Pages & Paws

Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie


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Author Interview

50 CoverRead my recent author interview by Cathy Stucker of Selling Books.  The focus is my latest title, how i got to be 50 and other atrocities: a baby boomer reflects on the boom and other splashes of everyday life.

How i got to be 50 is a light-hearted, yet insightful romp through my three most important areas in life: Family, Friends, and Faith. The ‘perfect reader’ is anyone who’s approaching middle-age, is well past it, or is convinced it could never happen to them.
Find out more at the Living Stones Fellowship Bookstore or at Amazon.com.


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“Marley & Me”: More Than a ‘Dog Story’

Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog

By John Grogran

Harper Collins, 2005

ISN: 13: 978-0-06-123822-2

I confess.  I’m a dyed-in-the-Alpo, no-bones-about-it, unabashed, bonafide dog lover, but even feline fans will appreciate John Grogan’s Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog.  An eloquent look at a “wondrously neurotic dog” and “what really matters in life,” this engaging, insightful epic recounts the zany escapades of a ninety-seven pound yellow Labrador retriever who “crashed through life with a gusto often associated with natural disasters” and the humans who loved him.

Marley begins when newlyweds John and Jen Grogan move to South Florida and begin budding careers as journalists at competing newspapers.  An adorable “clearance puppy”  turns their lives inside out and upside down for thirteen roaring, soaring, raucous, wonderful years – as only a “loopy” dog can.

A richly textured three-dimensional portrait of family life and love, Marley avoids maudlin sentimentality while offering honest “slice of life” vignettes to which anyone relate.  It’s also wickedly funny.  Catapult-like, this wild ride with “the world’s worst dog” races through mango snacks, gold necklace “dessert,” poodle distractions, drywall destruction, thunder phobias, ejection from obedience school, mishaps at Dog Beach, to loss, disappointment, kids and sleep deprivation, a scream in the night, job changes, moves, and the kind of unwavering loyalty, devotion, and crazy love that’s unique to canines.

Marley & Me is more than a “dog story.”  Grogan’s nimble pacing, pithy observations and quirky chronicling evoke both laugh-out-loud mirth and hand-me-another-tissue sniffles.  Marley makes you want to run, not walk, to the nearest mutt and hug him or her for dear life.

Speaking of which, Grogan’s first-person narrative runs the gamut of “everyday life” emotions: appreciation, apprehension, horror, humiliation, unbridled glee, intense sorrow, exasperation, exhaustion, effervescence and ebullience.  Chapters include And Puppy Makes Three, A Battle of Wills, The Things He Ate,  In the Land of Bocahontas, alfresco Dining, Lightning Strikes, The Big Meadow and Beneath the Cherry Tree.   A special bonus is a reprint of Grogan’s January 6, 2004 column about Marley from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Saying Farewell to a Faithful Pal, that inspired the book (bring Kleenex).

Nuts as Marley is, we get the feeling that the world would be a better place if more humans lived and loved like this crazy yellow dog.  Indeed, Marley and Me leaves no doubt as to why dogs, not cats, are tagged as “man’s best friend.”  By the end of the book you’ll feel like you’ve known the Grogans for years, and that Marley was your dog, too.  (Have I told you about Eve, our mellow yellow Lab? A Marley polar-opposite, Eve is by far and away the smartest member of our family.)

Even cat lovers will get this one.  Four stars (for occasional language, adult themes.)

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Coming up:

Laughing All the Way: 10 Tips for the Hilarity Highway and a five-part mini-series: Write Away…


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“That’s Amore! Life With an Italian Father, Mother, and Uncles”

Somehow, somewhere, some unknown number of years ago, Joseph B. Olivieri, Sr. prefaced an unpublished manuscript with:

“This book is being written for my children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces who never knew their grandparents and their uncles.”

I am one of those nieces.  And I really should clean out my filing cabinet more often.

I received the unpublished manuscript for Life with an Italian Father, Mother, and Uncles from my step-mom, who mailed it to me shortly after my father passed away in 2003.  I gave the mss. a quick, cursory skim, stashed it away and promptly forgot about it until just recently.[1] I was looking for something else in my personal “archaeological dig” (aka: The Dreaded Filing Cabinet) when I noticed an oversized manila envelope wedged in the back.  Curious, I hauled it out, blew off the dust, opened it, and found myself instantly transported back some forty years or so to Michigan and the Olivieri home.

You see, Joseph Olivieri, Sr. was my uncle.  He married my Dad’s sister, Charlotte.  Their three kids are my cousins.  I only met Uncle Joe once, during my one and only visit to Michigan in the 1960s.[2] I was very young and don’t remember much.  What I do remember about my Uncle Joe:

1) He was as bald as a billiard ball

2) He wore glasses and seemed as tall as a giant (everyone looks like a giant when you’re six years old)

3) He was always smiling or laughing

4) The smells from the Olivieri kitchen were divine, and

5) there was something about… smoking a cigar.

If only I’d taken better notes!

Fortunately, Uncle Joe did.  What I found in that dusty manila envelope was nearly one hundred single-spaced, type-written pages of his unpublished memoirs.  The editor in me danced a jig.  A word about that is in order.

When working on an edit, I usually warm up the ‘ole red pen or pencil, roll up my sleeves and bleed red ink all over dangling participles, misplaced modifiers, incorrect usage and the like.   It may sound corny, but I just couldn’t do it this time.  The closest I got was adding “That’s Amore!” to the title, because it seemed appropriate and a good fit.  But there was something about holding my uncle’s manuscript that was like holding his hand.  I couldn’t bear to slash any more red ink anywhere.[3] It seemed sacrilegious.  So I refrained.  The editing and keyboarding process are “speeding” along like a gimpy snail on crutches mired in a molasses factory, but it seems the respectful thing to do.  It also means only minor edits and reformatting for publication by yours truly.

My Uncle Joe passed away several years ago.  My Aunt Charlotte continues to reside in Michigan.  Unfortunately, the manuscript is undated.  Although there is no way of pinpointing its date of origin, the paper and type font used suggest it was printed off a 1980s-vintage Macintosh computer.  Whatever the date or age of the manuscript, I’m working on wrapping up my Uncle Joe’s story, in his words.  Que bella!

[1] I am still kicking myself for not giving this manuscript more attention sooner.  But  as they say, “better late than never.”

[2] I’d give you an exact date if I could, but I can’t remember it.  Possibly 1967.

[3] In truth, Joe’s original manuscript is so well-written that the editorial attention required is minimal.

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Next up: Seven Deadly Social Media Sins


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“Walk the Line” is a Keeper

I’m not what you’d call a “country music fan.”  At least I wasn’t until last week, when I saw Walk the Line (20th Century Fox, 2005) with the fam.   Line is the true story of country music legends Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) and June Carter Cash (Reese Witherspoon).  It’s a remarkable film.

Phoenix turns in a brilliant performance of the complicated, multi-faceted ‘Man in Black’ who finally turns his life around with the help of June Carter.  In an extraordinary thespian tour de force, Phoenix captures Cash’s driving “freight train” voice with a steely intensity that should’ve earned him a Best Actor Oscar.  He  has Cash’s unique style, mannerisms, posture, gestures and facial expressions down so well, it’s like looking at Johnny in a mirror.  Witherspoon is equally as impressive as the sassy, spunky Carter.  Both do their own singing.

In an era of car crashes, computer-generated graphics, earsplitting soundtracks or cheap theatrical gimmicks to draw in audiences, character-driven movies of this quality are as rare as the Hope diamond.  Walk the Line walks the extra mile – several, in fact – and relies on rich, three-dimensional characterizations, superb storytelling, great performances and dramatic conflict – both external and internal – to ably round out this inspiring story of an American icon.   “I know that one!” tunes like Folsom Prison Blues, Jackson, I Got Stripes and Ring of Fire are peppered throughout.  So are “cameo appearances” by “Jerry Lee Lewis”, “Waylon Jennings”, “Roy Orbison”, and “Elvis”.

Why it took me five+ years to discover this gem, I don’t know.  But “better late than never.”  Even my teenagers enjoyed Walk the Line (high praise indeed).

Any way you run it, Walk is a keeper.  It may even convert you into a country music fan.  Just don’t ask for my copy of It Ain’t Me, Babe.  I ain’t sharin’.

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Up next: That’s Amore! and Seven Deadly Social Media Sins


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Readers Write

On The Fourth Thursday:

“What a beautifully written article, Christine, (sic) about your Thanksgiving memories that are so wrapped up in Thanksgiving.”
— Teri

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“Wow.  I loved that story about wherever you are on Thanksgiving, you are home.  What the author said was sad, about all the relatives being gone and  how she misses them the most during November and December.  I think a lot of us can relate to that story.  The baby boomers are all grown up and we are  losing our loved ones.  I guess we never truly lose them as long as we keep them close in our hearts.  I wish for all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas if you celebrate it.”
— Patti


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“The Fourth Thursday”

The Fourth Thursday – my Thanksgiving-themed short was recently featured in Heartwarmers and Warm Fuzzy Stories.

 

 

 

 

 

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I just wanted to write and tell you how much I enjoyed your memories of Thanksgiving.  I am Canadian and we celebrate in October but we still have the same great memories.  This year my mom and I drove five hours to be with my sister, her husband and her three sons, my three nephews.  I have watched them grow since the days they were born and being young men now they are not always home at the same time.  It was sooo much fun.  When I am having a hard time about something, I just have to look at some pics of that weekend and the memories are so rich and full and the smile comes back.  Thanks for sharing.”
– Heather in the Okanagan, BC


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“A Great Wit About You”

My author interview with Daniel Carter of The Unwanted Trilogy has just been  posted @ Daniel’s site.  Here’s the link to “A Great Wit About You.“


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The “Yellow Wood”

Welcome to my bookish blog!

If this blog looks or sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because I originally launched this puppy in the fall of 2009.  Then I got pulled away into other interests and avenues.  Coming back (better late than never), I re-christened the title to something more melodic and slightly enigmatic, which suits me fine.  I’m also playing with an updated look.

By way of background, I jumped into the blogosphere in 2007 and currently manage/administrate six other blogs, each with its own distinct focus and flavour.  Topics range from biblical womanhood and children’s ministry to politics, simple church, and biblical equality. Frankly, with six other “kids” to mind, the last thing I needed was another blog!

But the inquiries kept coming.  The prompts and nudges. “Your web site’s fine,” people would say, “but it’s not a dialogue or a conversation.”  Or, “When are you going to do a blog about your books and other stuff?”  Seems that something was missing: a blog devoted to and focused on writing.  It’s who I am, and what I do.

So there you have it.  This “yellow wood” is where my “roads diverge.”  If you have any questions, feel free to chime in.

Thanks for joining me on the journey.