The Writer's Life: The Writer's Life 10/23

I’m always impressed by authors who write authentically about other eras. Kaye Gibbons’ A Cure for Dreams is set in rural North Carolina from the early days of the Great Depression through WWII. True, she is a native of North Carolina, but she was born in 1960. She either did extensive research or learned from family history, or both. The novel has no plot. It is the first person account of a young woman who prefers the company of her mom and other older women to her peers. The portraits of the area’s inhabitants are so interesting. It is feminism in a sort of infancy. Given the population, pickings are slim and happy marriages rare. This is another work that illustrates how much better people have it today. The writing is smooth for the most part but lost me briefly now and then. Even though quotation marks are shunned, it isn’t hard to separate the dialogue from the prose. The 171 pages breeze by, reading more like 125. A Cure… was Gibbons’ third of eight books, two others of which were chosen for Oprah’s Book Club. Two have been adapted into TV movies, both receiving modest reviews. She has won minor literary awards. Unfortunately, she suffers from bi-polar disorder. Surprisingly, she claimed she was extremely creative during her manic phases. That may have been true once, but she hasn’t published a new work since 2005, as she has battled addiction. She was even arrested for filing a fraudulent prescription. She was fined and sentenced to probation. 25 users at Amazon have rated A Cure…, forging to a consensus of 4.1 of five, which seems about right. I’m completely clueless as to the meaning of the title. My best guess is that reality supplants dreams. Issued in 1991, A Cure… is selling better than any of my books. I hope this talented woman finds her way again.

A student group at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is cornering the market on farce. An organization called Just Words has banned the use of “politically correct,” dubbing it “micro-aggression.” Other no-nos are: “lame,” “normal,” “mothering,” and “fathering.”

I have a stock tip. I just received an offer to exchange my 159 shares of GE, a winner for me since I purchased it in the early 90’s, for Synchronicity Financial. The inducement is seven bucks per $100 worth of the stock, about $200 if I understand it correctly. I’m sticking with GE, which pays a dividend, while SF does not. This probably means that SF will rally and GE will remain mired in the rut it’s been in for several years. Don’t say I didn’t tell you.

My thanks to the kind folks who bought, donated and swapped books. The session was highlighted by visits from two dynamite women. Mira, a 29 year-old Ukrainian immigrant mom in her first semester at St. Joseph's College, was beaming. She scored a 95 on her speech on childhood obesity. Kudos, my dear. Later, a beautiful blonde -- I mean Hollywood beautiful -- doubled back and looked into a box of non-fiction. She picked out One Decision: Make the Smart Choice That Will Lead to a Life of More by Judith Wright. She was all business. How I would love to know what that decision might be. Of course, I was thinking porn or not to porn. She'd be a millionaire in no time if she went that way.

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/