Born in 1942 in Munich, Germany, I am a naturalized U.S. citizen.

My academic credentials consist of a B.A. in German, a B.A. in Russian, a Master’s in Linguistics from the California State University, Fresno, and a PhD in English Philology from the Freie Universität Berlin.

Retired from teaching part-time English and Linguistics at California State University, Fresno, California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, and the Freie Universität Berlin, I am currently living in Santa Barbara, CA.

My publications began with academic articles and book reviews as well as book reviews of fiction in "The Los Angeles Times." I have recently published nonfiction short stories. My creative nonfiction memoir, “Trauterose: Growing Up In Postwar Munich,” was published by Glass Spider Publishing in September, 2023.

Awards

On May 30, 2024, Elisabeth Haggblade's book, "Trauterose: Growing Up in Postwar Munich," received the "2024 IndiReader Discovery Award Genre Memoir."
​

Personal Resilience and Healing:
There was basically no community support because of our location away from the center of town. Instead, I had: Music, Nature, Church, and Family Cohesion. Music, because I loved to sing in church choirs. Nature, because of my foster father’s teaching about our garden and the nearby municipal park. Family, because it gave me a sense of belonging. And there was also hope for a better future. 

Inherited Guilt and Identity:
In navigating complexities, I just accepted the foster parents as my guardians and what they had experienced. I didn’t ask questions, then, about their past actions. I saw the past struggles written in their faces and in that of neighbors and others. Each person had to grapple with his/her own past and experiences.

Humor Amidst Hardship:
Humor was not writ large in our lives, but for a few examples, such as the story of Aunt Meta sister, where the baby peed into the soup. And there were daily living annoyances; e.g., teasing my foster brother about paper bits sticking to his face to stop the bleeding from shaving cuts. Some incidents seem humorous in retrospect but were not at the time; e.g., sitting on the toilet in an outhouse without a door. 

Lessons for Modern Readers:
​For our Collective Memory, we need to: Examine the past, teach about Holocaust, engender conversations among generations–old and young–and continue the conversation. We need to be vigilant about the dangers of Nationalism, of the movement of the FarRight, which is active everywhere, not just in Germany and in Europe, but also in the United States. 

Book is: A coming-of-age story, a foster-care story, a refugee story, an immigration story, a learning English as a foreign language story, and it’s an education story working through conflicts with parents, school, and church.

This narrative is bookended by critical thoughts about nationality: Being considered German in the US versus being American in Germany. I close with reflections on today’s Germany, with the past intruding on the present and with my inherited trauma and inherited guilt still pursuing me.

Finally, a dream come true. I have always wanted to publish a book. A fiction story I have worked on over the years taking my treasured moments from visits at the beach along with a few life experiences. I grew up in Long Island, NY and currently live in Colorado surrounded by family and friends. I enjoy watercolor painting. A Pair of Oars is my debut novel. I hope you enjoy it.
​

Connect with Kerrina on LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/kerrina-kuhns-73991b96
​​
LINK for BOOK:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Pair-Oars-Kerrina-Kuhns/dp/1977250408

Francesca Miracola is an Italian American from Queens, NY, currently living on Long Island, but in her mind she’s a free-spirited wanderer. She wants to travel the world, but she’s afraid to fly, although a glass of wine gets her through most flights. Francesca’s mostly an introvert who greatly prefers deep, meaningful conversations to surface small talk. She keeps her circle small, and she’s still debating if that’s a good or bad thing. She’s a breast cancer survivor, but she rarely defines herself as one—probably because she feels like she’s been surviving something most of her life. She’s funny; at least, she makes herself laugh. Francesca graduated cum laude from New York University and worked in financial services for twenty-five years, even though she wanted to be a therapist. That’s probably because she needed a therapist. Francesca finally wound up on her true path as a student and teacher of A Course in Miracles, author, life coach, and founder of Protagonist Within LLC. Francesca is a wife, a best friend, and above all, a mother. She lives on Long Island, NY.

Q: In "I Got It From Here" you share deeply personal experiences. What motivated you to write this memoir, and what do you hope readers will take away from your story?
Answer: I’ve always felt a pull towards healing and a desire to connect with others in a way that inspires them to do the same. I never imagined I would do so by writing a book. It just so happens that’s how my journey unfolded.

I spent the darkest years of my life battling with my ex-husband for custody of our young sons. Oftentimes, throughout the ordeal, I sensed a little ball of light flickering in the distance of my mind. I know that sounds weird, and I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it was trying to get my attention. Of course, I ignored it and kept my focus on the drama at hand. I shared my painful story with anyone who would listen. You should write a book, some would say. The light would flicker, and from somewhere deep within a soft, still voice would whisper, yes.

I tossed the idea around in my mind for several years before I ran it by a close contact in the publishing industry who discouraged me from writing it. He tried to convince me no one would be interested in my story because I wasn’t a celebrity. Dream squashed. Story left untold. But the whispering yes lingered.

The universe must have known I needed a nudge, it delivered one from a radiologist. You have invasive breast cancer. My first thought was my children, I feared I would leave them too young. My second thought was the book, I feared I would die without having written it.

Soon after my treatment, I sat down to write. The story poured out of me; the words seemed to flow through me. So did the tears. I knew I wasn’t the only woman who needed to release the past and begin again. I knew other women would relate to my raw honesty. I decided to share my story with the world in the hope that it would help others heal.

Q: Your memoir involves family and marital elements. Could you discuss the role of heritage and tradition in shaping your narrative, and how these elements influenced your life's trajectory?
Answer: I shushed my inner voice as a little girl in the 1970s and lived according to the senseless protocol of my Italian relatives in Queens, NY. I was surrounded by identical brick townhomes occupied by cousins and friends whose families behaved just like mine yet judged each other for doing so. I learned to keep up appearances, but behind closed doors my parents’ toxic marriage served as a blueprint for dysfunction. My emotional well-being was collateral damage of their troubled minds. A lack of love from my narcissistic father left me empty and desperate. Rage that erupted from my frustrated mother forced me to conform. Believing I was alone in my anguish made me think there was something wrong with me. Desperate to fit in and be loved, and trained to believe marriage was the ultimate symbol of success, I ignored glaring red flags and married a man I did not love.

I lost precious years of my life trying to escape from my ex-husband’s abuse. I struggled like a madwoman, unable to break free. The more I tried the worse things seem to get. I was a broken girl trying to fix my problems from the same brokenness that caused them. I kept at it, proud of my ability to persevere. Surviving felt like thriving, chaos and dysfunction felt like home.
Distressing circumstances and dysfunctional relationships kept showing up in my life until I was literally on my knees begging for peace. That’s when I found A Course in Miracles. One of my favorite quotes from the Course is:

“Let me look on the world I see as the representation of my own state of mind.”

Whatever I was experiencing externally was simply showing me what was going on internally. That wasn’t easy to accept at first, but once I did, I took back ownership of my life.

Q: Memoirs often resonate with readers on a universal level, despite their unique individual stories. What universal themes or lessons do you believe readers will connect with in "I Got It From Here" regardless of their own backgrounds?
Answer: Readers will connect with the suffering that comes from ignoring gut feelings and denying oneself. They will be empowered to listen to their inner voice and follow their inner guide.
Readers will recognize patterns of generational trauma and be motivated to break dysfunctional cycles in their own families.

I hope the ending inspires readers to take an honest look within and humbly begin their healing journey.

The themes of my book very much reflect the mission of my coaching practice, Protagonist Within LLC. “In order to be the Protagonist of your story you must look Within to heal.”
​
Q: Memoirs often involve a process of reflection and introspection. How did writing about your life help you understand your own journey and identity as the "I Got It From Here"?
Answer: ​When I first sat down to write my book, I thought it would be an angry, vindictive telling of what my ex did to me. But as I feverishly typed away, it turned out to be a cathartic release of the past. I came to realize my mental and emotional state, my thoughts, and my nervous system were what caused my angst. The story had always been mine; I was the protagonist. And the protagonist gets to decide how the story unfolds. It’s empowering to take back ownership of your life. It’s a beautiful moment when you learn to trust your inner voice and confidently say, “I Got It from Here”.

A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Hastings College of The Law, John practiced law until he co-founded McNellis Partners, a Northern California shopping center development firm, in 1982.

John is a decades’ long member of the Urban Land Institute—a founding member of its Environmental Task Force—and the ICSC. He is a ULI Governor, has chaired two separate ULI Councils and served as both a Trustee and Council Councilor. He has also served on the board of directors for Lambda Alpha International (Golden Gate Chapter).
​
A frequent lecturer on real estate topics, John writes a monthly column for the San Francisco Business Times and is the author of the critically acclaimed books, Making it in Real Estate: Starting out as a Developer (First an Second Editions), an industry standard and taught in universities nationwide. His lecture series on YouTube is the most widely viewed of all of the ULI’s video presentations.
​
John is actively involved with Outward Bound USA, having served on its national board of directors and now on its advisory board. He is a past president of the board of directors of Rebuilding Together Peninsula and is a board member emeritus. He has also served on the board of directors for the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center and was a seventeen-year volunteer at the Palo Alto Downtown Streets Team’s Food Closet.

Q: In "Scout's Honor," the protagonist, Eddie Kawadsky, undergoes a profound transformation from a desperate young man to a successful real estate developer haunted by his past. What inspired you to explore themes of redemption and morality in the context of Eddie's journey?
Answer: It was this question that has nagged me for decades: Is morality a luxury? Is it only the well-off who can afford to do the right thing? And what happens to a decent young man when his whole world crumbles? And if he does break his moral compass, can he live with himself afterwards? Will his crimes still shadow him on the darkest nights?

Put another way, is virtue like an investment gone bad? Can it be walked away from with merely a sigh and a couple lasting regrets? Or, given a chance, will character prevail? I should point out that friendship and its healing power also figure large in Scout’s. It seems to me that life can be as binary as a computer, a matter of ones and zeros. One good friend equals happiness. With zero friends, you’re lost.

Q: The novel traverses multiple settings and time periods, from the jungles of Vietnam to the gritty streets of 1970s New York City. How did you approach researching and recreating these diverse environments?
Answer: The old-fashioned way: lots of digging into source material and personal interviews. That said, Scout’s has just two principal settings for which I needed outside help: Vietnam and the fearsome Mexican prison. As to Eddie’s experience in Vietnam, I relied heavily on the guidance of a good friend who had served as a lieutenant in a Marine Corps rifle platoon during the Vietnam war. (thank you again, Jay Mancini). Jay not only suggested the best books on the conflict, but shared his personal experience in those far off jungles. As it turns out, I don’t have any friends who’d ever seen the inside of a Mexican prison—I guess I hang out with the wrong crowd—and thus I had to rely solely on research. The novel’s primary setting—New York City—was easy. I love New York, my mother’s family is from Queens and I’ve spent many weeks wandering about Manhattan, both as a tourist and attending real estate trade conferences. And, given my 40-year career in commercial real estate, I needed no outside expertise to craft Eddie’s meteoric rise as a developer.

Q: Eddie's decision to join the Marines and serve in Vietnam becomes a pivotal point in his life, shaping his identity and future actions. Can you discuss the significance of Eddie's military service and its impact on his character development throughout the novel?
Answer: Eddie was always destined to join the military. He looked up to his father, a career naval aviator, as a winged god. Had his life not fallen apart, he would likely have gone to Annapolis and followed his father’s footsteps, perhaps rising even to admiral. (If he had, there would have been no intriguing story to tell.) As it happens, Eddie must run for his life. He shaves his head, dons unneeded glasses and joins the Marines merely to escape his dogged pursuers, but once in combat, he unconsciously begins his penance for his sins, devoting himself to the care and protection of his squad as an unexamined act of contrition.
​
Q: As Eddie confronts his past and struggles to reconcile his actions, the novel grapples with questions of guilt and responsibility. How did you approach crafting Eddie's internal conflict and his journey toward self-forgiveness within the larger narrative arc of the story?
Answer: I wanted to set a very good boy with a dazzling future into a petri dish of despair and see where that culture takes him. Eddie’s an eagle scout, a straight “A” student, good to his parents, liked and admired by his friends. Funny and quick-witted, Eddie’s talented, driven and ambitious—his sky is limitless. Then his sky falls. To evade capture and life imprisonment, Eddie has to bury his personality, become a man who speaks as if breaking a vow of silence with his every word. He can never ask questions for fear of being asked himself. He must live in constant fear of being recognized. My fond hope is that readers will agree that Eddie develops slowly—organically— after the terrible night in Mexico, perhaps becoming the man he was meant to be.

Before moving to the rural West at age forty-two, Lynne Spriggs O’Connor curated exhibitions of folk and self-taught art at the High Museum in Atlanta. She spent ten summers on northern Montana’s Blackfeet Indian Reservation while pursuing fieldwork for her PhD in Native American Art History at Columbia University. She also worked in the film industry as Production Coordinator for Spalding Gray and Jonathan Demme on the iconic Swimming to Cambodia. After landing in Montana, she curated Bison: American Icon, a major permanent exhibit for the C.M. Russell Museum on bison in the Northern Plains. For the past fifteen years, she and her husband have lived on a cattle ranch in an isolated mountain valley in northeastern Montana, where her life centers on writing, animals, and family. Elk Love is her first memoir.
​

Q: ​How would you describe Elk Love in one (or maybe two) killer sentences?
Answer: Let’s see….. A world-weary museum curator and a bereaved rancher find love amidst the dazzling beauty of a cattle ranch in a hidden Montana mountain valley – a wide-open, wind-filled place where loneliness gives way to the wonders of bugling elk, dancing birds, and the wisdom of nature.

It’s about that dream we all have of escaping our everyday lives for a chance to experience something entirely different while falling very deeply in love.

How’s that?!

Q: What sparked the idea for this book?
Answer: Personal experiences – those involving a lot of grace, healing, and wonder – that have been transformative gifts in my own life, and that I imagined might also offer some hope and inspiration for others.

Q: It seems like Elk Love would make a great movie. Have any films influenced you?
Answer: I LOVE film and I’ve been lucky enough to work on a few! Some personal favorites that have influenced my writing include: Moonstruck, As Good As It Gets, Something’s Gotta Give, Jeremiah Johnson, My Octopus Teacher, All That Breathes, A River Runs Through It, Days of Heaven, Out of Africa, and My Life as a Turkey on PBS.

Q: Do you listen to music while you write, and if so, what kind?
Answer: If I listen to any music, it’s classical. Otherwise, I’m inspired by our valley’s howling winds, the springtime sound of our roaring creek, seeing and listening to flocks of birds feeding outside a window, the sound of my dog snoring next to me, a crackling fire in the wood stove, observing the way snow falls and light changes everything in wintertime without a sound.

Q: Do you have a target reader?
Answer: Women (and some men) 30-80 – who might yearn to escape the crush of their busy lives and, for a time, wander into a lost garden to explore a secret love of nature and animals. Anyone who is curious about the healing capacities of stepping outside one’s comfort (or discomfort!) zones and into the generous wisdom of what is wild - both precious and disturbing – in all of us.

Patricia Leavy, PhD is novelist, sociologist, and arts advocate (formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Founding Director of Gender Studies and Chairperson of Sociology & Criminology at Stonehill College). She is widely considered the world's most visible proponent of arts-based research, which merges the arts and sciences. Patricia has published over 40 books, nonfiction and fiction, and her work has been translated into numerous languages. She has received over 100 book awards. She has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2016 Mogul, a global women’s empowerment network, named her an “Influencer.” In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the State University of New York at New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” In recent years, her passion has turned to penning romance novels.

Q: What is The Location Shoot about?
Answer: Eccentric filmmaker Jean Mercier is shooting a film in Sweden over the summer where he lives in an inn with the lead actors. Before arriving in Sweden, we get a glimpse into the lives of the actors in the cast—each at a personal crossroads. Mercier invites his friend Ella Sinclair, a beautiful, free-spirited, provocative philosopher to join them for the summer. Hollywood star Finn Forrester is instantly enchanted by her and the two fall in love. Meanwhile, the film they’re all making is about the meaning of life. The subject of the film and the deep bonds the group builds over the summer push everyone to reflect on their own lives. When the shoot ends, each returns home, changed. The group reconvenes months later on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival and we see the impact of their summer together. In the simplest terms, The Location Shoot is about love—romantic love and the love of life itself.

Q: When did you start writing the book?
Answer: I wrote it during the lockdown. I wanted to escape to someplace joyful, romantic, creative, and affectionate. Due to the pandemic, I was thinking about the big questions of life, and so my protagonist became a philosopher, and the film became about the meaning of life.

Q: What do you hope readers take from this book?
Answer: This novel has brought me tremendous joy, comfort, and a feeling of optimism, and I hope that’s what it gives readers too. I hope it makes people believe in love in every sense of the word and consider the crossroads they may be at in their own lives, with hopeful and brave eyes. This glorious and heartbreaking thing we call life is short, and we all reach the same inevitable conclusion, but there’s so much beauty too.

Q: What next for you?
Answer: I fell in love with Ella and Finn and wasn’t ready to let them go. I wanted to know how their relationship unfolds. My next novel, After the Red Carpet, picks up where The Location Shoot ends and will be released September 3. It’s available for preorder.

​Though Dian Greenwood started her life in the Dakotas, she has been a West Coaster since adolescence. She studied both writing and counseling psychology in San Francisco. An early focus on poetry led her to fiction. She has published personal essays in The Big Smoke, a weekly online magazine. About the Carleton Sisters is her debut novel. She writes and works as a family therapist in Portland, Oregon.

Q: What inspired you to write “About the Carleton Sisters,” and what do you hope readers will take away from the story?
​
Answer: I grew up close in age to two sisters; I was the eldest. We were young during WWII when our father was overseas. Our mother lived with her sister and their children in a rented house in their central North Dakota hometown. I was old enough to remember the war years.

My sisters and I had a hate/love relationship with each other. The number three meant that one of us was doomed to be an outsider. That was usually me. I was mother’s helper, bossy, and something of a know-it-all. I was also very competitive and determined to be the favorite. This dynamic, learned very young, made it easy to “imagine into” similar dynamics in sister characters.

Lorraine, the eldest and dutiful sister, emerged first. Even as my pen hit paper, I saw her behind the counter of a roadside diner on Highway 99 in the Central Valley of California. Her pink uniform, her imprinted name on the breast pocket and how she ordered the other waitresses around. She was easy to write. Julie came to mind because a good friend was dealing with leaking breast implants and preparing to have them removed. Her situation made me wonder about the American fascination with women’s breasts and how many women allow that to define themselves. When I imagined the icons who exemplified women’s breasts, I thought of Hollywood. That seemed too easy and cliché. Having been to Las Vegas shows, I considered a showgirl. Of course, many of those women danced or paraded on stage bare breasted. That’s how Julie was born. Becky was another no-brainer. I’ve worked for years as a therapist in addiction medicine. Sadly, I’ve assessed and counseled too many Becky’s in the world to not be intimately acquainted with what is often the wounding that gets them into addiction. She needed to be the youngest, the almost “forgotten” sister. That put Julie squarely in the middle.

My hope is that readers will identify in some way with these sisters, whether it’s the competitive nature of siblings, how birth order affects someone, or the kind of estrangement and need for reconciliation that eventually happens in the story. Mostly, I hope they like a good story and are inspired to keep reading.
​
Q: The Carleton sisters seem to have a complex dynamic. Can you share some insights into their characters and how they evolved throughout the narrative?

Answer: The dynamic of family/sibling estrangement is perhaps more common in our culture than not. Each one of the sisters appears to be hanging onto some idea of themselves that keeps them stuck, defensive and separated from each other. Lorraine holds on with clenched teeth to her need for control, seeing herself as the savior of the family and the only responsible sister. Her
defensiveness keeps her isolated, both from others and from her own heart. It’s her encounter with the pastor, a romance that clearly lives in her mind, that impels her toward the attempted gesture that finally breaks her. That incident makes it possible for her to begin to slowly soften and ultimately become “welcoming” to her sisters.

Julie escaped the family situation at seventeen after her world was opened by her dance teacher. She landed a plum job with a class show in Las Vegas and stayed for nearly 20 years. Yet, behind the scenes, her glamorous life was full of holes: three marriages, being fired from her job, then lying about it, and the end of a career she’d invested her entire self in. When she meets the cowboy on the bus, she’s brought back to where she began. This initiates the moment she is forced to ease into reality. Her dance teacher becomes the unlikely door opener once more.

Like Lorraine, Becky came easily. Her voice and her way of being in the world, familiar from my work and life experience, fueled this portrait of an almost totally broken woman. But behind the sad ruins, pulsed the wound of her father, the person she most adored, disappearing without notice when Becky was entering adolescence. Her story like so many who live in perpetual sadness simply wrote itself on the page. What I loved about this character was her hidden sensitivity and her wry humor. She was the most fun to write. She was also the character who had the longest way to travel in order to get herself back up on the pavement of life.

Q: Historical fiction often requires extensive research. What kind of research did you undertake to accurately portray the time period and setting of the book?

Answer: The late 90s time period portrayed in the book was when I started the book and also when I did my primary research. I wanted a small agricultural community because that’s something I knew from growing up in western South Dakota. Small towns have their own culture. The Central Valley of California seemed perfect for what I wanted. Modesto represented a great prototype, partly because of the movie “American Graffiti.” That movie mimicked my own growing up in the 50s.

“About the Carleton Sisters” required multi-faceted research. To begin, I made countless road trips to Modesto, California, while living in San Diego. I walked the streets, talked to newspaper reporters, drove in and through countless trailer parks, visited the library, the history museums, etc. I was adopted by a client’s family who lived there and invited me to a Fourth of July celebration. I attended the Almond Blossom Festival and walked in the almond orchards. Visited the Almond Growers corporate offices. Drove in and through the neighboring towns and on the country roads.

For Julie, I traveled countless times to Las Vegas. On an early trip, I was introduced to a showgirl through the UNLV archive librarians who took a particular interest in my project. That particular showgirl made it possible for me to attend the show in the press box, to meet the dancer director and talk with her. I stayed in various hotels and visited shows outside of Jubilee (then at the Riviera). I walked through countless casinos and watched lounge shows. For some years, I remained in touch with the initial showgirl.

Becky came right out of Modesto so to speak. All the research I did for Lorraine served me for Becky, including the notion that there is a “right/wrong” side of the river to live on. I’d always loved trains (my grandfather was a train man), so the train/bus depots were part of my exploration. Throughout the research, I was deeply engaged and highly motivated. These sisters lived with me 25 years before they found their way to the page.

Q: “About the Carleton Sisters” explores themes of family, love, and resilience. How do you see these themes manifesting in the lives of the Carleton sisters, and what do you think modern readers can learn from their experiences?

Answer: The Carleton sisters aren’t unique. Over the years, listening to countless stories from men and women who struggle with family of origin issues where the underlying complaints of jealousy, competition, disloyalty and abandonment are the fodder of therapy sessions. The invisible slights and innuendos as well as the blatant insults and conflict comprise the “surface” of what often prove to be invisible and long hurtful wounds. When there are emotionally absent or unloving parents at the helm, the wounding can feel permanent and the scars beyond healing.

There’s often an inciting incident. With the Carleton sisters, it appears to be the father’s sudden disappearance. But, as the story unfolds and the sisters individually begin to understand that they weren’t the heart of the problem, as their lives present challenges they need to overcome, and an emotional landscape that holds them back begins to dissolve, they’re able to move toward reconciliation. I chose midlife because that’s often when individuals begin to realize their mortality for the first time and to ask, “Am I living the life I want to live?” Until most of us reach that point, we’re often ruled by our impulses and instincts, other invisible forces we don’t understand even exist.

As I said earlier, I hope the readers can see something of themselves and perhaps their own family relationships. I want the reader to close the book or Kindle feeling a sense of hope and the enjoyment that comes from a good story.

Carolyn Clarke is the founder and curator of HenLit Central, a blog focused on ‘life and lit’ for women over 40. And Now There's Zelda is her second book after her multi-award winning and bestselling book, And Then There’s Margaret (women's fiction - comedy drama). She has been an ESL teacher for over sixteen years and has co-authored several articles and resources with Cambridge University Press, MacMillan Education and her award-winning blog ESL Made Easy. She lives in Toronto, Canada with her partner, Tony, her two daughters and a bulldog, Sophie.

Q: What inspired you to write humorous fiction from a woman's perspective?
Answer: I've always enjoyed reading lighthearted books written in the first person by women. It feels more intimate to be inside their heads, following along on their journeys. It's up close and personal. When I was younger, I devoured these ‘chick lit’ reads because they were easy and fun. With their colorful, cute covers depicting dreamy landscapes, snowflakes, and sprinkles on cupcakes, these books often feature strong female protagonists, although many are single millennials swiping left in search of love, struggling for independence, or on a noble quest for political correctness. However, as I've aged, I've lost interest in the frivolous romps, typical angst, and adventures of 20 or even 30-somethings.

Writing about characters I can identify with is frankly what inspired me to write my debut novel And Then There’s Margaret. Fleshing out the story and the characters I wanted came easy as I observed the world around me, noticing and hearing about all the potential situations unique to women aged 40 and above, including relationships, work, family dynamics, aging parents and societal expectations. For those books written in this genre, it's refreshing to see the mix of funny and messy, and the messy feeling all too real and relatable. It's about finding humor in the everyday challenges and triumphs of being a woman smack dab in the middle of the sandwich generation. I know I've gained a deeper sense of empathy and understanding for what middle aged women are currently experiencing. Ultimately, it's about finding humor in the complexities of life and offering readers a fresh, resonating, and entertaining take on the world through a female lens.

Q: How do you infuse humor into your stories while addressing important themes or issues?
Answer: Writing dramedies can be tricky. This mixed genre, blending drama and comedy, requires characters and situations that feel genuine, unpredictable, flawed, and relatable. Serious themes such as illness, family struggles, divorce, and aging need to be fleshed out with added details to personalize them, while humorous moments should be sprinkled throughout to lighten the tone.

As a relatively new writer in the literary world, I've learned that creating characters with distinct personalities, quirks, and comedic traits is essential. Both of my books revolve around the complex relationship between a daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. Despite the challenges they face, Allie and Margaret ultimately grow closer and become better people, although Allie fears turning into her mother-in-law now that the shoe is on the other foot in And Now There’s Zelda – the stories are filled with realism and humor that enlighten and perhaps soften the narrative.

I’ve also learned that dialogue and wordplay play a crucial role in infusing humor into serious conversations or situations. Crafting witty exchanges between characters can lighten the mood without undermining the gravity of the underlying themes. Ensuring each chapter and scene remains engaging and unpredictable while balancing humor and depth is essential in dramedy, offering readers an entertaining and meaningful experience on multiple levels.

Q: Can you share a favorite comedic moment or character from one of your novels?
Answer: One of my favorite characters besides Allie and Margaret is Val, Allie’s best friend and troubleshooter. Val is extremely flawed but identifiable. She’s incredibly distinct when it comes to her colorful personality, her voice, and mannerisms. Since Val is one of the characters who could embody all your friends rolled up into one, I had to get it right, even when it came to describing her facial expressions and gestures. In each scene with Val, there was fun and drama. Val adds the right dosage of laughter and makes the scenes she’s in come alive.

Q: How do you approach balancing humor with emotional depth in your writing?
Answer: Besides getting older and feeling it, I feel I’ve gained the wisdom that comes with age and experience. I have much better control over my emotions. I know myself better and have a greater sense of compassion and empathy towards others. And that’s important when it comes to balancing humor and emotional depth.

Over the course of writing the first book, there were a few approaches I learned from a series of creative writing courses that helped with balancing and emotional depth. It’s referred to as character development. I struggled with this at first as it’s not easy creating well-rounded characters with depth and complexity, including both humorous and serious traits. You have to allow the characters to evolve and reveal different facets of themselves throughout the story, showing vulnerability and emotional depth alongside their comedic tendencies.
​
Again, using humor to lighten intense moments or to provide relief after emotional scenes, while also delving into the characters' inner struggles and emotional arcs is challenging but important to accomplish in this genre.

Timing and pacing are also necessary so that the injected humor naturally arises from the characters' interactions (and their actions and body language) and the unfolding plot, while also giving sufficient space for emotional moments to resonate with readers. It took me a while to learn this, and I hope to continue developing this skill.
​
Lastly, I believe that you need to allow readers to empathize with your characters’ struggles and triumphs. Even in humorous situations, a character’s emotional depth needs to shine through, especially when trying to resonate with readers’ own experiences and emotions. I want my core readers who would enjoy my books to laugh, cry, and reflect to have a deeper connection and emotional investment in the story.

Nanci E. LaGarenne was born in Brooklyn and lives on the East End of Long Island. She is a former teaching assistant in the Autistic Unit at P. S.236 in Brooklyn, a child care coordinator at The Retreat, a domestic violence shelter on Long Island, and freelance journalist for Dan's Papers and contributing writer to The Montauk Sun. Her novel, Cheap Fish is a local tribute to commercial fishermen in Montauk. LaGarenne was a karaoke host for twelve years in a local dive bar, Liars Saloon, which features in her book. 

Refuge, her second book, is an inspirational story of female friendship among domestic abuse survivors, set in Brooklyn and Ireland. 

The bitter end, a sequel to Cheap Fish, returns to Montauk with another murder mystery. 

Her new novel is Scape Ghost, set in California in the 60's & 70's, it is a famous cold case fictionally solved. It is available now on Amazon.com

​A desire to build a bridge between today’s science and the magic of a time forgotten has landed Stacey Tucker in the world of fiction writing. Ocean's Fire was the first of three books asking readers to open their minds to the possibilities hidden behind the veils our society forces upon us. 

Ocean's Fire was the proud winner of the Gold Medal in the 2017 Living Now Book Awards for Best Adventure Fiction Novel.

Alchemy's Air was published in 2019 as the second book in the series and has been selected as a Finalist in the 2020 Canadian Book Club Awards along with the final installment of the series, Sky of Water!

She continues to redefine the word Feminine in America by speaking to women’s groups on cultivating the fire within as a catalyst for self-transformation.

Q: Can you share your thoughts about the character development of Skylar Southmartin in "Alchemy's Air" and how she has evolved throughout the story?
Answer: Our twenties are really about learning how to claim agency over our own lives. We are most likely still breaking free from the ties of authority-parents, school, extended family. And the truth is we don’t ever really break free, we learn to live in the container that our life has given us, unless we get so completely dissatisfied, we create the change, within and in our external world.

I remember being in my twenties, making the wrong decision about men, giving my power and body away to someone for attention and trying to fill the hole of self worth through the eyes of a man. Does the attention of the bad guy, the “powerful” guy make you powerful in turn? In the moment, one would say yes but looking back, the clarity of what it actually was is blatantly apparent.

As writers, we find ourselves in all of our stories. I processed my own mother’s death through these books, especially book 2. To be able to go back in time and have a relationship with your mother who has died in current day, what would that be like? How healing? How heartbreaking? How life changing would that experience be?

Over the course of the series, Skylar takes ownership of her choices, in turn grows and matures. She learns to appreciate who she is without the need to “fix” the parts she deems imperfect.

Q: The description mentions the significance of darkness within us and its impact on the soul. How did you explore this theme in the book, and what message did you aim to convey through it?
Answer: Our shadow self is simply a filter through which we view ourselves and our world. It is very convincing. The self help industry banks on the shadow self. What it boils down to is self-forgiveness. And beyond self forgiveness is self acceptance and the realization you are perfect and there is nothing to forgive. If it were simple, there would be no need for suffering. It is through our suffering that we crack open the shell around our hearts that we put there to hide our truth from others because of shame. The thing our soul wants more than anything is for our personality self to shine our unique being, despite the judgements of others and our own self judgments. It’s a work in process.

Skylar has to come to terms with her relationship choices and see them as learning experiences. We all can learn from that arc-acceptance of who we were in our past, we made decisions then that shape who we are now. But realizing the decisions we make now, shape who we will be in the future.

Q: The Akashic Library in the Underworld of Earth plays a crucial role in the plot. What inspired the creation of this unique setting, and how did it influence the characters' journeys?
Answer: I love everything mystical! Magic is all around us and the muscle of our imagination is a faculty available to all of us, but so few really tap into its wonder. It also comes down to the lens you view the world through. You can believe your horoscope matters, or it doesn’t. You can believe the date 2-2-2022 is magical or it’s just a bunch of twos. The Akashic Records are a thing, google it! Books have been written about it, people have made careers reading the records for clients. Again, it comes down to belief. My husband would tell you it’s a crock of shit. I disagree, so much that it is a big deal in my story and I have a card in my deck about the records.

I elaborate on the fantasy element for the books sake but it comes down to your history and the history of all living beings. It also sits in the cross section of faith and science. It can be comforting to believe that you and all that exists are a part of Universal Divine Love playing out what has already happened. You can’t get it wrong. You can choose what you want on this earth and return to Source Love at the end to play again another day (lifetime). It also represents quantum physics where we are all connected at a quantum level and every choice you make affects everyone else on the planet. Also true.

That is a long answer. For the books- I played with one of the theories that the records are actual holographic records kept deep within the mountains of Tibet guarded by mystical protectors to preserve the integrity and truth of the information. Only the people of purest heart and intention are permitted to enter and receive the guidance and information to help with their earthly lives.

Q: The story touches on the future of human potential and the role of the Great Mothers. How did you weave elements of mysticism and spirituality into the narrative, and what insights did you hope readers would gain from these themes?
Answer: I discovered the Divine Sophia-the feminine face of God, before I started writing this series. I was so overcome with emotion and validation as a woman, that the divine has a feminine aspect. Of course it does, it is all encompassing. But being raised Catholic, the feminine was rarely explored except in Mother Mary. To see a flowering of multiple faces of the Divine Feminine as I uncovered more information drove me to honor her with these stories.

The Great Mothers in the books are my creation based on the three Mother Letters in the Hebrew Alphabet: Aleph, Mem Shin-Air, Water, Fire. Not only the letters that all others are birthed from, but are symbolic figures as elements of creation.

When I learned that I thought How Fabulous! And wouldn’t that be so fun-to write a trilogy about these elemental mothers who created the world and are still on the planet

today. Having never written fiction before, I didn’t quite know what I was getting myself into. But I felt called to write and honor the Divine Feminine in all her forms and faces.

My hope is that a woman reads these books and recognizes herself and feels the love of the Divine as her.