Dellani Oakes Interviews Marta Moran-Bishop

Friday, January 28, 2011

Interview with Marta Moran-Bishop
I recently was asked by my friend, Marta Moran-Bishop, author of "Wee Three", to talk about myself on her blog. I was very pleased to have her do that for me. I decided to return the favor. Marta is a marvelously talented woman and I'm proud to call her my friend.

Dellani Oakes: When did you start writing?

Marta Moran-Bishop: I began writing when I was six. I wrote, what was probably the worst stage play ever written. It was so bad that about 10 minutes into it my mother called a halt to the performance.

D: What gave you the idea for your first book?

M: Well my first book is still sitting waiting to finish the rewrite it is called “Keeping the Upper Paw: A Cat’s Guide to Training Your Human.”

Wee Three; began after my mother had passed. I felt compelled to put everything else down, take out the verses that my grandmother had written for her children. A few of these are in Wee Three without change. I took these verses, the stories my mother had shared with me of her childhood, added my own memories and Wee Three was born.

D: What do you do to keep yourself focused?

M: When I am writing it is difficult to stop, my husband says I am like a dog with a bone. I go somewhere inside the book/story and totally lose myself till what I need to put on paper is down. Later I can go back and edit it. Usually my problem isn’t staying focused it is letting it go.

D: Do you stay with one project until it's finished? Or do you work on multiple projects?

M: This depends on whether I have a deadline or not. If I do not have a deadline then I am usually working on multiple projects. One of them will be my main focus and the other’s are more of when the words need to come out I write those for a while.

D: What is your writing process?

M: My brain is always writing. I have been known to pull over when driving to jot down an idea or a stanza for a poem. However mainly I sit with my feet up computer on my lap and just go into the zone.

D: Do you hear from your readers and what do they say?

M: I have had a lot of feedback from both Wee Three and the two current tales I am working on. Usually when someone reads Wee Three, it sparks a story they remember from their own childhood. I am lucky so far I haven’t had anyone tell me that they didn’t love Wee Three.

D: How does the internet boost your career and writing?

M: The internet and Facebook have given me a sense of community in the world of the Arts that has been lacking in my life since childhood. It also helps give feedback on story lines and on sales/marketing tactics.

D: Do you have a mentor or mentoring group or community of writers or authors to support you and your writing?

M: Facebook has given me a sense of community and support that I never knew before. Most of my FB friends especially those I communicate with on a regular basis are full of support and have brought so much enrichment to my life that I feel truly blessed knowing them. Whether it be on personal, spiritual, political, or in the Arts I find that I grow continually from contact with them. I could list so many people that I have met that have been supportive of me and my writing that I could fill a page. I consider myself extremely lucky to know them.

D: Has your upbringing or environment influence your writing? How?

M: Absolutely growing up in a small mining town with nature, books, music and your imagination being the key to your entertainment it would have been extremely difficult not to have it influence one. My upbringing was one of music of all generations from the big bands and classical to the Backstreet Boys because of growing up in a family of nine.

The local Drama Teacher was an ex-Broadway director and would show up at 2 in the morning after having seen the latest play on his trip to NY. Nothing for it but we would all get up to listen to each and every scene he would describe and if a musical, sing. Our house was full of books on every subject known to man probably at any point at least 2000 books. We read to each other and by ourselves.
Posted by Dellani Oakes at 8:16 PM

January 25, 2011

Today I am celebrating my birthday with the help of my husband, horses, cats and friends. I cannot thank you all enough for the joy and love you have shown me today. Tomorrow starts a new day and I going to begin my first event for Wee Three.

I will be doing a reading at the Berlin Library in Berlin, MA. I plan on making it as fun and joyful of an experience that I can for all of those I have the pleasure of meeting and reading to.

I look forward to the experience of sharing childhood experiences and the joy of writing with both the children and parents at the library.

Things my mother taught me part II

Once upon a time when I was very young I came in the door crying. "Mom no one wants to be friends with me." She turned around to me, pulled me on her lap, wiped my tears and said to me. " Marta if you want friends you must be a friend first."

To this day this has stuck in my head and has become a major part of my personality. Since that day many years ago I try to always consider what the other person that I am meeting or talking to might be going through. That they too may be a bit shy, an introvert or just as scared as I am of doing or saying the wrong thing.

As a result I try with all my ability to let my own ego go for at least that moment. Hopefully more than the moment and focus on that other person. I hope I succeed.

To all of you with whom I have had the pleasure of interacting with and getting to know. I am blessed today and always for the gift of your friendship, support and care. Please believe me when I tell you that I will try with every fiber of my being to be the friend you deserve too.

Day Eight: Dellani Oakes

I first met Dellani when I was to be on Dellani's Tea Time on Red River Radio. The show airs every second Monday at 4pm EST. I was taken with her sense of humor, intelligence and witt. She is one of the warmest women that I have ever met and an inspiration to me as a result.

Dellani's along with Dellani's Tea Time also has another radio show the fourth Wednesday at 1pm EST called What's Write for Me. Along with doing 2 radio shows she is an accomplished author of "Indian Summer" an historical romance set in St. Augustine FL in 1739, just prior to a major siege by the British. It is published with Second Wind Publishing and available in both kindle and book formats.

She is also a mother, wife and undergoing radiation treatments. You would think that alone would be enough to keep anyone busy. Yet she always has time to share an antidote, help someone smile or laugh. While I was worrying about my two sisters who were undergoing cancer treatments, Dellani had time to give me some words of wisdom. Share her belief that laughter is the very best of medicine's. She gave me moral support in my hour of need. She brings us all so much inspiration and warmth with everything she does and says.

She has a new book coming out called "The Lone Wolf," which is set in 3032. One can ask how does she find the time for all of this? I think it is her nature to bring inspiration, kindness, Wit and laughter to us all.

Thank you Dellani for being there for me in my hour of worry. For your Wit, humor, and wonderful books. I truly recommend to everyone to also tune into her radio shows and you will see her warmth and wonderful sense of humor and intelligence shine through.

Blessing to you dear Dellani.

Two Things My Mother Taught me.

One thing that my mother Pat taught me was to always let people know how you feel about them. That one went along with if you don't have something nice to say don't say it.

I am lucky because I always see the best in people. This is a really good thing as what I think, feel and see usually comes straight out of me without filter.

I have also learned that life is too short and if you miss the chance to let people know how much you care, how much they mean to you, or that you appreciate who they are and what they do then you are left with "I wish I had."

This first became a subject of conversation on a drive from San Francisco to Massachusetts with my youngest brother. He asked me how I wished to die if I had a choice when the time came. I told him "quickly," that I didn't want anything long and drawn out. He got quite angry with me over this and told me in no uncertain terms that he thought this was a selfish wish. He thought that I should give people a chance to let them tell me how they felt about me and that he would prefer the old Native American way. A big party then go off in the woods with a bit of food and some water. Sit and contemplate his life and then lay down to die.

I told him that was a fine way if that was his wish. Me I wanted to let people know as I went along how I felt about them and not wait till the day they lay dying.

The moral to this little story is if you wonder why I tell you that you are wonderful, witty, intelligent, kind or anything else it is because life is too short. I want you to know that you brighten my day each and every day and to me that is the way I am feeling, thinking and seeing you at that moment.
Have a blessed day.

Day Seven: Robbie Kaye

It isn't even a year since I began FB yet, so many people have touched and enriched my life. One of them is Robbie Kaye. She is a brilliant Photographer and inspires me and every day. Her soul and spirit shine through each photograph she takes.
Because of her friendship and spirit we have been given the gift of beauty, joy and happiness. Her Beauty of Wisdom is inspiring and helps us each to see beyond what our culture has labeled our Elders.

Robbie has blessed me with her dedication to her work, her friendship that is dearer to me than most things in my life. She has inspired me further on my own quest to honor and bring stories of our Elders to life and share more deeply with them not just Wee Three, but time, energy and respect.

Robbie has helped me reinforce in myself that there is beauty in wisdom. Each line does tell it's own story and we should be proud to wear them. Learn to appreciate the knowledge and connection with both our own linage but the linage of those we meet.

Daily I get my inspirational message from Good Morning UniVerse and with it is one of her glorious photo's. The gift of her friendship, her work, her inspiration and her message is one that has made deep footprints on my heart and soul.

Bless you Robbie for the Great and Beautiful woman you are. For sharing all of this with me and the world. I will treasure it forever and forever it will be reflected in all I do.