Writers4Higher features author Bruce Ballister

This issue, Writers4Higher features

Bruce Ballister

Hi, Bruce. Welcome to the Writers4Higher family!

1. Tell me about yourself. Your book(s), your life, your inspiration.

I’m a geek, and sort of proud of it. I was a geek before the word was invented. I was cross trained in college with most of a degree in Geology and all of the degree in Commercial Art. Finding that artists made no better living that art students, I pursued the graphic component of civil engineering and design until I was passed up the line to designer and then engineer. About the time Kubrick’s 2001 a Space Odyssey came out, I was already an annual subscriber to Scientific American, and National Geographic. Art and illustration gradually fell away, and my career morphed into public policy, urban planning and grant writing. But for reading, I still love the blend of science and science fiction. Often a great Sci-Fi story requires a reader to make only one small leap of faith to bridge the gap between literary fiction and science fiction. Because at their core, both genres require depth of character, hard decisions, human struggle, and compassion for human failings. Toss in, artificial intelligence, aliens, locations outside our atmosphere, or times easily accessible outside the here and now, and you have science fiction. A writer in Sci-Fi still has to make the problems of the protagonist real and ultimately solvable and the antagonist, sincerely driven by his/her/its own value systems.

My particular background and continuing interest in the sciences informs my inspirations and attempts to write science fiction. Arthur Clark blew me away with the Space Odyssey. Science fiction was cool! My first writing efforts were simple vignettes, conversations between two people at a crossroads, the edge of suicide, the edge of enlightenment, or an arrival at a major decision point. A few of those early efforts went well beyond thirty to forty thousand words and I found out I was writing novels. Surprise! I’m a writer. Now, I have aspirations of becoming not only a better writer, but one with a following. My Amazon fans seem to appreciate my early efforts. If you’re reading this, I invite you to take a chance.

2.  Where do you see your writing taking you in the future?

Pulitzer Prizes, nah, I’m not a research/reporter kind of writer, but a Hugo would be nice, but primarily, I’d like to build a fan base that knows, based on the books already out there, that I will deliver. The delivery will included believable dialogue, deep backstory, interesting settings, danger!, probable love interests, (why not?), and a book that will leave you turning pages well after midnight. I am approaching retirement, a threshold I hope to cross without joining too many volunteer organizations, because I’d really like to write in the morning when I’m awake, rather than the wee hours when it’s questionable. And hey! … if you’re a publisher… let’s talk.

3.  How do you use your talents/time to help others?

As a third year member of the Tallahassee Writers Association, I’ve had a hard time saying no to the simple ask. (that’s always been a problem). So, the early ask to join the board of TWA morphed quickly to VP, the 2015 Conference Committee Co-chair, and now the President’s slot. Somewhere in there I took on the management of the Seven Hills Literary Competition which I hope to continue after this term as president closes. The presidential slot includes that famous abused phrase, “…and other services to be determined.”

We, the TWA, hope to offer value-added special workshops in addition to a great annual conference that has been moved to the early fall this year. Our monthly Third-Thursday meetings offer insights into the successes of regional talents in a wide variety of genres from historical, romantic, literary, short, non-, science, young adult, etc. -fiction to poetry, screenplays, editing techniques, plot and character development and some you-name-its.

I will never be a real pedagogue, but I love to share. If there’s something you don’t know, and I might, I’ll share it. And that’s pretty much the, philosophy of most of us at the TWA, we support each other, promote each other, and when time permits, we write!

Would you like to find Bruce?

Check out the links to this talented author:

Look for Tallahassee Writers Association on Face Book, and MeetUps, as well as www.twaonline.org  https://sevenhillsreview.submittable.com/submit and

http://www.meetup.com/Tallahassee-Writers-Association/

www.dreamlanddiaries.com

https://www.facebook.com/DreamlandDiaries/

Twitter Handle: @ballister49

LinkedIn: Bruce Ballister

Dreamland Diaries Part 1 on Amazon

Dreamland Diaries Part 2 on Amazon

Orion's Light on Amazon

Be sure to visit the Writers4Higher Market! We have gear for the writer in you.

The Writers4Higher Market

Rhett DeVane

Fiction with a Southern Twist

Writers4Higher blog

Rhett's Website

Rhett's funny Southern Blog

Writers4Higher features Sam R. Staley

Welcome to Writers4Higher

 

 

The purpose of the Writers4Higher blog: to feature authors in a new light, a fresh look at the way writers use their talents and life energies to uplift humankind. Writers4Higher doesn’t promote religious or political views. Authors are asked to answer three simple questions: simple, yet complex.

 

 

This issue, Writers4Higher features

 

Sam R. Staley

 

 

 

Hi Sam. Welcome to the Writers4Higher family!

 

 

1. Tell me about yourself. Your book(s), your life, your inspiration.



Anytime someone opens one of my young-adult novels, they will read about characters and stories that inspire me as a writer and parent of teenage children. It’s taken a while, and a lot of trial and error, but my “voice” as an author has emerged most forcefully through character-driven stories that don’t shy away from the gritty and all too real dilemmas facing our children and adults on a daily basis. To some extent, they are allegories for modern problems. Even Isabella, the ex-slave captaining a pirate ship in the 18th century Caribbean in The Pirate of Panther Bay, can’t escape the challenges of leadership, or the ethical quandaries presented by her “profession” as a pirate, or the nihilist time in which she lived. Luke, the lead character in A Warrior’s Soul deals with the fundamental question of whether we have the courage to act in the right way, at the right time, even with tools we’ve already learned. In Renegade (due out in October), Maria, the misunderstood and reluctant school bully, runs full throttle into the scary contemporary problems of endemic violence in some of our schools and communities. As in the real world, these characters take responsibility for their actions (although not always willingly) and are held accountable for their decisions, good and bad.


I’ve worked for three decades around the edges of power and politics, and my stories, while targeted for the young-adult market, personalize our problems, embrace the complexity of the real world, and grapple with the risks and responsibilities assumed by individual initiative. And violence always loses. And forgiveness defines character.


2. Where do you see your writing taking you in the future?


I’ll restrict my answer to my fiction because I’ve already published five nonfiction books on public policy problems, ranging from the ravages of the illicit drug trade in our cities to traffic congestion. My young adult novels are now my creative passion and outlet.


My stories, both published and non-published, have consistently centered on individual responsibility, social accountability, and violence. I believe these are crucial issues facing our children today, and they need tools for coping with the challenges these problems face. Fast paced, action dramas are an intellectually challenging but potentially great vehicle for addressing them.


I’m realistic enough to know that I won’t be able to financially support myself on my fiction writing alone, but I hope my novels continue to inspire discussion and provoke more realistic thinking on these topics. Both A Warrior’s Soul and Renegade were conceived as a five book series exploring the seemingly gray line between self-defense and aggression, and I hope these stories pave the way to complete the remaining three books. The Pirate of Panther Bay was also conceived as a series, and I think the lead character’s struggle with her own identity as an ex-slave coming to grips with her responsibilities as an adult and leader can carry forward through another book or two. I also have several other manuscripts in various stages of completion, including a quasi-science fiction tale that recasts the myth of Santa Claus for a modern, skeptical audience.


3. How do you use your talents/time to help others?



I’ve been involved with community service since the 1970s through volunteer work with dozens of nonprofits, schools, and community organizations, including the National Ski Patrol, coaching speech and debate, serving on civic boards and commissions, and starting nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy think tanks. I am currently on the Board of Directors of the Bicycle House Tallahassee (www.bicyclehouse.org).


I am now teaching undergraduate and professional masters students at Florida State University in part because I believe my professional background and experience can be used to prepare the next generation for the practical realities of governance and policy implementation. Thus, through my writing and a reorientation of my professional interests, I have dedicated the “end stage” of my career to providing support to young people and giving them the practical tools they need to be successful. I also enjoy supporting my fellow authors, both through my blog on the “business” of writing and publishing (http://blog.srstaley.com), through my work with the Tallahassee Writers Association (www.twaonline.org), and joyfully hawking their creative output at Tallahassee’s Downtown Marketplace. 
 

Would you like to find Sam?

Check out the links to this talented author:

 

 

Email Sam Staley

Sam's website

Sam's blog

Facebook: A Warrior’s Soul (book)

Twitter: SamRStaley

Youtube: SamRStaley

 

A Warrior's Soul on Amazon.com

 

 

 

 The Pirate of Panther Bay on Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

 

“Renegade” will be out at the end of October!

 

Thanks for joining us, Sam!

 

Be sure to visit the Writers4Higher Market! We have gear for the writer in you.

The Writers4Higher Market

 

Rhett DeVane

Fiction with a Southern Twist

Writers4Higher blog

Rhett's Website

Rhett's funny Southern Blog

 

 

 

 

 

Writers4Higher features Donna Meredith

Welcome to Writers4Higher

The purpose of the Writers4Higher blog: to feature authors in a new light, a fresh look at the way writers use their talents and life energies to uplift humankind. Writers4Higher doesn’t promote religious or political views.

Authors are asked to answer three simple questions: simple, yet complex.

This issue, Writers4Higher features

Donna Meredith.

Hi Donna. Welcome to the Writers4Higher family.

1. Tell me about yourself. Your book(s), your life, your inspiration.

Why, my husband and some friends ask, do I want to write? They shudder and confess how much they disliked cranking out papers in English classes. Maybe I’m weird—okay, I am—but I liked the challenge of putting the right words in the right order on paper. Still do.

More than that, writing is my way of making sense of the world. It’s where I think through the way people relate to each other and explore the contradictions of our behavior, how we can act with courage and kindness one moment—and with hostility, fear and jealousy the next. It’s where I try to capture the beauty and balance in our natural world. And I write because I hope to make a difference in the world, in some small way. Vanity, I know.

I guess I liked teaching for the same reason. For 29 years I helped high school students become better readers and writers. We read literature, I told them, to understand what it means to be a human being, to journey along another person’s path and wear their skin and shoes, at least for a little while. Literature expands our world. We wrote and shared poetry and journals even though they weren’t on standardized tests because words helped vent adolescent angst. The newspapers and TV shows I advised became a home for all kinds of kids, especially for the pentagons and parabolas that didn’t fit into a school system’s square holes. They wrote copy, drew computer graphics, and held camcorders in front of their faces that served as a buffer between awkward teen and the tough world of peers.

I wrote my first novel, “The Glass Madonna,” because I had a sense that new generations were forgetting what the world had been like for women just a short time before. Even women of my generation were glorifying life in the 1950s, forgetting how many jobs were closed to women and how a wife might call police to beg for help because her husband was beating her, only to be told they didn’t get involved in domestic disputes. It’s easy to forget what it was like before birth control gave us some control over our own bodies. Easy to look down on other countries that lack rights for women—unless we remember our own grandmothers weren’t born with the right to vote. I wrote the novel because if we become complacent, the progress could slip away. I worked another concern of mine into the story: the homeless, damaged veterans, who were frequent guests when I served lunch at The Shelter. The story also explores the way addiction to nearly anything—alcohol, food, drugs, sex—damages everyone in a family.

The second novel, “The Color of Lies,” grew out of love/hate. The things I loved and hated about teaching. The kids I loved so much I could have adopted them, and the occasional one that made me wish I could stay in bed instead of going to work. The joy of reading a student’s moving poem or personal essay, balanced against the insanity of bureaucratic paperwork and extraneous duties. The difficulty of finding time to meet the needs of students while devoting time to my own family and enough “me” time that I didn’t go crazy. Every working woman has been there. The novel also grew from my love/hate of small towns. I tried to capture the close connections, the sense of rootedness my protagonist feels, as well as the frustration she feels with the slow pace of change and the small-mindedness of some citizens, including her own father. All the characters behave in ways that are morally ambiguous at times—as we all do. We are, after all, only human.

As a writer, you hope a reader sees something of themselves in the story and feels less alone. 

 

2. Where do you see your writing taking you in the future?

 

Both manuscripts I’m working on now meet my need to feel I’m writing about things that make a difference. “Magic in the Mountains” tells the true story of a woman who wouldn’t let anything get in the way of fulfilling her artistic vision. Her story deserves to be preserved as a part of West Virginia history. In my environmental mystery, “Between a Rock and a Wet Place,” a female hydrogeologist protects our water supply from corporate greed. The latter gives me an outlet to write about protecting our natural resources again, something I have missed after giving up the environment column I wrote for the Tallahassee Democrat for 18 months.

3. How do you use your talents/time to help others?

One way I’ve tried to give back to fellow writers is through my involvement with the Tallahassee Writers Association. I served as vice president two years and president for two years, pouring time and energy into bringing Tallahassee outstanding writers conferences and workshops. I’ve coordinated our Seven Hills Literary Contest for the past six years and edit the Seven Hills Review, providing writers an opportunity for recognition and publication. On a personal level, when TWA members have been sick or lost family members, I’ve tried to make sure they received cards and hospital visits—small touches of support as we make life journeys together. We’re more than colleagues. We’re friends. We’re family.

At one point in a creative writing class at FSU, I questioned whether writing was how I should spend my retirement—was I being selfish? My professor, Sheila Ortiz-Taylor, responded that writing is an act of generosity, a sharing of yourself, an act of courage. Since publishing my books, I’ve come to realize how true her words were. It takes tremendous courage to put yourself out there, exposed for others to accept or reject. Even if we write fiction, the characters emerge from our imagination and world view. They are us, even the bad guys. Scary stuff.

Publishing is like giving birth—and we display our babies to the world, weak-kneed with anxiety, hoping people will click “like” or leave good reviews on amazon. Our hearts soar when someone posts that our novel is “important” or made someone laugh, and we are hopeful that we have, indeed, made a difference. Then someone posts that they found a spelling error on page 10. Our hearts are sore.

The journey has its ups and downs. All the more reason we need our fellow writers. Our friends. Our family.

******

Would you like to find Donna?

Stop by and say hello and check out this talented author's work.

Here are links:

WEBSITE:Donna's website

FACEBOOK: Donna on Facebook

DONNA'S BOOKS:

The Glass Madonna: The Glass Madonna on Amazon

The Color of Lies:The Color of Lies on Amazon

Thank you, Donna, for sharing with us!

Rhett DeVane

Writers4Higher

Rhett's author website

Fiction with a Southern Twist