Carol Sheldon

Hi All,

PLEASE FORGIVE PUBLICATION OF THE PICTURE OF MY NEW BOOK COVER–IT WASN’T READY, DIDN’T EVEN HAVE MY NAME ON IT, NOR TEXT OF NEW BLOG. COMING SOON,THOUGH!

My last blog was written in Dec. Then, to make it worse this blog never got posted! It was drafted ON DECEMBER 9, 2012. So here ’tis.

First I have to tell you about my play, “On with the Wind”, a comedy about some senior citizens trying to watch an old  video of “Gone with the Wind.” It played with several other one-acts on Dominican University Campus. What fun. And the greatest, dedicated, and fun-loving cast I’ve ever worked with. Thank you, guys,

In the meantime, I have also been trying to finish and publish a children’s story called “You Mean the World to Me,”about saving the planet. I am working with an illustrator in the Phillipines! It’s going very slowly.

For those of you who loved “Mother Lode”, good news on the way. I am working hard on the sequel–again, and hope to have it out by June. I’ll try to make another trip to the UP to promote it. That was such fun last time. The book will include the strike of 1913 and the Italian Hall disaster, but a couple of mysteries and love interests too.

In the meantime, remember books make great gifts, mine or someone elses.

Talk to you soon. And write to me. I love to hear from you.

Hi Everyone,

Here’s a photo regarding the BAIPA award for Best Fiction that I talked about in my last email.

I had a second reading/q&a at Book Passage this month, this time in San Francisco. Yea! The first BP reading was in Marin. There was a really sweet, attentive audience, and about half of them bought MOTHER LODE. (That’s a very good average.) My friend, Teresa Leyung Ryan interviewed me again.

Teresa and fans at my reading in SF.

She is a writer herself, as well as being a writer’s coach, and definitely my cheerleader.  The evening was a joyful one.

I suddenly find myself on overload–not really a bad place to be, but my head is turned in so many directions! My play On With The Wind was chosen for the Marin Fall Fringe Festival. I am revising it, and will be directing this comedy. As some of you know I’m writing a sequel to MOTHER LODE, and also downsizing a children’s book from 40 pages to picture book size! That’s turned out to be huge, as it involves so much of what writers call ‘killing your children.’ BTW, if you’re looking for an illustrator try guru.com. You can list your proposal and the quotes will pour in. Quite exciting.Then there are a couple of contests I need to get going on before the deadline.

This is all in addition to refurbishing my condo and making multiple trips to show it from  Sausalito to Novato. Well, never a dull moment.

I’d love to hear from you on this blog.

Best,

Carol

Last night the Marin Fringe Festival of One-acts and Solos opened on Dominican University Campus. A nice crowd appreciated our efforts. To those of you who know me only as a writer, acting has been a life-long love of mine as well. This project was a fresh relief from writing/researching the mining industry in the 19^th century. I wrote and performed 3 monologues, entitled “Three Old Ladies Talk About Sex”. One was a British lady answering questions for a sexology club. The second was a southern woman remembering her one night of love, and the third a French woman bemoaning the fact that we don’t have Viagra for the mind. But I haven’t been on stage for several years, and as memory fades, it becomes harder and harder to learn lines. I practiced them every day for weeks. There were times when I thought I’d never be ready, and it used to be so easy to learn lines. But gratefully, all went well last night and I had many favorable comments. Seven friends were in the audience, and I expect more in the coming performances. Hope to see you there, too, if you’re in the Bay Area!

PROGRAM ONE

DIRTY QUESTIONS

Written & Directed by George Dykstra

A CHANCE ENCOUNTER

Written by David Hirzel, Directed by Jim Colgan

MONOLOGUES: OLD LADIES TALK ABOUT SEX

By Carol Sheldon / Coached by Pamela Rand

RECIPE FOR LIFE

Written & Directed By Melinda E. Lopez

NOAH, THE PLAY By Charley Lerrigo & Randall

Van Nostrand, Directed by Charley Lerrigo

ALL GONE – A COMEDY SKETCH

Written & Directed by Pamela Rand

THE GATEKEEPER

By Patricia L. Morin, Directed by Suzan Lorraine

Awards presented by a Bay Area Theatre Critics Jury for Best Works, Actors, Actresses & Directors on Sunday, April 29, after Program II.

Meadowlands Assembly Hall, Dominican University of California

50 Acacia Avenue at Grand Avenue, San Rafael

For directions visit http://www.fringeofmarin.com

(click: “directions”-”contact”-”campus map”)

Reservations and Information: 415-673-3131

Awarded the Bay Area Theatre Critics Award for

One Act Festivals at Dominican University of California since 1991

The Fringe of Marin is a member of Theatre Bay Area

Friday, April 13 @ 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 15 @ 2:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 21 @ 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 22 @ 2:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 28 @ 7:30 p.m.

Hi again,

Some news–I will be talking about and reading from MOTHER LODE at Book Passage in Corte Madera on March 18th. at 12:00 noon. This is a very prestigious place to read and I feel honored to be a feature author there–quite amazed, in fact.  The thing is, I need your support. There’s nothing more humiliating for an author than addressing an audience of 2 or 3 for 45 minutes, which happens, believe me. So please, if you even think you might go, put it on your calendar now. I need your help. And I promise, you will enjoy it, whether you’ve heard me read before or not. (Someone said at Sunday’s California Writers’ Club meeting Sunday, “If we go to enough of your readings, will we get to hear your whole book?”) Fun. Actually, I don’t have any more readings scheduled at this time. so this would be a very good time for you to come. N’est pas? It’s free!

Looking ahead, I will be performing 3 monologues I wrote in April at the Marin Festival of One Acts and Solos. This will take place on Dominican University Campus in Meadowlands Hall. Although I’ve always loved to act, I haven’t been on stage for seven or eight years, and as I suspected memorizing these monologues is much harder now than it would have been in my youth. So I started early, and still have six more weeks to rehearse. The set is called “Three Old Ladies Share Their Views on Sex.” One is French, one British and one Southern American. I’m looking forward to it–the writing part was easy. More to come on this event.

On books in general, for readers and writers alike: PLACE is a strong element in any novel, or should be. It can be so strong that it becomes a character in your book, inseparable from the rest of the book. Cara Black is a wonderful example of this, with her books on Paris. And James Lee Burke with his Louisiana swamps and bars in and around New Orleans. I hope I have done the same framing my work in the mining community of Michigan. If you’re a writer and can imagine your story in other settings, then you haven’t hit pay-dirt of the community you’re writing about. ‘Nuf said for now on that subject.

Blessings,

Carol