Words from the Heart

What a pleasure it was to read my dear writing buddy, Madeline Sharples' new book, Papa's Shoes . I love novels that are historic, that tell realistic stories, that include dialogue that really makes the characters come alive and that leave you feeling like you just had a long visit with an old friend. Madeline does all of this in Papa's Shoes .  Without giving the plot away, I can share that if you have never heard Yiddish spoken in context, this book will give you that treat. I grew up in the city surrounded by people of various cultures and backgrounds, so my vocabulary is international. What a delight to read words like tuchus, goy, and kvetch. I could hear the accent clearly in my head, which made the characters come alive.  I knew these people! Madeline has a gift for dialogue, something many writers struggle with. However, the dialogue in this book feels real and rolls smoothly off the tongues of the characters.  I highly recommend this book to everyone w...

I am thrilled to welcome back a dear writing pal, Madeline Sharples to be a guest on my blog. Madeline has just released a wonderful work of fiction, Papa's Shoes , which I have had the honor to read.   Papa's Shoes is a wonderful story of immigration, feminism, families, and forgiveness. I have thoroughly enjoyed every page.  I asked Madeline to share something about how she became a published author of a fictional novel. Here is her story. ~~~~ How I reinvented myself  from a technical writer and editor to a creative writer –  and at my age.   I fell in love with poetry and creative writing in grade school. I studied journalism in high school and college and wrote for the high school newspaper. I graduated from UCLA with a degree in English and had no idea what I would do professionally with it. I had wanted to work as a journalist and actually completed all the course work for a degree in journalism at the University of Wisconsin. But fami...