Blog Archives
Read and Read and Read Some More
A Splash of Colour is a wonderful picture book introducing colours to children. What made you write a story about this topic? Did you pull anything from your life experiences?
For many years, I was a classroom teacher. I started writing in December of 2021.
My motivation in writing A Splash of Colour was the same as for all of my books.
Thus far, I’ve published two children’s picture books using a conventional format.
So, with a narrative structure and characters and with illustrations that reinforce and complement the written text.
I will write many more of these however thus far most of my picture books have had less a conventional narrative structure. They are much more an educational aid explicitly teaching maths and language concepts. These are aimed at early childhood albeit with the written text and the illustrations complementing and reinforcing each other and aimed to be read by children or to children.
There are many educational workbooks for younger children but these serve a completely different function to children’s picture books.
I feel passionately about the importance of having children arrive in a classroom setting for the first time, feeling confident and comfortable around words and numbers. Word and number intelligence are the bedrock of our educational system and its curriculum. Without feeling at ease in this environment, children start their formal schooling on the back foot.
And it’s so easy to make a difference in the life of a child. If as an adult you feel comfortable with words, then read and read and read some more to the children in your life. Some children will find the journey of learning to read harder than others. With support and strategies they will learn to read. For them to live in a
home environment where words and reading are a comfortable part of the atmosphere will be powerful. And I have never met a child who didn’t adore being read to.
What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing or illustrating?
I was gardening and the rhyming verses flew through my mind and the illustrations of colourful birds began to form. I enjoyed creating every page. I love the effect of water colour as a medium and I loved being able to have an entire book using watercolour elements to build up the illustrations. And I also so enjoyed writing in rhyme. If you can get the tempo right, then this style just flows from the mouth of the reader. It’s born to be read out loud and for young children, this is a very effective tool for learning.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I next published Numbers Come In Pairs and that’s up on my Amazon bookshelf. The explicit teaching focus of this book is that numbers can be written as words or as digits. Again, its written in a picture book style but without an explicit story narrative. There are characters however. Meet the ones, meet the twos, meet the threes and so on and we discover something that each of the pairs loves to do.
I’m almost ready to publish an educational workbook that fits hand in glove with the picture book. It’s tentative title is Numbers are Never Alone.
What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book?
I next published Numbers Come In Pairs and that’s up on my Amazon bookshelf. The explicit teaching focus of this book is that numbers can be written as words or as digits. Again, its written in a picture book style but without an explicit story narrative. There are characters however. Meet the ones, meet the twos, meet the threes and so on and we discover something that each of the pairs loves to do. I’m almost ready to publish an educational workbook that fits hand in glove with the picture book. It’s tentative title is Numbers are Never Alone.
I have just begun a book for primary aged children. The focus is on feelings, naming them up, describing their physicality and their impact. Having a language to speak about feelings is a powerful means of building emotional literacy and a strong sense of self. Books aimed for earlier school aged children and very young children will follow
What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book? First of all, for it to effectively help colour recognition in young children. And for it to be enjoyed a book that children will want to revisit again and again. And then for the book to be the best that it could be. I felt very positive building up the book in my mind before putting ideas on paper. I wanted it to be as good as I my imagination had it. And I was really proud of A Splash of Colour. While I feel comfortable with words and can create stories on the fly, I’m new to creating and publishing books and I feel they are getting better each time. It’s so important for us humans to feel proud of what we do and if we can enjoy what we do to earn a crust, how blessed is that!
A goal that I have and I’ve had some limited success with, is using tools to get my books under people’s radars. I struggle with this, I’d happily not have to do it. I have a Shopify store, an Amazon author page and a Facebook page and they will mature with age. I’m excited about blogging because I can add so much more of interest and that’s useful for others and to learn from them.
The issue is that all of it is a tiger in the bushes. In the last two years, I’ve discovered that I’m autistic. This has been a profound and very positive paradigm shift. The downside of such a late diagnosis (Ive just turned 54) is that, as for so many others with late diagnosis is that anxiety and depression are my housemates. This interview took three weeks to sit down and write to as the thought of it brings on anxiety. So, blogging and promotion are tigers in the bushes. But they are tigers that need to be tamed somewhat if my books are ever going to be found by readers and listeners.
Author Links: Website | Amazon
With its rhyming text and engaging illustrations, ‘A Splash of Colour’ is a must for young children learning to recognise colour.
Get On With The Business Of Living
Maiden Voyage follows the twins as their guardian tries to keep them safe among Marcela’s gender affirming surgery and Amadeus’s future in Alaska’s fishing industry. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Maiden Voyage, the third book in the COMFREY, WYOMING series, finds the twins standing on the cusp of adulthood. At last Marcela Crow has the body she has been seeking since early childhood. Amadeus has always been his sister’s protector and advocate, but after her surgery he feels the loss of the little boy he learned to walk with and talk with—the little boy who once looked so very much like him. Unsure of the role he now plays in Marcela’s life, disillusioned with college and struggling with the illness that claimed his mother, Amadeus leaves Wyoming and family and strikes out on his own.
For Marcela’s story, I relied heavily on a family friend, assigned female at birth, who advocated for his authentic self from a very young age. Like Marcela, he had the support of a loving family, but it couldn’t protect him from painful bullying in school. He is now a successful young man living in another part of the country, where he can maintain his privacy and get on with the business of living. His experience in school was why I deemed it crucial for Heidi, the twins’ guardian, to move the family to Comfrey, where no one would know the children were born identical, and where Marcela would be accepted as a girl.
I had rich sources of experience to call upon for Amadeus’s journey north and his immersion in Alaska’s fishing industry. A woman who travels the Alaskan Canadian highway annually with her dog shared pictures, diaries and anecdotes of her trips with me. Another person, who has worked on fishing boats in Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea for years, spent many hours sharing his experiences and answering my questions. I was so grateful I named my fishing captain after him.
I am also indebted to a college friend, who witnessed and described the gruesome accident that ended the life of one of my characters at sea. For much of his career, my friend worked as a marine scientist monitoring fishing vessels in Alaskan and Arctic waters. He often worked with Inuit observers and remains a passionate advocate for Indigenous fishing rights.
Marcela and Amadeus are intriguing and well-defined characters. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
As babies, the twins’ physical appearance, personalities and precocity were derived from a very special little boy, who joined our family for a time. He is still at the edge of my consciousness when I write about the twins, but his influence has waned as the twins have matured and taken on lives of their own.
Despite being born physically identical, Amadeus and Marcela are essentially yin and yang, opposite but interconnected forces bound by a fierce loyalty. Where Marcela is academic, grounded and artistic, Amadeus is impulsive, competitive and intimately connected to the natural world.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
People who can communicate with the dead have always intrigued me. Three very different characters in my series maintain strong ties with departed loved ones. Heidi, the twins’ guardian, continues to commune with her deceased child. Beppe, an Italian winemaker and one of the twins’ honorary uncles, hears his grandfather’s voice as he walks his vineyards at dusk. Amadeus is aware of his mother, Nara, in the wind and the sea.
Despite my dive into metaphysics, however, a scientific current thrums in the background of my books, the legacy of my years of teaching science. In Maiden Voyage, that current includes the genetics of Sphynx cats, the mating rituals of elk and the effect of climate change on the distribution of fish in Arctic waters.
Another theme in Maiden Voyage is the importance of representation—LBGTQ representation, and racial representation. I am blessed to be part of a racially and gender diverse family. I hope my complex and relatable characters capture readers who may be unfamiliar with the LBGTQ community. Heidi’s cousin, Karl, and his Italian husband, Beppe, have provided her with emotional support for years. They are the strong, loyal men she turned to when she lost her baby to genetic disease in Birds of a Feather, the first book of the series. In Maiden Voyage, Karl comes to San Francisco to support Heidi after Marcela’s surgery. Beppe is the person Amadeus seeks for comfort after he suffers trauma at sea.
My trans character was introduced in the series as a young child, to make her less threatening to those who believe they have never met a transgender person. I wanted readers to bond with Marcela. I wanted them to not merely tolerate her, but to truly appreciate her, her wit, her talent and her integrity.
To peel back a layer of white privilege, I included a young black man in Maiden Voyage to illustrate the danger and stress of driving while black. My sons are black, my nephews are black, and on my most recent trip to Wyoming for research, I drove with a black friend. The hyper-scrutiny is real, and the hyper-vigilance a person feels under that scrutiny is exhausting. My black character drives from San Francisco to Wyoming alone, always on edge, always with a feeling of dread that he’ll disappear into what he perceives as a wasteland, and never be heard of again.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Black Sheep, Black Sheep, Book Four of the COMFREY, WYOMING series, will be released in 2023. People from Pennsylvania, California and the Philippines join the citizens of Comfrey, and at long last, that endangered and highly venomous Midget Faded Rattlesnake alluded to in the first three books, has a significant part to play.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website
A richly diverse cast, including a Shakespeare-quoting street basketball player and a Chinese purveyor of pu-erh tea, joins characters already beloved by readers of the series in this transcendent tale of nontraditional family and steadfast friends.
A No Holds Barred Imagine-fest
In Book III the Triumviratus Makenna’s dad’s soul is taken to the lowest level of Hell and her two best friends traverse the nine levels of hell to rescue her dad’s soul. What were some sources that inspired this novels development?
Certainly, a big influence was Dante’s Inferno. I even reference it in the book. Another big influence was my wife, Misty. She tends to push me to write more emotionally and graphically.
I enjoyed how creative this story is. What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?
I really enjoyed writing the scenes when the boys are travelling through the Under realms. This for me was a no holds barred imagine-fest. When you are creating your own version of hell, there are no limits. The biggest challenge was making it original and real all at the same time.
Your characters continue to be as interesting as ever. What character do you feel you resonate with the most?
I would have to say the character I resonate with the most is the irascible, wise-cracking Fluffy. He is my humorous voice, and he is just fun to write.
What can readers expect in book four in The Chronicles of the Virago series?
In the next in the series, readers can expect love triangles, more secrets of Makenna’s origins, more from the twin-gift Emilyne and Noah, and a host of new colorful characters.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website
The Monsters We Create
Pythia in the Basement is a biting satire about our fears, existence, morality, philosophy, and lacking common sense. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Life, as cliché as it may sound. Just the nuanced complexities we face as we encounter obstacles on our journey. And how we deal with said obstacles. As well as the monsters we create to justify our lack of growth, movement, fears, etc. For most of us, it is easier to create an excuse than face our truth. Not all of us are brave and that is not easy to accept. I tried to sprinkle some of those complexities into the characters.
Roger and Colin are intriguing and well-developed characters. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Thank you for that. I think it was the search for meaning and truth. Self-validation. I know that is broad in scope, but ultimately that is the driving ideal. Colin, like all of us, is full of contradictions; he is trying to be a better version of who he was in the past, but he still succumbs to his proclivities and societal expectations. Almost like a musician struggling to accept his duality: he doesn’t want to sell out, but at the same time he longs for stardom. And you could say that in a way, Colin has not accepted his fate. Roger, on the other hand, seems to be comfortable in his skin, and you get the sense that if he was to perish he would have no regrets. He is at peace and I believe he in turn becomes the moral compass of the story.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Self-deception, the lack of common sense, and the demise of religion and the resulting repercussions on society as a whole. Again, I am falling into redundancies, but I think that was a major theme of the book. I am not a ‘religious’ person myself but I do see the importance that religion once played in our societies and how we have created new religions to fill that void. This story does border on the absurd, but I think listlessness and lack of meaning make a fool of us all. The search for validation is a powerful force that I find quite intriguing. I think ultimately, we are all looking for self-validation in one form or another, and more often than not that search leads us to extremes, regret, and frustration.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I have a few ideas but none that I would call good at the moment. Maybe I will delve deeper into satire and social commentary.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
I Loved Them For That
Once There Was a Child is a fun and touching account of your time as a special education teacher. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I wanted readers to realize how difficult my kids’ lives were and that they worked hard to do things that most people take for granted. They blossomed in the school environment because the staff, and especially the principal, stressed a “go for it” attitude. Sometimes my kids succeeded, and sometimes they didn’t, but they never stopped trying. They attempted things that no one had ever given them the opportunity to try—joining clubs, going on Outdoor Education, climbing a tree, rolling down a steep grassy hill, joining a lunch table with “regular kids” or going to a school dance when they couldn’t hear the music. I want my readers to give people who are “different”, disabled, handicapped, or whatever you want to call them, a chance, to accept them and respect them. They will be thankful for what THEY have learned.
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to work with special needs children?
Have a great sense of humor. It will get you through the times when you wonder if McDonald’s hires burned out teachers. (They do). But then one of my kids would look at me and ask, “Teacher OK? Teacher sad?” and would give me a hug. I realized that they had shown concern, and an awareness of someone’s feelings. Maybe they couldn’t multiply or divide or understand a story they were reading, but they had shown that they understood and demonstrated kindness and compassion, and I loved them for that.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
It is important to first think of handicapped and disabled people as PEOPLE who need to feel friendship, acceptance, and tolerance. Regular education teachers, family members, community organizations, etc. are grateful to learn how to interact with special needs people. My kids wanted to feel that it was THEIR school too, and were grateful and happy when they were given that chance.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your book?
What special kids and adults have to offer a “regular” person. Give them a chance to do so. You might just make yourself a good friend.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
“Great! How many other teachers applied for that position?”
“Just me! I guess no one else was up for the challenge of a multi-handicapped class of junior high kids, but I am.”
“Uh, Congratulations, I think.”
“Thanks, I’m going to love it!”
And she did.
As a child, Darlene always felt like an outsider and was drawn to others like herself. She learned sign language from her deaf neighbor, Joe, and was the only person in the neighborhood who could communicate with him. The Helen Keller story inspired Darlene. So did the movie Teacher Teacher, which is about a teacher with many demons who works with a severely autistic, lonely young boy. Those teachers brought both of these children into a world they might never have known or become a part of. That’s what Darlene wanted to do. In her first book, ONCE THERE WAS A CHILD, Darlene Kwarta chronicles her journey with children who were often forgotten.
The Powerful Strategy of Winning Exponentially
WINX: The Problem-Solving Model to Win Exponentially with Customers, Employees & Your Bottom Line outlines eight steps entrepreneurs need to transform their business. Why was this an important book for you to write?
My dream is to help people at every level of organizations work and play together in a way that makes work more engaging and energizing. When every person at every level of an organization learns the powerful strategy of winning exponentially, they simply can’t move anywhere but forward.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book? Why was this an important book for you to write?
To combine a problem-solving model with company culture. Not just how to solve a problem, but how to solve a problem to help as many people as possible WIN.
What is one piece of advice someone gave you that changed your life?
No one is on this earth alone, and we need each other. That ‘I’ can do what I can do, but ‘we’ can do so much more. I also saw a speech where someone said that if we want a friend, we need to be a friend.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your book?
That it is a lot easier to solve problems if you can come up with creative solutions that support your customers, your employees, and your company. Why? Because if any one of those is hurt, it can’t be good for the whole.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
Inside this ultimate business guide, you’ll join international bestselling author and sought-after leadership consultant Irma Parone as she reveals a proven action plan for levelling up your organization and applying WINX to your business challenges. With a practical and down-to-earth approach, this book helps aspiring and established business owners develop a thriving WINX-based culture and maximize their bottom line through easy-to-implement strategies.
As CEO of the Parone Group and a seasoned businesswoman with over 20 years of experience, Irma knows first-hand how challenging it can be to build and maintain a successful business. She aims to provide actionable advice that will radically reshape the way you tackle problems within your organization, so you can win more customers, empower happy employees, and scale your income.
Here’s just a little of what you’ll discover inside:
Everyone from early-career-stage to senior managers to executive leaders can benefit from this process.
The revolutionary 8-Step WINX process to transform your organization.
Illuminating new ways to look at problem solving (and how to tackle challenges big and small).
The Art of Evaluation – How to know if your solution will just make things worse.
Tips and tricks for managing your team and surrounding yourself with those who want you to succeed
And Much More…
With a mix of real-life stories and tons of tried-and-tested strategies, WINX: The Problem-Solving Model to Win Exponentially with Customers, Employees, & Your Bottom Line offers you a framework that’s perfect for small and medium businesses all the way up to international companies. This book is a must-read for entrepreneurs, managers, business leaders, CEOs, and anybody who wants to start building a better business culture.
Are you ready to transform your business with WINX? Then scroll up and grab your copy today!
Through Which Door Love May Enter
Second Chance – The Adventures of Gianni & Pepina follows a retired doctor who moves to south France to start over and meets a woman who renews his faith in love and laughter. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
There are so many scenarios in this world regarding the loss of a loved one; sickness, accident, suicide and war just to name a few. As a result, a partner may lose faith and have no hope for the future. That was my vision for this story – a retired doctor (Dr. Gianni Pisano) who lost all hope from his young wife committing suicide. He surrenders, never finding love again. He retreats to the south of France in retirement, losing himself to alcohol and drugs.
One never knows through what door love may enter. After decades, through a mystical encounter with a curious bird and a mutual love of gardening, Gianni breaks through his isolation, running into an enchanting woman who has captured his imagination. No spoilers!
What was the inspiration for the relationship that develops between the characters?
A good healthy sense of humor is a mandatory prerequisite for a successful relationship. Gianni and Pepina display this in abundance. Their escapades throughout Catalonia, France and the New World (aka Alaska and Southern California) are full of sharp wit, laughter and the joy of life. Everybody deserves a Second Chance!
In today’s modern world of social media, with people meeting and greeting in a peculiar/sterile way, it was appealing to create a relationship that happens spontaneously… with the help of nature, of course.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Being a virgin until a certain age is generally a personal choice. Also, it is not uncommon for a person to not have intimate relations with another person until later in life. This was the situation with Pepina Soler; she dedicated most of her life as the sole care giver for her father who was a rather prolific man during the Franco regime in Spain. All her siblings never lifted a finger to help. For her to find love, later in life, with a caring understanding man was an integral part of this romance.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
GEEZERVILLE
(Dramatic Comedy)
The life of a curmudgeonly ol’ geezer banished to a trailer park, who is not exactly who he seems to be…?
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
Having To Contend With Her “Otherness”
The Myrk Maiden follows a young woman whose life is shattered when she’s thrust into the realm of a society of sorcerers who look to her as their salvation. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
This novel was conceived when I was a wee high school freshman being sped away from everything I knew. We were relocating from our lifelong roots in the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast in the middle of the school year, and as we crossed the state lines, I imagined a frustrated young girl who felt like a pariah having to contend with her “otherness” and an upended life. This concept was too simple, however. I wanted it to have a magical, fantastical flair – hence the evolution of that troubled young girl into a shapeshifting hybrid human. Fueled by my nascent knowledge of the “sorcerer” residents in the town I had just spent seven years growing up in, I decided to blend some facts among the fiction and create as authentic of a fantasy story as I could.
Twilight is an interesting and well-developed character. What were some driving ideals behind her character’s development?
My protagonist is not easy to root for in this story. Infused with monstrous powers and a murderous nature, Twilight offers readers a raw, realistic glimpse into evil. Connecting with readers and exploring and empathizing with their inner darkness became a vital element of Twilight’s journey. I wanted anyone who immersed themselves in this twisted tale to understand that their evil inclinations are not the exception, but the rule, and that despite this troubling fact, hope never dies as long as we live… and it is light that devours darkness, not the other way around.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Identity, understanding one’s true nature, and the importance of wisely wielding gifts are some central themes in the first book. Twilight is blessed with tremendous potential, but potential does not always translate to beautiful “actual.” Those who struggle with the yoke of their own intensity are dangerous. They are capable of incredible, wondrous things… but these creators, if their hearts are darkened, can also become destroyers. People who have been chosen for extraordinary tasks must be mindful of how they handle them; will they use their gifts to restore or destroy? How many mistakes will they stumble over along the way, and is there a purpose for any of it? The Myrk Maiden Trilogy navigates these existential questions and many more.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
My next release is approaching quickly! On December 10th, 2022, I am publishing Daughter Dusk, Book #2 in the Myrk Maiden Trilogy. Look for it on Amazon!
Author Links: GoodReads | Website
15-year-old Twilight dreams of a better life away from her uncaring family, longing for purpose and adventure. When her humdrum existence is soon shattered forever, she is thrust into the wickedly enticing realm of the Shadows, a society of sorcerers who look to her as their living salvation from the light. As darkness seeps into Twilight’s soul, she comes to live by three words – “maim and kill.” In this brutal coming-of-age tale, young Twilight finds herself tangled in a twist of existential crises, divine dangers, and monstrous mishaps as she navigates the various bends and turns of her new life, always wondering whether she should obey her “true nature” and remain in the dark – or fight for a glimpse of light beyond the Shadows’ compound walls.
Book 1 in The Myrk Maiden Trilogy.
LITERARY TITAN 