Lisa Manterfield

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May 17, 2019 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

Poem in Your Pocket & National Limerick Day

I’m not sure how this happened but I managed to miss both Poem in your Pocket Day (April 18) and National Limerick Day (May 12) this year. So, in honor of both, I want to offer a couple of favorites.

Poem in Your Pocket Day

Had I remembered to print out a poem and carry it in my pocket on April 18, I would have undoubtedly chosen Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Figs from Thistles: First Fig. My husband introduced me to this poet when we were dating, and I have loved this particular poem ever since. 

Figs from Thistles: First Fig
By Edna St. Vincent Millay

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light!

I’ve sort of adopted this as a mantra for life, even though it’s probably not very good for my health. I love this poem because it says everything I feel about living life to the fullest, something Edna St. Vincent Millay most certainly did. 

While we’re in a poetry mood, here’s an offering from my favorite childhood poet, Spike Milligan. Although this poem is nonsense and ridiculous, it’s important to me because it taught me to love poetry, helped me learn to memorize my favorites, and reminded me into adulthood that art (or life, for that matter) doesn’t have to be serious all the time. 

On the Ning Nang Nong
Spike Milligan
 
On the Ning Nang Nong 
Where the cows go bong! 
and the monkeys all say BOO! 

There's a Nong Nang Ning 
Where the trees go ping! 
And the tea pots jibber jabber joo. 

On the Nong Ning Nang 
All the mice go clang 
And you just can't catch 'em when they do! 

So its Ning Nang Nong 
Cows go bong! 
Nong Nang Ning 
Trees go ping 
Nong Ning Nang 
The mice go clang 
What a noisy place to belong 
is the Ning Nang Ning Nang Nong!!

National Limerick Day

A number of years ago, my husband‘s mother gave us a huge book of limericks that she had found in a thrift store. Delighted, we opened the pages and picked a limerick at random to read to her. It turned out that limerick was quite a filthy one and not suitable to read to one’s mother-in-law. We looked for another, but quickly discovered that the entire book was full of the dirtiest limerick’s I’d ever heard (I’m not talking cheeky or a bit rude here; I’m talking filthy.) Anyway, my poor mother-in-law was mortified that she’d given us this book, which only added to the delight it brought us.

I won’t share a limerick from that book. 

Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: . Vincent Millay, Author, Edna St, Spike Milligan Leave a Comment

August 31, 2018 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

Have Dinner with Me

 

I have a really fun event coming up in next month.

Dine with Local Authorsinvites readers to have dinner, and chat, with five local authors. I’ll be participating in this event on Monday September 10that Gaia’s Garden in Santa Rosa, CA. I’ll be reading from and talking about The Smallest Thing.

Here are the details:

DINE WITH LOCAL AUTHORS

Monday, September 10, 6-8 PM

Gaia’s Garden International Vegetarian Buffet

1899 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa

 

For reservations: info@jeaneslone.com or 707-544-2491

There’s a minimum $5.00 food purchase required.

 

I’ll be joined by these fabulous authors:

Wordstruck! non-fiction, humor, by Susanna Janssen

The Healer Is You, health and wellness by Diane See

As Long As You Don’t Turn Them Into Weirdos, memoir by Janell Smiley

The Autobiography of Charlie Lord, Fiction by Bill Wetmore

 

See you there!

Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: Author, author event, books, dine with local authors, dinner, gaia's garden, lisa manterfield, reading, santa rosa, The Smallest Thing Leave a Comment

July 9, 2018 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

A Tour of my Character Graveyard

A Tour of my Character Graveyard by Lisa Manterfield - lisamanterfield.com

The road to a finished book is littered with discarded characters. As subplots are cut and the main character’s story is streamlined, some characters no longer serve a purpose in the book and are bid farewell.

In an earlier version of A Strange Companion, Kat had a second brother. He was the Golden Child with the perfect family, who could do no wrong in Kat’s mother’s eyes. But he and his family didn’t serve the story, so they were cut and Jon inherited some of his former brother’s traits.

In another draft, Kat sought spiritual counsel from an elderly Chinese woman who had strange mystical powers and operated from a dusty old shop on a backstreet. She was a wonderful character, but I needed Kat to get more pragmatic advice and a bump back down to reality, and so Marjorie Gladstone took over the role.

One of my favorite characters, now residing in the character graveyard, is Victoria, Kat’s classmate and a potential rival for Owen’s affections, or so Kat believed. In fact, Victoria, with her huge purple glasses and plummy private school speech, was an innocent, completely oblivious to the effect she had on men. But after the “watch incident” and Kat and Owen’s break-up, Kat went to Owen’s dorm room to apologize, only to find Victoria sitting cross-legged on Owen’s bed, supposedly getting help with her chemistry homework. Although nothing ever transpired between Owen and Victoria, she raised the stakes for Kat, showing that Owen had other options if Kat didn’t get her act together.

Victoria was part of a storyline that would have thrown Kat and Owen together at a conference later in the book and forced them to decide if they had a future together. But alas, the conference would have taken Kat away from Mai and the main storyline of the book, and so it—and Victoria—bit the literary dust.

I do miss Victoria and many of the characters and scenes that didn’t make the cut. But I’ve kept all their scenes, and maybe they’ll make a comeback in another story. Who knows?

Filed Under: The Story Behind the Story Tagged With: A Strange Companion, Author, young adult Leave a Comment

June 18, 2018 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

Book Trailer: The Smallest Thing

Book Trailer: The Smallest Thing by Lisa Manterfield - lisamanterfield.com

Here it is, better late than never, the book trailer for The Smallest Thing.

This one was really fun, as I got to include photos of the real village where the story takes place (photography credit: moi!). I think it captures the tone of the story and sets up some of the intrigue of what’s to come.

What do you think?

If you have a thing for book trailers, check out the trailer for A Strange Companion. The cemetery shot is one of mine, too!

And if you want to be the first to hear about my upcoming book, don’t forget to sign up for my mailing list.

The Smallest Thing is available on:

Nook

Filed Under: Cool Stuff for Book Nerds Tagged With: Author, book, books, death, Eyam, fiction, New Adult, novel, plague, The Smallest Thing Leave a Comment

December 18, 2017 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

The New “A Strange Companion” Teaser

The New “A Strange Companion” Teaser by Lisa Manterfield -lisamanterfield.com

Oh, yes, yes, I know video teasers are supposed to come out before the book, but being conventional is so dull.

So, here it is, the brand new teaser for A Strange Companion. Let me know what you think!

A Strange Companion is available on:

Nook

Filed Under: The Story Behind the Story Tagged With: A Strange Companion, Author, book, books, fiction, grief, loss, love, novel, writing Leave a Comment

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