Client Successes
HERE ARE JUST A FEW OF MY CLIENTS’ SUCCESS STORIES
For the past 9 years, I’ve had the honor of working with many really fine authors, both privately in 1:1 coaching and editing sessions and as a creative writing instructor at the University of South Florida. I’m proud of their successes, so let me tell you about a few of the most recent ones.
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A reader can’t help but be smitten by the charming characters who navigate the changes that move them from backwoods isolation into tentative participation in the 20th century in Judy (Jewell) Harwood’s full-length multi-generational memoir, Swimming Upriver: Coming of Age in Appalachia, recently published by Outskirts Press.
Set in eastern Kentucky in the heart of the Appalachian coal mining culture, Swimming Upriver, captures the unsteady, hardscrabble lifestyle of people who work close to the land. From pure innocence to engaging intrigue, Swimming Upriver: Coming of Age in Appalachia includes everything a bestselling memoir should: secrets, shame, deceit, denial, love, laughter, resourcefulness and resiliency.
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Ruth E. Jones is a publishing powerhouse with her many recent publications. Ruth attributes her publishing successes to always having something going as a work-in-process while also watching the calls for submissions and submitting often to contests, literary journals, and anthologies.
Ruth’s most recent publication is her personal essay/memoir, titled “An Answer, Without Question,” in Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Families.
Her essay personal essay/memoir, “Goodness Knows” is in Voices of Alzheimer’s, an anthology of healing. A physical therapist, Ruth wrote a touching personal story about one of her patients. To find out more about this anthology and the opportunity to write for future anthologies on healing, go to http://www.thehealingproject.org
Ruth’s personal essays have also appeared in the St. Petersburg Times, including the Sunday Journal section.
Ruth began writing memoir during her first writing course Introduction to Writing Life Stories with Debra in 2004. She has continued her studies with Debra, most recently participating in the 90 Day Write Right NOW program.
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Jerry Walter’s tenacious nature paid off time and time again as he completed his memoir. Almost Died Stories develops the life story of an earnest, self-made man, a genuine risk-taker whose resourcefulness never wavered, even into adulthood.
Written originally for his children, his stories of youthful escapades and workplace situations that indeed defy death span five decades. Geographically, Almost Died Stories takes the reader from Minnesota to Florida, to Texas and California, places in between, and ultimately, back to Florida again.
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Kathleen Cox Richardson placed 2nd in the very prestigious Adams Media Silver Lining Contest with her personal essay “An Answered Prayer.” Kathleen’s winning essay shares the story of being laid off from a writing job and going to nursing school at the age of 48. The contest was co-sponsored by Redbook magazine and the Cup of Comfort books. Adams Media is part of F + W Media, publishers of Writer’s Digest and the Writer’s Market.
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Don’t Go To Rome Without This!
Flavors of Rome: How, What & Where To Eat In The Eternal City is a hot off the presses paperback that guides travelers to Do As The Romans Do-that is eat well and steer clear of the many tourist traps. Author Carol Coviello-Malzone has lived part-time in an apartment overlooking the Campo de’ Fiori for 15 years, and has thoroughly immersed herself in the city’s culinary culture. Included are reviews of 39 of her favorite moderately priced restaurants, a glossary to help you translate any menu, and a most informative “Rules of Eating” chapter where she covers everything from the basics — “If you ask for a latte, you’ll be handed a glass of milk” to “If you see an * next to a menu item, that means ingredients have been frozen, so it’s better to order something else.”
The slim volume easily fits in a purse or jacket pocket – a must-carry for visitors looking for the best food in Rome. To order visit the Flavors of Rome website.
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When she retired in 2005 after 20 years as the Hillsborough County Head Start Director in Tampa, FL, Donna E. Glausser decided it was time to gather the family stories and write them down. Since then, she’s completed three volumes for her family and is working on a fourth.
Her recent publications include:
- Making High School Band Still Clear As A Bell (a St. Pete Times Sunday Journal feature story)
- Good Advice Comes Back to Haunt Him (a St. Pete Times Sunday Journal feature story about learning to drive)
- A Good Place to Be
- We Got A TV (a Sunday Tampa Tribune Prime Time Feature)
- The Day We Stalked Dick Clark (a St. Pete Times Sunday Journal feature story)
Donna successfully completed all 3 e-courses in the WritingTogether Memoir Series and participated in Spring 2007’s 90 Day Write Right NOW program.
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Barbara Sartor is a publishing wonder machine. At the age of 82, the rest of us envy her creative energy. She is a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor.
Read her most recent personal essay
Barbara is also a frequent contributor to the Sunday Journal section of the St. Pete Times.
Barbara was also an enthusiastic participant in Spring 2007’s 90 Day Write Right NOW. Tell us, Barbara. Where do you get all this creative energy?
Read more Barbara Sartor samples
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Dr. Sylvia Alvarez Johnson’s poignant memoir/article Raising Cadence was published in the July 2009 issue of Psychotherapy Networker in their popular Family Matters section.
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Stanley Reahard, a Carolina native, has completed her memoir and is seeking an agent and/or publisher. The Island: Then and Now is a regional and personal story of how development and the courses of nature have swept away the Isle of Palms Stanley knew as a child.
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Carol Ringold’s short short story “Who Wins” was recently selected by Cool Plums as a winning entry for publication in Rosebud Magazine. Carol is currently enrolled in the low-residency MFA program in creative writing at Queens University of Charlotte, NC.
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Tricia E. Bratton’s “The Courage to Heal” was published in Sept. 2006 in the “Faith Matters” Section of the Tampa Tribune. She is currently working on a novel and is studying with Connie May Fowler in a Below Sea Level workshop for serious writers.
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Kathleen Connolly Baker’s book, The Expressive Journal Writer’s Notebook, is now available at her website. Her essays and articles have appeared in the Tampa Tribune, Florida Sports Magazine, The Story Circle Journal and The Journal of Poetry Therapy.
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Michelle Rego Reatini is a frequent contributor to Ministry & Liturgy, a professional magazine for members of the parish ministry team. Michelle has also finished her how-to book and is seeking an agent or publisher for The Church Musician’s Soul Survival Manual: A Guide for Pastoral Musicians And Those Close to Them.
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Susan J. Nickerson’s story “Baby Girl” was published in Open Mind Quarterly.
This is her second acceptance in Open Mind Quarterly. Susan’s stories have also appeared in The Compassionate Friends’ national magazine; the anthology Palm Prints; and Alone Together by Raven Publishing.
Susan has completed her novel, Amazing Grace, and is currently seeking an agent or publisher. Amazing Grace is a heart-wrenching, laugh out loud, coming of age story set amid the backdrop of the turbulent sixties in a family brimming with quirky characters and deeply rooted secrets. As Grace trudges through the messy muck of loss, she copes with an emotionally absent mother who finds solace in a bottle of Valium. Toss in an aging hippie uncle, his ethereal flower child girlfriend, Grace’s sweet, loveable kid sister who believes just because they’re from Salem, Massachusetts, witchcraft might actually bring their daddy back, and you’ll understand why Grace dreams of a better life on the streets of Haight-Ashbury, where love flows and flowers grow. When a shocking family secret shatters what little faith Grace had left, she struggles to find a solid foothold.
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