Why do I write? This is a question all writers at one time or another are asked and have asked themselves. My answer is not complex or earth shaking. I’ve always come back to the same answer, played over and over in my head like one of those jingles you can’t shake. I write because it makes me happy—a simple answer for a complex journey.
As I’ve said before, I’ve been a closet writer for years, with a number of half-written stories stored away in boxes, always jotting down ideas on what happens next, or for new stories I’d like to write some day. Completing The Ears That Have Eyes was hard work, but I finally did it. That makes me happy. So far the reviews have been good, too, and that makes me very happy!
One reviewer stated, “This is a literary fiction worthy of Peyton Place.” Ironically, Peyton Place, the original night-time TV drama which ran neck and neck with The Fugitive in the ratings, was my father’s favorite show. My dad was a steel mill worker whose work schedule varied. On those days when he missed Peyton Place, I’d have to fill him in on what happened in vivid detail. He wanted to know everything. In a big way, I owe my crude beginnings at storytelling, being able to retell the beginning, middle and end of story, with all the plot twists and turns along with what the characters were doing and feeling, to my dad, and the writers of Peyton Place. I think my father, Woodie, is smiling from his favorite chair in heaven.
Of course, another reviewer has referred to The Ears That Have Eyes as “The Jerry Springer show on champagne.” You can make of that what you will, but he did say he’s enjoying it.
Some people have asked me where did I get the the material for The Ears That Have Eyes? This story’s premise, which I jotted down in about five minutes, was inspired one night after a dinner with a group of ladies I knew in Sedona, Arizona — where I had a café. None of the ladies (my friends) had lives that mirrored the women I wrote about, but the closeness we developed inspired me and gave me a place to start. My sometimes overactive imagination did the rest.
What am I doing now? I’m busy promoting The Ears That Have Eyes, writing my next novel, Ronald’s Umbrella, and easing into the realization that I am happy.