Joni Rodgers's Blog

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In its brief existence, the GWTST has enjoyed over 55,500 visitors. (Thank you!) The most popular posts are listed below. From now I'll be blogging at Joni's List. Join us!

 

Two years ago, I sat on a panel at the London Book Fair with the fabulous Linda Gillard. I was utterly charmed by her grace, wit, and artistic integrity, promptly bought three of her books, and have been a devoted fan ever since. Linda appears as a guest on writing blogs far and wide. Delighted to tag her here for the #HowIWrite Q&A that's currently trending:


What are you writing?
I’m planning my eighth novel. It will be about reconciliation and healing. I think the main character (and poss...

Tagged by my author buddy Jen Singer for the #HowIWrite blog hop. I’m supposed to answer four questions and tag four author friends to do the same, which struck me as a fun summer chain letter sort of thing to do. Plus I do love any opportunity to tout the big talent of Roz Morris, Barbara Taylor Sissel, John A.A. Logan, and Linda Gillard. (Sharing a stellar summer reading recommendation from each.)

First, the questions:
What am I writing? 
Well, at the moment, this blog post—one of several...

Library Journal is encouraging us to share our library flashbacks and fetishes with the #howilibrary hashtag. The library was a huge part of my childhood, starting with the grand old Tomah Public Library on Superior Avenue in Tomah, Wisconsin. (It's probably not as enormous in reality as it is in my memory, but they have a nice website and seem to be going strong, which makes me happy.)

Starting as early as I can recall, Mom and I stopped by the library almost every day after dropping off my o...

My mother, author/historian Lois Lonnquist, died six weeks ago, ending a long journey through the valley of Alzheimer's. So I was afraid I'd find all the opportunistic tenderness of Mother's Day marketing especially depressing this year. (Melodrama tends to chafe in the presence of real drama.) Instead, I find that the shell-shock is giving way to gratitude. Mom always said, "You've got to bloom where you're planted," and this year, I am planted in the reality of losing her, but I have the fe...

They say everyone has a book in them. We say everyone has a spleen in them too. Either way, it takes a special skillset to take it out.

In the new publishing universe, collaboration is key. With help from my daughter, freelance editor Jerusha Rodgers, I work with celebrities and other extraordinary people to create killer proposals and memorable memoirs.

Monday at SXSW, I'll talk about the business of extracting stories with surgical precision while Jerusha gets down to brass tacks and tech sav...

From Art & Fear by David Bayles:

The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right side solely on the its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scale and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pounds of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on....

The past eight weeks, I've been in Montana with my mom, who is dying of Alzheimer's, and my dad, who is showing his true colors as a devoted and extraordinary caregiver. There's a garden level apartment below the main floor of their home, so I have plenty of living/office space, and he doesn't have to have me all up in his grill. He's created a place of peace and music. The sheer power of his love for her is humbling and wonderful.

I cook breakfast and dinner every day and sit with Mom for abo...

I have a strict rule in Words With Friends: Make LOVE, PEACE and JOY whenever and wherever possible, even if you don't score a lot of points for it.