Author: Marsha

I write historical fiction, mostly from the perspective of young people who are thrust in the midst of war.

oodles of writing

Last week, we flew to Utah so my husband Orest could get some good skiing in. This has been a terrible year for skiers! I went along for the ride, and also for the quiet hotel room. I was anxious to get a big chunk of writing done. Well, in 5 days, I wrote 8,000 words on Daughter of War, so I am happy.

My days were spartan. First thing in the morning, I’d have breakfast with Orest, then skedaddle back to the room and sit in the love seat, open up my laptop and write with a fury. I didn’t even stop for lunch, but would just eat a protein bar and have a glass of water and keep on writing. It was nice looking outside at the snow. I did do the treadmill twice, but that’s it. We also went out for dinner.

I was so keen that I even wrote 1000 words in the airport and during the flight home! I don’t care to write on an airplane though, because everyone’s so packed in that I imagine people looking over my shoulders and reading what I’m writing.

After a marathon of writing like that, I rewarded myself by reading one novel for pleasure. Now I’m back to writing.

The novel I read was Ken Follet’s Whiteout. Very good!

While in Utah, we stayed at the Goldener Hirsch Inn. It was done up like an old German inn with lots of rustic furniture and large door hardware. I kept on bumping into the gigantic door handle on the bathroom. I even put a slipper on it to buffer the bump, but the maids must’ve thought I was crazy and they kept taking the slipper off. I have two bruises and a scratch on my left elbow. Why would anyone make a door handle thingie that big??

They also had these gigantic brass fobs hanging from the door keys. It reminded me of the giant stick that’s usually attached to the bathroom key at gas stations. It was too big to put in a normal pocket or purse. What were they thinking? Cute yes, but not very practical.

Back to writing ……..

More on censorship: A Little Piece of Ground

A couple of years ago, an award-winning British author, Elizabeth Laird, wrote a novel called A Little Piece of Ground. Like Deborah Ellis’ book, Three Wishes, this one too delved into the thorny issue of Palestinian/Israeli issues.

In Deborah’s case, the censorship is backfiring. The media and writers’ organizations are clearly in support of her freedom of expression. In Elizabeth Laird’s situation, the opposite is true. Here’s the amazon page about her book:

http://tinyurl.com/pxzch

Here’s some background on the controversy:

http://www.canpalnet.ca/archive/vkbs.html

When the controversy erupted, I was intrigued.

I tried to get the A Little Piece of Ground in bookstores, and it couldn’t be found anywhere. Even Chapters online did not carry it. I was able to finally get it through Amazon and I read it myself. It’s an excellent novel, told from the point of view of a Palestinian child.

Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t understand why there is always such a push for censorship every time a children’s book tackles this difficult subject. I think the more we can read on the issue, the better.

I just searched on the chapters site, and it is now listed. I guess now that it’s out of the news, it’s okay to sell it again.

Marsha Skrypuch
www.calla.com

Freedom to Read

This is Freedom to Read week.

The right to read without censorship is an important one. Even more important is the right of the author to delve into subjects that others may find uncomfortable. If we all only write about things everyone feels comfortable about, what would be the point of reading?

A few years ago, I received hate mail and death threats for writing about Soviet atrocities against Ukrainians during the Stalin era. The Canadian Freedom to Read Week committee awarded me a “laurel” for my perseverence in 2003:

http://www.freedomtoread.ca/freedom_to_read_week/darts_and_laurels_2003.asp

This year, a fellow author is being targetted with censorship. Deborah Ellis, whose book Three Wishes, was nominated for the 2006 Silver Birch Award, has had her book withdrawn from the York school board:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/02/28/silver-birch.html

If any author can handle a delicate topic even-handedly, it is Deborah Ellis.

On a brighter note, Turkey has dropped charges against Orhan Pamuk, the prize-winning Turkish author who publicly acknowledged the Armenian Genocide:

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=270808&ssid=43&sid=ENT

Swiss Army card

I carry an itty bitty purse and inside I have the world’s smallest wallet, hairbrush, lipgloss and teeny tiny pen. My little 5X7 purse can also hold my Treo phone/organizer and keys.

And now I have something else in my teeny tiny purse. Check it out:

http://www.knifezone.ca/Victorinox/swisscardtr.htm

black coffee

Okay. I did it. I took the plunge. I am no longer a cream addict. I am still a coffee addict, but at zero calories, what’s the problem with that? For the last three days I have been drinking my coffee black and I really quite enjoy it.

My mother has been drinking black coffee for years. She is very particular about her coffee and so am I. Years ago, when she was Executive Director of the Red Cross in Brantford, she would have to visit a number of people in a professional capacity and they would always offer her coffee. She found coffee with powdered creamer disgusting and coffee with milk was ick. Coffee with cream is divine, but black coffee, even if it’s weak coffee or old coffee, tastes better than adulterated coffee.

a new author

I did two school presentations in Cambridge Ontario yesterday. What a treat is was to do readings so close to home. I tend to cluster my school readings on Wednesdays whenever I can. Last Wednesday it was a full day in Guelph, and the Wednesday before that I was all the way to Whitby, which is a huge long drive for me.

The Cambridge students were fantastic. I love it when kids ask thoughtful questions. One student asked why the baby had to die in a particular scene I read from Nobody’s Child. Good question. Because in the real situation that scene was based on, the baby did die. Another student asked, “How do you come up with the exact perfect words to use when you’re writing?” I told her that I see the story in my head and I just describe what I see.

Another neat thing about yesterday’s presentations was that James Bow came to sit in on one of them.

I “met” James Bow when he joined my private kidcrit group in Compuserve’s Books and Writers Community:

http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=messages&tsn=4&tid=50942&webtag=ws-books

I was so impressed with his writing that I contacted my editor at Dundurn and forwarded the first few chapters of James’ novel (with his permission, of course). Dundurn loved it, and they’re publishing it in May! James just unveiled the website for his new book here:

http://unwrittengirl.ca/

James wanted to see how to do a school visit. Years ago, I sat in on a wonderful school visit by Barbara Haworth Attard:

http://www.barbarahaworthattard.com/

I urge every new writer to sit in and watch how a seasoned writer does school presentations.

Marsha Skrypuch
www.calla.com

Kobzar’s Children: A Century of Untold Ukrainian Stories

Over the weekend, the last story for Kobzar’s Children was edited.

I am really excited about this book.

The kobzars were the blind minstrels of Ukraine, who memorized the epic poems and stories of 100 generations. Traveling around the country, they stopped in towns and villages along the way, where they told their tales and were welcomed by all. During the early years of Stalin’s regime in the USSR, the kobzars wove their traditional stories with contemporary warnings of soviet repression, famine, and terror. When Stalin heard of it, he called the first conference of kobzars in Ukraine. Hundreds congregated. Then Stalin had them murdered. As the storytellers of Ukraine died, so too did their stories.

Kobzar’s Children is an anthology of short historical fiction, memoirs, and poems written about the Ukrainian immigrant experience. The stories span a century of history from 1905 to 2005; and they contain the voices of people who lived through internment as “enemy aliens,” homesteading, famine, displacement, concentration camps, and this new century’s Orange Revolution. More than a collection, it is a social document that revives memories once deliberately forgotten.

I just signed the contract for my tenth book recently, but this book is a first. It’s the first time that I’m an editor. The stories and poems in Kobzar’s Children were written by a diverse group of people. Most of the contributors contacted me initially after reading my books. They wrote to me and said, “I have a story too.”

I was moved by these stories. So many that have never been told before.

I began collecting these people and these stories together and many of us have formed an online critique group for Ukrainian story writers.

All of the royalties for this anthology are being donated to the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association. To find out more about UCCLA, go here:

http://www.uccla.ca

Here’s the amazon entry:

http://tinyurl.com/kr6cv

I can hardly wait until I can hold this anthology in my hands.

Marsha Skrypuch
www.calla.com

Passports

If you’re Canadian and you need to get a passport, I strongly suggest that you fill out your application here:

http://www.ppt.gc.ca/

Then print it off and take it to a passport office. I did that today and I didn’t have to wait in line at all. You get issued a bar code when you fill it out online so it only takes them about five minutes to process. Kewl.