And The Whippoorwill Sang By Micki Peluso
I have just finished reading And The Whippoorwill Sang by Micki Peluso and my review follows Peluso’s blurb on Amazon.
“It is a day like any other, except the intense heat wave has broken and signs of early fall are in the air.
Around the dining room table of her 100 year old farmhouse Micki Peluso’s six children along with three of their friends eagerly gulp down a chicken dinner. As soon as the last morsel is ravished, the lot of them is off in different directions. Except for the one whose turn it is to do the dishes. After offering her mother a buck if she’ll do them, with an impish grin, the child rushes out the front door, too excited for a hug, calling out, “Bye Mom,” as the door slams shut. For the Peluso’s the nightmare begins.
Micki and Butch face the horror every parent fears—awaiting the fate of one of their children. While sitting vigil in the ICU waiting room, Micki traverses the past, as a way of dealing with an inconceivable future.
From the bizarre teenage elopement with her high school sweetheart, Butch, in a double wedding with her own mother, to comical family trips across country in an antiquated camper with six kids and a dog, they leave a path of chaos, antics and destruction in their wake. Micki relives the happy times of raising six children while living in a haunted house, as the young parents grow up with their kids. She bravely attempts to be the man of the house while her husband, Butch is working out of town.
Hearing strange noises, which all the younger kids are sure is the ghosts, Micki tiptoes down to the cellar, shotgun in hand and nearly shoots an Idaho potato that has fallen from the pantry and thumped down the stairs. Of course her children feel obligated to tell the world.
Just when their lives are nearly perfect, tragedy strikes—and the laughter dies. A terrible accident takes place in the placid valley nestled within the Susquehanna Mountains in the town of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. On a country lane just blocks from the family’s hundred year old haunted farmhouse, lives are changed forever.
In a state of shock, Micki muses through their delightful past to avoid confronting an uncertain future—as the family copes with fear and apprehension.
One of her six children is fighting for life in Intensive Care. Both parents are pressured by doctors to disconnect Noelle, their fourteen-year-old daughter. Her beautiful girl, funny and bright, who breathes life into every moment, who does cartwheels in piles of Autumn leaves, who loves to sing and dance down country roads, and above all loves her family with all her soul. How can Micki let this child go?
The family embarks upon yet another journey, to the other side of sorrow and grasps the poignant gift of life as they begin. . .to weep. . .to laugh. . .to grieve. . .to dance—and forgive.”
Memoirs can be historical, funny, sad, sweet, inspired, and more, and any combination of any feeling one may have had in their own past or another’s past. And the Whippoorwill Sang certainly fits neatly inside this niche. I smiled when Peluso wrote about funny things and I cried when death called. This book is full of compassion and sorrow, blended in a manner that speaks volumes.
This is not a typical memoir, and rightly so. Flashbacks occur often, and Peluso has created a well-written story that fully engages the reader. I do love her unique style used in this memoir. I applaud Peluso in writing this book, and having the courage to leave nothing out. Not many writers can do this, let alone with such grace. What do you do, as a mother, when your child is dying and you promise them that they will always be remembered? And The Whippoorwill Sang does this beautifully. I know what comes with child loss, twice, and Peluso has strength that amazes me. Keeping faith is hard when forced into this kind of situation and Peluso faith shines bright. I highly recommend this memoir!
The power of hashtags (#) when you are a writer
We’ve talked about the power of tweeting before. Twitter, when harnessed, can provide important connections and fantastic advice from professionals and other writers. Twitter is often described as being like a stream of continuous information. But how does one navigate that which at times seems more like a tidal wave?
The answer is to use hashtags (#). A hashtag is like an invitation to a party. If you use the hashtag and others are also using it, everyone can now join in the conversation.
A few caveats – you have to already know what the hashtags that are being used are. In circular logic that means that you have to know what to use before you can use it.
This is done by using searches. Try searching in twitter on a general hashtag that is widely used by the writing community – something like #author or #writer is probably a…
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Do you need to jumpstart after a dry spell?
What to do, what to do?
That’s how I’ve felt for several days. Like Sisyphus pushing my writing up a hill only to have it roll back down again. It’s exhausting not to mention frustrating.
I don’t know about you but when I take time away from writing, for whatever the reason, the stories stop. It’s as if my characters go on vacation too. And when they show back up it is at a most inconvenient time, like in the middle of the night.
Writing my blog, my book, short stories, my journal… Whew! Sometimes it’s all too much but I love it! Crazy right?
However, if I stop the well runs dry. So how do I prime the pump?
I’ve had to get inventive to get my imagination going again. Believe me, it’s not always easy.
Here’s what I do to get my ideas popping.
- Read!
- Any and…
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Do writers really put you in their books? #amwriting #writing
9 Hot Trends In Publishing In 2017
Image: Publishing Executive (pubexec.com)
Written World Media, one of my favorite sources of information on publishing, published earlier this month a post on the trends that will define our industry in 2017 (if you don’t subscribe to its newsletter, you should; it’s free, comes out only once or twice a month, and is filled with tips, tricks, and industry news).
So, what can we expect from 2017? Here are the Written World Media’s predictions:
1. The Majority of Fiction Sales will Come from eBooks
70% of adult fiction sales were digital last year. It is likely that ebook readership will continue to grow in 2017. More eBook readers means more eBook sales. This means that, if you’re writing fiction, promoting your eBooks is a good place to focus in the coming year.
2. Indie Authors and Small Presses will Dominate
In the October 2016 author earnings report we…
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Authors Reading Their Own Writing
There is something remarkable about hearing authors read their own works aloud. Often they emphasize words that are unexpected, or they add extra shades of meaning to the phrases. With all of today’s modern connectivity, it is easy to hear authors read their works even if the listener can’t afford to travel to a book reading or conference.
With that in mind, I’m sharing a few of the readings that I find interesting. These are organized in no particular way and include poems, short stories, and excerpts from Nobel Prize acceptance speeches.
— — —
Ray Bradbury reading his poem “If Only We Had Been Taller”
This reading was done at Caltech in 1971 on the night before Mariner 9 went into orbit around Mars. Other people at this event included Carl Sagan, Arthur C. Clarke, and Walter Sullivan.
Ernest Hemingway reading Hemingway and William Faulkner reading Faulkner
At…
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Making the Case for Indie AND Traditional Publishing (For Writers and Readers)
(Part II… again sharing here with Marcia’s permission. Did I leave anything out?)
by Kassandra Lamb
I envy writers under thirty. Not for their youth, but because they have never known a publishing world where indie publishing wasn’t a viable alternative.
But I’ve heard even some younger writers make comments that indicate they think indie is what you do if you can’t get a traditional publishing contract. In other words, it’s a second choice.
Actually, for some of us, it was a first choice.
And sadly there are a few traditionally published authors who like to judge indies from the other side of the fence. (See Part I of this series: Creativity, Sensitivity, Laziness and Courage.)
For the newbie authors out there (or those considering jumping the fence), I will try to spell out the differences between the two paths. Also, I want to mention the pros of each…
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The ABCs of Writing
There is a certain level of honesty in even the most outrageous of facts. Here are a few to ponder…
A. Asshole. Never use this word. It has been so overused it has had one of the S’s squeezed out of it. Asshat and asswipe are worthy alternatives but sound rather tween-ish and are best suited for the YA genre. The writing world is waiting for a suitable replacement and I’m considering creating a GoFundMe page to entice credible submissions.
B. ?
C. Comfort. There is no such thing in a writer’s life unless you count working in pajamas.
D. Don’t. You’ve heard the rules: don’t use split infinitives, don’t use tags other than said, asked, and replied, don’t begin a chapter with dialogue, don’t end a sentence with a preposition, don’t, don’t, don’t. They are bullshit rules made up by seasoned writers who are trying to thwart the efforts…
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When Angels Fly 