
caused by the trauma and continue the book within a year.
What was your first published piece?
My first published short non-fiction story was “And Then
There Were Five”, a story relating the reactions of my other five children, my
husband and myself over the loss of Noelle.This story dealt with the reactions
of my five children after losing Noelle, and how we came to terms with her
loss.
Where was it published?
It was published in Victimology: An International Journal,
followed in the next two issues by two related poems.
How long ago?
It was published in 1986
What did you do before embarking on your writing career?
Was it an asset to your writing? How?
I was a home Mom, loving the wonderful job of raising six,
bright, beautiful, funny, rambunctious kids. They were/are my love, my life; my
treasures. They were later the inspiration for my short slice of life stories,
and of course they were mortified when I published funny stories of their
antics in my daily newspaper. I have an ‘Erma Bombeck’ style of humor writing
and none of them--including their father, who was like the father in “Sound of
Music”, whistling for the kids when it was dinner time—were spared in my hysterical
stories about our lives. Our pets were fodder for my stories as well. I
realized while finishing the memoir of Noelle’s life, that it had to reflect
all the comedic escapades she shared with us—the funniest child in the family.
What inspires you?
Everything inspires me: life, especially the birth of a
child, God and my relationship with him which has kept me sane, this beautiful
earth we’ve been privileged to live on, the miracles I’ve witnessed, each time
I awake to a new and different day, and amidst all the sorrows we face, the
indomitable spirit we all have to get up and move forward with hope for a
better future.
Please share one of your successful author platform
building technique
My publisher taught me many useful marketing
skills, the most effective for me being working with community affairs and
groups like The Red Hatters, The Grandmother Clubs, The New York Professional
Women’s Groups, and MADD (Mothers against Drunk Driving). I also used my local
TV cable station, as a guest promoting my book and speaking about victims of
drunk driving. I’ve spoken and sold books at PTA meetings, Church meetings and
carry my books wherever I go. When I was in the hospital my books were in the
window waiting for the nurses to buy them. I’ve even sold books to telemarketers
trying to sell me somethingJ.
Online marketing keeps me busy as I try to do what works best—sell myself and
then the books sell themselves. This is a pleasure as I love people and have
met long-time friends marketing my books—yes they all bought the book.
Parting words
. . . And the Whippoorwill Sang is a true story written as a
death bed promise to my dying child. Many paranormal events happened as I
finished the book and afterward, so I know that Noelle had a hand in writing
this along with me. The book is dedicated not only to her, but to all the
children and young adults whose lives were cut short by drunk or drugged
drivers. Each one has a story to tell and I have tried to tell mine for all of
them.
Tagline: Happy times, a summer day, a driving drunk, eight lives forever
changed
The elusive whippoorwill swoops down the mountains.
Through night into dawn it's song mourns summer's
loss--
as I cry mine.
AND THE WHIPPOORWILL SANG, a 300 page memoir, opens with
eloping teenagers, Micki and Butch, in a bizarre double wedding ceremony with
Micki’s mother. The couple share comical escapades, spanning
decades. A terrible accident occurs in a placid valley nestled in the
Susquehanna Mountains. Micki narrates happier
days while confronting an uncertain future. One of her six children
is fighting for life in the hospital. The family embarks upon its
unbearable journey to the other side of sorrow . . .
And so in the throes of grief, a writing career was
born.
