Saturday, August 24, 2013

Interview with author Sandra Shrewsbury

Sandra Shrewsbury
New Richmond, WV


Welcome to Vision and Verse, Sandra.  We're happy to have you here this morning. What have you written?
"Outside The Addiction - A Mother's Story" is my first book.

Sandra's book is now live.  Here is the link.
http://www.amazon.com/Outside-Addiction-Mothers-Story-ebook/dp/B00ERYQ5RM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1377465677&sr=1-1&keywords=Outside+The+Addiction

What is your favorite genre to write?
Non-fiction

Favorite food. 
Seafood.  I am originally from Maryland so we ate a lot of seafood.

Where would you like to visit? 
Ireland.  My family came from there and I would love to visit.

Favorite musical artist. 
I would have to say Garth Brooks.  His voice is wonderful.

What makes you laugh? 
A good joke, I love jokes.

How old were you when you started writing? 
I started writing in a journal when I was in my twenties.I wrote down my everyday feelings.

That's a terrific way to start.  Where do you get your inspiration? 
My inspiration comes from everyday life.

What do you do when you get a writer's block? 
I leave what I am writing and go to something else and than I go back later and try again. It works for me.

Who is your favorite author?
I would have to say I have two...V.C Andrews and Steven King. Andrews puts so much emotion in her books and king his writing is just awesome. 

Best book you ever read.
I would have to say Heaven by V.C Andrews - It opened a new world for me and taught me that being wealthy isn't everything in life. family should always be more important.


Who is the one person who has influence your personal life the most and why?
I would have to say my family, they have been so supportive and has inspired me in so many ways. 

If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
It would be Steven King, I want to know all his secrects and I would love to know what got him started.


What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
 I would tell them to go for it, because if writing is your passion then you need to write no matter what anyone says. Do what you love to do.

Do you have any links to share with us?
Yes, I want to thank Genevieve Scholls and Trevor Couturier for being such a great friends, They are Indie Authors too and they have helped me through everything. Genevieve writes Romance and Trevor writes Science fiction. I have made so many author friends on facebook , its like we are all family and they are always there to help with questions or just there to boost your spirits. I love the world of Indie authors. I am glad that they have shared this journey with me.

It has been a pleasure to have you with us this morning.  Best of luck to you and good luck with your book, "Outside the Addiction - A Mother's Story."

Friday, August 23, 2013


Dear Happy Readers,
     Monday, August 26, 2013 the cover of my new project, "Echo of Heartbreak, A Recipe for Life" will be revealed right here on VISION AND VERSE!  This is a project special to both Parker and me.  It is a departure from my usual relationship study between quintessential lovers.  It's a very different kind of love story.
     It is a letter a very ill mother writes to her unborn daughter.  In this short story, Melina, the mother, shares with her daughter the life lessons she has learned in her thirty-three years, advice on careers (Do something you love.), household management (Learn how to manage your possessions so they don't manage you. If you can't find your stuff, you have too much stuff, so get rid of some stuff.), and recipes (The "stuff" advice is followed by a fantastic Italian stuffing recipe with sausage and veal that is really scrumptious.)
     In this short story/cookbook, there are fifty lifestyle hints and thirty-two wonderful recipes with a hyper-linked table of contents for easy use.  And the cover was created by our own marvelously talented Parker Kaufman!
     So join us Monday to see what "Echo of Heartbreak, A Recipe for Life" looks like.
     Hugs,
     Carol  

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS - JENNY SAVILLE





Born in Cambridge, England in 1970, Jenny Saville is a British painter in the contemporary style.  She is known for her association with the Young British Artists. 

Saville's secondary education began at the Lilley and Stone School in Newark, Nottinghamshire.  She later earned her degree from the Glasgow School of Art.  She was also given a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati, where she encountered "lots of big women.  Big white flesh in shorts and t-shirts.  It was good to see because they had the physicality I was interested in."   Saville credits this physicality to Pablo Picasso, who she saw as a painter the depicted his subjects as if "they were wholly there...not fleeting." 

Between 1992 and 1994, Saville studied at the Slade School of Fine Art.  When she finished her post-graduate studies,  Charles Saatchi, one of Britain's premiere art collectors, purchased her senior show. Saatchi gave her an 18-month contract to produce new works for an exhibit at Saatchi Gallery in London.

Jenny Saville has risen rapidly to recognition, both critically and publicly due somewhat to Saatchi's support.  She creates art in the classical way -- figure painting.  Be it traditional, she has found a way to reinvent figure painting, returning it to it's original context within art history.

Saville makes large-scale paintings of nude women.  The subject matter is feminist in tone, features obese and oft times, faceless women with vast bodies, and results from her time of study in the United States.  She is fascinated with the make up of the human body and it presents itself in her works, with distorted flesh, high-caliber brush strokes, and patches of oil color, or the revelation of the mark of a plastic surgery operation.

She is dedicated to traditional figurative oil painting.  Her style has been called "rubensesque"  Paintings are much larger than life size, strongly pigmented, and highly sensual.  Since her debut in 1992, Saville has remained focused on the female body, deviating somewhat, painting figures of indeterminate gender and transgender people.

Image above, "Hem"  1999,  10' x 7', oil on canvas, by Jenny Saville.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Author Interview with NJ Cole




 NJ Cole
 Milwaukee, Wisconsin



What have you written?
I have written Midnight Caller and Landslide

What is your favorite genre to write?
I love to write romantic erotica.

Favorite food.
I can’t live without ice cream.

Where would you like to visit?
I’d like to visit everyone I’ve met on facebook, starting with my best friend in Australia.

Favorite musical artist.
 I honestly don’t listen to music unless I’m in the car, and even then I’m usually writing. I do like the classics though.

How old were you when you started writing? 
I was 38 when I started writing for other people.

Where do you get your inspiration? 
Most of the time the characters come to me and talk to me. They show me their story like a movie and then I just write it down.

What do you do when you get a writer's block? 
I don’t really, though I like to write in google docs so I always have company.

Who is your favorite author?
Most of my favorite authors are people I know but who haven’t published anything for sale. I love to watch Bec Rose and Sally Goodwin write.

Best book you ever read. 
Can I say mine???? I do like Sandra Brown books.

Who is the one person who has influence your personal life the most and why? 
My husband and I have been together for over 20 years, so he’s definitely had the most impact. He is the one who encourages me to write when I get scared.

If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
I am so intrigued by Leonardo Davinci. I’d just love to get a glimpse into that brilliant mind.


What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
 
I would tell the person to surround themselves with other writers and editors and just start to write. Follow your heart.

Do you a cover to share with us?

Links?


NJ Cole
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7077804.N_J_Cole
www.njcoledls.blogspot.com
on facebook https://www.facebook.com/njcoleauthor