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Madeline Sharples

Goodreads Author

Born

May 20

Website

http://madelinesharples.com

Twitter

madeline40

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction

Member Since

August 2010

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Madeline Sharples grew up in the Chicago area and fell in love with writing in middle and high school. She attended the University of Wisconsin as a journalism major, but transferred to UCLA her senior year attaining a degree in English.

She worked in the aerospace business (TRW and Northrop Grumman) as a technical writer and editor, web content writer, and proposal manager for almost thirty years. Madeline also worked for non-profits as a development director and producing fund raising events, managing capital campaigns, and writing grant proposals.

She finally fulfilled her dream to work as a creative writer and journalist late in life. After many classes and workshops, her memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother’s Memoir of Living wit Madeline Sharples grew up in the Chicago area and fell in love with writing in middle and high school. She attended the University of Wisconsin as a journalism major, but transferred to UCLA her senior year attaining a degree in English.

She worked in the aerospace business (TRW and Northrop Grumman) as a technical writer and editor, web content writer, and proposal manager for almost thirty years. Madeline also worked for non-profits as a development director and producing fund raising events, managing capital campaigns, and writing grant proposals.

She finally fulfilled her dream to work as a creative writer and journalist late in life. After many classes and workshops, her memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother’s Memoir of Living with Her Son’s Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide, was released in 2011 (Dream of Things).

Madeline co-authored Blue-Collar Women: Trailblazing Women Take on Men-Only Jobs (New Horizon Press, 1994), co-edited the poetry anthology, The Great American Poetry Show, Volumes 1, 2, and 3, and wrote the poems for The Emerging Goddess photography book (Paul Blieden, photographer). Her poems have also appeared online and in print magazines. Aberdeen Bay published her first novel, Papa’s Shoes: A Polish shoemaker and his family settle in small-town America, a work of historical fiction, in May 2019.

Her articles have appeared in the Huffington Post, Naturally Savvy, Aging Bodies, PsychAlive, Story Circle Network’s HerStories and One Woman’s Day blogs, and the Memoir Network blog. She has appeared on panels at writers’ conferences and have spoken about and read her work at book clubs, book stores, libraries, churches, writing groups, and on the radio. She also posts about writing on her website Choices.

She is proud to add that her memoir Leaving the Hall Light On was on a list compiled by Erin Burba of BookRiot of the 100 Must-Read Biographies and Memoirs of Remarkable Women. This list included memoirs written by Mary Karr, Joan Didion, Cheryl Strayed, Sonia Sotomayor, Madeleine Albright, Maya Angelou, Anais Nin, Malala Yousafzai, Patti Smith, Katharine Graham, Nora Ephron, and many more.

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Madeline Sharples's Blog

Here’s thoughts about a book of wonderful short stories

Our guest author today, Áine Greaney, writes about past and present, place and displacement, loss and hope in her book, Trespassers and Other Stories. She travels her characters from coastal Massachusetts to rural Ireland. Áine has also provided us with her thoughts about writing in a wonderful guest post essay. Here’s Áine: Finding and […]

The post Here’s thoughts about a book of wonderful short

Combine Editions
Madeline Sharples’s books

Average rating: 3.78 · 387 ratings · 79 reviews · 14 distinct works

	Leaving the Hall Light On 3.65 avg rating — 329 ratings — published 2011 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Papa’s Shoes: A Polish shoemaker and his family settle in small-town America 4.50 avg rating — 20 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	THEN AND NOW it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Emerging Goddess by Madeline Sharples (Goodreads Author) (poet), Paul Blieden (photographer) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Moving On 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Emerging Goddess 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	THIRTY-TWO NEW POEMS; 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Poems of Life, Love and Death 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Close And Personal 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Writings About My World 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Madeline is Currently Reading

Madeline Sharples is currently reading

Any Human Heart

by William Boyd

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Dec 25, 2024 11:54PM

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Long Time Leaving: Dispatches from Up South

by Roy Blount Jr.

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Jun 09, 2024 02:16PM

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The Flame Throwers

by Rachel Kushner (Goodreads Author)

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Dec 05, 2023 01:50PM

Madeline’s Recent Updates

Madeline Sharples is now friends with Alice Matzkin
May 13, 2026 05:10PM · like
Madeline Sharples rated a book really liked it Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 07, 2025 02:54PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Madeline Sharples rated a book it was amazing The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 01, 2025 04:12PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Madeline Sharples rated a book liked it Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Madeline Sharples rated a book liked it The Life Impossible by Matt Haig (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Madeline Sharples rated a book really liked it The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Madeline Sharples started reading Any Human Heart by William Boyd	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 25, 2024 11:54PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Any Human Heart by William Boyd. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Any Human Heart by William Boyd <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Madeline Sharples rated a book really liked it Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure by Mimi Zieman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Madeline Sharples rated a book really liked it The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 07, 2024 02:20PM · like

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Quotes by Madeline Sharples (?)

“Nearly every writer writes a book with a great amount of attention and intention and hopes and dreams. And it's important to take that effort seriously and to recognize that a book may have taken ten years of a writer's life, that the writer has put heart and soul into it. And it behooves us, as book-review-editors, to treat those books with the care and attention they deserve, and to give the writer that respect."
Pamela Paul, New York Times Book Review editor, in a Poets & Writer's interview
(something for all reviewers to think about)”
― Madeline Sharples, Leaving the Hall Light On

tags: book-reviews, pamela-paul, poets-writers

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“Way I was walking I was thinking I was running I was sinking You were laughing You were loving I was pushing I was shoving If you’re wondering How I’m feeling Same old thing I ain’t healing If you’re hungry I can feed you Please don’t think That I don’t need you And I let you walk away… Now you can go your own way.”
― Madeline Sharples, Leaving the Hall Light on

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