Getting to Know Internationally Published Author, Aman Kay, and His New Published Collection of Poetry, Wings of Time

Background Information on the Author

A product of a true melting-pot family, Aman Kay is a published author/poet on three continents in several languages.  The themes and motifs in his poetry and prose reflect his sincere love and regards for human race and its future challenges.  Although established in the circle of academic and scholarly endeavors (since the early 1990s he has been included in various Who’s Who volumes), Aman is much in touch with the world of an average citizen.  He spends plenty of time reading genre writers, watching popular movies, and participating in sports.  He is a serious NBA and NFL and international soccer (football) and tennis fan.  

Tell us about the genre of your work.

This particular book is a collection of my poetry.  These are like my children that I have been guarding for several decades.  The themes of my verses are the reflection of every person’s joy, prosperity, failure, heart-breaking experiences and the like. 

Why did you choose this genre?

A great Persian poet was once asked, “Why do you write poetry?”  He replied, “It’s like you ask an apple tree why your fruit is apple?”  Like him, I, too, do not know what really happens.  I live, I enjoy and I laugh; I suffer and I cry, and then when the time is right everything comes together and I have a new poem.  At the time of versifying my new production, I am merely a narrator who is simply acting as though he is taking dictation.

How is writing in the genre you write, different than other genre?

In addition to writing poetry, I write novels, analytical articles, and other types of non-fiction pieces.  Poetry, to me, is the ultimate refuge and savior.  I love and enjoy writing prose.  When I complete a poem, however, and I reread it a few days later (I hardly ever polish my original verses because I do not believe in artificial creation), I feel like I am closer to humankind and our unending common grounds.  My soul rests much easier at least for a while. 

What are some of your books, stories that have been published?

I cannot even come close to recalling the hundreds of poems and various pieces that I have published worldwide.  I have published several books in other languages, an out-of-print novel in English, and now I have Wings of Times published.

Can you tell us where we may find your newly released collection of poetry.

It was just released this May, and it is available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Wings-Time-Selected-Poems-Volume/dp/1475215258/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339980578&sr=1-1&keywords=aman+kay

Where do you get your ideas for writing?

As I indicated earlier, for my poetry it is the idea and the poem that come to me sometime “in single spies” and sometime in battalions.”  For my analytical pieces, I always seek ideas from the original source, i. e., a film, a play, a short story, or a novel.  For my make-believe stories, I rely mainly on fictionalized true events.

What is your favorite thing about your book?

As a rule, I do not like to talk about myself or my books.  About this particular book of poetry, I want to think that I truly like it because there is nothing artificial about it.  Each poem is an honest reflection of all that has led to its production.

Why and when did you begin writing?  Is there any one person who had a big influence on you or encouraged you to write?

From elementary years, I developed a mysterious love affair with words and verbal expressions.  It was from those 3^rd and 4^th grade years that I started writing, but I used to hide my writings from others.  Like almost all other mothers, my late mom was the main source of motivation and inspiration.  Later on, I was fortunate enough to be encouraged by a variety of teachers, movie stars, writers, poets, and movie/theatre directors.  

What is your writing schedule?  What atmosphere do you need to write?

Unfortunately, as much as I do not want to admit it, I am not a considerably disciplined writer.   The more grey hair I get, the less motivated I am; nevertheless, I still find time to write.  Anywhere away from the home-office is the best atmosphere for me!  I’d love to take my laptop to a nearby park or on a cruise ship and write as I am exposed to nature and especially open water.

What projects are you working on now, or plan for the future?

I am actually disciplining myself to complete two novels that are completed and need final touches.  I am working on a book that can be used as a supplementary book for upper high school and college students in their literature classes.  In this book I guide the potential readers through various stages and strategies of identifying essential components of elements of fiction and infer the hidden/implied points more confidently.  And of course I am usually writing more poems that may turn into another book in the future.

What kind of advice or tips do you have for someone who wants to write and be published?

Do not ever, ever try to be someone else.  Write what you know and what you enjoy.  Be mindful of your potential audiences, but never forget the late John Macdonal’s advice: Write to please yourself.  “When that happens, you will like the work too.”  Too, know your craft and be smart and wise enough to realize that you can always benefit from others.   Lastly, be patient.  In this amazingly competitive world, less and less great writers are being discovered in a short time.   

Are there any other comments, advice or tips that you would give to beginning writers?

The only thing you should resent about your writing is that it takes time away from your reading!

What do you do when you are not writing?

Sports, movies, plays, traveling, and visiting my favorite restaurants are among the basic things I do when I am not writing.

Include anything else you may wish to add.

If you have been reading everything I have been saying to this point, I am truly grateful to you, dear reader.

What “Made It” moments have you experienced in life?

Every moment is truly precious.  I have never been fascinated with the destination.  It’s the journey and its adventures that have been inspiring me.

Exploring the Writing World of Betsy Riley

Author/artist Betsy Riley left her small hometown in Kentucky to spend over 35 years working at the leading edge of science and computing in Oak Ridge Tennessee. Now she continues this work as a Program Manager for the federal government. But it hasn't been all bits and bytes for Betsy. She has owned a ballroom dance studio, been a ham radio operator and traveling lecturer. Along the way she had four marriages and three divorces, and learned that being alone doesn't have to mean being lonely.

Tell us about the genre of your work. 

This particular book is an illustrated fable that is inspirational. It uses an extended metaphor to offer a message of hope to people who have gone through relationship troubles.

Why did you choose this genre?

I had originally written the piece for therapeutic reasons after my second divorce. Recently I came across it and shared it with some friends who had been through similar breakups. Their reactions encouraged me to make it more widely available.

What are some of your books, stories that have been published?

The Comet is my first fiction book to be published. Before this, I had published essays and poetry in high school publications such as The Beta Club Journal. Until now my publications have been non-fiction appearing in the proceedings of computer conferences or in business magazines like The Office.

Give a short description of each. 

The Comet, print version ISBN-13:978-0615475783, ISBN-10:0615475787, is available from Amazon.com and http://BlueDragonPress.com and my website http://brws.com
An epub version for the Nook Color is ISBN-10: 0983735603, ISBN-13: 978-0-9837356-0-1

How do you come up with the names of places and characters in your books?

Often I take names of friends that inspired certain character traits, and then modify them slightly. I mostly use real locations, real place names.  Of course, in The Comet, the characters don't really have names per se. There is the comet, the sun, the moon, etc.

How did you develop the character of your protagonist in this book?

Although the protagonist is a comet, she is based on every woman I know who has gone through a breakup, divorce, or bad marriage. Since I want all my work to have a positive message, I had to be sure that she developed strength during the course of the story.

What about an antagonist…is there a unique “bad guy” or a recurring nemesis of any

kind?

The "bad guys" are a planet, a sun, etc. I guess that could be considered unique (chuckling).

What’s your favorite thing about your book?

The positive message and t

he images. I had originally planned to illustrate it using pastels, but decided to mockup some placeholders digitally. I wanted a primitive, iconic look. I liked the first image I did using Photoshop's paint option so much, I decided to go all digital.

How is writing in the genre you write, different than other genre?

This particular book is heavily illustrated, and shorter than a novel. But I write in multiple genres (sometimes mixing prose and poetry in the same piece). The common thread in my work is the concept of "family of choice" and finding a way to show a positive message from negative experiences.

Why and when did you begin writing?

I've been writing ever since I was a child. I did my own neighborhood newspaper, complete with movie reviews, when I was 10. I never stopped writing. I wrote poems, stories, essays, and speeches. I'm hooked on writing, I can't stop. When I'm stressed, I write and it makes me feel better. When my husband had a cerebral hemorrhage while he was in another state,  and the earliest flight wasn't till the next day, writing a poem about it helped me stay calm.

What is your writing schedule?

I work full time, at a demanding job, so my writing is done on evenings and weekends.  I write while watching TV. I jot down ideas for later while sitting at stoplights, while shopping, while out to dinner.

What projects are you working on now, or plan for the future?

I like to keep several projects going at once, so I can switch when I get bogged down. I'm currently working on two poetry chapbooks (one illustrated), a fictionalized memoir/guidebook for step-parents,  a zombie novel (that does NOT involve an apocalypse), and a collection of twisted nursery rhymes and fairy tales, working title "The Grimmer Goose".

I have two poems coming out in the launch edition of Empirical Magazine (in January 2012) and two short stories in an anthology to be published by Lebrary later in the year.

What kind of advice or tips to you have for someone who wants to write and get published?

Don't just want to write, WRITE! With digital publishing and e-books, there are so many more avenues to publishing now than in the past. Like "you can't win if you don't play", you can't publish if you don't write.

Are there any other comments, advice or tips that you would give to beginning writers?

READ. Read magazines like Writer's Digest; read books on writing; read books in your chosen genre; read at least a sampling of books in other genres.  While I'll never write a western, if I ever have to write a fist fight scene, I'll be able to use what I learned by reading Louis L'Amour.

What do you do when you are not writing?

Besides editing, you mean? I read, or paint, or draw. I play solitaire or video games (I'm hooked on one of the AARP mah-jongg games). I go to craft shows and art exhibits.

What “Made It” moments have you experienced in life?

Getting married barefoot on the beach
at sundown on Maui.

Having a letter to the editor published at 12.
Being called out of study hall my senior year of high school to be handed a telegram from President Nixon, naming me a Presidential Scholar.
Getting a standing ovation for my winning speech at the Tennessee JayCees state convention (after I had to follow the state Poet Laureate on the program!)
Dancing the twist onstage with Chubby Checker (solo).
Being invited to West Berlin to give exactly the same speech I had given there the year before.
Successfully doing a dive to mid-air hover in Indoor Skydiving.
Seeing my first book selling on Amazon.
Having friends that I had given copies to, buying extra copies to give to their friends.
Winning first place in an online contest with my very first flash fiction short story.

Poet, Novelists, and Short Story Author, Joan Cannon has a Collection of Short Stories, Peripheral Vision, to be Released Soon

I could relate to this author who writes in a variety of genre, and is a teacher. I think you will enjoy gaining insight into the works of this very diverse author.    

A little about the author in her own words.

I am a New Yorker born and bred, graduated from Carleton College in Minnesota, junior year at Barnard commuting. My husband and I transplanted ourselves to rural Connecticut, where we reared our three children. I have taught high school English, edited a museum newsletter (archaeology), edited an anthology of memoirs, done the usual part time eclectic work of mothers with small children, and wrote occasionally. A computer enabled me to deal with the problems of editing without going mad.

I am one of those English majors for whom there was never another choice. My work is for the most part what an editor calls literary, though I have published several short stories in commercial magazines (years ago). I have written newspaper features and profiles, and now I contribute book reviews and the occasional essay to that marvelous e-zine Senior Women Web. My first two novels are perhaps a little more commercial than my third, but I did not pay a professional editor to go over them because, like a true beginner, I had hoped my publisher would take care of that. I have lately (since my husband’s death) returned to poetry and now I am somewhat addicted. Three are in online journals as of May.

Why did you choose this genre?

I did not choose a genre. If the term applies, it chose me. It is a kind of organic thing. I come of a family of autodidacts (I am the first with a college education) and have always had diction, vocabulary and art and music ingrained. I sometimes write in dialect or from a less than educated viewpoint, but I do not handle melodrama well, cannot get interested in happenings as much as in the people involved. Themes--morals, if you will, seem important as an excuse for the entertainment I hope to provide.

What are some of your books, stories that have been published?

Most recently, I have a story called “Rescue” at Bookstogonow.com. It was published first in 1988 in a little magazine long gone. I submitted it to the North Carolina Senior Games literary division in 2008, and it won the gold medal. I have had eight stories published in print journals.

The novels are Settling and Maiden Run.

I think there are over four dozen pieces on Senior Women: (http://www.seniorwomen.com/). I have a poem in http://www.lowestoftreview.com/ and two more in http://www.wildgoosepoetryreview.com/, and my collection of short stories called Peripheral Vision is coming out soon, I believe. I corrected second set of galleys this week.

The new book coming out soon is titled, Peripheral Vision. It is a collection of eighteen short stories and is being published by March Street Press of Greensboro, NC.

Settling (ISBN 1-59431-493-4) is about how a marriage can recover from severe trauma if the principles have good will, common sense, and maturity as well as love. For mature readers not because of the content so much as the point of view.

Maiden Run (ISBN1-594-801-8) is the name of the family farm where most of the action takes place. It tells about how the family who inherit it grow to understand themselves through a pivotal summer when their home is threatened. Three siblings with very different personalities discover how to appreciate Maiden Run as well as each other.

Both books are available from the publisher, Amazon, or on order from a local bookstore.

The short stories have varied subjects and are in several styles. Three are narrated by a nursing home worker with a wry sense of humor; one is adapted from a chapter in my unpublished novel. All illustrate how often life lessons are learned from indirection—hence the title.

My poetry is also somewhat mixed. The earlier things owe much to my homage to the Victorians and are a bit formal and old fashioned. The later things show my effort to catch up with “contemporary” poetry. Those are often sad because they are about loss and the pain and value of memories. I confess that poetry is a traditional and perhaps a trite means of dealing with big emotions, but it is effective both for readers and writers, I think.  It is hard to deal with abstractions of some kinds in today’s fast-moving and materialistic society, so poetry fills the need for a place where one can talk about love and beauty and honor and spirit, and…you get my drift, I am sure.

How do you come up with the names of places and characters in your books?

I don’t write fantasy, so it’s no surprise that most of my settings I either know first hand or have a good grasp of from reading, movies, and a long life of conversations with people who do know them.

As for names—I grope. All three novels have had more than one name for more than one character before I settled on them. I try to imagine a given name that will suit the characteristics I want, either to be outstanding or that cause problems the protagonist needs to solve. I have been known to resort to the Character-Naming Sourcebook.

The newest (unpublished) novel concerns a physician who has to learn to heal himself. I named him Serge Dziminowicz because among his other difficulties, he has to learn to fit into a different kind of society from the blue collar one in which he grew up. Serge sounded to me like a masculine name to fit a tall rather Gary Cooperish physical type who might strike women as sexy.

In Settling, I needed a practical, unimaginative but attractive name for the heroine. I chose Ruth March, a coastal Maine native. The man is named Alexandre (Alex) Duchamp because he needed to be a French Canadian, devastatingly handsome, impulsive. They just sounded like what I wanted. (Both had different first names in early drafts.) The situation in the novel is very similar to one in which a couple I knew intimately spent their married life. With both gone to their reward, I took off from their experience and part of their personalities. I used geography they knew, some actual circumstances they were in, invented events, and generally embroidered.

How did you develop the character of your protagonist in this book?

This is a hard question. I had a basic knowledge of the major character traits. I wanted to emphasize those I admire, and make them the crux of the outcome. With those in mind, I began with a scene to show the reader as much as I could about Ruth’s background. As she matures, I show her in scenes to reveal how her changing persona is growing. I often make time lines, list tags if I can think of some, but mostly I discover as I am going along. The best thing of all is when the characters begin to behave on their own so that all I have to do is write down what they are up to.

What about an antagonist…is there a unique “bad guy” or a recurring nemesis of any kind?

There is no traditional antagonist in a story whose plot is not the primary focus. The problem is the marriage two well-meaning and sensitive people have made before they properly understood each other or themselves. The plot shows what happens as they learn what they need to know.

What is your favorite thing about your book?

It shows what seem believable people moving in real places with a theme that I think is simple and easily grasped by any readers. Reactions to the story told me I succeeded in that. Not much more you can ask of fiction. It should take a reader into a world that is new to him or her. It may or may not be an exotic one. It reminds a reader of the possibility of learning from life’s experiences so later ones are better than early ones.

How is writing in the genre you write, different than other genre?

As I said, I do not think “genre” is the right word for my work. It is character studies and evolution that interest me. It is in a tradition of authors like Galsworthy and Stegner, like Anita Shreve and Carol Shields. I do not mean to imply I consider myself in their league.

Why and when did you begin writing?

I began as school assignments with an extraordinary teacher who made me fall in love with the process as much as with the reading. I now see that I cannot bear not to clarify what I want to know, discover what I know, and make it crystallize. Maybe all I have is an overdeveloped ego and not enough literary friends to talk to. Occasionally I think I have something to say that might instruct or amuse another person.

What is your writing schedule?

After necessary chores are done, I sit down at the computer. I do not always get anything accomplished, but I do it every day. Of course, reading blogs and tending to email consume far too much time, but I have to do those things too. Often I get a spark from surfing the sites I visit most often. It is online that I have met the people with whom I can talk about writing, now that I no longer have access to those where we used to live.

What projects are you working on now, or plan for the future?

I mentioned the novel seeking an agent or publisher and the poetry that is my concentration now. I am far too old for long-term ambitions these days, though I think there may be another novel waiting to ne let out. Discouraging thought considering my experience thus far. If I were rich, I might consider self-publishing.

What kind of advice or tips to you have for someone who wants to write (especially mystery)?

For anyone who wants to write anything, my advice could not be simpler. READ. Begin with the earliest popular classical mysteries like The Moonstone and Sherlock Holmes, and read until you “get” how they are constructed and what characters appeal. Work your way through the wonderful 20^th C. writers like Josephine Tey and Dorothy Sayers, and get familiar with the types that are produced by the likes of P.D. James, Elizabeth George, Sarah Peretzky, the lawyer-mystery writers, and watch good mystery TV shows and movies. ABSORB. I adore mysteries and have a raft of favorites of different styles. If you were inventive enough to devise a good mystery plot with interesting (not necessarily likable) characters that play off one another, I would guess you could sell and sell well.

Are there any other comments, advice or tips that you would give to beginning writers?

Once again, read. Do not turn your nose up at good “how to” books like Stephen King’s on writing, or standards like Zinsser and dramatic models like Shakespeare and the Greeks. If you can afford it, go to a good writer’s conference, try correspondence courses. Do not stop. If you possibly can, find a few like-minded people who are at least as good as you are, and meet for critiques. How I miss the one I was in before my current situation!

What do you do when you are not writing? 

Reading, gardening, drawing and painting when I can. Oh, and web surfing. I read blogs, do research, make comments, and in general depend on my little laptop as if it were an oxygen tank.

What “Made It” moments have you experienced in life?

My marriage—as close to perfection as I ever hoped to get in life; graduations (my own and my husband’s from years of night school; my middle son’s at forty from college); my children’s births; the Senior Games gold medal. Oh, and my first trip to Europe after my husband had been in export sales for twenty years, followed by his assignment to a year in England and an English major’s year of déjà vue. Again, if I were rich, I would go back in a heartbeat. Just viewing the actual settings for so much of my reading life was inspiring, nostalgic, and wonderful.

 If you want to know more about Joan Cannon?  Visit her website and her blog at: My websites are http://www.jlcannon.net  and http://www.hilltopnotes.blogspot.com/.

 

Sharing Your Work Part Five - Poetry Performance Considerations

One of the oldest forms of performance is oral interpretation.  At one time poetry was “spoken”.   It has been a more recent development for poetry to be words on a page.  Some of our greatest literature originated as performances that were handed down by word of mouth.  Unfortunately, this tradition has become a lost art.  In today’s world the word “performance” often means “slam poetry” that is integrated with improvisation, and music as a performing art.  However, the writer who has an opportunity to perform his or her writing wants to share the poems he or she has written in the best possible way.   Any opportunity an author gets to share their work should be a polished performance, not just reading it. 

All the prose techniques that I have discussed in the previous blogs, also apply to the poetry performance.  So what’s the difference?  Well, consider the following items:

— A poem brimming with imagery must be read with special attention to every single detail, even if it means coloring by varying,  and emphasizing every word in some way that help to create images in the audiences’ minds.   The performer must give them time to picture, and to think about what the poet has written.  The best presentation of poetry allows the audience to understand, and experience everything.  The performer must allow the audience to understand and experience every meaning, every sound, every feeling, every rhythm and every image.

— All poetry has rhythm even though it may not have a rhyme scheme.   Some poetry may have multiple rhythms that need to surface.  However, if the performer chooses to let the multiple rhythms surface, remember that these rhythmic changes must be justified by the ideas and emotions in the literature. There are many quality contemporary poems that are written in conversational, narrative free verse form.  A close analysis of such poetry would reveal many poetic techniques that may escape the listener on first hearing if the performer has not carefully considered the best way to perform the work so that the audience accepts it as a form of poetry rather that dismiss it as prose. 

—Most traditional poetry employs rhyme and predictable rhythm patterns.  The performance of this poetry should exhibit on the interpreter’s part the ability to accentuate the rhyme when appropriate (usually in humorous literature), and to avoid it when not (most often in serious literature.)

— Your poetry performance may consist of several poems that are thematically related.  You should use transitions from one poem to the next so that your audience can follow you easily.

Transitions in the Poetry

If you will be performing multiple selections, then internal transitions that are smooth must be provided to show how each poem is logically linked to the next. Suppose, for example, that someone wants to present a poetry program on LOVE—specifically, how love has evolved from love for a parent, to love for a child,  and then to love for a spouse.  The performer   would introduce the concept of love, leading the description into the title of the poems about the many types of love that are experienced in life.  He or she would then read the poem about love for a parent.  Before beginning the next poem, the performer would provide an internal transition connecting this love the love for a child, explaining how the relationship changes as roles are switched introducing the title of the next poem.  Finally, the performer would create a transition to the final poem leading the audience into the next experience and introducing the title of it.  There are a couple of ways that the performance can be ended.  One is to simply close the book, binder or whatever the performer is using for the script, break eye contact with the audience, pause for a few seconds and sit down.  Another way is to end with a closing statement that reflects the overall concept of the work the performer has just shared. 

The suggestions below are anyone who must occasionally read their works in public, and the essential message is practice, practice, practice.   I always tell my students that the three “P’s” are essential. 

Some Suggestions that I give my students, and can be found almost anywhere how-to present information can be found: 

1. Learn the basics of the actor's trade: relaxation, breath control, articulation, voice projection and modulation. Do this as a positive daily workout if you are performing your poetry regularly, not as a chore left to the night before.

2. Rehearse the performance so thoroughly that the actual reading seems habitual and natural.

3. Entertain. Be genuinely friendly to the audience. Address them directly. Secure attention. Play to their responses.

4. Memorize the pieces sufficiently so that only the odd glance at the script is necessary.

5. Leave nothing to chance. Check lectern, microphone, space on the stage, how you make your entrance, place your script, etc.

6. Know where you are on the evening's list of readers, and arrange your pieces accordingly. You'll feel easier, and so will they.

7. Anticipate interjections and problems; prepare handy responses.

8. Enjoy yourself. Have a good time, and the audience will too.