Sunday Special Edition: My former private student hits again. Hurrah!
Isabelle B.L publishes Prickly Pears: A Collection of Short Fiction
Isabelle B.L, who studied creative writing privately, one-on-one with me and has been a close reader and commenter on all twenty lessons of “Write it! How to Get Started”: (Click ➡️for an intro to me and all the lessons) has published her second book.
Her first Jeanne The Woman in Red we celebrated here in her guest post:
Isabelle B.L: Guest Post
Welcome Isabelle B.L, who tells her story and a bit of mine, too. She’s extraordinarily talented and generous. So, with a salute to Isabelle B.L, here is her essay: My Writing Journey My writing journey began when my mother died in 2016. I poured my heart out on a writing platform. It came out as a lump of clay, a lump of truth a…
BTW, I invite all paid subscribers to do a guest post for me.
And do check out the collaborative site with the ever-brainy and prolific Sam Kahn who writes
and the lyrical, deep researcher . If you want to write for us, write me. All posts are free at:
One of the lovely pieces in Isabelle’s book Prickly Pears entitled “Troubled Taxi Trip” began with a writing prompt in Lesson 17 of my online lessons in “Write it! How to Get Started”. Perhaps that prompt will help you as well:
Starting Late: Elegy for Iris: Lesson 17 Part Two
Starting Late? What’s stopping you and what are the risks? Why it’s never too late: Did you know that in 2005, the architect Frank Gehry’s addition to the Corcoran Gallery was nixed? That was the bad news. Here’s the good news in an article I saved by Benjamin Forgey, past architecture and art critic for
Isabelle B.L publishes Pricky Pears: A Collection of Short Fiction
My review of the collection follows Isabelle’s thoughts on her writing:
Here’s ISABELLE:
Prickly Pears is a collection of short pieces accepted in literary journals from around the world. It was an amazingly rewarding experience.
This collection is in stark contrast to Jeanne the Woman in Red. An angry book, I’d call it, but necessary. I felt, much like the main character herself, that time was running out. It contains writing sins (too much telling, maybe?) but it’s truth told through fiction.
The short pieces came after learning more about the craft of writing: Mary’s teachings— and the editors at journals—who offered valuable advice.
I still discovered errors post-publishing but that comes with the package. It’s incredibly hard to create your own book, to be the writer, editor, proof reader and formatter. Luckily, I found a cover designer who matched my vision for the book. What’s wonderful about Amazon, is that you can update your own book and the platform puts you in the driver’s seat.
I free write every day. When I don’t write, I sense that something is not right. And even if the piece of writing ends up in the bin, there’s something in the act of writing, putting down one’s thoughts on paper, that is liberating.
Mary’s Review:
Prickly Pears: A collection of short pieces that strike the heart with the personal, that show Isabelle’s gift with imagery, her reading of Kafka and Flaubert, her love of Van Gogh and biblical allusions that ring like tinkling bells. The collection sings like the “Golden Oriole,” one my favorites among poetic glimpses of life, existence, troubled childhood, parenting, love and marriage. Another striking piece is “My husband didn’t make it on Marcel Proust’s Questionnaire.” You’ll love this collection.
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Coming soon Chapter 9 “Catch a Falling Star” of (Re)Making Love: a serial memoir
Love,
Just finished this delightful book of short stories. Isabelle has an uncanny knack for saying so much with so few words. Her intermingling of ordinary meaning with author's meaning for many words brought smiles, question marks, and bravos, to my mind throughout the book. A winner.
How rewarding for Mary to be not just writer but also teacher of writers and so valued by those she teaches. And Isabelle, to be able to write:
"And now, thanks to Mary, thanks to fiction, my mother probably comes out as a vase. Full of fragility, cracks, somewhat resilient, powerful, void of stems and petals but holding silence, the untold, the secrets"
-- such writing is both your reward.