Writing to Inspire

 

 

At the start of every new week, I try to select the “right” book to promote next. Sometimes I will pick a book to promote if its “book birthday” is coming up, or I’ll select a book if it has a character or theme that matches a certain day coming up (like the children’s book A Million Doughnuts for National Doughnut Day).

 

But this week, I knew what book to promote without having to think about it.

 

On January 7, 2026, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Macklin Good, an unarmed 37-year-old mother of three. This murder sent shockwaves and anger throughout the country. Many people took to social media to share their outrage over this killing.

 

I was affected by this on a personal level.

 

That a woman was murdered by ICE.

 

That a mother was murdered by ICE.

 

That a poet was murdered by ICE.

 

That a member of the LGBTQ community was murdered by ICE.

 

THAT AN UNARMED AMERICAN CITIZEN WAS MURDERED BY ICE.

 

An American citizen.

 

Not an undocumented immigrant. Not a terrorist. Not someone pointing a gun or posing a threat with a weapon to anyone.

 

An American citizen.

 

And like many other poets responding to this outrage, I wrote my own poem about this incident. A poem I did not share online, because it’s going into a poetry book that I am writing. But I responded to it by writing a poem.

 

Just as I have responded to many other things by writing a poem. In fact, my poetry book, Other, contains poems I have written in response to things: Religious extremism, women’s fight for equality, disability rights, and LGBTQ rights.

 

I wrote those poems all in support of those rights, and I hoped that the poems would inspire people during this time of darkness that this country is in, when the war against the LGBTQ community is still going on and women are STILL fighting for their rights – reproductive rights among them.

 

So I promoted Other this week. I hoped that these poems would inspire people in those communities, who I wrote these poems for. (Well, as a disabled asexual woman, some of those poems were personal). It has gotten a good response from a few people. I know this book won’t create the kind of change I want to see happen in this country, but I hope that it can, at least, empower the readers who are in those groups and give them the strength to keep up the fight.

 

Hopefully one day, we won’t have to keep fighting.

 

Rest in peace, Renee.  

  

Not Another Pandemic Book!: Watch This Space Turned Pandemic Poetry Into a Book of Historical Events

 

When the pandemic hit in 2020 and everybody was on lockdown, it seemed like a lot of people suddenly grabbed ALL of that time they had and used it to write! Or they decided to try their hand at writing and made the leap to write a book. Soon we started seeing poems, essays and even books that were all related to the pandemic in some way.

 

Well, guess what? I was one of those people!

 

For most of 2020, I was working my job as a DSP (Direct Support Professional), which is another term for a caregiver. I supported individuals with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (I/DD). My job required me to show up during the apocalypse – er, the pandemic, so every morning I had to work, I suited up and shipped out! During most of 2020, I was still suffering from a dry period in my writing. I hardly did any creative writing. Most of my writing was done in daily reports I had to write at work – and, you know something? I think that really helped me to get back into the writing habit!

 

Because soon I was writing poems about things going on all around me.

 

My husband works at a steel mill, so he had the luck of working from home. In fact, with my kids at home since the schools closed, I was the only one leaving the house on my work days! I wrote about this in a poem.

 

And because people were being stopped by the police because they were out and about when everybody was ordered to stay at home, my work reminded all of us to keep our badges with us in our car so we could show it to the police in case we got stopped. Fortunately, I was never stopped! But this fear was something that found its way into a poem I wrote.

 

I also wrote about how, on one evening during the riots after the murder of Jacob Floyd, I was driving through downtown Eugene watching a lot of people causing chaos, holding up signs, yelling and chanting things. (It was scary and I’m glad I made it through that okay!)

 

But the pandemic affected work, too. I wrote all about this in poems.

 

Soon I was writing more than poems and work reports. In October, I opened up a spiral notebook and started writing what would later become a nonfiction book. I stopped writing this book in order to try writing a novel that November, for NaNoWriMo, but only got as far as one chapter. When December rolled around, I got back to work on that nonfiction book, and I finished writing it on Christmas Eve. It was an early Christmas present to myself: A book I had written!

 

I didn’t stop there, though. I decided to take those poems I wrote during the first year of the pandemic (yes, we had more than one year of it!) and decided to write a collection of poems about the pandemic. After I felt this book was complete, I tried submitting it to various publishers. I actually spent a couple of years trying to find a publisher for it, all to no avail. All of the publishers I submitted the manuscript to ended up responding with rejections. It didn't win any of the contests I entered it in, either. I figured that those editors were all tired of the influx of pandemic books the literary community was flooded with and just didn’t want to see mine add to it.

 

So I put that book away for a while and focused on other books.

 

Meanwhile, I continued to write poetry. This time, I wrote poems about current events as well as poems on the theme of loss, grief, friendship and strength.

 

When I found a publisher interested in publishing my longer poetry books, I pulled out that pandemic poetry book and revised it. Instead of containing poems from the first year of the pandemic, I added more poems to it to cover the pandemic AND events going on during 2021 to 2023. I mean, there was A LOT going on both locally as well as nationally, and I wrote all of these poems about them. So I grabbed all of the poems that fell into that category, added them to the manuscript, and sent it off to my new publisher. The book was eventually accepted and Watch This Space has now been published.

 

There are, however, a few poems in this book that were not written during 2020-23.

 

My dad passed away in 2015, after basically drinking himself to death. He had that “one more drink” that killed him, just as my “one more drink” almost killed me. The only difference is that I received medical care when he did not. He died alone inside of a van from a heart attack. For a long time after his death, I was struggling with anger and confusion over why he would do that to himself. But as a former alcoholic, I know the kind of prison that alcoholism can keep us in. That kind of addiction is damn hard to kick for good. The one attempt where I was successful in staying sober was actually my third, so I get it. I understand what alcoholism can do to a person and the lies it tells us in order to get us to keep drinking. Anyway, after the pandemic hit, this struggle turned into a string of questions I kept wondering about, such as this: Did my dad drink himself to death because he knew that the world was basically in chaos? Did he know things were only going to get worse?

 

In one part of the poem “The Question of Why” I wrote about this on page 77:

 

“Did you know

Did you foresee

All the trouble

Ahead? All the chaos

Of a pandemic?”

 

My dad didn’t die during the years covered in this book, but I certainly had to wonder if this was one of the reasons why he had a death wish.

 

I also included the poem “As We Talk” because, interestingly, lockdown actually strengthened communication between a lot of people that normally didn’t communicate with each other very much.

 

And, finally, I also included the poem I wrote decades ago titled “Be Strong, Woman” because of the overturning of Roe vs Wade in 2020. I felt this poem was appropriate to include because, even after 2020, women’s reproductive rights were still being challenged and women were still losing control over what they could do with their bodies once pregnancy was confirmed.

 

Nevertheless, almost all of the poems in this collection are new and were never published. Well, they are now, as part of this book.

 

I like to say that one good thing came out of the year 2020: That while the whole world came crashing down, and after I was about to lose hope, I was able to start writing again. In the chaos of a pandemic, I turned to the one thing that brought stability and joy to my life.

 

But I think a couple of other good things came out of 2020 as well:

 

The chance to know a family better after we offered to help them during those trying times. This was a family consisting of a single mother with three adult children and all of them were immunocompromised (a word we all got to know well during the pandemic!). We either helped them to get food, medication, or assistance through local services. Sometimes we gave them rides or cleaned for them. One person in this family is someone who my oldest had been friends with for years, and in helping them, I got to know her better and she was like a daughter to me. I am grateful I had the chance to get to know this family better thanks to our assistance provided during the pandemic, and this book is actually dedicated to one of them.

 

And the other good thing that came out of 2020? The start of what would be become my pandemic poetry book.

 

Many thanks to Alien Buddha Press for publishing my book! I am so thrilled it is finally in print and out there in the world.

 

Here is the blurb:

 

Through a captivating blend of evocative language and vivid imagery, Colclasure takes readers on a journey through the myriad landscapes of COVID and its impacts on society. From the darkest depths of despair to the radiant heights of joy, each poem in "Watch This Space" is a testament to the resilience of the spirit.

 

With profound insight, Colclasure delves into themes of health, love, loss, hope, and redemption. Whether reflecting on personal struggles or advocating for social change, her words resonate with authenticity and compassion, leaving an indelible impact.

 

"Watch This Space" transcends being a mere collection of poems; it is a profound exploration of the experience amidst a pandemic. With each turn of the page, readers are drawn deeper into the labyrinth of emotion, emerging with a newfound appreciation for the beauty and complexity of a sickness.

 

Here is the buy link

Advice to nonfiction authors: Don't lie

Some time ago, I read the book Roots by Alex Haley. It’s a very good book and I was impressed by how much time and research the author put into his book. Later, I went online to look up more information about it, because I was very interested in what happened after the book was published. I was dismayed to learn that Haley admitted that not all of the material in his book was true. Because the man did not have a time machine and could not go back in time to double-check everything and learn exactly how things were, he had to use literary license to fill in the gaps. I accepted this, but what I could not accept was how there were people claiming Haley lifted their stories as his own and that the main character in the story, Kunta Kinte, didn’t even exist. After reading all of that, I started to get suspicious with what was in the book. How was I to know if anything in the book was true or not? It was, after all, labeled a nonfiction book, but how could I know which parts of it were fiction?

The recent controversy over the now disgraced athlete Lance Armstrong made me remember this. Because of Armstrong’s recent confession on national television that he lied about doping to win the Tour de France, the world now knows that all of those times he fervently denied such accusations and everything he wrote in his books were all just a fake. They were his way of perpetuating the lie.

It seems that Armstrong has a long, tough road ahead of him in winning back the world’s admiration and respect. But it also appears that this lie is going to cost him A LOT of money. Not only are newspapers and magazines suing him for the lawsuits they lost or helped to defend, but readers of his books are suing him, as well. An article I read today discussed how two readers in particular are so upset over Armstrong’s public admission of the lie that they want to be reimbursed for buying his books.

This is not the first time an author of nonfiction books has been caught in a lie. But I have to wonder what’s going to happen after all is said and done, after everybody is paid and the whole thing blows over. What book would Armstrong write next? Bigger question: Will readers believe what he writes in them? Perhaps if he convinces the world he’s not a liar anymore or that he changes everything and becomes an honest man people can trust again, maybe readers will believe everything he writes in future books. Still makes me wonder, though.

But it’s not just readers that he has angered; it is possible his editors and publishers are not all that happy with him, either. Would they be willing to publish his next book? Armstrong now has an iffy relationship with his readers. What can be said of his relationship with his publishers?

Of course, the man is famous and brings in a lot of money no matter what happens. He’ll get published again.

But for the writer who is not famous, not worth millions of dollars and who is Very Lucky to get a nonfiction book published, things can be very different. This particular writer would have a harder time setting things right with readers again, let alone editors and publishers. And if an author's lie(s) in a book get so bad and build up a lot of controversy, it's very likely publishers won't want to work with this author again.

In my opinion, nonfiction should be nonfiction. There are no two ways about it. It should be as true, honest and as accurate as the writer can make it. Otherwise, you’re just writing fiction instead and should publish it as such. If you’re making things up or lying to readers, then that does not make the book nonfiction. It makes it fiction or, as some people have claimed, a fraud.

Join the Caravan! Gypsy Shadow Publishing Celebrates 3 Years with a Giveaway Extravaganza!

My publisher, Gypsy Shadow Publishing, is celebrating their third year this month. Hooray! Happy 3^rd Birthday to Gypsy Shadow Publishing! This two-women team has been awesome to work with. I have had two print books and one ebook published by them, with another ebook scheduled for release next month, and I have been very happy being published by them.

To celebrate their third year, GSP is holding a giveaway all month long. The prizes are free ebooks and 2 gift baskets filled with free signed print copies of books, a T-shirt, a Kindle reader and lots of other goodies. The winners of the free ebooks will be able to download them from Smashwords in order to make it possible to choose which format is preferred. You can enter to win these awesome prizes and the winners will receive their prizes on October 1st, since this is a month-long event.

But that’s not all!

All month long, GSP is giving buyers a 25% discount off of total orders when you buy books and/or ebooks from their web site. Go to the site for the code and instructions.

To enter the drawing and have a chance to win some fabulous prizes, as well as get the discount code, go here. Be sure to use the Rafflecopter entry box to enter the giveaway. You may leave a comment on the blog, of course, but you will need to enter through the Rafflecopter box in order to be counted.

To enter through Rafflecopter, please follow these instructions from GSP:

“When you go to the blog, click on the tab that says "Gypsy Shadow's 3rd Anniversary Celebration" and go down to the BIG WHITE BOX that says: "60 FREE eBooks ~ Awesome grand prize Gift Basket with signed print books and lots more goodies!" under where it says "ENTER BELOW for the GREAT PRIZES!" You MUST enter to win inside that box, either by signing in with Facebook or by clicking the link that says "Use Your Email." I definitely appreciate the comments you are leaving, BUT to enter the contest, you have to use the Rafflecopter box or you won't really be entered!”

As an alternative, if you are having problems entering through Rafflecopter, you can send an email to contests(at)gyspshadow(dot)com (remove the parenthetical stuff and replace with appropriate symbols) and provide your full name and mailing address in case you win the gift basket. Your information will be STRICTLY confidential and only used for this celebration!

My ebook, Songs of the Dead, is one of the goodies you’ll have the chance to win, as well as a signed print copy of Love is Like a Rainbow: Poems of Love and Devotion and my children’s book, The Yellow Rose, which was illustrated by the very talented artist Allison Warner.

Come one, come all! Join the caravan and get in on your chance to win some awesome prizes! And if you haven’t ordered any books or ebooks from Gypsy Shadow Publishing yet, now is your chance to get them with 25% off your order!

That link again is here. So why not enter today?