CHRIS RICE COOPER BLOG is ART and HUMANITY Framed In The PhotoFeature Story

CHRIS RICE COOPER is a newspaper/fiction writer, poet, photographer, painter. CRC Blog is an INCLUSIVE & NON-PROFIT BLOG acknowledging ALL voices, ALL individuals, ALL political views, ALL philosophies, ALL religions including Islamism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Agnosticism, Atheism. She has a B.S. in Criminal Justice & completed her workshops required for her Master’s in Creative Writing. She lives in St. Louis. CRC website http://chrisricecooper.com/

Monday, September 7, 2020

Janelle Evans’s screenplay "Jude Cole" is #188 in the never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION

Chris Rice Cooper

caccoop@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

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***The CRC Blog welcomes submissions from published and unpublished fiction genre (including screenwriters and playwrights) for INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION. Contact CRC Blog via email at caccoop@aol.com or personal Facebook messaging at https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

****Janelle Evans’s screenplay Jude Cole is #188 in the never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific excerpt from a fiction genre and how that fiction writer wrote that specific excerpt. All INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links are at the end of this piece

Name of screenplay? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? Jude Cole. One of the other names that I'd considered for this story is The Father's Son, because of the relationship between Jude and the priest.

What is the date you began writing this screenplay and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? October 2014. I wrote the screenplay in sixteen hours. However I then spent two months refining it. I think of it like baking bread, prep time: sixteen hours, completed product: four hundred twelve hours and thirteen minutes. Don’t forget those minutes, they really matter to me.

Where did you do most of your writing? And please describe in detail. When I’m working on a project I literally write everywhere. There are no spare minutes in my day. At the grocery store I prop my laptop up where other people put their children, typing while the butcher wraps my order, the honey goes and grabs various items, and definitely while waiting in the cashier’s line. The only place that’s taboo, for me, is the bathroom. My favorite place to write is the library. (Lied Library, Above Left, and Below Right) Most of them still have an inherent “silence is golden” rule, and people don’t just wander p to you and ask what you’re doing.

What were your writing habits while writing this screenplay - did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? As soon as I opened my eyes, I ran over to work on the screenplay. When I’m stay home, I prefer to work on my pc. The screen is huge, the keyboard is soft and comfortable, and when I’m working this way it feels like my most natural state of being. As I cannot take the pc everywhere, I do switch to my laptop. Not to leave out pen and paper, when I need to rearrange the story in my mind, work out a new potential new outline, etcetera, I always use pen and ink. Then I can doodle in questions or other random thought sin color. The paperwork is always brightly colored and terrifically messy, because screenplays themselves have to be so linear and clean.

I create a soundtrack for each piece of fiction that I work on, giving each character a particular song that represents their voice and drive in my head. This keeps me writing consistent, particularly over a long period time. (Left: Janelle Evans's desk)

What were some of the songs you liked to listen to while you wrote this screenplay? Stevie Wonder, “I Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer”

Fall Out Boy, “Centuries”

Breaking Benjamin, “Had Enough”

Skillet, “Not Gonna Die”

Zack Hemsey, “Vengeance”

U2, “With or Without You” (Right: Janelle in her writing space.)

What is the summary of your screenplay? Jude Cole is an orphan, raised in a battered women’s shelter by the priest who runs it. HE’s got a good heart and an incredible knack for violence, which he’s got no problem using to right the wrongs done to anyone that he perceives as defenseless. The trouble is, when you see yourself as soulless, fighting the good fight isn’t too different from suicide.

Please include just one excerpt. This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer.

EXT. HOPE HOUSE BACKYARD - NIGHT

Cynthia sways in the tire swing and smokes. She jumps when a tree limb crashes to the ground. Jude clambers down the tree.

CYNTHIA

What were you doing up there?

He lifts the neatly sawed branch in one hand.

JUDE

When kids fall, it’s almost never their fault.

CYNTHIA

Really? Who else do you blame?

JUDE

The weak branch that broke, when it should’ve been supporting them.

Cynthia glares at him.

CYNTHIA

Is that some kind of metaphor? You smart-ass teenager. You think you know everything, don’t you?

JUDE

I know that you packed your bags before dinner. I know that Matt’s temper tantrum didn’t make you change your mind.

She laughs sarcastically.

CYNTHIA

That’s what you saw. But you have no clue about what’s underneath. How sometimes you eat dirt, on your knees, to keep people you love safe.

Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write? And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? *and humor is one of many emotions. As this scene goes forward we learn that Jude things of himself as soulless, a person worth less than the women and children at Hope House, the battered women’s shelter. The feel of the tension between this motherless boy, and this mother who is struggling to find the right way to protect her own boy, pulls at me every time. In the real world, right and wrong are rarely completely separate entities, and writing this scene just tugged at all of my sensibilities. What is fair? What is just? How can we break a boy’s heart by keeping him away from his father? How do we expect a woman to remain in contact with her abuser? And what does the child in the middle learn from all of this?

Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked-up rough drafts of this excerpt. The scene was rewritten dozens of times. Unfortunately, I don't’ retain rough drafts. Remember that thing above about colorful en and paper doodles to work out issues? Those changes fall under that. Once I pick the language of the scene, I change the draft, save it, and that’s the end.

Has this screenplay been made into a film? And if NOT which actors would you like to portray your characters in this screenplay? Sadly, it has not been made into a movie, although it did place as a second rounder at the Austin Film Festival. So, yay for that. I don’t have a particular actor in mind. If it were cast, I’d us tope that the actor would be someone who could fully inhabit the role, and portray Jude as someone who’s struggling with a deep sense of worthlessness, and not as some cool street thug.

How many pages? What does that equate to how long the film would be? Jude Cole was initially one hundred and twenty pages. The final count was a tidy one hundred pages, which is about one hour and forty minutes of screen time.

Anything you would like to add? Than you for giving me the opportunity do discuss my work. It was truly a pleasure to gab about my process. Cheers.

Janelle Marie Evans is a woman of color who lives in the Sonoran desert with five PC’s, three laptops, two televisions, and one best friend. She is a graduate of the UNLV MFA in Writing for Dramatic Media, and is currently working on multiple film scripts, and a young adult novel and was thrilled to place in the top ten percent of an Austin Film Festival, and the top five percent of the Oscar’s Academy Nicholl Fellowship competition.

Email: pennykitty@hotmail.com

INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links

001 11 15 2018 Nathaniel Kaine’s

Thriller Novel

John Hunter – The Veteran

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/001-inside-emotion-of-fiction-nathaniel.html

002 11 18 2018 Ed Protzel’s

Futuristic/Mystery/Thriller

The Antiquities Dealer

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/002-inside-emotion-of-fiction-ed.html

003 11 23 2018 Janice Seagraves’s

Science Fiction Romance

Exodus Arcon

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/003-inside-emotion-of-fiction-exodus.html

004 11 29 2018 Christian Fennell’s

Literary Fiction Novel

The Fiddler in the Night

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/004-inside-emotion-of-fiction-christian.html

005 12 02 2018 Jessica Mathews’s

Adult Paranormal Romance

Death Adjacent

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/5-inside-emotion-of-fiction-jessica.html

006 12 04 2018 Robin Jansen’s

Literary Fiction Novel

Ruby the Indomitable

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/006-inside-emotion-of-fiction-robin.html

007 12 12 2018 Adair Valerez’s

Literary Fiction Novel

Scrim

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/007-inside-emotion-of-fiction-adair.html

008 12 17 218 Kit Frazier’s

Mystery Novel

Dead Copy

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/008-inside-emotion-of-fiction-kit.html

009 12 21 2019 Robert Craven’s

Noir/Spy Novel

The Road of a Thousand Tigers

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/009-inside-emotion-of-fiction-robert.html

010 01 13 2019 Kristine Goodfellow’s

Contemporary Romantic Fiction

The Other Twin

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/010-inside-emotion-of-fictions-other.html

011 01 17 2019 Nancy J Cohen’s

Cozy Mystery

Trimmed To Death

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/11-inside-emotion-of-fiction-nancy.html

012 01 20 2019 Charles Salzberg’s

Crime Novel

Second Story Man

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/12-inside-emotion-of-fiction-charles.html

013 01 23 2019 Alexis Fancher’s

Flash Fiction

His Full Attention

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/13-inside-emotion-of-fiction-alexis.html

014 01 27 2019 Brian L Tucker’s

Young Adult/Historical

POKEWEED: AN ILLUSTRATED NOVELLA

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/14-inside-emotion-of-fiction-brian-l.html

015 01 31 2019 Robin Tidwell’s

Dystopian

Reduced

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/15-inside-emotion-of-ficton-reduced-by.html

016 02 07 2019 J.D. Trafford’s

Legal Fiction/Mystery

Little Boy Lost

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/16-inside-emotion-of-fiction-little-boy.html

017 02 08 2019 Paula Shene’s

Young Adult ScieFi/Fantasy/Romance/Adventure

My Quest Begins

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/017-inside-emotion-of-fiction-my-quest.html

018 02 13 2019 Talia Carner’s

Mainstream Fiction/ Suspense/ Historical

Hotel Moscow

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/18-inside-emotion-of-fiction-talia.html

019 02 15 2019 Rick Robinson’s

Multidimensional Fiction

Alligator Alley

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/19-inside-emotion-of-fiction-rick.html

020 02 21 2019 LaVerne Thompson’s

Urban Fantasy

The Soul Collectors

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/20-inside-emotion-of-fictions-soul.html

021 02 27 2019 Marlon L Fick’s

Post-Colonialist Novel

The Nowhere Man

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/21-inside-emotion-of-fictions-nowhere.html

022 03 02 2019 Carol Johnson’s

Mainstream Novel

Silk And Ashes

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/22-inside-emotion-of-fictions-silk-and.html

023 03 06 2019 Samuel Snoek-Brown’s

Short Story Collection

There Is No Other Way to Worship Them

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/23-inside-emotion-of-fictions-there-is.html

024 03 08 2019 Marlin Barton’s

Short Story Collection

Pasture Art

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/24-inside-emotion-of-fictions-pasture.html

025 03 18 2019 Laura Hunter’s

Historical Fiction

Beloved Mother

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/25-inside-emotion-of-fictions-beloved.html

026 03 21 2019 Maggie Rivers’s

Romance

Magical Mistletoe

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/26-inside-emotion-of-fictions-magical.html

027 03 25 2019 Faith Gibson’s

Paranormal Romance

Rafael

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/27-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rafael-by.html

028 03 27 2019 Valerie Nieman’s

Tall Tale

To The Bones

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/28-inside-emotion-of-fictions-to-bones.html

029 04 04 2019 Betty Bolte’s

Paranormal Romance

Veiled Visions of Love

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/29-inside-emotion-of-fictions-veiled.html

030 04 05 2019 Marianne Maili’s

Tragicomedy

Lucy, go see

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/30-inside-emotion-of-fictions-lucy-go.html

031 04 10 2019 Gregory Erich Phillips’s

Mainstream Fiction

The Exile

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/31-inside-emotion-of-fictions-exile-by.html

032 04 15 2019 Jason Ament’s

Speculative Fiction

Rabid Dogs

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/32-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rabid.html

033 04 24 2019 Stephen P. Keirnan’s

Historical Novel

The Baker’s Secret

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/33-inside-emotion-of-fictions-bakers.html

034 05 01 2019 George Kramer’s

Fantasy

Arcadis: Prophecy Book

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/34-inside-emotion-of-fictions-arcadis.html

035 05 05 2019 Erika Sams’s

Adventure/Fantasy/Romance

Rose of Dance

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/35-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rose-of.html

036 05 07 2019 Mark Wisniewski’s

Literary Fiction

Watch Me Go

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/36-inside-emotion-of-fictions-watch-me.html

037 05 08 2019 Marci Baun’s

Science Fiction/Horror

The Whispering House

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/37-inside-emotion-of-fictions.html

038 05 10 2019 Suzanne M. Wolfe’s

Historical Fiction

Murder By Any Name

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/38-inside-emotion-of-fictions-murder-by.html

039 05 12 2019 Edward DeVito’s

Historical/Fantasy

The Woodstock Paradox

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/39-inside-emotion-of-fictions-woodstock.html

040 05 14 2019 Gytha Lodge’s

Literary/Crime

She Lies In Wait

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/40-inside-emotion-of-fictions-she-lies.html

041 05 16 2019 Kari Bovee’s

Historical Fiction/Mystery

Peccadillo At The Palace: An Annie Oakley Mystery

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/41-inside-emotion-of-fictions.html

042 05 20 2019 Annie Seaton’s

Time Travel Romance

Follow Me

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/42-inside-emotion-of-fictions-follow-me.html

043 05 22 2019 Paula Rose Michelson’s

Inspirational Christian Romance

Rosa & Miguel – Love’s Legacy: Prequel to The Naomi

Chronicles

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/43-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rosa.html

044 05 24 2019 Gracie C McKeever’s

BDMS/Interracial Romance

On The Edge

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/44-inside-emotion-of-fictions-on-edge.html

045 06 03 2019 Micheal Maxwell’s

Mystery

The Soul of Cole

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/45-inside-emotion-of-fictions-soul-of.html

046 06 04 2019 Jeanne Mackin’s

Historical

The Last Collection: A Novel of Elsa Schiaparelli and

Coco Chanel

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/46-inside-emotion-of-fictions-last.html

047 06 07 2019 Philip Shirley’s

Suspense/Thriller

The Graceland Conspiracy

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/47-inside-emotion-of-fictions-graceland.html

048 06 08 2019 Bonnie Kistler’s

Domestic Suspense

The House on Fire

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/48-inside-emotion-of-fictions-house-on.html

049 06 13 2019 Barbara Taylor Sissel’s

Domestic Suspense/Family Drama

Tell No One

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/049-inside-emotion-of-fictions-tell-no.html

050 06 18 2019 Charles Salzberg’s

Short Story/ Crime Fiction

“No Good Deed” from Down to the River

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/50-inside-emotion-of-fictions-no-good.html

051 06 19 2019 Rita Dragonette’s

Historical Fiction

The Fourteenth of September

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/51-inside-emotion-of-fictions.html

052 06 20 2019 Nona Caspers’s

Literary Novel/Collage

The Fifth Woman

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/52-inside-emotion-of-fictions-fifth.html

053 06 26 2019 Jeri Westerson’s

Paranormal Romance

Shadows in the Mist

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/53-inside-emotion-of-fictions-shadows.html

054 06 28 2019 Brian Moreland’s

Horror

The Devil’s Woods

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/54-inside-emotion-of-fictions-devils.html

055 06 29 2019 Rebecca Gomez Farrell’s

Epic Fantasy

Wings Unseen

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/55-inside-emotion-of-fiction-wings.html

056 07 02 2019 Randee Green’s

Mystery Novel

Criminal Misdeeds

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/56-inside-emotion-of-fiction-criminal.html

057 07 03 2019 Saralyn Richard’s

Mystery Novel

Murder In The One Percent

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/57-inside-emotion-of-fiction-murder-in.html

#058 07 04 2019 Hannah Mary McKinnon’s

Domestic Suspense

Her Secret Son

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/58-inside-emotion-of-fiction-her-secret.html

#059 07 05 2019 Sonia Saikaley’s

Contemporary Women’s Literature

The Allspice Bath

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/59-inside-emotion-of-fiction-allspice.html

#060 07 09 2019 Olivia Gaines’s

Romance Suspense Serial

Blind Luck

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/60-inside-emotion-of-fiction-blind-luck.html

#061 07 11 2019 Anne Raeff’s

Literary Fiction

Winter Kept Us Warm

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/061-inside-emotion-of-fiction-winter.html

#062 07 12 2918 Vic Sizemore’s

Literary Fiction-Short Stories

I Love You I’m Leaving

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/62-inside-emotion-of-fiction-i-love-you.html

#063 07 13 2019 Deborah Riley Magnus’s

Dark Paranormal Urban Fantasy

THE ORPHANS BOOK ONE: THE LOST RACE

TRILOGY

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/f063-inside-emotion-of-fiction-orphans.html

#064 07 14 2019 Elizabeth Bell’s

Historical Fiction

NECESSARY SINS

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/064-inside-emotion-of-fiction-necessary.html

#065 07 15 2019 Lori Baker Martin’s

Literary Novel

BITTER WATER

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/065-inside-emotion-of-fiction-bitter.html

#066 08 01 2019 Sabine Chennault’s

Historical Novel

THE CORPSMAN’S WIFE

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/66-inside-emotion-of-fictions-corpsmans.html

#067 08 02 2019 Margaret Porter’s

Historical Biographical Fiction

BEAUTIFUL INVENTION: A NOVEL OF HEDY LAMARR

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/67-inside-emotion-of-fictions-beautiful.html

#068 08 04 2019 Hank Phillippi Ryan’s

Suspense

THE MURDER LIST

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/68-inside-emotion-of-fictions-murder.html

069 08 08 2019 Diana Y. Paul’s

Literary Mainstream Fiction

THINGS UNSAID

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/69-inside-emotion-of-fictions-things.html

070 08 10 2019 Phyllis H. Moore’s

Women’s Historical Fiction

BIRDIE & JUDE

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/70-inside-emotion-of-fiction-birdie.html

071 08 11 2019 Sara Dahmen’s

Historical Fiction

TINSMITH 1865

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/71-inside-emotion-of-fiction-tinsmith.html

072 08 19 2019 Carolyn Breckinridge’s

Short Story Collection

KALIEDESCOPE & OTHER STORIES

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/72-inside-emotion-of-fictions.html

073 08 21 2019 Alison Ragsdale’s

Emotional Women’s Fiction

THE ART OF REMEMBERING

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/73-inside-emotion-of-fiction-art-of.html

074 08 22 2019 Lee Matthew Goldberg’s

Suspense Thriller

THE DESIRE CARD

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/74-inside-emotion-of-fictions-desire.html

075 08 23 2019 Jonathan Brown’s

Mystery/Amateur P.I.

THE BIG CRESCENDO

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/75-inside-emotion-of-fictions-big.html

076 09 02 2019 Chera Hammons Miller’s

Literary Fiction w/ suspense, concern with animals & land management

Monarchs of the Northeast Kingdom

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/76-inside-emotion-of-fictions-monarchs.html

077 09 09 019 Joe William Taylor’s

Literary Mystery

The Theoretics of Love

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/77-inside-emotion-of-fiction-theoretics.html

078 09 15 2019 Linda Hughes’s

Romantic Suspense

Secret of the Island

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/78-inside-emotion-of-fiction-secrets-of.html

079 09 19 2019 Max Elliot Anderson’s

Middle Grade Adventure/Mystery

Snake Island

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/79-inside-emotion-of-fiction-snake.html

080 09 22 2019 Danny Adams’s

Science Fiction

Dayworld: A Hole In Wednesday

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/80-inside-emotion-of-fiction-dayworld.html

081 09 24 2019 Arianna Dagnino’s

Social/Historical/Adventure

The Afrikaner

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/81-inside-emotion-of-fiction-afrikaner.html

082 09 29 2019 Lawrence Verigin’s

Thriller/Suspense

Seed of Control

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/82-inside-emotion-of-fiction-seed-of.html

083 10 05 2019 Emma Khoury’s

Fantasy

The Sword And Shield

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/83-inside-emotion-of-fiction-sword-and.html

#084 10 07 2019 Steve McManus’s

Mystery/Suspense/Thriller

SEVEN DEVILS

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/84-inside-emotion-of-fiction-seven.html

#085 10 08 2019 Sheila Lowe’s

Mystery/Psychological/Suspense with Scientific Bent

PROOF OF LIVE

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/085-inside-emotion-of-fiction-proof-of.html

#086 10 10 2019 Jess Neal Woods’s

Historical Fiction

THE PROCESS OF FRAYING

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/86-inside-emotion-of-fiction-process-of.html

#087 10 11 2019 Karen Odden’s

Historical Suspense

A TRACE OF DECEIT

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/87-inside-emotion-of-fiction-trace-of.html

#88 10 14 2019 Kate Maruyama’s

Love, Loss & Supernatural

“HARROWGATE”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/88-inside-emotion-of-fiction-harrowgate.html

#89 10 17 2019 Sherry Harris’s

Mystery

“LET’S FAKE A DEAL”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/89-inside-emotion-of-fiction-lets-fake.html

#90 10 18 2019 Linda Mooney’s

Science Fiction Apocalyptic/ Post Apocalyptic

“THE TRUNK”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/90-inside-emotion-of-fiction-trunk-by.html

#91 10 19 2019 Jayne Martin’s

Flash Fiction Short Story Collection

“TENDER CUTS”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/91-inside-emotion-of-fiction-tender.html

#92 10 22 2019 Janice Cole Hopkins’s

Inspirational Romance

“IT ALL STARTED AT THE MASQUERADE”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/92-inside-emotion-of-fiction-it-all.html

#93 10 29 2019 Kristi Petersen Schoonover’s

Short Story Collection

“THE SHADOWS BEHIND”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/93-inside-emotion-of-fiction-shadows.html

#94 11 01 2019 David Henry Sterry’s

Fiction: Sexual Violence

“THE TENDERLOIN WARS”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/94-inside-emotion-of-fiction-tenderloin.html

#95 11 03 2019 Jay Requard’s

Dark Fantasy/Horror

“DEATH & DUST: THE PALE SAND ADVENTURES”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/95-inside-emotion-of-fiction-death-dust.html

#96 11 04 2019 Caroline Leavitt’s

Fiction

“WITH OR WITHOUT YOU”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/96-inside-emotion-of-fiction-with-or.html

#97 11 06 2019 Kelsey Clifton’s

Science Fiction

“A DAY OUT OF TIME”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/97-inside-emotion-of-fiction-day-out-of.html

#098 11 13 2019 John F Allen’s

Urban Fantasy Tale

“The God Killers’
https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/98-inside-emotion-of-fiction-god.html

#99 11 16 2019 Damian McNicholl’s

Historical Novel

“The Moment of Truth”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/99-inside-emotion-of-fiction-moment-of.html

#100 11 19 2019 Stacia Levy’s

Mystery/Suspense Novel

“Girl Crush”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/100-inside-emotion-of-fiction-girl.html

#101 11 24 2019 Charlotte Morgan’s

Fiction Novel

“Protecting Elvis”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/101-inside-emotion-of-fiction.html

#102 11 26 2019 T. L. Moore’s

Children’s Christian Fiction

“Ed On My Shoulder: Maria & The Candy Trail”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/102-inside-emotion-of-fiction-ed-on-my.html

#103 11 27 2019 Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg’s

Coming of Age Literary Novel

The Nine

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/103-inside-emotion-of-fiction-nine-by.html

#104 11 29 2019 Charlotte Blackwell’s

Adult Paranormal

“MYSTIC EMBRACE”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/104-inside-emotion-of-fiction-mystic.html

#105 12 07 2019 Mike Burrell’s

Satire Novel

“THE LAND OF GRACE”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/105-inside-emotion-of-fiction-land-of.html

#106 12 09 2019 Phil McCarron’s

Screenplay

“Escapement”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/106-inside-emotion-of-fiction.html

#107 12 11 2019 Wendy H. Jones’s

Crime Fiction/Police Procedural Novel

“KILLER’S COUNTDOWN”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/107-inside-emotion-of-fiction-killers.html

#108 12 13 2019 Sandra Arnold’s

Historical Literary Fiction

“The Ash, the Well and the Blue Bell”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/1

8-inside-emotion-of-fiction-ash-well.html

#109 12 16 2019 Amalia Carosella’s

Historical/Contemporary/Duel Timeline/ Women’s

Fiction

“DAUGHTER OF A THOUSAND YEARS”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/109-inside-emotion-of-fiction-daughter_17.html

#110 12 19 2019 Laura Bickle’s

Weird Western/Contemporary Fantasy

“DARK ALCHEMY”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/110-inside-emotion-of-fiction-dark.html

#111 12 27 2019 Brian Pinkerton’s

Science Fiction Thriller

“THE GEMINI EXPERIMENT”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/111-inside-emotion-of-fiction-gemini.html

#112 12 28 2019 Sandra de Helen’s

Lesbian Thriller

“TILL DARKNESS COMES”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/112-inside-emotion-of-fiction-till.html

#113 12 29 2019 Jo Wilde’s

Vampire Thriller

“THE CROSSING”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/113-inisde-emotion-of-fiction-crossing.html

#114 12 30 2019 Sam Richard’s

Short Story Collection of Weird and Transgressive

Horror

“To Wallow In Ash and Sorrows”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/114-inside-emotion-of-fiction-to-wallow.html

#115 12 31 2019 Duncan B Barlow’s

Literary Fiction Novel

“A DOG BETWEEN US”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/12/inside-emotion-of-fiction-dog-between.html

#116 01 02 2020 Allison Landa’s

Young Adult Novel

“BAD HAIR”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/116-inside-emotion-of-fiction-bad-hair.html

#117 01 03 2020 Pablo Medina’s

Literary Satire Novel

“THE CUBAN COMEDY”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/117-inside-emotion-of-fiction-cuban.html

#118 01 06 2020 William Trent Pancoast’s

Historical/Literary Novel

“THE ROAD TO MATEWAN”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/118-inside-emotion-of-fiction-road-to.html

#119 01 07 2020 Jane Bernstein’s

Contemporary Novel

“The Face Tells the Secret”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/119-inside-emotion-of-fiction-face.html

#120 01 09 2020 Terry Kroenung’s

Young Adult, Historical and Fantasy

“Brimstone And Lily”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/120-inside-emotion-of-fiction-brimstone.html

#121 01 12 2020 Melissa Yi’s

Fiction Thriller

“GRAVEYARD SHIFT”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/121-inside-emotion-of-fiction-melissa.html

#122 01 15 2020 Marcie R. Rendon’s

Crime Thriller

“GIRL GONE MISSING”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/122-inside-emotion-of-fiction-girl-gone.html

#123 01 16 2020 Tori Eldridge’s

Multi Genre Novel

“THE NINJA DAUGHTER”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/123-inside-emotion-of-fiction-ninja.html

#124 01 17 2020 Kristen Joy Wilks’s

Christian Romantic Comedy

“YELLOWSTONE YONDERING”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/124

inside-emotion-of-fiction.html

#125 01 20 2020 Susan C. Shea’s

Cozy Mystery

“DRESSED FOR DEATH IN BURGUNDY”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/125-inside-emotion-of-fiction-dressed.html

#126 01 22 2020 Phong Nguyen’s

Improvisational Fiction

“ROUDABOUT”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/126-inside-emotion-of-fiction.html

#127 01 23 2020 Kate Thornton’s

Mystery Short Story In Its Entirety

“Ai Witness”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/127-inside-emotion-of-fiction-ai.html

#128 01 24 2020 Phil McCarron’s

Semi Fictional Essays

“The Great Facepalm: The Farce of 21^st Century

Normality”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/128-inside-emotion-of-fiction-great.html

#129 01 27 2020 Kenneth Weene’s

Historicized Literary Fiction

“Red And White”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/129-inside-emotion-of-fiction-red-and.html

#130 01 28 2020 Graham Storrs’s

Science Fiction Thriller

“TimeSplash”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com

/2020/01/130-inside-emotion-of-fiction.html

#131 02 08 2020 Angela Slatter’s

Short Story “Terrible As An Army With Banners”

From her Short Story Collection THE BITTERWOOD BIBLE AND OTHER RECOUNTINGS

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/02/131-inside-emotion-of-fiction-terrible.html

#132 02 11 2020 Joan Joachim’s

Romance

Just One Kiss

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/02/132-inside-emotion-of-fiction-just-one.html

#133 02 16 2020 Kelsey Clifton’s

Science Fiction

A DAY OUT OF TIME

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/02/133-inside-emotion-of-fiction-day-out.html

#134 02 17 2020 Soraya M Lane’s

Women Historical Fiction

THE GIRLS OF PEARL HARBOR

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/02/134-inside-emotion-of-fiction-girls-of.html

#135 03 07 2020

Linked Fiction

BLEACHERS Fifty-Four Linked Fictions

By Joseph Mills

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/03/135-inside-emotion-of-fiction-bleachers.html

#136 03 15 2020

Science Fiction Romance

BLUE VISION

By Marie Lavender

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/03/136-inside-emotion-of-fiction-blue.html

#137 03 17 2020

Crime Fiction

12 Bullets

by O’Neil De Noux

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/03/137-inside-emotion-of-fiction-12.html

#138 03 18 2020

Flash Fiction Piece

Radical

by Kelle Grace Gaddis

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/03/138-inside-emotion-of-fiction-radical.html

#139 03 20 2020

Mystery

HERE BE MONSTERS

By Jamie Sheffield

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/03/139-inside-emotion-of-fiction-here-be.html

#140 03 21 2020

Character Driven Novel

UNBROKEN

By Jamie Lisa Forbes

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/03/140-inside-emotion-of-fiction-unbroken.html

#141 03 23 2020

Literary Murder Mystery

COLD COUNTRY

By Russell Rowland

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/03/141-inside-emotion-of-fiction-cold.html

#142 04 01 2020

Sci-Fi/Paranormal

SWEET SLEEP

By Kim Cormack

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/142-inside-emotion-of-fiction-sweet.html

#143 04 02 2020

Western Noir Short Story

“Night Rounds”

by James Reasoner

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/143-inside-emotion-of-fiction-night.html

#144 04 03 2020

Southern Fiction

LITTLE TEA

By Claire Fullerton

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/144-inside-emotion-of-fiction-little.html

#145 04 04 2020

Mainstream novel with elements of crime, mystery, and magic

THE FORGETTING FLOWER
by Karen Hugg

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/145-inside-emotion-of-fiction.html

#146 04 07 2020

Historical Fiction

MEDICIS DAUGHTER

by Sophie Perinot

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/146-inside-emotion-of-fiction-medicis.html

#147 04 08 2020

Dark Urban Fantasy with elements of Paranormal Romance

COVEN BORN

by Stephanie Reisner aka AUDREY BRICE

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/147-inside-emotion-of-fiction-coven.html

#148 04 13 2020

Mystery With A Fantasy Twist

DEATH LIVES IN THE WATER

By Shoshana Edwards

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/148-inside-emotion-of-fiction-death.html

#149 04 14 2020

Historical Fiction

ASHES

by Sharon Glogal Friedman

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/149-inside-emotion-of-fiction-ashes-by.html

#150 04 19 2020

Vampire Horror Novelette

Blood Thrasher: The Devil’s in the Metal

by Adam Messer

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/adam

messers-blood-thrasher-devils-in.html

#151 04 25 2020

Historical Fiction

Charis in the World of Wonders

by Marly Youmans

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/marly-youmans-charis-in-world-of.html

#152 04 29 2020

Historical Fiction

The Master of Verona

by David Blixt

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/david-blixts-master-of-verona-is-152-in.html

#153 04 30 2020

General Fiction (Family)

Bread Bags & Bullies: Surviving the 80s

by Steven Manchester

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/04/steven-manchesters-bread-bags-bullies.html

#154 05 01 2020

Adventure-Thriller/Horror

Into The Ashes

by Lee Murray

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/05/lee-murrays-into-ashes-is-154-in-never.html

#155 05 06 2020

Coming of Age/Crime Novel

All Things Left In The Wild

by James Wade

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/05/james-wades-all-things-left-in-wild-is.html

#156 05 10 2020

Paranormal Mystery

Southern Bound

by Stuart Jaffe

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/05/stuart-jaffes-southern-bound-is-156-in.html

#157 05 13 2020

Mystery/Crime Novel

Yardbird

By Mark Slade

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/05/mark-slades-yardbird-is-157-in-never.html

#158 05 15 2020

Horror/Crime Novel

Hotel Nowhere

By David E Adkins

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/05/david-e-adkinss-hotel-nowhere-is-158-in.html

#159 05 16 2020

Satire/Crime Novel

THE LYING BASTARD

by Clint Margrave

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/05/clint-margraves-lying-bastard-is-159-in.html

#160 05 19 2020

Southern Gothic Fiction

REVIVING THE HAWTHORN SISTERS

by Emily Carpenter

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/05/emily-carpenters-reviving-hawthorn.html

#161 05 21 2020

Women’s Domestic Life Fiction

MERCY HOUSE

by Alena Dillon

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/05/alena-dillons-mercy-house-is-161-in.html

#162 05 26 2020

Screenplay/Film

BEAST MODE

by Drew Fortune and Spain Willingham

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/05/drew-fortunes-and-spain-willinghams_26.html

#163 05 31 2020

Coming of Age/ Psychological Thriller

MY SISTER & OTHER LIARS

by Ruth Dugdall

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/05/ruth-dugdalls-my-sister-and-other-liars.html

#164 06 01 2020

Psychological Thriller

IN HARM’S WAY

by Owen Mullen

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/06/owen-mullens-in-harms-way-is-164-in.html

#165 06 02 2020

Small Town Short Story Collection

SNAPSHOT “Old Lady”

by Eliot Parker

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/06/eliot-parkers-old-lady-from-snapshots.html

#166 06 04 2020

Noir Crime Novel

SKIN OF TATTOOS

by Christina Hoag

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/06/christina-hoags-skin-of-tattoos-is-166.html

#167 06 06 2020

Coming of Age/Historical

THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR

by Ellen Marie Wiseman

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/06/ellen-marie-wisemans-orphan-collector.html

#168 06 08 2020

World War Two Historical Fiction

THE PRISONER’S WIFE

by Maggie Brookes

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/06/maggie-brookess-prisoners-wife-is-168.html

#169 06 09 2020

Novella

(about the 1960s,

Rolling Stones in their exile,

genocide, it’s survivors, and

people from places that no longer exist.)

BLUE COAST MYSTERY: ALMOST SOLVED

by Nick Sweeney

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/06/nick-sweeneys-blue-coast-mystery-almost.html

#170 06 11 2020

Family Life/Coming of Age Novel

THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAME HELL

by Robert Dugoni

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/06/robert-dugonis-extraordinary-life-of.html

#171 06 26 2020

Women’s Divorce Fiction

QUEEN OF THE OWLS

by Barbara Linn Probst

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/06/barbara-linn-probsts-queen-of-owls-is.html

#172 07 01 2020

Short Story “The Belindas” from the Short Story Collection LOVE WAR STORIES

By Ivelisse Rodriguez

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/07/ivelisse-rodriguezs-short-story.html

#173 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

07 04 2020

Organized Crime Thriller

BLUES IN THE DARK

by Raymond Benson

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/07/raymond-bensons-blues-in-dark-is-173-in.html

#174 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

07 08 2020

Contemporary Literature & Fiction

THE ESCAPE OF MALCOLM POE

by Allison Burnett

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/07/allison-burnetts-escape-of-malcolm-poe.html

#175 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

07 09 2020

Horror Novella

TERMINUS STATION

by Jeff Lyons

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/07/jeff-lyonss-terminus-station-is-175-in.html

#176 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

07 12 2020

20^th Century Historical Romance

“The Bootlegger’s Wife”

by Denise Devine

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/07/chris-rice-cooper-blog-176-inside.html

#177 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

07 24 2020

Literary Fiction Novel

“What Drives Men”

by Susan Tepper

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/07/susan-teppers-what-drives-men-is-177-in.html

#178 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

07 27 2020

Short story

“Tidings of Comfort and Joyce”

by Kimberly Kurth Gray

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/07/kimberly-kurth-grays-short-story.html

#179 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

07 28 2020

Historical Fiction

“Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey”

by Kathleen Rooney

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/07/kathleen-rooneys-cher-ami-and-major.html

#180 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

08 04 2020

Screenplay

“BUNNY”

by Shaun Hughes

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/08/director-shaun-hughess-screenplay-bunny.html

#181 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

08 09 2020

Short Story

“Wrong Road” from the Short Story Collection George’s Mother and Other Weird Stories

by Susan Berliner

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/08/susan-berliners-short-story-wrong-road.html

#182 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

08 11 2020

Thriller Mystery

“Death in the Time of Ice”

by Kaye George

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/08/kaye-georges-death-in-time-of-ice-is.html

#183 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

08 13 2020

Screenplay

“Igor and Frankie”

by Jim Picariello

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/08/jim-picariellos-screenplay-igor-and.html

#184 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

08 14 2020

Short Story

Short Story “Breaking on the Wheel” from the Short Story Collection No Call Too Small.

by Oscar Martens

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/08/oscar-martenss-short-story-breaking-on.html

#185 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

08 20 2020

Romance

A Secret, a Safari, a Second Chance

by Liz Fielding

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/08/liz-feldings-secret-safari-second.html

#186 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

Mystery and Psychological Fiction

Falling Woman

by Richard Farrell

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/08/richard-farrells-falling-woman-is-186.html

#187 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

Children’s Picture Book

MAC AND CHEESE AND THE PERSONAL SPACE INVADER

By Jolene Gutierrez

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/09/jolene-gutierrezs-mac-and-cheese-and.html

#188 Inside the Emotion of Fiction

Screenplay

JUDE COLE

By Janelle Marie Evans

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/09/janelle-evanss-screenplay-jude-cole-is.html

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Ruth Weinstein’s BACK TO THE LAND: ALLIANCE COLONY TO THE OZARKS IN FOUR GENERATIONS is #006 in the never-ending series called THE MAGNIFICATION OF ONE MEMORY IN MEMOIR.

Chris Rice Cooper

caccoop@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

**Some of the links will have to be copied and then posted in your search engine in order to pull up properly

***The CRC Blog welcomes submissions from published and unpublished memoir writers for THE MAGNIFICATION OF ONE MEMORY IN MEMOIR. Contact CRC Blog via email at caccoop@aol.com or personal Facebook messaging at https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

****Ruth Weinstein’s BACK TO THE LAND: ALLIANCE COLONY TO THE OZARKS IN FOUR GENERATIONS is #006 in the never-ending series called THE MAGNIFICATION OF ONE MEMORY IN MEMOIR. All THE MAGNIFICATION OF ONE MEMORY IN MEMOIR links are at the end of this piece.

Name of memoir? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? BACK TO THE LAND: ALLIANCE COLONY TO THE OZARKS IN FOUR GENERATIONS. My first choice for a title was even longer, something like FROM THE SHTETLS OF KIEV TO THE ARKANSAS OZARKS IN FOUR GNERATIONS: A SUMMER KID’S LOVE LETTER TO THE ALLIANCE COLONY. My cousin Bob, also a writer, urged a shorter title while I might have foolishly gone on for another sentence to convey the whole breadth of the book in the title.

Has this been published? If yes, what publisher and what publication date? The book was published by the South Jersey Culture & History Center Regional Press for the Alliance Heritage Center at Stockton University in Galloway, New Jersey in February 2020. Very unfortunate timing—launching right at the beginning of the pandemic!

https://stockton.edu/sjchc/

What is the description of this memoir? BACK TO THE LAND is a hybrid genre with memoir at its core. It is part history—both of Jewish immigration to the United States and my mother’s family history. The peak period of Jewish immigration to the United States occurred from about 1880 to 1920, when Jews of the Russian Empire, also known as the Pale of Settlement, fled Czarist pogroms in huge numbers.

Early in that wave of emigration, my mother’s paternal and maternal grandparents left what was really Ukraine and settled in rural Southern New Jersey. My grandfather’s parents came in 1882 and, along with forty-two other Russian-Jewish immigrant families, established The Alliance Colony (http://alliancecolony.com/),
which has ever since been known as America’s first successful Jewish agricultural community. My grandmother came as a teenager with her parents around the turn of the century. My grandfather was born in 1883 and became an all-American country boy.

I call the book a memoir because after summarizing the historical background, I connect the dots for the reader to see how I hearkened back to my mother’s family’s rural roots, when in 1976, my husband and I moved, as hippie back-to-the-landers, to the Arkansas Ozarks, where we have lived ever since on the same forty-acre piece of land. My summers in that community. from my birth in 1941 to 1959. imprinted me with an indelible ink and “wrote” countless memories that helped to shape who I have become.

What is the date you began writing this memoir and the date when you completed the memoir? I consider the summer of 2012 the formal beginning of this memoir though in one way or another I have been writing parts of it nearly my entire life (elementary school compositions on “how I spent my summer vacation,” poems over the years, an attempt at an autobiographical novel in the 1980s—I still have this and cannot bring myself to use the handwritten pages as fire starters).

My beloved older brother—indeed my sole sibling—died in the spring of 2012, seven years after a bicycling accident turned him instantly into a tetraplegic (the linguistically and medically correct term for what most of us call a quadriplegic). Throughout his illness and after his death I kept a small photograph from the summer of 1943 by my bedside. At that time, I wrote about this photo as my personal family and spiritual icon. In the photo I am a two-year old child in the center of the composition, surrounded by relatives and family friends, all of us either in or hanging onto a huge truck tire inner tube floating in the shallow waters of the Maurice (pronounced Morris) River in southern New Jersey. My brother, Mickey—seven years older than I—is piloting the tube.

During this period, however, I wrote sporadically, desultorily—with no image in my mind of a fully formed memoir. In the summer of 2018, I returned to the community of my ancestors and my youthful summers for the 136^th reunion of the founding of the community. Upon receiving the invitation to the reunion, I made a commitment to myself to pull together the disparate pieces I had already written and to complete a cohesive memoir within a year and a half.

I completed the first draft, I believe, in early in 2019 and sent it to my editor, Thomas Kinsella, professor of literature, the Samuel and Elizabeth Levin Director of the Alliance Heritage Center, and the Director of the South Jersey Culture & History Center Regional Press at Stockton University. We—Tom, his student interns, the graphic arts designer there, and I—had an edited, formatted first edition of it, complete with photographs later that same year.

Where did you do most of your writing for this memoir? And please describe in detail. In the summers and early autumns of 2018 and 2019, I wrote at the table on our screened-in porch where large white oak trees and a bamboo grove shelter the house and porch from the western sun and where a breeze usually blows. I can gaze out at our kitchen garden in a forest clearing. Birds sing from pre-dawn until past dusk. My laptop stays on the table until shared mealtime when I move it. If I am having breakfast alone, I leave it in place and maybe write a bit. Mostly I manage to write in the evenings and often into the summer nights listening to the whippoorwills, while sipping on a cool drink.

As summer winds on and the weather becomes unpleasantly hot, the air becomes drought-dusty and my gardening chores are a little less demanding, sometimes in the late afternoon, I get time to do yoga on the porch and go back and forth between my yoga mat and the laptop. Somehow, if I fully submit to the power of yoga to quiet my mind and relax my body, a particular phrase, sentence or even more developed idea will pop into my head. As I am writing the answer to this question—in July of 2020, it is 8 p.m., and I am hearing the most amazing birdsongs and calls as the birds settle in their nests—on branches and the interwoven bamboo branch perches—and twitter themselves to sleep.

However, when the weather turns cold, I write at the dining table in our open-floor plan main room, warmed by the wood stove. If it’s very cold, I might carry the laptop to the sleeping loft, which is now our guest “room,” and write there.

What were your writing habits while writing this memoir- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? When I was doing a lot of research about previous attempts to establish Jewish farming communities or the Alliance Colony history and writing the historical sections of the book, I wrote my notes on paper, so summer or winter I had pieces of paper, tablets, notebooks, textbooks everywhere, outside in the summer, inside in the winter.

When I write prose, it’s strictly on my laptop although I do write phrases or notes as they occur to me on scraps of paper or in notebooks. This somewhat depends upon how close I am to my laptop or what is most convenient at the moment. I’ve already discussed location and times when I can find moments or hours for writing.

My other writing habits also vary with the seasons. In cold weather, if I can tune in classical music on the radio, I will listen to it as I write and maybe sip some red wine or hot herbal tea. If I can’t get the classical station to come in clearly, I sometimes turn on the public television CREATE channel and pay subliminal attention to the cooking shows—a sort of non-caloric, comfort-food-binge, which helps me to keep track of time for purposes of medication and feeding our sourdough starter or other domestic chores that require a schedule. My husband works four days a week with two overnights and gets home late at night the other two nights, so this is the quietest time for me to write.

How do you define a memoir? And what makes a memoir different from an autobiography? This is such a juicy question. To me, an autobiography is a whole life story written by someone of significance who lived that particularly significant life and includes the first-hand factoids of that recorded life. On the other hand, a memoir is as much about the processes of remembering and a specific, precipitous event or cluster of events that compel the writer to want or to need to write about the significance of those events, factors, periods of time, or places that have shaped the writer’s subsequent life. However, I have read one or two of what I considered autobiographies published and sold as memoirs that left me wanting, probably because they contained, for me, too many details across the whole life and too little reflection and cogitation about the active process of memory, the part which really interests me.

Some memoirs focus on difficult, painful experiences and how the authors overcome enormous challenges. This is not my genre, neither to read nor to write, and so I resisted writing memoir for a long time. My memoir contains a few events that for a different writer, a different person may have assumed such a looming presence that they could have been made into turning points in that person’s life, but even the seemingly traumatic episodes in my first eighteen years neither scarred me nor shaped my life into something that required great courage to overcome.

Recent research into brain science sheds light on how memory works and how told memories change with each telling. This blending of memory with recreation and storytelling fascinates me. In the acknowledgments of my memoir, I apologize to any cousins whose memories of the time and shared experiences may have been different. I say that it is neither a work of fiction nor a lab report. Also, as I poet, I exist a lot of the time in my senses. Olfactory, auditory, kinesthetic-tactile, and visual stimuli awaken memory for me. So, at least in my hybrid-genre memoir these qualities are often what evoke memories and what makes them rich and valuable.

Out of all the specific memories you write about in this memoir, which ONE MEMORY was the most emotional for you to write about? And can you share that specific excerpt with us here. The excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer, and please provide page numbers as reference. This is the hardest question I have ever had to answer in reference to my writing. I have written at least two full answers and considered several others before deciding what really was the most emotional. I think it depends upon what kind of emotion; joyous memories are joyful to write about.

Since all my memories of that time and place are held within the photograph/personal talisman that I mentioned above, I have to talk about it a little more. The photo is a prism through which all those memories are refracted into a full spectrum of light. I do not, of course, remember that day because I was only two years old, but the photograph is endowed with countless formative memories for me. While it is a prism, it is also a magnifying lens, enlarging, casting light upon, bringing into focus so many memories of my time in that community as a child and teenager that I cannot simply and easily extract one. It is as if all my memories of then and there are condensed into one perfect crystalline drop. It is also a matryoshka doll, opening into another and another version of the teenager and child held within the main pictorial memory.

The span of human emotions captured in the picture and encapsulated in my memoir is vast: all the wonderful emotions of joy, love, security, curiosity, exploration, and happiness are wrapped up in the photo and book. You will also find anxiety, fear, pain, sorrow, loss, confusion, teenage sexual desire and awkwardness—all the universal emotions packaged in long passages of what my readers consider good writing. Even the difficult parts, however, were a delight to write, in a sense.

In the end, I chose a memory that is almost a cliché—or very universal—only the reader can judge that. The most emotional memory for me to write about was the disillusionment of young love which transpired via several incidents. I could have written about several aspects of my life during those years that left me with visceral, emotional memories. There is a two-page piece about my first kiss, which was so horribly embarrassing and humiliating at the time, but also after only a few years, funny. In my old age I see it as a stand-alone short story as hilarious as any contemporary teen rom com. It was fun to compose, but events with a different boy the next two summers can still make my heart ache more than sixty years after they occurred. I write about my awkward relationship—if it can even be called that with “The Boy”—in the context of coming of age in that little close-knit community that remains a special time and place to many, many people who spent significant parts of their lives there. I chronicle my history with “The Boy” throughout seventeen pages, from page 166 to page 183. So many events are braided tightly together, and many evoke excitement, nervousness, bewilderment over the powerful attraction he exerted over me, but the events that contributed to my disillusionment appear in pages 180 to 183.

The process of writing about it has also allowed me to finally develop a very mature sense of tenderness towards both that boy, with his Svengali ways, and poor teenaged me as the mesmerized, helpless Trilby. The raw and painful emotions that I felt when the particular interactions in which his unkind nature took place can still hit me in the pit of my stomach, tighten my chest, and bring tears to my eyes if I am in a fragile emotional state. I still think of him in the summertime when most of our “relationship” took place. In the interests of brevity, I will set the scenes and then quote short sections, but I describe this series of events in the passages between the last paragraph on the bottom of page 180 to the middle of the second of page 183.

In the fall of 1957, I had teacher in-service days off from school and my parents and I visited my grandfather so that they could help him with some official business and medical appointments. We had made arrangements with my cousin’s high school principal for me to attend classes with her.

(pp 80-81)

In the physical education class, a mixed volleyball game was in process, and both he (“The Boy”) and his girlfriend, whom my cousin had introduced me to in one their common classes, were playing. She was friendly and nice. He greeted me but minus the warmth of our summer greetings at the beach. I was not a good volleyball player and was a little worried about getting hit in the face with the ball and having my eyeglasses broken, which had happened during a gym class game at my own high school. BAM! Suddenly the ball he served hit me in the chest, knocking the wind out of me. I faked a quick, slick recovery, but the emotional pain, more than the physical sensation, was sharp, deep and cruel.

By my seventeenth summer, he came to the beach less frequently because he had a part-time job. His girlfriend was never at the beach, and I don’t remember her at parties. We danced together still but not as we had the previous summer. He was not at parties as frequently, and it seemed that the parties at Hirsch’s Hotel were also a less regular treat. I got other rides back to Pop’s after night-time events and stuck around the house more, reading my way through my English class’ summer reading list and extra books. The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, which fascinated me with its vivid descriptions of intrigue-ridden Renaissance Italy, was one I particularly remember from that time. The attitude of ambiguous belligerence the boy had developed toward me was not a constant, but it flared now and then and because there had never really developed a relationship with definable qualities between us, I could not ask him what was wrong. I got a glimmer of an idea at the beach one day that summer.

(pp 81-82)

From the center of the beach where the mass of kids congregated, I saw him talking to two girls who had spread their beach blanket off to the side. They were not known to anyone, but as I peered at them from my vantage point, I recognized them. They were friends from my high school in Philadelphia; we were classmates together in algebra class. So it was completely natural for me to walk over and say hi to them. The Boy, as I approached their blanket, asked what I was doing, why I was following him. His response angered me, and I told him not to flatter himself, that I had come over to greet my friends from school. I did not know that Joan and Bonnie had connections with Norma and was happy to see them, eager to introduce them, and to make plans for that night that would include them. … I still liked The Boy and felt the same powerful attraction, and given the chance, I probably would have been ready for more physical intimacy that summer, but suddenly there was a side of him that I did not like.

It was not that easy to shed my attachment to this powerful crush I had on him, and the feelings persisted for another year even though he gave me little enough upon which to pin my hopes. I sent him anonymous, sarcastic Valentine cards to vent my emotions. The last time I saw him in Norma was the summer of 1959 at the pavilion at the beach. I had graduated from high school in January of 1959 and had a job as a file clerk in a center-city insurance company until September when I matriculated at Temple University’s Teachers College. He graduated in June of 1959. … Nothing was the same. I was there with a cousin from Philadelphia to attend our Levin Cousins’ Club picnic. The Boy seemed pleased to see me. We talked for a while, danced there one last time, and then my cousin and I left.

I would never again spend time there in the same way that I had. Everything I knew and loved and identified as the framework of my life was coming to an end. My childhood summers in a twentieth-century, post-war, Jewish Acadia were over. A world of adult responsibilities awaited me. My summer romance had budded, bloomed, and withered but never bore fruit, leaving me no better prepared for the sexual revolution of the next decade than I had been for my teen years. Within a couple more years, my grandfather’s failing health and the need to sell his property to finance his last years cut me off forever from what I viewed as my personal, ancestral homeland. An amorphous, frightening world of multiple unknowns loomed ahead. I returned there in the 1960s for a couple of Levin Cousins Club picnics and my grandfather’s funeral in 1966. My father was buried in 1970, my mother in 1979. The unveiling of their headstones within the years of their respective deaths necessitated additional trips to the Alliance Cemetery where they are buried. In the 1990s returning from the New Jersey shore to their home in Maryland, my brother and sister-in-law and I made a side trip there to visit our family’s graves, drive past Pop’s place, and see the river. Until my pilgrimage in August of 2018, I did not return. By writing this memoir, I am actively engaging in laying most of my ghosts to rest.

Can you describe the step-by-step process of writing about this ONE MEMORY? Although there are probably inaccuracies to all my memories—from my childhood and teen years—I think I possess rather intact recollection of most of the events that occurred over those years. The organization of the memories of my personal story in the community known as Alliance/Norma, New Jersey was bound to be organized in a chronological and straight forward manner. Since my brother was seven years older than I, the anticipation of becoming a teenager and the social framework which I would enter was apparent and defined. I remember meeting The Boy and so many of our interactions as if it were yesterday. Writing about it, as I suggested, allows me to feel a tenderness towards both of us at the distance of all these years. Whereas other experiences and events, such as my first kiss, which I wrote about and titled “The Debacle on the Screen Porch,” required a fair amount of rewriting because I could see them—specifically “The Debacle on the Screen Porch”—as something I might submit to a publication as a stand-alone piece of writing, the ending of my romance with The Boy was simply the sad conclusion of an exciting, bewildering but very normal period in my life. Everyone has to be heartbroken in order to move on in life.

Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? There was no additional material in this passage of my memoir. It’s a brief passage describing a sad and confused transitional period of my life, similar to events and emotions felt by many girls and young women, even in today’s world. Although I did wind up having a relationship with him about six years later, I chose not to include it in the memoir because the relationship, which lasted about six months was mostly a long distance one sustained by letter writing (he was a great writer) and did not fall into the period covered by the memoir. The relationship in our mid-twenties ended unhappily as well. No one alive now whom we knew then ever knew about our affair.

Other works you have published? A couple of my poems have been published but thus far no other books.

Anything you would like to add? I would like to let your readers know how they can purchase my memoir, BACK TO THE LAND: ALLIANCE COLONY TO THE OZARKS IN FOUR GENERATIONS. While it is available through Amazon, I want to explain the unique arrangement Stockton University Press has with its authors. Because it is a small regional press, they have not paid me for the book; nor do they pay royalties; yet this is not a self-published book. Stockton provided all the editorial and publishing services that any commercial press supplies: a professional editor, a professional graphic artist, all the proof reading, editing, formatting and designing services. Had COVID-19 not have shut down the world in March of 2020, I would have gone to New Jersey on an all-expense paid (with generous honorarium) book tour. They were prepared to supply me with a certain number of books and have me keep all profits from the sales. Because that was cancelled due to COVID, we have made other arrangements. But I make no money through Amazon sales.

I, however, sell the book through my email address stillinthegarden20@gmail.com through which you can order copies of the book and pay via PayPal or credit or debit cards. The book is $17 per copy. Shipping is $4 per book. You can decide whether to get free Amazon Prime shipping and make Jeff Bezos richer or to support an independent writer and receive a signed copy. If you choose to order through my email address, make sure you include your name and address and the name(s) of the person(s) to whom you want me to inscribe the book. Thank you for your consideration of purchasing directly from me.

In a long-ago former life, Ruth Weinstein taught high school English in the Philadelphia public school system. She has also taught English as a Foreign Language in Japan two different times and taught English as a Second Language at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Her favorite outside work was as a VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) in her local community, teaching adult literacy, family literacy and English as a Second Language. In between two terms of service in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, she received grant funding to develop an early childhood literacy program which she administered through two local county public health units.

As a textile artist she has worked since the mid-1970s in various media: hand weaving, quilting, clothing design, and painted floor cloths. She was a recipient of an Arkansas Arts Council Traditional Artisan Teaching Grant in the 1980s. As a writer and historian in the mid-1990s, Ruth received an Arkansas Humanities Council grant to research and write a first draft monograph on the theme of cultures in contact about the in-migration of the back-to-the land movement in several Ozark counties. Recent academic publications still quote from this work.

The most important aspect of Ruth’s life since the early 1970s, however, has been organic gardening. She sees this as a matrix for every other creative endeavor in her life. She and her husband have lived on forty acres of Ozark woodland since 1976. Although they now expend their energy strictly on gardening, in the past they also raised dairy goats and chickens and plowed their garden with a burro. Thanks to a community of younger friends and neighbors who value Ruth and her husband as caring, supportive elders, she is confident that they will be able to live out their days on the land where they have transplanted themselves and grown deep roots.

Contact link for you?

Although I am attempting to develop a website, that is on the rear burner. For now, you can reach me (Ruth Weinstein) at stillinthegarden20@gmail.com

THE MAGNIFICATION OF ONE MEMORY IN MEMOIR links

001

03 18 2020

“Two Minus One”

by Kathryn Taylor

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/01/001-magnification-of-one-memory-in.html

002

03 19 2020

“HeartSnark”

by Terry Kroenung

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/03/002-magnification-of-one-memory-in.html

003

06 14 2020

“Good Cop, Bad Daughter – Memoirs of an Unlikely Police Officer”

by Karen Lynch

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/06/karen-lynchs-good-cop-bad-daughter.html

004

07 26 2020

“Dirty Shirt: a boundary waters memoir”

by Jim Landwehr

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/07/jim-landwehrs-dirty-shirt-boundary.html

005

08 12 2020

“Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism and Adoption”

by Ralph Savarese

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/08/ralph-savareses-reasonable-people.html

006

09 05 2020

“Back to the Land: Alliance Colony to the Ozarks in Four Generations”

by Ruth Weinstein

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/09/ruth-weinsteins-back-to-land-alliance.html

007

05 20 2021 "Twice A Daughter: A Search For Identity, Family, and Belonging
by Julie Ryan McGue

http://chrisricecooper.com/julie-ryan-mcgues-twice-a-daughter-a-search-for-identity-family-and-belonging-is-007-in-the-never-ending-series-called-the-magnification-of-one-memory-in-memoir/

#008 The Magnification of One Memory In Memoir: Vivian Conan’s “Losing the Atmosphere, A Memoir: A Baffling Disorder, a Search for Help, and the Therapist Who Understood”

http://chrisricecooper.com/008-the-magnification-of-one-memory-in-memoir-vivian-conans-losing-the-atmosphere-a-memoir-a-baffling-disorder-a-search-for-help-and-the-therapist-who-understood/

009 The Magnification of One Memory in Memoir: Erika Schickel’s THE BIG HURT

http://chrisricecooper.com/009-the-magnification-of-one-memory-in-memoir-erika-schickels-the-big-hurt/