Book Reviews/A Writing Journey
Month: December 2021
Natalie lives in Finland and researches Envall—the founder of an extremist Protestant sect that she came into contact with thirty years earlier. As a thirteen year old, she had met Barbara whose family was sect followers. This community not only changed her life, but her face.
This is a history of Queensland’s early European settlement that I was never taught. The novel documents an era during the 1800s when pastoralists claimed millions of hectares of Queensland’s interior for cattle and sheep grazing. When Aborigines objected, speared a sheep or approached waterholes they’d used for thousands of years, graziers either demanded the native police “disperse” the Aborigines or killed most of the tribe themselves.
Continue reading “Timothy Bottoms’ — Conspiracy of Silence *****”
Under the repressive Mao regime, the Wangs decide to leave China. Qian’s parents are highly educated, but as illegal immigrants in the U.S., they can only take on menial work. Without papers they are trapped in a cycle of poverty, discrimination, and a fear of being deported. This takes a toll on her parents’ relationship with each other. Meanwhile, Qian starts school, but receives little support to help her learn English. Through children’s books, she begins to understand and teaches herself how to read. But can the family keep living a life where they fear they may be sent back to China?
This memoir is an insight into the lives of illegal immigrants and the endless hardships that seem impossible to overcome.
I recently completed the first draft of my fifth manuscript that’s set in India. I challenged myself to write at least a thousand words a day and planned to complete the work by Christmas. When I reached that goal, it was time to take a break—time to read more again and do some of the activities I’d set aside.
Continue reading “What to do after that first draft is done”
Read and Write 
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