Today’s guest is:  Greg Kihn, legendary rocker with the Greg Kihn Band, radio-man on the Classic Rocker, KFOX, in San Francisco, and, who knew? Writer.

LN: You know, My Love’s In Jeopardy just talking to you now. I mean, that voice of yours! You’re like a sex machine with a microphone. And you’re a busy writer. I had no idea. Tell me everything, and just lean over and whisper it right here in my ear.

GK: I can’t help it, I have this animal magnetism.  But let’s be honest, it took years of abuse to get this voice.  I’m lucky I’m still alive after what I did back in the 80’s.  I think I’m channeling the spirits of other, better writers because I feel like I’m surfing the big waves now. And I seem to be in the middle of a super creative period. I’ve written the pilot and several episodes for a TV series that we’ll be shopping to the major networks next month. And I’ve already had some interest, so that’s really exciting. The show combines rock and roll, the mafia and the record business in the 1960s. Rockers and wiseguys. Something I know a lot about. Meantime, I’ve also written the screenplay for my first novel called “Horror Show” and I’m slowly but surely moving along with that production. And I’ve written another novel that I’ll be publishing online, with the audio book leading the way.  It’s called “Rubber Soul.”

LN: Wow, They Don’t Write ‘em Like That Anymore!  I’ve got rubber knees from just listening to you. And yet you’re still pumping out the music. And you’re waking up millions of people every morning from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz.  Do you ever sleep?

GK:  Well, it keeps me busy during the week.  My unique (some might call inhuman) hours of getting up at 3:45am, gives me my afternoons free for writing (if I can keep my eyes open) and it’s nice to be finished with all my radio work by lunchtime.  I need down time to come up with ideas. I have a ton of stuff going on at the moment.  I’ve released a new digital 3-CD boxed set of Greg Kihn Band nuggets called KIHNPLETE. Yeah, I know! It’s important because it contains the work of all these famous musicians who have been in my band over the decades, like Joe Satriani, Steve Douglas, Jimmy Lyon. Guys like that. It has historical juice, but it’s just a whole bunch of great music, live versions of the hits and some rare studio takes. It’s great, easy to promote and all post-Bezerkeley!  And other than that, I’ve been doing the morning show for 15 years and now that we’ve got a new owner, Entercom, I work in a beautiful penthouse studio in downtown SF!

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF TABLE BEING TURNED//

GK: Okay, your turn, Laura. I get to interview a lot of interesting people. Just this week I interviewed the great Dick Van Dyke.  I asked him 2 questions, which I thought were the heart of the interview and revealed quite a lot, so now I’ll ask you the same two:  What do you hate most about yourself?  What is your best trait?

LN: I hate that I am loyal to people long after they have shown me that I should not be. I’ve gotten better about that, though. By the same token, my best trait is my loyalty toward and love for the greatest people in my life: My husband and son. But a close second is my resiliency. Against so many odds, I am preparing to launch my novel this year:  “Finding Clarity: A Mom, A Dwarf and a Posh Private School in the People’s Republic of Berkeley” is going to hit electronic devices near you soon and I am immensely proud of that. One of the top literary agents in the country burned me and the editor I hired turned out to be the biggest fraud. Two people I was foolishly loyal to took a year apiece out of this novel’s life. Setbacks like that eventually propel me forward and I am thankful for that strength.

GK: Imagine free speech heroes like Lenny Bruce, Richard Prior, or George Carlin trying to break in with today’s public discourse.  Do you find that it’s hard to stay creative in this overly P-C world? 

LN: There is something nostalgic about those names and how unique and risqué it was to find voices willing to say the things society wouldn’t accept. That no one else dared breath. And yet where would we be if everyone existed without boundaries? Well, we’d be where we are and you’re right, how would their comedic talents even be noticed? Personally, I don’t have a problem being polite. Manners are a good thing. Yet, now that I am older, it is nice to let my proverbial hair down and use words in my writing that I certainly could not while writing for The New York Times, or while reporting on-air. “Finding Clarity” is full of slang, swear words, and certain references that are bound to insult and infuriate. I didn’t write it for that purpose alone. I wrote what I did because that’s who the characters are. It’s what they needed to say. So, I can’t define my novel as overly P-C at all. It’s bound to piss off some people. And see? What kind of lady uses the word “piss” in her blog? One who is fifty, and finally free, that’s who.

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF INCREDIBLY LOUD APPLAUSE//

LN:  Thank you for joining me on Quick Take Tuesday, morning man, rock legend and sex pistol of my dreams, Greg Kihn! I think I’ve got a contact high just from talking to you. But I would be remiss in my duties as a host if I didn’t wind on down the road and tell you I was just listening to your station and I’ve got a bustle in my hedgerow. Seriously, final request:  Stairway to Heaven,  break it down for me in 126 words.

GK: About Stairway- I have looked at the song from every conceivable angle, having played it on the air for 15 years, and for me, even past the songwriting, the lyrics, Robert's vocal, the beautiful recorder arrangement by JP Jones, even past all that brilliance - and the fact that it is the most played song on the radio of all time - it's all about Jimmy Page.  His guitars are Zen-like.  He uses 5 different guitars in that one song, overdubbed standing on his head basically, that makes the song special.  The 12 string intro on the acoustic, the reedy-sounding Danelectro, the Gibson Les Paul beefy chords, and the incredible Telecaster solo at the end – wow - it's a tour de force.  It's all about the guitars!

LN:  And it’s all about your encyclopedic knowledge of rock ‘n roll.  I might not remember all of the 70’s, but I do remember the 80’s in San Francisco. Come back some day and riff with me about Huey, Boz,Carlos…and I’ll tell you about the time I went back stage with Bob Seger and Silver Bullet Band. Deal?

GK:  You got it. 

Today’s guest is Jenny Hilborne, author of the breakout mystery, Madness and Murder  and mother-to-be of a second suspense book, No Alibi.

Q) Your story is set in San Francisco, which as we all know is the capital of madness, while Oakland holds on to the murder title. But you’re a blonde Brit from SoCal. And I’ll bet you’ve even got long legs and a perfect accent. Why write about Fog City?

A) 1 out of three ‘aint bad. I’m a dirty blonde (hey, not my words, that’s what my hairdresser calls it!), I only have long legs when I slip into my 4-inch heels, and my once English accent has taken on something of an odd transatlantic twang. I chose San Francisco for my novels after I stood at the Wharf on a visit and realized how easy it would be to dump a body into the Bay. Not only that, the public transit makes it so easy for a killer to move around. The place struck me as the perfect setting for Madness and Murder.

Q) We first got to know each other because I wrote a blog post once I figured out how to put badges on my website. I acted as if I’d earned a Nobel Prize. And you were just as thrilled as I was! But we also shared our sense of frustration. How do you feel about all this stuff we have to do as authors?

A) In a word: Overwhelmed. I’m a non-techy type trying my best to function in an ever-increasingly techy world. I create. I write stories to entertain. I don’t know about gadgets, buttons, badges, whistles and bells. Madness and Murder would wither and die if I didn’t market it, so I dived in with my eyes wide open. I can honestly say, my social media efforts have been entertaining and quite a learning curve. I mastered Twitter (it’s easy, and I like the fact there’re no games). Creating a website I left to the experts (I got as far as obtaining my Go Daddy domain and threw my hands in the air, baffled). Some of the sites I use - Kindleboards, yahoo groups – have lots of helpful people more than willing to share knowledge, so I’ve come a long way. If only I could keep up. Like my title…it’s utter madness and murder.


//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF TABLE BEING TURNED//


Q) Okay, your turn, Laura. As well as being an author, I know you’re an avid reader. I always see you Tweet about pieces you read on Scribd.com. Tell us why you love the site so much, how you stumbled across it, and how the site has helped you in your writing career?

A) I went into San Francisco one day to hear a panel discussion about getting your first book published. A beautiful young woman named Kathleen was talking about this thing called Scribd. It was a social media site and publishing platform. She told the audience that as an author, you had to “get vertical.”  I went home and told my husband and son that night that I had to “get vertical.” I had no idea what that meant. So I got on Facebook and read instructions and pressed a button and practically clapped when something uploaded. Then, I went onto Scribd and nearly panicked when I saw the feed. It was overwhelming. But a wonderful woman writer named Helen Winslow was on there with her beaming photo and her wonderful comments. So I learned from her how to comment and read and share. I uploaded many of my New York Times articles there and it’s since been like my online resume, or repository for much of my reporting work and essays.  As of now, I have more than 85,000 reads of my work. I have about 45,000 followers. I’ve met more wonderful writers than you can imagine. Scribd changed my life as a writer. I can’t say enough about the hip, young, energetic people who are making it all happen.

Q) You’re working on the Clari Drake mystery series and launching it this year. Who is Clari Drake? Is she based on anyone in particular? Tell us about her?

A) Ah Clari. Dear, sweet, feisty, inappropriate Clari!  She was once a hot-shot reporter who has found herself decades later with a family and a widening waist line. Okay, I’ll cop to that! But she became every woman I wish I could be, and in some ways, am. She loves her family, but she’s not afraid to rock the boat at her son’s school. She makes some huge mistakes and allows her unbridled frustration and ambition to jeopardize her son’s peaceful existence. In short, she’s a shit-disturber with a Weight Watchers card. And I can respect that. If you bite it, then you write it, is their mantra. And if Clari senses something isn’t right, she’s right on it. I love her!  And after being jerked around mercilessly by one of the biggest literary agents out there, I decided I’d had enough. I’m launching the book myself. It’s a fun read and I hope to learn from pros like you on how to let the world know that. Finding Clarity, here we come!


//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF APPLAUSE//

Thank you for joining me on Quick Take Tuesday, Jenny Hilborne, dirty-blonde, British author and leggy So Cal gal! Please come back and fill me up, so to speak, with some of your work for my Friday Feature!

Today my guest is WENDY TOKUNAGA, San Francisco-based author of the novels Love in Translation and Midori by Moonlight, both published by St. Martin’s Press, and the new Kindle non-fiction e-book, Marriage in Translation: Foreign Wife, Japanese Husband, which is a collection of interviews with 14 Western women who talk candidly about the challenges in making cross-cultural marriages work and the joys and frustrations of adapting to another culture. She also teaches writing classes for Stanford University’s Online Writer’s Studio and has her own manuscript consulting business. She dotes on her lovely cat Meow and is married to Osaka-born surfer dude Manabu Tokunaga. 

Q) Konnichiwa! I should also add that you are a cat lady like me. But I’m not so sure that you’re as bat shit crazy as I am. Maybe that’s because you live on the other side of the Bay, just a few blocks from the ocean and are a successful and highly paid author of several beautiful books. And might I add, a karaoke singer!

A) Highly paid author? Ahem. I think my husband would beg to differ with you there. Yes, I’m a karaoke singer of some reknown—LOL—but mainly with Japanese songs. I also like to sing jazz, bossa-nova and cool pop (Nancy Sinatra, anyone?) with my husband on keyboards. But am I a cat lady? Mmmm. I was just talking about this the other day. Why is it that when a woman simply enjoys the company of her cat (or cats, as I assume is the case with you), she is automatically dubbed a “crazy cat lady?” It’s such a stigma. When I’m out shopping with my husband and I want to buy a cute dishtowel or mug with a cat on it, he tells me that I shouldn’t, that I’m in danger of becoming one of those nutty feline-hoarding, cat-sweater-wearing old biddies. Do I hear the same thing about men and their cats or men and their dogs? Nooooo. I’m not sure what to do about this. I guess raising consciousness about this important issue through QTT is enough for the time being.

Q) You and I met and bonded at a writers’ conference because we both called bullshit on a famous writer who gave the most disingenuous speech about her success as an author and failure as a human being. There’s a lot out there that’s hard to digest right now about the publishing industry. What’s your take on it?

A) Yes, I remember that speech well. It was difficult to suppress my look of astonishment when everyone else seemed to be in tears as they rose to give said author a standing ovation. Oh, well.

As for the publishing industry, as someone who just released an e-book on Kindle, I have to say that I’m not one of the doom-and-gloomers. I actually am excited to be living in a time of such change. There are downsides and upsides to all of this and a lot of it mirrors what’s gone on in the recording industry. I think it’s likely that more and more people will do some or all of their reading on e-readers or i-Phones or iPads, but I don’t think tangible books will disappear. I also don’t envision libraries going away, but they will change a lot. The same with independent bookstores. They might become more like community gathering places with more computers and accessories for people to use, perhaps, than books. I have faith that there are a lot of creative people out there who will take on these challenges and turn them into amazing entities we can’t even foresee.

I also embrace social media. I love Twitter and Facebook and the way these sites have allowed me to interact and network with readers and writers from all over the world, whom I never would have otherwise met. I think traditional publishers will still exist, but they will have to make some changes, and self-publishing and indie-publishing will also be in the mix. I guess I’m a good example. I just published my own e-book, but my latest novel, about a congressman’s sex scandal of some 20 years ago and the effect it still has today on his wife and two grown daughters, is with my literary agent and we’re about to try and pitch it to editors at publishing houses. Will it sell? I don’t know. It’s always been a tough business and it’s getting tougher. On the other hand, people are still buying books and novelists are still getting book deals.

The sky isn’t falling, at least not from where I sit. In fact, it’s a big, beautiful and intact sky that is full of possibilities if you can think a little bit outside the box.

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF TABLE BEING TURNED//

Q) Okay, your turn, Laura. I know you’ve confessed to being a major foodie or at least that you LOVE to eat out like I do (and we should get together for lunch sometime!). And no, this question has nothing to do with dress size or caloric intake. I can’t name one favorite restaurant because I like way too many of them (though I’ll say that I’m currently loving Café Claude in San Francisco), but I’ll put you on the spot. What and where is your favorite place to eat out and why is it your favorite?

A) You know, the food scene has exploded in Oakland. It’s all happening right here where they said there was “no there.” James Syhabout, Daniel Patterson…from Jack London Square to Uptown, Piedmont avenue, Rockridge. Whether it’s a taqueria or a multi-course meal you’re after, Oakland is the new Brooklyn. Tastebuds are exploding like firecrackers over here and if you’re a new chef on the scene, you’d better bring your A Game. But there are two new places I’m dying to try in SF:  Michael and Lindsay Tusk just opened the new Quince & Cotogna and it looks gorgeous. And Michael Mina is now in the old Aqua space. It’s all so hip and happening, they might not let me in the door. And of course, just like my protagonist in Finding Clarity, I have nothing to wear. And it was the outfit she donned for the big party that got her in real trouble and really set in motion the events that unraveled the entire story!  Who knew dining out could be so much fun?

Q) I know that you’re a very successful non-fiction writer who has written for many of the top magazines and journals. But you are also writing a mystery! What are the differences in mindset when you write fiction versus non-fiction? And which is more fun?

A) I always called being a reporter “having a license to snoop.” Assignments were an entrée into incredible worlds, places I’d never otherwise go, be that a ghetto, backstage at a rock concert, on the trail with a politician, or cruising in a cop car. When I was young and starting out, my roommates worked in banking and they wore suits and had very stable jobs. I never knew what was up from one day to the next. But one thing I was certain of:  I disliked dull stories and loved exciting ones. Environmental stories were my least favorite. Strikes were okay because they were basic (get both sides, don’t take sides) but crimes stories, now crime stories were my first love. Really. One minute I was covering Joe Biden on the campaign trail and the next I was looking down at a body covered in lime rotting in the heat. And you know which one I found more interesting? Guess. I just loved how linear the crime stories were. They flowed, they were comprised of pieces. There was mystery, or not, as the case sometimes was. That’s why I loved them. And that’s why I love piecing together my own Murder at the Mailbox, my first Clari Drake mystery following Finding Clarity (where I just so happen to have almost 10,000 reads of the first chapters on Scribd!)

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF AMAZINGLY LOUD APPLAUSE//

Thank you for joining me on Quick Take Tuesday, author, wife, cat-liker, Karaoke singer and bullshit detector, 
Wendy Tokunaga! Please come back and fill me up, so to speak, with some of your work for my Friday Feature!

Today’s guest is:  Heather Haven, author of the Alvarez Murder Mystery Series with the forthcoming book:  Murder is a Family Business. 

Q) I love me a sassy protagonist. And yours is Latina with blue blood. What a riot! That’s like spreading mayonnaise on a burrito! And I’ll bet she can’t help but get into trouble while staying classy the entire time. Tell me all. 

A) Your description of Lee Alvarez is right on the nose! The daughter of a deceased Mexican immigrant father who made good, and a Palo Alto, Never-Had-A-Bad-Hair-Day blue blood mother, Lee is not your typical protagonist. She may take her burrito with mayo, but she likes salsa on her French fries. This is a woman who has a lot of things going for her and a few things she’s working on. Not perfect, but striving. Lee loves her family, Kate Spade handbags, a good joke, and would have liked to have become a ballet dancing. Unfortunately, as a mediocre ballerina at best, she consoles herself with being a crackerjack PI for the family business, Discretionary Inquiries. Like the rest of us, Lee has her limitations and deals, with the help of a wicked sense of humor and the occasional Milky Way bar. Throughout her adventures, Lee has strong familial support, even though this group is often one pain in her jazzercised derriere. For me, the series had to include two important elements:  the recently immigrated, which is one of America’s natural resources, and the family unit.  Hence, the Alvarez Family Murder Mystery Series, a family of detectives, was born. Olé!

Q) I love your theatrical background and the fact that you worked on costumes on Broadway for years. But better still, you were born in a three-ring-circus. Now tell me everything and nobody gets hurt!

A) I like to say I was born ON a trunk at Ringling Brothers Circus, in that my father was the head elephant trainer. I have pictures of me when I was barely three years old holding onto a harness and riding the head of a baby elephant. Whenever I did that, my father flanked one side of the elephant and my mother walked along the other side holding onto me. I, of course, was happy and fearless. I still remember it. My mother was a featured performer in her own right, doing tricks with the elephants, plus working the web and trapeze. I guess it was only natural for me to have a career in show business with a beginning like that. I studied drama at the University of Miami on a costume scholarship and headed off to NYC. There I discovered I didn’t really like the life of an actor, in that you travel a lot. Basically, be careful what you wish for; you may get it. So I put my costume expertise to good use and worked backstage on Broadway in wardrobe for ten steady and Manhattan-based years. I continued to write during that time, comedy acts for performers, stage plays, ads, commercials, short stories, all that good stuff. It was fun!

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF TABLE BEING TURNED//

Q) Okay, your turn, Laura. Let’s talk about your protagonist, Clari. The opening paragraph of Finding Clarityis very funny and enticing. One of the sentences on the first page, “Now that I am 45, it’s safe to say that back in my twenties I existed on an age appropriately shallow plane,” is character revealing and oh, so true! However, I wonder at how much of your personal experience as a reporter is in this book. For instance, I found the description of the very pregnant Clari’s ghastly exit from the reporting game poignant, but it also struck me her fellow workers were insensitive, at best, and cruel, at worst. Did you experience anything like that in your career in news casting?

A) The two stories in the opening chapter did actually happen to me when I was a reporter. Only the “fire” story when Clari is pregnant did not happen when I was pregnant. The pole part of the story, yes, the public humiliation, no. I made that up for this story.  I recall someone asking me about a famous Bay Area anchorwoman and whether she was nice. “I’m sure someone thinks so,” was my reply. Let’s face it, it’s not a nice business. Everyone wants to be a star. Everyone thinks they are curing cancer. Some of the nastiest, stupidest people you’ll ever want to meet work in newsrooms. And yet I’m still friends with the nicest, funniest ones. You know when you’re on the mean streets or up in the mountains surrounded by wildfires, you’d better like and trust the people you work with.

Q) We both are East Coast transplants, you and I. My writing, or at least my intent, has changed since I came out to the Bay Area. Now that you live in Berkeley, California, how does it color your writing?

A) For so long, I worked in the news business and so precision, laboring over words and meaning have been what colored my writing most. And then one I realized that I had been collecting in my head and in notebooks, phrases, descriptions of people, anecdotes, all these events over the years and realized how really wild and free Berkeley can be. And yet at the same time, there is this really wealthy, white elite that in theory at least, isn’t supposed to exist. No one really talks about that side of The People’s Republic. People have said to me, “That’s not really Berkeley.” And I realized that it is one side of Berkeley that really intrigues me, and how fun it would be to expose and explore it in my fiction. I hope people fall in love with Clari Drake and Finding Clarity as much as I have!

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF INCREDIBLY LOUD APPLAUSE//

Thank you for joining me on Quick Take Tuesday, Heather Haven, author and funny lady who sprouted from a circus trunk and worked on Broadway costumes for years. Talk about bookends to life!  Please come back and fill me up, so to speak, with some of your work for Feature Friday!

Today’s guest is:  David Corbett,  author of The Devil’s Redhead, Done for a Dime, Blood of Paradise and Do They Know I’m Running. David is formerly a senior operative with a prominent San Francisco private investigation firm, also known as a P.I. or dick.  (let the record show I am not calling David a dick for no good reason).

Q) There are a gazillion accolades out there for you from The New York Times to Publishers Weekly. You wow people in classrooms. You woo people on book tours. You are called a “powerful new voice in fiction” because you write about thugs, druggies, smugglers and sultry red heads. Yet you also write so lovingly about the people, and pets, in your life!  Break it down for me.

A) Not sure I’m a “new voice” anymore, since I’ve been around since 2002, but I’m still relatively unknown – a charter member of the Highly Respected and Widely Unread. Being compared to Graham Greene and Robert Stone only helps if people know who they are. I write about the stuff that interests me and about which I can make some small claim to authority. I was a PI – or a dick, as you so delicately put it – for about 15 years, and I saw a slice of life that a lot of people don’t see. Given that background, there’s little point me writing about nouveau cuisine chefs or origami aficionados – unless they’ve been indicted.  

Q) I’ve heard it said that your readers get grit in their eyes from your stories. But that’s must be better than a glazed look, non?  How do you keep it live, fresh and cutting edge? And how do you get so many single women to come to your book readings?

A) Well, you’re never more attractive than when you’re unavailable. My current Brainy-Babe-of-Interest is a filmmaker who does documentaries, and I’m smitten. (You'll have to ask her if it's mutual.) She’s been all over the world filming everything from lesbian macaques to the widows of Russian submariners to artificial walrus vaginas (did you know that male walruses get aroused by the sound of power tools?).

As for keeping it real, you develop an intuition as a writer, a sense of when you’re close to the bone as opposed to just flogging the keyboard. I think every writer relies on that instinct, bred from the key moments in his or her own life when the expected vanished and suddenly it was: What-the-Hell-is-Going-On? I’m no different than any other writer in that regard. It just happens that some of my key moments involved people trying to run me over, lie to me, extort my client, or otherwise make my life miserable. Or over.

But to be totally honest, I don’t think my PI experiences have any more to do with my artisitic vision than the premature deaths of my brother and wife or my rebellion against the role of doting/complicit son to my sweet, fiery, alcoholic mother. And playing in a bar band in my late teens had no small part in wising me up. I’ll be tapping into all of that until death puts me out of everyone else’s misery.

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF TABLE BEING TURNED//

Q) Okay, your turn, Laura. You and I have both been out there on the mean streets, with the job of getting the goods, and getting them right – making stuff up was a cardinal sin. How have you adjusted to the freedom – and the terror – of working without a net, i.e., writing fiction?

A) I pride myself on the fact that I never, not once, missed a deadline in my decades in the news business. And I never made any terrible factual errors. So, it’s a huge sigh of relief for me to not live like that now, all that double, triple, quadruple cross checking and confirming. Yet at the same time, you can’t always say what you learn in the news biz. It’s often on background or off the record. Or it’s delicious but not newsworthy:  the anchorman with the restraining order against him, the news director with his pants down around his ankles and his wife’s friend on the hood of the car. Juicy stuff like that (and yes, I know names!) Now, with fiction, I am free. I can report or say things I have never been able to. In fact, I have sentences and dialogue in Finding Clarity that really came out of people’s mouths that gets safely stirred up into a composite in my fiction. My beta readers have said to me:  No one would ever say that! Oh yes, they do and yes they have! And I relish this new freedom to be able to type it out and put it on the record.

Q) Another point of similarity between us – we’ve both endured some reasonably heavy personal adversity in our lives. And yet we’re also both pretty cheerful people. Where does that resilience come from, and how has it worked its way into your writing? Has it saved you from bathos? Has it sharpened your eye, quickened your wit, or hardened your heart?

A) We have, haven’t we? I always say the worst things that have happened to me, are also the best things that have happened to me. That’s because I always grow and come out on the other side a wiser and better person. It must be hard wired into us because other wise we buckle and fold, and that’s never been an option for me. The struggle can be horrendous, but I don’t think we learn without getting kicked in the teeth. And since I am such a resilient person, I still find beauty and joy in what I have here and now. I mean, what else am I going to do? Give up and stop breathing? And so I think, or at least I hope, that I have taken the pain, the resolve, the fury and the fun and given them over to Clari Drake, my protagonist. Sure she’s shallow at times, which I believe keeps her from drowning in a tub of bathos. But she’s also insecure, feisty, funny and out to get some people. And that makes her a highly loveable but unlikable, and deeply flawed woman. Sounds like someone I know, as a matter of fact!

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF AMAZINGLY LOUD APPLAUSE//

Thank you for joining me on Quick Take Tuesday David Corbett, phenomenal and prolific writer, teacher, dog lover, walrus admirer, and private investigator, which means I can truthfully say he used to be a real dick!  Please come back and fill me up, so to speak, with some of your work for my Friday Feature!

Today’s guest is Tess Hardwick (www.tesshardwick.com), a mother of two young children, wife, playwright, Blogger, food-wine-life enthusiast, and author of soon-to-be-released Riversong, who lives with her family in Washington State.

Q) I left out the part about you being really pretty, blonde and vivacious in both your photos and your writing. But I DO want to mention that you are launching your first novel next month. That is SO exciting. Tell me more while I bathe in your beautiful aura.

A) You are so kind.  My husband takes all my photos, so I make sure he deletes all the unflattering ones right away!  But yes, it’s an exciting time with Riversong’s launch in just a couple of weeks. I’m the poster child for never giving up on your dreams or succumbing when adversity presents itself, which is also one of the central themes of Riversong.  After my heroine’s husband commits suicide, she escapes to Southern Oregon, in order to salvage what’s left of her family home so she can sell it to pay off a debt to a dangerous loan shark.  Once there, she becomes deeply involved in the community, the fictional town of River Valley, loosely based on the town I grew up in, helping it to reinvent itself into a tourist destination.

Q)I love your Blog. Your writing is so clear, clean and from the heart. And you write about heartache, I mean REAL heartache. Yet your spirit shines through. I could see shopping for shoes with you and then discussing character arc over Caesar salads. How do you do it?

A) I would adore shopping for shoes and talking about writing over salads!  But, in all honesty, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the blogging concept when my publisher suggested it.  However, my goal is to be a working novelist that can support a family and I understand you have to put yourself out there in order for readers to find you. But I had to figure out first, what is my blog for, what is my intention with it? I ultimately decided that when my readers gift me with five minutes of their valuable time, I want to give them something in return, a little gem that hopefully inspires them and carries them into the rest of their day feeling a little more energized for whatever challenges await them.  I’m completely transparent in my posts because authenticity about your own difficulties and triumphs conveys that we are not alone in our human experience, which I believe is the most important thing we can do as writers. 

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF TABLE BEING TURNED//

Q) Okay, your turn, Laura. Your novel, Finding Clarity, has a dwarf as one of the main characters. How did you come about that?

A) My own son who’s now 15, was born with serious medical issues. I know what it’s like to live life through that lens and I wanted to include that in my fiction (my essays and first chapters of Finding Clarity can be found here on Scribd). Max’s issues weren’t visible on the outside. But I once worked with an editor whose son has achondroplasia, meaning he’s a dwarf. She was one of the nastiest women I’ve ever worked with. And I didn’t want to believe that it was due to the strain that they might have experienced with his medical issues. So, I wanted to re-write her “character” and make her a mom who was feisty yet loving and supportive to the people around her. This was a chance for me to rework my experience of this woman.

Q) Your son is nearly 16. That means both your lives are changing rapidly. Does your writing keep pace with that?

A) You know, I remember the day my husband told me that he could no longer hold Max with just one arm but he had to put the other hand under his butt. I think that would have been around the 6-week mark. Now, we’re looking at colleges. We just visited UCLA and your alma mater, USC. All I know is that there is going to be a thundering silence in this house when Max is gone. I dearly hope that writing will patch some of the holes for me. And that maybe I’ll be able to dig deeper into life. The good thing about having the two boys in my novel, Zach and Zeppo, is that I can bring them right along their mom, Clari Drake, in the mystery series I have already begun.

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF INCREDIBLY LOUD APPLAUSE//

Thank you for joining me on Quick Take Tuesday, pretty, vivacious multi-tasker, Tess Hardwick, author of Riversong! www.tesshardwick.com. Please come back and fill me up, so to speak, with some of your work for my Friday Feature!

Today my guest is Wayne Farquhar, author Blood Over Badge, a gritty crime thriller. He is also a 29-year veteran cop in California who has worked every detail from street duty to hostage negotiator. Wayne has now set his sites on TV and film.  

Q) You have got to be the handsomest cop I’ve ever met, and I met a few in my time as a crime reporter. And I have to say I just love a man in uniform. So, tell us what you’re up to when you’re not in uniform. And if you don’t mind, I’ll picture you in uniform while I listen.

A) Okay, now I’m totally blushing and flustered. My writing is shifting gears very quickly as one project leads to another. I was about half way through the sequel when I diverted to write the screenplay for Blood Over Badge. While working on that, I hooked up with some really great writers: James Dalessandro for one. He liked my writing, loved my experience, and took me under his wing. As a matter of fact, I met another fantastic writer at that conference: you, Laura!  From there it’s been a vertical learning curve. I’ve been offered a position with some prospective cop shows and we’re in the process of making the deal. It’s cool being around super-creative people because there’s this great energy, or vibe that exists. I’m following my instincts, keeping a positive attitude and enjoying the ride.

Q) I know that you are this close with rocker and morning radio host, Greg Kihn, and he’s really tight with Eddie Money. So naturally, I feel this close to Eddie Money, which is really thrilling for me. There are so many characters in your life:  how do you decide whom to write about?

A) Greg is a great, down-to-earth guy. He’s also a great writer and currently moving into the TV writing business (On top of entertaining 7 million listeners). We’ve worked on many projects together over the years. I remember the opening sentence in his critique of the first thing he edited for me. “Sometimes I feel like I should yell duck!”  But in terms of Blood Over Badge, it was a fun write because I portrayed the characters in true light. I find it easy to write about crooks because I’ve spent 29 years around them. I never worry much about the ones that scream and threaten to kill me, and my family. But I do pay attention to the quiet, thinking types. They never show their hand, just like cops. Those are the ones that kill us when given the opportunity. Let’s face it, most murderers and rapists are garbage. They talk garbage, they live garbage and you might have heard a cop say, “I’m a garbage man. I pick up garbage all night.” It’s an old saying in the business.

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF TABLE BEING TURNED//

Q) Laura, what do you miss most from your reporting career? Is it being in the middle of the action? Is it telling the victim’s story? Perhaps the rush of covering a dangerous, dynamic situation? Or having a bunch of cops trying to impress you?

A) Let me tell you something:  I never met an FBI agent who didn’t hand me his business card and ask me out to lunch. Something about those federal agents - a randy bunch, as I recall. But that was twenty years and twenty pounds ago. Overall, I always found law enforcement helpful when working on a story. It was the AUSA’s (Asst. U.S. Attorneys) who were the assholes. Truly. But yes, hourly deadlines in radio and daily deadlines in television news were thrilling and nerve wracking. Adrenalin was always pumping. We had to think fast and write fast. It was an excellent training ground but it’s a young man’s game. I usually wrote my stories on my lap in the car littered with fast food junk on the way back to the station. But what I remember most was the neighborhoods I’d end up in. Sometimes, the cameramen wouldn’t even want to go with me! Sometimes I only ever felt safe when the really big guys were with me. But then that time someone tossed Molotov Cocktails at us during a riot, it didn’t matter how big the cameraman was. We ducked behind the same car!

Q) You’ve had a successful life/career in writing and reporting. What’s your secret? 

A) One of the best compliments a literary agent paid me was to say that I was one of the few writers she’d ever met who could toggle between fiction and non-fiction. Like you, I believe in moving forward and growing. I didn’t want to write formulaic newspaper articles forever. Doing minute-thirty pieces on the evening news got really tired. Writing down to people became an insult to them and to me. So, I just write! And I’m lucky to be able to write about just about anything. I write for the Good Men Project Magazine. I’m tweaking my novel to launch it as an e-book. I am doing these fun interviews. And I am working on a mystery “without any clues” (can Greg and Eddie hear me singing?) And maybe one day I’ll wear fishnet stockings and sing back up for a band. But I’m moving forward and loving the challenges and the great people I am meeting.

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF APPLAUSE//

Thank you for joining me on Quick Take Tuesday,Mr. Wayne Farquhar, author, speaker, father, husband and incredibly-good-looking-in-a-uniform cop! Please come back and fill me up, so to speak, with some of your work for Feature Friday!

Quick Take Tuesday, a blog of tasteful, yet shameless, self-promotion involving an author or someone of equal social standing. I ask two questions, and then my guest turns the table and asks me two questions that don’t involve pounds or pant size.


Today’s guest is Buffie Colloton, founder of and force behind BOOMER GRANDPARENTS, a blog that’s racking up the reads by Baby Boomers striving to thrive at work, play and with their families, in this digital age.

Q) You are the hippest grandma I know. You’re full of energy and ideas, great wit and fabulous jewelry. And I love your highlights. Does your hair always look this perfect when you write?

A) Those highlights have been placed to strategically camouflage all the silver “age stripes” breaking through the strands of brunette I’ve been clinging to for the past few years. But thanks for the nice compliments!  I write at home in my office, often in yoga pants and a sweatshirt with my hair looking like I just rolled out of bed. I’ll get an idea for a post while I’m folding clothes and listening to NPR.  I’ll run into my office to write it down, and 3 hours later the laundry is all wrinkled in the basket, dinner hasn’t been started and the dogs haven’t been exercised. The upside is that I’ll have completed 3 new posts.  I find inspiration for my posts from magazines and newspapers, as well as TV and radio. My family and friends will often send me emails with suggestions.  I find that researching a specific topic will often lead me to a new topic.  In my nearly one year of posting almost daily, I am amazed that my idea folder remains stuffed with unused notes and articles.

Q) Is there a single thing that drives you or is it easy to add value to every blog post?

A) My family and my health are big motivators in my life.   It’s imperative that I maintain a relationship with my granddaughters.  They are ages 6 and 3 and their new baby brother is due in June. I loved being a mom and I truly LOVE being a grandmother!  My entire family lives in Wisconsin where I spent the first 51 years of my life. Never in a million years did I expect to be living across the country (California) when my grandchildren arrived, but that’s the way the cards fell for me.  I’ve been forced to come up with creative ways to be “present” in their lives, and I share that in my BOOMER GRANDPARENTS Blog. My topics center around what I know about, which is parenting, grand parenting, whether nearby, or from afar, and being a Baby Boomer in this digital age.  I’ve made a conscious decision to shy away from religious or political topics.  But I did recently write a post with suggestions for discussing current news events with children. I used the Wisconsin union situation as an example.  I have friends and family who are in education and nursing and they’ve been very involved. The value I add to my posts is making sure even just a little bit of “me” is in every one.  My friends say that they love to read my posts because I write just like I talk, and they can “hear” me in every one. I trademarked BOOMER GRANDPARENTS and will soon be offering BOOMER GRANDPARENTS apparel, bumper stickers and a variety of gift items through my site. In challenging myself, I’ve had to push through a lot of “unknowns” to find pleasant surprises waiting for me on the other side. Finding myself at the San Francisco Writers Conference, and meeting you is one of them.

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF TABLE BEING TURNED//

Q) Okay, your turn, Laura. What aspect of your professional background as a reporter set the tone for the type of book you chose to write?

A) Many of the events in the first chapter of Finding Clarity actually happened to me, such as with the old woman and her murdered son. They were unforgettable moments in my reporting career and I always knew I wanted to use them in a fictional setting. Then somewhere along the line, I began to incorporate mental notes I’d made about so many things that had happened to me in journalism, into a fun yarn. Fiction was calling my name. It’s such a pleasing departure from the news business. All these wild characters, like Clari my protagonist, were at my fingertips just waiting to be realized on paper. And at the same time, the crux of the plot is that Clari never gets over having been a reporter. She needs to find a good story. And that gets her into trouble. The conflict is inherent in Clari, and that makes for some fun fiction.

Q) Has parenting a young teenager influenced your writing style?

A) Clari has two boys, Zach and Zeppo. Each speak words that my own son, Max, who is now 15, did. They have his humor and zest and spark. It took a lot of energy to keep up with him and the same goes for Clari. We also both worry about our son’s medical problems (listen to me: I talk about Clari as if she’s a real person!)  I can’t remember where I left my keys on any given day, but I can recall how Max sounded at Zach and Zeppo’s ages in the book (9 and 4) so I can easily use his voice in their dialogue. And as Max has grown during the various drafts of this novel, I’ve learned lingo from him and I can see where Zach is headed as a pre-teen. I then take Clari and her family and place them into a mystery series, that I’ve only just started on. Just like the boy, Jake, on “Two and A Half Men”, I hope we’ll see Zach and Zeppo grow up. And hopefully Max will keep feeding me dialogue, even if he doesn’t know it!

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF APPLAUSE//

Thank you for joining me on Quick Take Tuesday, dear Buffie Colloton of Boomer Grandparents! Please come back and fill me up, so to speak, with some of your work for Feature Friday!

In which I talk to an author, or someone of equal importance. I ask two questions and then they turn the table and ask me two questions. Ready set?

BARBARA ALFARO is an author, actress, playwright, essayist and poet. Her work has been dazzling readers for several years on SCRIBD where her colorful book covers and sensational style have drawn thousands of readers.


Q) My favorite story from your memoir, Mirror Talk,  (http://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Talk-ebook/dp/B003Z9K4AY) is when you accidentally broke the fourth wall while acting on stage one night, by crossing your legs and kicking that guy in the audience. Have you kicked anyone else lately?


A) No, but that doesn't mean I haven't wanted to. Now, that I think of it, I've only kicked someone once before, when I was in grammar school. Always small and skinny (I wanted to be tall and statuesque but that's how life is) I was being bullied by another girl on the school bus. It was a peculiar thing but every seat I took on the bus turned out to be hers. "You're in my seat," she'd bellow as she pushed me out of the seat. When I told my mother what was going on, she said, "Next time, kick her in the shins." Next time came. I did. The girl never bothered me again. I'm not advocating violence of course but I do know action is preferable to being shoved. This may be why I self-published two books last year:  a poetry book called "Singing Magic" and the memoir "Mirror Talk." Excerpts from both books can be read at http://www.Scribd.com/BarbaraAlfaro and just a few weeks ago I began my first blog http://barbara-alfaro.blogspot.com.

Q) I wanted to ask you a question that has the words BIG BOOBS in it, you know, so that Google will rank us higher.  But I can’t figure out how to make that work! Besides, you are such a lady - a lady who has written about almost everything, including the Catholic church, wonderful relatives, men who are jerks, the theater and analysis. Your work makes me laugh, cry but most of all, feel very at peace. And now you Blog too! I can’t stand it! What else have you got up your linen sleeve?


A) I’ve written two children’s stories, “Robin’s Song” and “The Looking Girl.” I’d love to see both published but as I’m not an artist, the books would probably need to be picked up by a traditional publishing house with its own illustrators. Right now, why, I can’t say, I’m trying my hand at fiction. I just seem so much more comfortable writing essays and poetry but what the hey! One of my first forays into fiction is a first person narrative of a robot who reads Proust. I imagine when I feel more comfortable writing fiction I may write a first person narrative of a human. The short story is called “Irresistible Impulse” and it and the children’s stories can be read on SCRIBD.

 
//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF TABLE BEING TURNED//

 
Q)    Okay, so my first question for you, Laura,  is this:  I’m such a fan of your writing. I wasn’t surprised when SCRIBD selected you to represent them at Litquake. How did you prepare for that event?


A)    Last Fall, I was invited to read from my novel, Finding Clarity, at Lit Crawl, as part of A TEAM OF AUTHORS FROM SCRIBD. The thought left me panic stricken. So I took my act on the road. I found a schedule of OPEN MICS in San Francisco and hit as many as I could, perhaps 9 in all, in order to get comfortable reading my work in front of strangers.


Q)    And from what I heard, there were some real strangers at these events, some of which were in some real skanky dives. What kept you going?


A)    Oddly enough, it was the strange factor that made it all accessible and doable. There were people at these cafes, bars and gay clubs who, if I had to guess, were drug addicts, hookers, homeless and schizophrenics. But man, they were up there, taking their turn, reading their material and most of all, sitting motionless and listening to my work, giving me fantastic eye contact, undivided attention and warm applause. The point was to HEAR my own words and how they flowed on the page. These wonderful, crazy, eccentric, funny, and in some cases, simply awful writers welcomed me. So by the time I was reading in front of a really sophisticated, standing room only crowd at Lit Crawl, I was ready. I knew my words. And I’ll always be grateful to those Open Mic audiences for that. I really had the time of my life during those weeks.

//BUZZER NOISE AND SOUND OF APPLAUSE//  Thank you for joining me on Quick Take Tuesday, dear Barbara Alfaro! And I can’t wait to see what you’ll have for us here for Feature Friday!




 

 

 

 

Quick Take Tuesday will be just that:  two quick questions I toss at a writer, or someone of equal social standing, and the two questions they can lob back at me.

My first victim is Suzanne Rosenwasser, a writer, teacher, essayist, columnist and native New Yorker who has been an Atlanta peach for decades. Suzanne's essays and chapters from her novel-in-the-birth-canal can be found on her Scribd page and her column, entitled Believing in Boys can be found on The Good Men Project Magazine.  

Q: I see you started a new Vlogon your website. That sounds like other female parts. Did it hurt?   

A: Birthing the blog was a real neurological challenge.  I blew a few cells for sure,and I’ll blame my mother who always said: “Would you jump off the Brooklyn Bridge because everyone else is doing it?”  So I have an ingrained resistance to conformity.  I am also a teacher, however, and know that life ends when we cease being students, so I listened.  My new mantra is “Writers write, authors blog.” My short stories have been published on the iApp etherbooks, and I was among the top ten best sellers for a while.  Now that kind of conformity works just fine for me. So conform to the digital revolution and download the app. My mother would approve:  www.etherbooks.com

Q)  Your vlog shows that you write in a beautiful room with a very old dog resting near you. I'd get nothing done if I were you. Do you write, or nap?  

A) Well, I stare into space a lot and Jax, the old dog, naps. Sometimes I get on my stationery bike and ride myself into a daze.  Other times I watch the buds evolve on the trees outside my window. When I’m staring out into oblivion I’m imagining Stirling Island, the protagonist of my almost-finished novel, Don’t Ya Know. I play the scene out and think about what the trees are doing to show off at this point in the story. Then, if I’m not cleaning up spilled coffee, and Jax approves, I write - everyday without fail.

TABLE TURN:  OKAY, NOW YOU CAN ASK ME TWO THINGS, AS LONG AS IT DOESN'T INVOLVE POUNDS OR PANTS SIZE...


 Q)  Okay. Clari Drake is the insecure mother of a self-assured dwarf, the ditzy wife of a very tolerant man, the nightmare of an entire private school administration, and a  capitalistic proletariat at heart. Why do readers identify with her so easily?

A) Why you'd be referring to my novel, "Finding Clarity:  A Mom, A Dwarf and a Posh Private School in the People's Republic of Berkeley that anyone can read here on Scribd! Well everyone loves Clari Drake because she’s a nosy bitch and a shit disturber, which are her best character traits. No seriously, she loves her family and hates the beautiful people because she is not one of them. And she is trying desperately to figure out who she is and what to prepare for dinner. She is the everywoman and uber mother and she loves Weight Watchers.

Q)  You’ve worked in the trenches of the news business in all sorts of resource-rich venues, like writing extensively researched pieces for the New York Times.  In these cases, you had editors at your fingertips. How does it feel to be writing in a new environment where editing costs money and the publishing industry is in a state of flux?

A) I recently sent out my Finding Clarity manuscript to be copy and developmentally edited. The editor kept the book for 6 months and missed three deadlines until I fired her. But you know what’s the worst part? I used the expression “two gunmen on the grassy knoll” and she wrote in the margin:  “I’m not familiar with this expression.”  What a waste of time and money. But never fear. "Finding Clarity, A Mom, A Dwarf and a Posh Private School in the People’s Republic of Berkeley" will come to an electronic device in your lap soon. Or in your case, on your bike or in the chair Jax is hogging.

Thank you, Suzanne Rosenwasser. You are all woman. And all writer. And I hope you'll fill up my space, so to speak, on Friday by sending me an excerpt from "Don't Ya Know" for my Friday Feature.