There is more to glass than meets the eye – and this week’s interview is with Karolina Obroniecka Perez-Maura, founder of Lagom Glassware. This glassware has been designed in London, handmade in Czech Republic and has been made to last a lifetime. Welcome to the blog, Karolina!
Hello! My name is Karolina Obroniecka Perez-Maura I am 28 y.o. I am originally from Poland but I was born in France. While my background was originally in Graphic Design, I now also hold a degree in Product and Industrial Design degree from UAL Central Saint Martins where I currently work as an Associate Lecturer. I started Lagom Handmade Glassware back in 2022 while being 8 months pregnant with my first baby. There was something about completing my dream of creating my own company before becoming a new mum. Mission accomplished!
What inspired the creation of “Lagom Handmade Glassware”?
The thought of creating Lagom Handmade Glassware was born after I had graduated (2020). During my last year of studies I worked on a really fun ice cream project during which I discovered borosilicate glass and had the chance to meet some incredible cratfs people who showed me everything there is to know about scientific glassblowing. I did go into working in the industry for over a year after graduating. However I got so tired of re mote working (covid times!) that I started to work on setting up my company again. Finally in Q1 of 2022 I just went for it.
I’m always interested in the origins of company names – so what does “Lagom” mean and why did you pick that name?
Lagom actually means “just the right amount” in Swedish. I absolutely love this concept as it re the balance that I try to achieve in my professional (and private life) between beauty, utility and environmental impact.
You have a lovely range of glassware – I particularly like your Vivienne decanter. What designs are proving popular amongst your customers so far?
All of them have been quite successful so far but people definitely love buying sets. The Alexandra set and Bernice sets are the most popular – especially with fluted glass.
Do you have a particular favourite design?
The Eileen glass is my absolute favourite, it was the first one that I created and I guess that I am just emotionally attached to it!
Your glassware is handmade in the Czech Republic using borosilicate glass – what is borosilicate glass?
Borosilicate glass tubing is a type of scientific glass that is mostly used for research laboratories and hospitals due to its impressive resistance to thermal shock as well as the fact that its chemical composition makes it harder than most common types of glass, allowing it to be fabricated into more intricate and complex shapes. For our glasses it means that you can use them for both hot and cold drinks and put them safely in the dishwasher. However what matters the most to me, is the uniqueness of each piece. Each one is entirely handmade, making each piece slightly different than the other with its minor imperfections.
I love that each product is named after an incredible woman that has shaped the land- scape of art, design and society! So, hypothetically speaking , if you were to pick a woman to represent your brand, who would you pick & why?
I feel very inspired and respectful of every one of them but if I were to pick just one, I would have to pick Isatou Ceesay or as they call her the “Queen of recycling”. She is a Gambian, an incredibly impressive woman that founded a social enterprise that is helping to fight plastic pollution and em powering women and young people to gain economic independence.
As you are based in London, are your products available to purchase overseas?
I am based in London but the products are handmade in the Czech Republic. I do ship overseas though.
Have you always wanted to have an artistic career or did your career aspirations lay elsewhere?
I have always been a very creative person. I have always liked to draw, paint and would hand make all of my gifts as a child/teenager! I did want to go into the History of Arts and interior design at some point but then I decided to study Graphic Design and then Product and Industrial Design.
Personal now – what outfits and shoes would you normally be found wearing?
99% of the time you will find me wearing jeans, a shirt or simple blue or grey sweater and white sneakers (usually Vera).
Do you have any favourite shops or online sites?
I always try to shop locally and favour small shops but THE HOME OF SUSTAINABLE THINGS comes to mind and AndHand for stationery and Bothanique workshop for plants.
What’s next on your clothes/shoe wish list?
Summer is around the corner so some some espadrilles for those warm nights! I’ve got my eye on a couple of very cute pairs from Alohas.
Boots or Shoes?
Shoes, sneakers to be more specific (almost always). As a mum of a 1 year it’s all about comfort! I would go for heeled boots for a date night though.
For Pinning Later
Links you would like to share e.g. website/facebook/twitter etc so that readers can find out more about Lagom Glassware. www.lagomglassware.com
@lagom.glassware
Thanks Karolina for enlightening us on the subject of glass and you have designed some very stylish sets indeed. All photographs have been published with kind permission from Karolina Obroniecka Perez -Maura
Good ideas come and go on social media and at the start of the New Year I was chatting to fellow bloggers Gloria McBreen (author of “Secrets In The Babby House” and Amelia of “You Can Always Start Now” blog about a challenge they were hoping to do on instagram . The 100 day project entails a 100 days of posts/stories/artwork/photos . It sounded fun. I remember doing something very similar on Twitter, pre covid days, where there was 1 topic per day for 100 days to photograph. So, as I’m not on Instagram, I decided to participate nonetheless and post a photo of my commute/life per day for 100 days on my Twitter account. At the time of publishing this post I have a week to go.
My Oh My, I didn’t fully realise how long 100 days was and how difficult it was to take time to photograph something that was (a) different and (b) interesting. As my day job involves travelling and visiting some lovely picturesque spots in North Essex, along winding roads and gorgeous landscapes I had an abundance of stunning trees and greenery to show off. ( Perhaps I should do a photo challenge of 100 trees next time!) I do so love trees and tree stumps …. especially this one from day 91…
The challenge started in winter, so flower pictures were hard to come by – I have a garden full of poppies just waiting to bloom… will they make their debut before the 100 days is up? I’m pretty chuffed with my dandelion close up though…
I do like photographing landscapes. – mountainous landscapes- but the county of Essex is relatively flat and as I stood and took a picture of the stunning vista as far as the eye can see, unfortunately it didn’t translate into an interesting photo. It was just sky, green and a hazy blue of river or sea in the background. It was great once the rapeseed fields came alive, with their bright yellow cover extending for miles but alas, my hay fever also kicked in so I didn’t hang around too long. Then I came across a beautiful golden wheat field just outside my village that contrasted with the yellow of the rapeseed. This is probably my favourite “countryside pic” … can you spot the hare in the right hand bottom corner?
When it comes to animals, my cats featured in a few daily photos where I didn’t really venture out – day 92 was my favourite as they both sat there , transfixed on each other…
When it came to town/city shots …. I think the photo of the Baird Malt factory in Witham, Essex is my favourite in this category ….day 85. I tried to take this shot a few weeks before but never quite got the right angle …
Water is another feature – I live on the Blackwater salt marshes and the River Blackwater and its estuary are picturesque indeed . And the Abberton Reservoir just outside Colchester – this time of year the reservoir is pretty full and buzzing with ducks and other birds abound. On a cold day, I was working in the town of Maldon and as I wandered over the road bridge the River Chelmer with its boats looked particularly charming … day 7
Buildings – hmm…I photographed churches, derelict barns, pretty cottages but on a particularly warm and sunny day the wooden village lock up looked interesting enough to take the crown that day. This lock up was built around AD 1700. It has an acorn finial which suggests its Dutch influence in its construction. Holland isn’t too far away across the North Sea!
On those lazy Sundays when I really didn’t know what to photograph… I went for boots, of course! ( As well as other ornaments ) . My cowboy boots are from Jeffrey West, who are known more for their stunning mens shoes.
So, what will be in the final photos? I don’t know yet. I’m hoping the poppies that I’ve already mentioned will start to bloom, or maybe the village emu will stop being shy and let me grab a stunning shot of him …who knows?
For pinning later
Why don’t you check out #100dayproject on Twitter and see the artwork, photographs, posts and stories that have been going on the last couple of months . My thanks to @GloriaMcBreen for her support over the past 90+ days ! My photos are also on my Twitter page: t.bootsshoesandfashion.com – let me know which photos you liked best and why ..
I’m so pleased to be part of author Kathie Giorgio’s “Hope Always Rises” Book Tour. Author Kathie Giorgio’s novel is on an emotional subject that few people tackle – suicide. “Hope Always Rises” is rich with empathy, with a sprinkling of humour and tons of imagination. I found the book very intriguing – although the subject matter is a very emotional one, Kathie’s imagination made me giggle in parts and thoughtful in others. I just couldn’t wait to interview Kathie …. but first here’s a book summary and an excerpt…..
BOOK SUMMARY
In Heaven, there is a gated community for those who end their lives by choice. This is a complete surprise to Hope, who ends her life one morning on the banks of the Fox River in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Hope has always dealt with deep sadness. From childhood on, she visited therapists, doctors, alternative medicine practitioners, Reiki artists, etc., to no avail. In Heaven, God reassures her that he knows what caused the sadness, but he won’t reveal it yet.
All community residents are required to attend weekly group therapy. Hope’s first group is led by Virginia Woolf. Several of the book’s chapters tell the stories of other members of this group.
Filled with many moments of striking humor, uplifting realizations, and difficult challenges, Hope finds her way in Heaven. She meets many people like herself, who help her restore her forgotten artistic talent and passion, and God himself, who is amazingly human in the most inhuman of ways. Hope finds understanding and forgiveness, and most importantly, friends.
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
ISBN-10: 1685132421
ISBN-13: 978-1685132422
ASIN: B0BV36PQKL
Print length: 342 pages
AN EXERPT
I never knew God slept. I certainly never expected him to wear pyjamas or have rumpled hair. But if he looked like the God I always imagined, the God with long white hair and a beard and a moustache and a serious, serious face, I never would have been able to rest my head on his shoulder, like I was able to do now.
I was very glad he wore blue flannel pyjamas.
“You knew you couldn’t expect them to be happy, right, Hope? You knew that,” he said, and wrapped his arm around me. “It was part of your choice to end your life.”
I turned my face into his chest and wept.
It had been my choice. I didn’t expect them to be happy.
But I never thought I would witness their sadness.
For the first time, I regretted Heaven. I wished for the black void that I thought death might be, that day that I swallowed each pill with a gulp of wine.
“It’ll be okay, Hope,” God said. Not a booming voice from a burning bush or a dark cloud. A soft voice that soothed me as I cried.
THE INTERVIEW
Hello. I’m the writer Kathie Giorgio, the instructor Kathie Giorgio, the business owner Kathie Giorgio, the wife and mom Kathie Giorgio…and a few other roles too. But the writer is who I am at my purest form. I knew I was a writer by the time I was eleven years old. All the others came afterwards.
Who or what inspired you to write “Hope Always Rises”?
As a creative, and someone who teaches creatives, I’ve known many people who have chosen to end their own lives. The incidence of suicide among creatives is higher than that of the average person on the street. For me, the decision to write this book came when I overheard a conversation between two women who were talking about a “friend” who’d recently chosen to end her life. They talked about how selfish she was, how awful, a monster, what a terrible thing to leave her husband and family behind. I was in a coffee shop, and before I left, I turned to them and said, “Did it ever occur to you to think about what kind of pain your friend must have been in to make this decision? To make it seem viable and the only way out?” And then I left.
I went home and began to write this book.
It is always difficult tackling non conventional/emotional topics in novels but I think with “Hope Always Rises” you have tackled the topic with empathy, a dose of reality, a touch of humour and, as for the gated communities of Heaven – imagination! In fact, the Heaven imagination is quite comforting, and makes the thought of death less “scary” (when it comes to the fear of the unknown). I’m not sure whether I can forget the vision I had when I read about God in his pyjamas! The characters in your novel are quite a believable bunch – the main character Hope, her mentor Faith, her friend Joy, the coffee barista Joe, Virginia Woolf …. to name a few. I had a fondness for Hope but I also liked Joy! She made me giggle. Did you base a lot of your characters on people you’ve met in life? Which character did you enjoy writing about the most? Which character was the hardest?
My characters always come purely from me; I don’t base them on anyone I know. I am probably the most fond of Hope. She tried so hard in life, and she hasn’t given up in death. Her desire to know and understand is so strong.
I think I probably enjoyed writing the character of God the most. There were a couple of times when I made myself gasp, such as when God admitted that he has made mistakes. But in my head, a human-like God would be the most empathetic of all beings. Nonjudgmental, totally filled with unconditional love, and someone you can talk to about all things. I have no idea if God is real, but if he is, I hope he’s like mine.
I would say, though, that while God was the most enjoyable to write, the most poignant moment for me was Sarah, who was the main character in Chapter 16: The Fat Girl Takes The Long Way. That story originally appeared, in slightly different form, in my collection, Enlarged Hearts. All of the stories in that collection are set in a large women’s clothing boutique in a mall, and all the main characters are only known as the Fat Girl; no one has a name. But in this book, I was able to give her a name. Sarah. She so earned it. Because in Heaven, you just aren’t part of a group. You are yourself.
The most difficult character? Probably Buddy, from Chapter 20: All Better?. His actions cost his little boy his young life. Trying to force myself into that head was so, so hard.
Your vision of Heaven – I liked the idea of the numerous coffee shops and poodling around in golf carts! What aspect of your Heaven appealed to you the most?
Being able to eat and drink anything I want, and it won’t cause me any harm! Butter rum muffins for everyone! And the best coffee ever.
If you could visit any country/place in the world, to base a future novel in, where would you go and why?
London. I have a very strong desire to see Big Ben. He was recently re-opened (yes, I refer to the big clock as a “he”) and now you can even go up inside of him, all 300+ steps. I would love to write a book about something that happened on the long trip up and the long trip down. There’s just something about that clock that is timeless.
For Pinning Later
Are you a bookworm? What is your favourite genre and/or authors? Kindle or actual book?
Absolutely I’m a bookworm. I don’t think you can be a writer without being an avid reader. I prefer literary fiction. I love Anne Tyler, Ellen Gilchrist, John Irving, and so, so many. And it must be a real book. No e-book, please. When I travel, I always make sure I have a washing machine available, so I can fill my suitcase with books and not clothes.
Is “Hope Always Rises” available to purchase worldwide?
Yes, it is.
Growing up had you always wanted to be an author or did you have other career aspirations?
I was writing before I knew I was writing. I told stories before I could hold a pencil. Eventually, I traced pictures out of my storybooks and rewrote the story the way I felt they should be written. And in the fifth grade, I read a story in front of my class, and from the back of the room, my teacher, Mrs. Fatticci, said, “Ohmygod, Kathie. You’re a writer!” And I knew that I was.
Apart from being an author of 7 novels, 2 story collections and an essay collection; you have also written 4 poetry collections. Do you have a particular preference ?
For what I prefer to write? Definitely fiction, though I love all forms. But if I was told I could only write in one genre for the rest of my life, I would choose the short story. Even my novels contain short stories. I just can’t help myself.
Personal now – what outfits and shoes wouldn’t you normally be found wearing?
During the fall and winter, you’ll find me typically in leggings and warm sweaters and boots, either ankle boots, or boots to the knee. During spring and summer, I’m in leggings or capris with polo-type shirts if I’m teaching, or t-shirts if I’m not. Oh, and sneakers. I have a pair of Skechers that are very subtly a rainbow. I keep buying one more pair so I’ll have it when the older pair wears out.
Do you have any favourite shops or online sites?
Love ThredUp online, and I love scrounging at Goodwill and St. Vinnie’s. I also hit the sales at Lane Bryant and Torrid.
What’s next on your clothes/shoe wish list?
I was shopping this last weekend for something to wear at the launch for Hope Always Rises on April 27th. Thus far, I have 4 outfits, with two more on the side. And I’m still not happy. So I’d like something that looks classy, not frilly, intelligent…and makes me looks like I fit in a size 10.
Boots or Shoes?
I would change shoes to sneakers, and then I’d ask if I could have both boots and sneakers.
Links you would like to share e.g. website/facebook etc
My thanks to Kathie Giorgio for a copy of “Hope Always Rises” for review purposes. All photos have been published with kind permission of Kathie Giorgio.
Disclaimer Alert: The Inkifi Classic Photo Frame has been supplied by Inkifi for the purpose of this review, however, all opinions expressed are 100% mine.
THE BRAND/WEBSITE
Inkifi is a photo printing company, founded in 2012, and based in Manchester, UK. Making the most of the digital age, Inkifi prints photographs direct from your instagram site or from your phone – and you can personalise your photo displays using the digital tool on the website. I placed my order via the company’s UK website using photographs from my iphone to create my photo frame images using the website tool. There is also a website for customers in the USA and an iPhone app which displays some but not all products.
THE PRODUCT
Inkifi sell a wide range of photo products from photo frames through to photo books. I ordered the Classic Frame 16 x 16” in Black (https://inkifi.com/wall-art/instagram-frame.html ). The Classic Frame comes in a choice of colours for the framework to match your decor – white, black, natural; it comes in 3 sizes: 12 x 12” , 16 x 16” or 20 x 20” . You can also pick the number of photographs to feature into your frame: 1,4,9,16,or 25 (I chose 9). The photo frame itself is sturdy and well made.
The digital tool on the website is relatively easy to use with plenty of helpful tips if you need it. Downloading my photos went very smoothly. It was easy to move the photos around on the screen so that you can envisage what the end result will be like. If I have one little criticism, it is that there should be more guidance on the margins we have to play with, especially at the tops of the photos. On screen, the photos look well aligned but upon receiving the finished photo frame, there isn’t much of a gap and the heads are very closely cropped! A minor issue though.
PACKAGING/DELIVERY
I was extremely impressed with the packaging! My photo frame was well secured with cardboard on both ends and well wrapped with oodles of bubble wrap. Delivery time was just as impressive too. The photo frame takes on average 2 – 3 business days to produce. The photo frame comes ready to hang, which is really useful.
PRICING
I was pleasantly surprised how reasonable the prices for the Classic Photo Frame. There are a couple of add on prices to the basic one – if you wanted a natural wood frame rather than black or white; number of photos; and delivery is speedy anyway but if you really can’t wait then a faster option is available. After briefly looking at the USA site too, prices seem pretty comparable. For under £50 you can own a quality gift that is pretty special.
CONCLUSION
I was extremely impressed with the photo frame quality and with my display of pictures as a whole. My frame is a great way to show off my family pictures from my daughter’s recent wedding. But any occasion could be featured – the Classic Photo Frame would be a great gift for Father’s Day, graduations, birthdays, holidays… the list is endless. My verdict: 9.5/10
For pinning later
Linda x
All photographs are by Linda Hobden
My thanks go to Inkifi for supplying the Classic Photo Frame for this review.
Following on with the “Artificial Intelligence “ genre book theme that I mentioned last week, I had a double dose of AI this week when I read both books of the Spark Chronicles -“ Spark” and “Fire” by author Pat Daily. Although aimed at the teenage/ young adult reader, there is enough substance, interest and thrill factor to appeal to mainstream adult readers too. To my utter amazement, I found the books more riveting than I had initially envisaged.I caught up with author Pat Daily to find out his inspiration behind his books … but first, here’s my book review:
MY BOOK REVIEW/SUMMARY
Book 1 “SPARK”. Solar Prime Augmented Reality Park or SPARK , is a theme park for gamers – a reality complex with quests and games to appeal to all ages. When 16 year old Will escapes from his foster home, he runs to the place where he last found happiness with his parents – SPARK. Playing one of the reality games, a “princess” tells him to “Find Me. Save Me” – ironically his mother’s last words too. What does it all mean? The park has many secrets behind the scenes … which he slowly unravels as he bumps into another runaway, the feisty Feral Daughter, who has made SPARK her home and life. As their relationship grows, and his gaming exploits increase, Will begins to unveil the secrets of SPARK as well as settling in to a new way of life for himself. Add into the mix a terrorist attack, and things turn upside down again…
Book 2 “FIRE” – Terrorist forces are intent on destroying the technology behind Black Grass and the AI that help SPARK to run efficiently. Gamers Will and Feral used to fly under the radar, but their gaming successes has put them in the public eye – which doesn’t help when they are struggling to control an AI who has decided that actually killing humans can be an effective and efficient strategy.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Pat Daily is the CEO of Boundary Layer, Inc., a company dedicated to improving human performance in high-risk endeavors. He is a polymath, serial entrepreneur, gamer,and the author of The SPARK Chronicles, a near future science fiction series. Pat began his professional career as an engineer and Air Force test pilot. After leaving the military, Pat worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center on both the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs before launching his first company. He has worked globally as a human performance and safety consultant. Pat and his wife live in Houston. They love spending time with their dogs and cats, but most of all with their daughters, sons-in-law, and grandkids.
Hi Pat ! Who or what inspired you to write “The Spark Chronicles”?
Virtual reality and Artificial Intelligence have fascinated me for years. VR has promise but will always be limiting because of the constraints of actual reality. We grab the controllers, settle the headset into position and begin. Thirty minutes later, we’ve crashed into the TV, punched the wall, and stepped on the dog.
Both my daughters were playing a game called Pokémon Go. I wanted to see for myself. As I walked the dog one morning, I simultaneously searched for the elusive Growlithe rumored to be in the neighborhood, but finding nothing but Pidgeys, it dawned on me. The superimposition of the virtual over real backgrounds solved most of the problems. You could still be aware of the TV’s location and manage to avoid the dog whilst fighting orcs and rescuing princesses.
I loved the characters in your books, and I liked how book 1 “Spark” linked in with book 2 “Fire” seamlessly. It’s so hard to pick a favourite character: I obviously liked Will (WB), but I adored feisty Feral; I giggled at the antics of my namesake Linda in “Fire” and in an odd way, the terrorist Dimitri had a sort of godfather feel about him! Did you base a lot of your characters on you and people you’ve met in life? Which character did you enjoy writing about the most? Which character was the hardest?
I select and blend people I’ve known. Will is an amalgam of two young men. The first inspired Will’s physical appearance. The second provided Will’s tragic backstory and fear of the dark. In both cases, a lot of my own imagination factored in.
Feral is a blend of my own daughters. They’d argue that she’s more like one than the other, but that feisty streak is there in both; the trait simply hides deeper in one than the other. Feral is absolutely my favorite character to write. She is unencumbered by filters and the people she encounters have no doubt where they stand with her.
Dimitri is the hardest to write. He thought his days as a warrior were behind him and that he’d be able to live a pastoral life. It is more tedious than he anticipated, and the cows don’t care that he’s cold, tired, or hung over; they expect to be milked every day. I work hard not to let him become a caricature.
Were there any aspects of writing the chronicles that surprised you, pleasantly or otherwise?
Originally, Spark was to be a single novel. Write it. Tidy it up. Send it off and then turn to the next project. It wasn’t until I wrote the first draft of the final scene that I realized there was much more to the story. That was quite a pleasant surprise. It helped that I had grown very fond of the characters.
Conversely, when my editor told me that Fire was too long and that she felt one of two story arcs needed to be cut, I was unhappy. I refused to cut out the cave scenes because they play a critical role in how the world and Morrigan see Will. I had about seventy pages of questing that I ended up cutting. When I’ve polled my readers, I was surprised by how much they enjoyed seeing Will and Feral in quest mode. Cutting the OrcLand scenes hurt.
Months later, and after continuing to think about those pages, I started reworking them into a novella. It should be available in May 2023.
So, imagine SPARK was a real venue, and you were completing the games/quests – what quest/area would you attempt first? Any quest you would have avoided?
I would head straight for War on Mars. I’ve always enjoyed futuristic adventures and the aspects that frightened Will are those I would crave.
As you travel up the Modern Times arcade, you come to an anchor quest called The City. It’s urban warfare and human against human. It feels a bit too close to reality for me to want to spend time there. That said, it and its themes figure prominently in Ash, the third full novel of The Spark Chronicles. Ash is slated for release next spring.
Following on from my previous question, what would your avatar look like?
You’d find me kitted up like Commander Shepard – a tall, dark, and handsome warrior of the future from the Mass Effect game universe. My avatar would be more muscular and better looking than I am, but still recognizable to my family and friends. I’d have a Desnardian Commander’s blaster on my hip and a wakizashi (the middle of the three traditional samurai swords) on my back.
Are you a bookworm? What is your favourite genre and/or authors? Kindle or actual book?
Yes, I chew through books at a good clip and always have a stack on my bedside table. In order, I prefer Science Fiction, Murder Mysteries, and cutting-edge nonfiction. In those genres, the last three books I read were:
• Have Spacesuit Will Travel – Robert Heinlein. I re-read this because of a poll I asked on my socials about favorite sci-fi. This came up and I hadn’t read it in decades. It was originally published in 1958 and stands up well, although Heinlein failed to foresee personal computers and smart phones. He does have some scathing comments about the state of public education and where he saw it going.
• Neon Prey – John Sandford. It’s one of his Lucas Davenport series. Great stuff.
• Consilience, The Unity of Knowledge – E. O. Wilson. Wilson makes a compelling case for the interconnectedness of knowledge. If you can’t find the links between Psychology and Biology and Math, that means that we don’t understand them well enough.
I like the heft of a physical book, the smell of the pages, and the ability to search by generally remembering where something was, and on which page – left or right – it could be found.
Are the Spark Chronicles books available to purchase worldwide?
Yes, they are. Buy them now; buy multiple copies they make great gifts. They’re available on Kindle Unlimited, so your subscription (if you have one) covers the cost. Buy some physical copies anyway. It’s very difficult to sign an ebook.
Growing up had you always wanted to be an author, or did you have other career aspirations?
I wanted to be an astronaut first and still; the desire to become an author was born of my love of reading. I think everyone has a good story in them.
Personal now – what outfits and shoes would you normally be found wearing?
It’s generally warm in Houston. I spend most of my time in shorts and a T-shirt.
Do you have any favourite shops or online sites?
Basic Dude Stuff is atop my list of favourite sites at the moment. Pat Mac has a lot of things in common with Robert Heinlein. His videos are less than five minutes and give insight into what he believes a man should be and do.
What’s next on your clothes/shoe wish list?
A new pair of Teva sandals for the summer.
Boots or Shoes?
Boots. I’ve spent a good part of my flying life in boots like these. They’re comfortable in flight and breathe when you’re mucking about on the ground.
For pinning later
Links you would like to share e.g. website/facebook etc
I’m so looking forward to reading Ash when it gets published! Thanks so much Pat for chatting to me on the blog – it’s been a blast!
Linda x
All photographs (apart from the Pinterest & header photos which are by Linda Hobden) have been published with kind permission of Pat Daily. Thanks also to Pat Daily/Ben Cameron for the copies of Spark Chronicles for reviewing.
I’m so pleased to be part of “The Algorithm Will See You Now” book tour, supporting author J.L. Lycette. This month has seen me reading a few “Artificial Intelligence “ books – a genre I haven’t really explored before – and this clever artificial intelligence medical thriller was a wonderful debut for me. Even more impressive is that “The Algorithm Will See You Now” is the debut novel for author J.L. Lycette too. I loved the twists and turns of the narrative, the characters and the fact that the situation in the novel was scarily plausible. Want to know more? Here’s a quick book summary , followed by my interview with the delightful author herself …
BOOK SUMMARY
The most dangerous lies are the ones that use the truth to sell themselves.
Medical treatment determined by artificial intelligence could do more than make Hope Kestrel’s career. It could revolutionize healthcare.
What the Seattle surgeon doesn’t know is the AI has a hidden fatal flaw, and the people covering it up will stop at nothing to dominate the world’s healthcare — and its profits. Soon, Hope is made the scapegoat for a patient’s death, and only Jacie Stone, a gifted intern with a knack for computer science, is willing to help search for the truth.
But her patient’s death is only the tip of the conspiracy’s iceberg. The Director, Marah Maddox, is plotting a use for the AI far outside the ethical bounds of her physician’s oath. A staggering plan capable of reducing human lives to their DNA code, redefining the concepts of sickness and health, and delivering the power of life and death decisions into the hands of those behind the AI.
Even if the algorithm accidentally discards some who are treatable in order to make that happen…
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
ISBN-10: 1685131492
ISBN-13: 9781685131494
ASIN: B0BLD16W7T
Print Length: 303 Pages
THE INTERVIEW
Hello! I’m Jennifer. I’m a mid-career physician who discovered my writing muse on my path back from physician burnout in my forties. I’m now a novelist and award-winning essayist, along with being a rural physician, wife, and mom (to three humans and two of the canine persuasion). My first novel, The Algorithm Will See You Now (Black Rose Writing Press), is a near-future medical thriller, out now in paperback and ebook. My second novel (The Committee Will Kill You Now) will be out later this year, in November 2023 (also Black Rose Writing Press).
What inspired you to write “The Algorithm Will See You Now”?
In my day job, I’m a hematologist/oncologist (a specialist in blood and cancer medicine). During the 2010s, there was a lot of talk about IBM’s Watson (a machine-learning AI) having a role in helping oncologists sort data and test results for our patients to help us define treatment. But in the mid-2010s, that all fizzled out without much fanfare.
Meanwhile, the amount of data we’re obtaining on our patients is ever-increasing, along with options for cancer therapies. If AI could help with the data sorting, sure, who wouldn’t want that?
It was about six years ago that I first had the idea for the novel when I read about some of the mistakes AI tools were making (like the misclassification of photos on Google), revealing the datasets (essentially: the Internet) that had been used to train the AI had led to racist and sexist outputs. I thought, this is a big deal because what if we did one day achieve the goal of an advanced medical AI, but it turned out to be ultimately flawed at a very deep level. Mix that with the increasing corporatization of healthcare in the U.S., and my premise was born. I suppose very much a classic trope of the science fiction thriller, which is the question of ultimately what fault lies in the technology versus what responsibility lies with humanity.
I enjoyed the range of believable characters – I obviously liked Hope, but my favourite was actually Marah Maddox, such a strong character & her relationship with Noah kept me guessing. Did you base a lot of your characters on you and people you’ve met in life? Which character did you enjoy writing about the most? Which character was the hardest?
I had a friend reading the book recently tell me she saw a lot of me in Hope, and I responded that perhaps that’s partially true, but the great thing about writing fiction is that we can create characters who make very different choices than we would in the same situation. In fact, I think that’s the fun of writing fiction!
In my first draft, I tried to make Hope the exact opposite of me because I actually kind of feared people thinking that the character was me. The result was that she was unrealistic and too “cardboard.” I realized that to write believable characters, one has to allow some of themselves, and if people think she’s me, well, they can think whatever they want, but I know she’s not. But some of my early experiences in medicine and how they influenced me, yes, those are some of the things I channeled to make her character more authentic.
The other characters are all fictional and grew as I wrote the story. Marah Maddox was actually both the hardest to write and the character I enjoyed writing the most. At first, she suffered from the same problems as my early Hope character, that she was too “cardboard cutout.” In the years of writing the book, I learned that the antagonist (or villain, if you will) must be equally as strong of a character to make the book successful. As has been said by others much smarter than me about writing, the villain thinks they’re the hero of the story. I had to dig deep and think about what experiences in a medical career might produce someone like Marah Maddox, with her beliefs and motivations.
I love that you also brought up Marah and Noah because, in the course of writing the book and digging into their backstory (much of which never shows up on the page in The Algorithm Will See You Now), I realized they needed to be the stars of my next book.
So I wrote a prequel featuring Marah and Noah in their younger years during their residencies. It essentially tells the “villain origin story” of Marah Maddox, wrapped up in a historical thriller about the inhumanity of physician training in the 1990s interwoven with the true-life history of the medical rationing of the first kidney dialysis in 1960s Seattle. Readers will get to see what exactly happened in the relationship between these two in the past…
‘The Algorithm Will See You Now” is your debut novel – congratulations on such a well written, riveting story! Were there any aspects of writing the novel that surprised you, pleasantly or otherwise?
Thank you so much! This will sound like hubris, but I had no idea how hard it was to write a book. I joke that if I had known, I would have never started. It surprised me how much I loved the process, even though it’s been (for me) a years-long process. I also discovered that I love story structure. Like, I can really geek out about it. I guess it’s because, for me, it’s the science of writing. It reminds me of music theory. How you can create and play music without consciously knowing anything about music theory, but once you learn that music actually has a, what you might say, essentially mathematical structure to it, you can take your music to another level. That’s what story structure is like for me.
If you could visit any country/place in the world, to base a future novel in, where would you go and why?
Oh gosh, this is such a hard question. I haven’t done much in the way of international travel and would love to spend time anywhere outside the U.S., but if I had to pick right now, I think I’d say New Zealand. Any country whose people elected a leader like Jacinda Ardern is somewhere I’d like to visit.
Are you a bookworm? What is your favourite genre and/or authors? Kindle or actual book?
Yes, I’m the biggest bookworm and have been since childhood. I read across genres but am especially partial to SFF when reading for fun. My recent favorite author is Naomi Alderman. I don’t know how I missed The Power when it came out a few years ago in book form, but I watched the first three episodes of the new series on Amazon Prime and immediately bought the book and binge-read it in less than a day. I’m now re-reading it again. The concept, and her writing, are both equally brilliant. I’m now the biggest stan of The Power and could go on and on, but I’ll stop myself.
I usually read in ebook form on my iPhone. When I went to medical school in my twenties, I had to stop reading books for some years because I was too busy. Then, when I was in my early thirties, and my kids were babies, none of them were good sleepers. I would be up late holding and rocking them and discovered I could read on my iPhone in the dark while doing this. Game-changer.
I was that kid with the flashlight under their blanket to stay up reading books when I was little (in the dark ages of the pre-screens era, lol), and now I’m the adult who stays up too late reading on their phone.
Is “The Algorithm Will See You Now ” available to purchase worldwide?
Yes. It’s available in ebook on Kindle and paperback on Amazon, and also paperback from your favorite online Indie bookstore vendors.
Growing up had you always wanted to be an author or did you have other career aspirations?
I will be honest. I never dreamed of being an author when I was young. I was an avid reader, as I described above, and kind of had this notion that authors were magical people who existed in a different realm from the rest of us. I had set my sights on medicine from about twelve, and my twenties and thirties were devoted to my medical career. It was only after I burned out in my medical career that I discovered writing. It was quite a surprise to me to find out I had a creative side. I realize now I had suppressed that part of myself from a young age, as I didn’t think someone could do both, and I had only focused on nurturing the part of me that excelled in math and science. On a happy note, discovering my creative side also helped me recover from burnout.
When you are not writing, what do you do to relax?
Oh gosh, relax, what’s that? I’m probably not the best person to answer this question. But in all seriousness, writing to me is my relaxation. It’s my creative outlet and helps keep balance in my life. But when I’m stuck on writing or need a break, I also crochet. And spending time with my family, even if it’s just hanging out watching a movie, that’s relaxing for me.
Personal now – what outfits and shoes would you normally be found wearing?
My favorite shoes are ankle boots. I have them in a lot of different colors, especially black.
Boots or Shoes?
Definitely ankle boots. They go with everything and are comfortable being on my feet at work.
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Thank you Jennifer for an insightful interview – fabulous book, I really enjoyed it and thank you for introducing your book to me and got me reading a new genre by sending me your book to review ! I look forward to reading the prequel. It has been a privilege to be part of your book tour – thank you for inviting me 😊
Linda x
All photographs have been published with kind permission of J L Lycette.
There’s a new “Couch To 5K” campaign in town! This time it’s being run by the UK national charity, The Reading Agency. The idea is to encourage new and lapsed readers to pledge to read at least 30 minutes a week for 10 weeks – and for them to discover what a difference reading can make to your life.
So what are the benefits of reading? Well …. Reading can help boost self esteem, can support mental health, can spark curiosity, can help make you feel socially included, can help to give better awareness of other cultures, and can help broaden general knowledge.
The official “Kick Off” is during Reading Hour (7 – 8pm) on World Book Night – Sunday 23 April 2023. However, you are able to sign up from today (details below). Over the 10 weeks, The Reading Agency will be sharing weekly tips, useful advice, reading recommendations and lots more. Regular readers are not left out – if you sign up you would also be able to log your reads and give valuable insights by adding to a survey for a national study into reading and life satisfaction.
As luck would have it, I have read a brilliant cross section of books recently and have interviewed the authors, so this Spring you can enjoy my reading recommendations starting next week with author J L Lycette and her book, “The Algorithm Will See You Now” .
Happy Reading! 😊
Linda x
About The Reading Agency
The Reading Agency is a national charity that tackles life’s big challenges through the proven power of reading. They work closely with partners to develop and deliver programmes for people of all ages and backgrounds; their vision is for a world where everyone is reading their way to a better life. They help 1.9 million people benefit from reading every year, through their programmes, their tireless campaigning, their excellent networks, and their power to influence, challenge and make change happen. www.readingagency.org.uk
About World Book Night
World Book Night brings people from all backgrounds together for one reason –to inspire others to read more. In 2022, World Book Night gifted books to organisations across the UK and Ireland, reaching 15 million people digitally. Organisations and individuals hold events up and down the country to celebrate the difference that reading makes to our lives, from book themed parties at home to books swaps in offices. Organisations can volunteer to hand out books from our annual list to people who don’t read for pleasure or own books.
Quick Reads, a programme by The Reading Agency,aims to bring the pleasures and benefits of reading to everyone, including the one in three adults in the UK who do not regularly read for pleasure, and the one in six adults in the UK who find reading difficult. The scheme changes lives and plays a vital role in addressing the national crisis around adult literacy in the UK.
Each year, Quick Reads works with a range of publishers to commission high profile authors to write short, engaging books that are specifically designed to be easy to read. In 2023 The Reading Agency are launching a set of most popular Quick Reads to celebrate 16 years of Quick Reads.
The titles are available for just £1 and since 2006, over 6 million books have been distributed through the initiative, 5 million library loans (PLR) have been registered and through outreach work hundreds of thousands of new readers each year have been introduced to the joys and benefits of reading. From 2020 – 2022, the initiative is supported by a philanthropic gift from bestselling author Jojo Moyes.
About Arts Council England
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. We invest public money from Government and The National Lottery to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk
Following the Covid-19 crisis, the Arts Council developed a £160 million Emergency Response Package, with nearly 90% coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. We are also one of the bodies administering the Government’s unprecedented £1.96 billion Culture Recovery Funds. Find out more at www.artscouncil.org.uk/covid19
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Apart from the Pinterest & header photo, the other photos have been published with kind permission of The Reading Agency.
My guest this week is author Cal Georgeson, who is probably better known for having a hugely popular TikTok account that documents amazing historical facts and conspiracies. So it comes as no surprise that Cal has published a humorous spy ” thriller” that is set within a secret agency in London that investigates fake news and conspiracies – a book jam packed with bittersweet humour and very curious characters. It certainly has many “laugh out loud “ moments! I caught up with Cal Georgeson to find out more his book and his fascination with conspiracies …
Hi Linda! My name is Cal Georgeson and I live just outside London with my partner and long-suffering muse / editor, Griff. I also have two teenaged sproglets who are both my source of motivation in life and of course my fountains of knowledge on fashion, shoes and social media!
Cal, you are a fire risk specialist .. so who or what inspired you to write “The Department Of Conspiracy”?
So I guess the inspiration lies somewhere in my distant past. I found myself on BBC Radio this weekend explaining how my Dad initially motivated me to write when I was a teenager. He was a writer himself and used to enthral me with tales of intrigue and valour, which were actually the life story of his own father (so, my grandfather) who was an absolute legend during the war having won the Victoria Cross amongst other heroic endeavours. So yes, I would say my inspiration were the stories my Dad told me about my grandfather by bringing this into a contemporary, modern-day London setting and with an underlying comedy flavour. I tried writing a serious thriller and the words just didn’t spill on the page in the same way.
“The Department Of Conspiracy ” is a humorous spy story set within a secret agency that investigates fake news and conspiracies. The characters are quite a weird bunch – the goofy Sam Juniper, cold hearted Florence, the doddery Mr & Mrs Bimble, love interest Josie, lisping Leo & the mysterious Mr Milquetoast. I had a fondest for poor Sam but I also liked the forthright Florence! She made me giggle. Did you base a lot of your characters on you and people you’ve met in life? Which character did you enjoy writing about the most? Which character was the hardest?
So I think there’s a little bit of Sam in all of us. He’s basically trying so hard to do the right thing and find his place in the world but he’s a little bit of a lost cause. He is very much based on myself as a teenager and so came quite naturally to the page.
I loved writing Agent Florence the most. The sheer audacity and abrasiveness that comes with a character like that made her a lot of fun. Its probably fair to say that Florence embodies the eruption of anger and sarcasm that we all feel internally sometimes, only she has the fearsome confidence to fire at will with some creative use of swear-words, which makes her a great counterpart to Sam. Although I think there’s a broken heart under that bravado somewhere, and of course she loves a pair of killer heels.
Were there any aspects of writing the novel that surprised you, pleasantly or otherwise?
So one aspect I hadn’t originally planned was a chapter later in the book which was a flashback to decades earlier, exploring where the Department of Conspiracy originated. By seeing the characters of Mr Milquetoast and the White Rabbit as young men, I found this added a lot of depth to the world-building, and I felt it gave the reader better context and layering.
If you could visit any country/place in the world, to base a future novel in, where would you go and why?
Well I’m quite lucky to have spent a lot of time overseas during my time in the Royal Navy (many years ago). Since I first visited the Arabian Gulf back in the nineties I’ve always been fascinated with the speed at which places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi have developed. I was recently speaking to a friend who’s working on ‘The Line’ in Saudi Arabia.
The Line is an incredible new linear building under construction which is only 200 metres wide, but its 170 kilometres long (yes, you read that right!). It will have high-speed trains running from one end to the other and people will be able to live, work, shop and play all within this single development. There will be several huge shopping centres built within it with fashions imported from all over the world.
The most amazing thing is that all is that this is in the middle of a desert, miles from the nearest city. I think this post-modernist behemoth could potentially be an amazing setting for a new story.
The Line does sound fascinating and a great base to set a novel in… I look forward to reading about it in your future book 😜
Are you a bookworm? What is your favourite genre and/or authors? Kindle or actual book?
So I love stories of all kinds – books, movies, comics, musicals, Netflix – it’s all about the story. I do prefer a paperback (I’m a little old-fashioned like that) but have recently been enjoying audiobooks a lot more.
I love Douglas Adams and Tom Sharpe and since childhood I’ve grown up in the worlds of Neil Gaiman. The ethereal beauty of his Sandman series, Neverwhere and Stardust could just make me weep with joy. These to me are titans of literature that we can only aspire to, but as they say ‘standing on the shoulders of giants..” and all that!
Is “The Department of Conspiracy” available to purchase worldwide?
Yes it certainly is, but currently only on Amazon (£7.99 paperback or £3.99 for the Kindle version, and of course free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited).
I’ll soon be recording the audiobook version, and we’re currently looking for talent to bring the characters to life so if any of your subscribers like the book and are interested, they are welcome to contact me directly via my website or social media.
Growing up had you always wanted to be an author or did you have other career aspirations?
Growing up I was much like Sam – I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to be. I left 6th Form College without a plan, pretty much got press-ganged into the Navy and then subsequently fell into becoming a firefighter, which led onto my current, more grown up, role. So it would be true to say that I always loved stories and story-telling but I certainly never planned to be on Jackanory as a child.
You have a hugely popular TikTok account that documents real life conspiracies and amazing historical facts. Have you got a “favourite” weird/almost unbelievable conspiracy/historical fact that you have uncovered?
Oh gosh, a favourite! Well, I love the story of Operation Acoustic Kitty. So in my novel you may have noted that poor Ralphy (Josie’s dog) was unfortunate enough to have a listening device inserted into an orifice where no self-respecting dog wants one inserted.
Well this may sound crazy, but this was kind of based on fact.
In 2001, the CIA declassified a lot of their secret documents from the 1960’s. One of these was Operation Acoustic Kitty, whereby cats would undergo a medical procedure so that a vet could implant a tiny microphone in its ear, a transmitter at the base of its skull and a battery in its rib-cage. Meanwhile, the tail was used as an antenna.
The idea was that cats would be able to eavesdrop on conversations from windowsills, garbage cans or from trees. The first Acoustic Kitty mission was to spy on 2 suspects in a park in Wisconsin Avenue, Washington DC, just outside the Soviet Embassy.
Legend has it that the first spy-cat was taken near to the park and released from the back of a CIA van but was then immediately run over by a passing taxi.
Estimates vary, but the whole operation cost somewhere between $10 – $20 million dollars but was ultimately cancelled in 1967 as they decided cats were too difficult to train. I love this story as it sounds like such nonsense, but is entirely true.
Personal now – what outfits and shoes would you normally be found wearing?
So being in my early 40’s I’m determined not to turn into Jeremy Clarkson but it’s hard. My go-to outfit is always a Ralph Lauren shirt, black or grey jeans (Levi or Diesel) and a ¾ length coat (always worn open). I have a range of these coats (Luther-style grey, All Saints beige or Lock-Stock tweed) and find they go nice with a variety of styles (jeans / t-shirt, trainers or business suit).
In terms of shoes, I’m usually looking for a quality, top-end brown ankle boot (never black) and I figure this harks back to my younger days of wearing DM’s.
My other choice for trainers is a bit unusual, at least for the UK. There’s a company called Royal Elastics that make quirky but cool sneakers, although you can generally only get them from the United States. I once fell in love with their style and order 6 pairs (2 in each colour) and got them imported. Never regretted it!
Do you have any favourite shops or online sites ?
So I’m quite liking Stitch Fix at the moment. This is an online app where you input your style preferences and sizes initially and then pay a £10 fee in order for a stylist to pick out items that might appeal. You get to try them on in the comfort of your own home and then send back what doesn’t work.
I do prefer the in-store experience though, if given the choice. I’m quite a tactile person so I like to feel the fabrics in person, rather than just rely on the pictures. All Saints is great for nice feeling fabrics, and of course Ralph Lauren for a trusty collared shirt.
What’s next on your clothes/shoe wish list?
So I’m currently investigating a classy French retailer called Sezane. It’s my partner Griff’s birthday coming up soon, and being half-French she’s entirely obsessed with this brand. Unfortunately I believe their only outlet is based in Notting Hill, so given that I’m lacking the confidence to purchase the correct size online, I’m now planning an excursion across London to view their stock in person.
In all seriousness, it looks like a great company and the fashions are reportedly inspired by Paris and the people who call it home, so I’m very sure Griff will be pleased.
Boots or Shoes?
So definitely brown or tan boots. I’m 6’ 1” and of somewhat of a sturdy physique, so when I look at my feet so far away, they always appear remarkably small in shoes. Or perhaps I just need to get my glasses checked out so my feet look bigger.
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Links you would like to share e.g. website/facebook etc
My website can be found at DepartmentOfConspiracy.com which is a huge library of interesting historical stories and scientific wonders, and acts as a great source to follow up on some of the themes and facts hinted at in the book.
On social media, I can be found more commonly on TikTok with the handle SecretSocrates.com, where I post lots of bite-sized fun stuff with some cool soundtracks.
I can also be found on Twitter as @secretsocrates1.
Fantastic to chat to you Cal … Operation Kitty … that’s a brilliant true story! I highly recommend your book, The Department of Conspiracy, and I look forward to reading your future “thrillers”… I love the lighthearted humorous edge to your “thrillers” 😊 Thanks for sending me a copy of your book to review (and to Ben Cameron for suggesting I give your book a read! )
Linda x
All photographs have been published with kind permission of Cal Georgeson (apart from the Header & Pinterest photos which were by Linda Hobden)
My guest this week is Ben Harvell, chief wordsmith & founder of a writing service called “Do Us A Ditty”. Covering everything from poems, written wedding favours, invitation poems to custom song lyrics and advertising jingles; Ben’s job sounds fun indeed. I caught up with Ben recently to find out more….welcome Ben 😊
Hi there. I’m Ben, Do Us A Ditty’s founder and chief word wrangler.
What inspired you to set up “Do Us A Ditty”?
My wedding. As a professional writer, I decided it would be fun to write little poems as wedding favours for each of our guests. We hand-wrote the poems and used them as place cards for the big day. People loved them so much that I decided to create a business writing fun little personalised ditties people could buy as gifts.
You seem to have the ability to write poems for all occasions from personalised special occasion ditties to wedding place card poems; poems for readings & speeches to advertising jingles. What poem styles are proving popular amongst your customers so far?
Birthdays and wedding speeches are definitely the most popular, but we do our fair share of anniversary poems too. I’ve also been really surprised at how many people trust us to write really special poems for major events. We’ve written rhyming eulogies for funerals, corporate speeches and even a wedding proposal. The information our customers provide is amazing.
Have you got a favourite “poem” style occasion that you love to write for?
Wedding speeches are always fun. There’s a delicate balance of comedy roasting and sentiment and usually a bunch of hilarious stories to weave in.
What is the ordering process to get one of your personalised poems?
Super easy. You pick the poem you want and fill out a form to provide information about your subject (or we can send you one), make a payment and we get writing. Our personalised poems are delivered digitally via email and our framed customisable poems are shipped directly to you. On average, our personalised poems take around 1-2weeks to complete.
As you are based in the UK, are your poems available to purchase overseas?
They are indeed. We have a lot of American customers in addition to those in the UK.
What inspires your poems? Do you look for something specific on the questionnaire?
It’s a funny thing. When someone is buying a poem like this they tend to really think about what it is they love about their subject. We provide customers with prompts as they fill out their information but, most of the time, what we receive is great and they already have a good idea of what they want to say. It’s then our job to build the poem around the information they provide, taking into consideration their preference in terms of tone and style.
What was the hardest or most unusual piece of poetry you’ve created so far? Most memorable?
There have been a few odd ones. We wrote a memorial poem for a dog once… They’re not normally hard to write, but we spend a lot of time tweaking and perfecting them. People want a special gift and we work hard to make sure each poem is perfect.
Have you always wanted to be a poet or did your career aspirations lay elsewhere?
I’ve always been a writer since my school days. It became a profession via journalism and marketing and somehow morphed into poetry too.
When you are not writing ditties, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Two kids under two keeps us pretty busy but, if I do get a minute free, you’ll find me barbecuing (in all weather) or watching sport.
Personal now – what outfits and shoes would you normally be found wearing?
I fit the writer and work-from-home stereotype – the more comfortable the better. It’s certainly not high fashion but my preferred outfit is shorts, t-shirt and flip flops.
Do you have any favourite shops or online sites? (Apart from your own!)
Abercrombie & Fitch is my go-to but, having grown up by the sea, I also wear a lot of surf brands, primarily Salt Rock.
What’s next on your clothes/shoe wish list?
My dream is to find some smart yet comfortable trainers that I could wear to the office or a restaurant without looking like I haven’t made an effort.
Boots or Shoes?
Always shoes. Boots just don’t seem to work for me. I look like a cowboy.
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Links you would like to share e.g. website/facebook/twitter etc so that readers can find out more about Do Us A Ditty
If anyone is interested in ordering a poem, head over to www.dousaditty.com to check out what’s on offer. We’ve recently launched our framed, customisable poems which are definitely worth a look for a quick gift. You can use the code BSF15 for a 15% discount on any poem or follow this link: https://dousaditty.com/discount/BSF15
Thank you for the chat Ben!
Linda x
All photographs have been published with kind permission of Ben Harvell
I’m so pleased to be part of the Hope And Fortune Book Tour with children’s author, Marissa Bañez.
BOOK SUMMARY
Hope and Fortune is a modern-day fairytale, featuring multicultural, multiracial (e.g., Filipina, African-American, Latina, Asian, Muslim, etc.), multigenerational, and multigender (including a boy) fairies of different shapes and sizes who help a sad little child who has lost her way to find her path. Each fairy represents an ideal – Hope, Innocence and Wonder, Truth and Virtue, Generosity and Kindness, Strength and Courage, Respect and Dignity, Confidence, Imagination, Happiness, Beauty, Wisdom and Intelligence, and Love and Friendship. Although the protagonist is a little girl, the life advice given by the fairies is non-gender-specific and could resonate with anyone facing a difficult situation at any point in her/his/their life.
Hi! My name is Marissa Bañez (pronounced Mar-ee-sa Ban-yez). I came from the Philippines in 1969. I graduated from Princeton University and am a litigator with one of the largest law firms in the world, licensed to practice in New York, California, and New Jersey. At almost 65 and after 40 years of being a lawyer, I’m embarking on a new life venture in my “Third Act” as a children’s illustrated book author with my first book, Hope and Fortune published on February 2, 2023. My second book, entitled “Hues and Harmony (How the Rainbow Butterfly Got Her Colors)”, is scheduled to be published on July 20, 2023.
“Hope and Fortune” is your first published book for children. Who or what inspired you to start writing children’s stories?
My husband was 49 and I was 40 when we got married. As we were both no-longer-young, I did not expect to have a child. Yet, one night during our honeymoon, I had a wonderful, extremely vivid dream. I still remember every detail to this day. In the dream, I found myself in a beautiful, very colorful floral garden, feeling peaceful and happy. Suddenly, singing, laughing, and dancing angels and cherubim surrounded and enveloped me into their midst. Then, a dark-haired cherub kissed me on the lips. I immediately woke up and, still very much feeling the cherub’s kiss on my lips, told my husband that we were going to have a baby. Nine months later, my daughter Angelica was born.
I wrote a book about that. Whenever I read the story to my friends, everyone always got a bit teary-eyed in a good way . . . which led me to think that I might actually be able to write stories that positively affects people.
So, as my daughter grew up to be a little girl, I decided to write other original children’s stories for her and her friends and created puppet shows out of the stories. I made stage scenery and puppet characters using foam board, painted bedsheets, paper bags, popsicle sticks, and just about any available useable household item. The kids, their parents, and I always had great fun and, at the end of the day, what else should matter when you’re a kid?
Did you base the fairy tale characters on yourself and people you’ve met in your life? Which fairy did you enjoy writing about the most? Which fairy was the hardest to portray?
Basis for the characters:
• The protagonist, Esperanza, is based on my daughter (who is the muse for all my stories). In fact, my daughter’s middle name is Esperanza.
• The Fortune Fairy of Hope is my late Filipina mother. The illustration is based on her actual picture from when she was young. The fairy also represents the Philippines. Apart from her physical coloring of slightly darker skin and black hair, the top of her outfit was drawn to evoke the terno, with the distinctive bell sleeves of the Philippine national dress. Her skirt is meant to look like the typical red-and-black Igorot/Ifugao cloths worn by the indigenous peoples in and near Baguio City, where we lived in the Philippines. Like Ifugao women, the Fortune Fairy of Hope wears multiple brass bangles, called giniling.
• The Fortune Fairy of Wisdom and Intelligence is a tongue-in-cheek reference to me as a Princeton graduate.
Favorite fairy:
I love all the Fortune Fairies equally. There isn’t one that I liked writing about more than the others because each one is different, special, and unique. That applies equally to the illustrations. There isn’t a particular fairy illustration that I liked illustrating more than any other. Because children’s illustrated books are usually limited to 1000-1500 words, I expressly curated my illustrations to supplement the text of Hope and Fortune and create a multi-layered story with deeper significance. In writing and illustrating Hope and Fortune, I learned that numbers, colors, and animals represent or symbolize certain ideals and principles that dovetail nicely with what I wanted to say in the book. I then incorporated a lot of that symbolism into each illustration to make the story as multifaceted as possible. Of course, a reader doesn’t have to know (or even care about) all about the symbolism to enjoy the story or the illustrations; they’re there for others who may want a more meaningful experience with the book.
Hardest fairy to portray:
The fairy that was hardest to portray was the Fortune Fairy of Beauty. I struggled for some time with how to represent the ideal of beauty with physical characteristics because beauty means different things to different people, cultures, genders, and races. The concept of beauty defies a universal representation. Then, I remembered a wonderful episode of Star Trek, about a race of aliens that were evolving from their corporeal states into beings of pure energy. That made me think of energy as our spiritual essence or life-force. To me, a beautiful spirit will always win over a gorgeous face with an ugly personality. Thus, the Fortune Fairy of Beauty as a heart radiating positive and bright energy was born. As she says: “Beauty is not what you see with your eyes but with your heart.”
Where did your story idea spring from – your legal background or family background or somewhere else?
For my daughter’s 7th birthday, I wanted to put on a show for her and her friends at her party. She wanted a story about cowgirls, fairies, and her little stuffed horse. She and I brainstormed a bit, and I came up with a story entitled, The Lost Foal. This was the party invitation:
In The Lost Foal, the stuffed horse was the one that got lost in the forest and encountered “cowgirl fairies” played by my daughter and her guests, each of whom wore fairy wings and pink cowboy hats and gave the horse life advice to get it back on the right track.
Fast forward 16 years later to the pandemic and lockdown in 2020. I felt bad for my daughter, her peers and those younger, all of whom faced unprecedented uncertainties in life. I then took The Lost Foal, modernized it with a diverse cast of characters, and created a message that I hope will resonate not only with the very young but also with those less so who may feel rudderless and lost (in however way you want to define and contextualize those terms) at some point in their lives.
Who wove their love of stories spell on you?
My formative years (until age 11) were spent in the Philippines. We were poor. I didn’t have the experience of having someone read stories to me at night. My parents’ primary concern was the feeding and clothing of my nine siblings and me and ensuring that we received formal education. The reading or telling of stories before bed was an unaffordable luxury. Plus, other than the books we used for study at the local public elementary school, we had no storybooks at home. To the extent that we were fortunate enough to get anything to read for pleasure, they were in the form of comic books passed down and well-thumb through by my aunts and 8 older siblings. Even after we came to the U.S., I don’t remember that I had any books just for pleasure reading at home that I would call mine. If I was exposed to such books, they were from the school or maybe the library, although I don’t recall that we went to the library very much at all.
Are you a bookworm? What is your favorite genre and/or authors? Kindle or actual books?
A very good friend from way back to the 3rd grade likes to tell the story when we once had an assignment in elementary school to create a “bookworm”, consisting of round pieces of paper onto each of which we had to write the title of book we’d read and then stapled them onto each other to create a worm. At the end of assignment period, I had a much longer worm than anyone else in the class. (Again, I don’t specifically recall where I was able to get those books from except from the school or the library.) So, yes, even back in my youth I was a bookwormand I continue to be one to this day. My current favorite genre is historical fiction, preferably with hitherto unsung female protagonists, such as those written by Paula McClain, Marie Benedict, and the duo, Audrey Blake. However, I read all kinds of books – from frivolous “beach reads” to legal thrillers to non-fiction tomes – and don’t like to be pigeonholed. I like to think that barring anything that requires a deep knowledge of things like super-technical scientific or mathematical equations, I could be persuaded to read any type of novel or story. As between Kindle and actual books, it bears noting that space is a consideration when living in New York City. So, although I’m not adverse to physical books, necessity requires that I read only electronic versions these days.
Is Hope and Fortune available to purchase worldwide?
It is also available through the following online sites:
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Barong Warehouse
• Thriftbooks
• Books a million
• Alibris
• Sandman Books
Growing up had you always wanted to be an author, or did you have other career aspirations?
If you define “career aspiration” as a fervent hope to be in a particular field for a particular reason, the honest answer is that I held no such ambition when I was young. To be even more honest, good things came my way and I simply took advantage of them, which fortunately led me to a pretty good path in life. I’ve been very lucky indeed.
Growing up in the rural part of the mountain provide of the Philippines and then in the poor section of downtown Los Angeles prior to college, the main goal was survival by being able to put one foot in front of the other from one day to the next. Sure, the idea that one should grow up to do something to make money to eat was a given but dreaming about or visualizing something as lofty as a “career” or “profession” seemed far-fetched. To be an author was not even on my radar at any time. That was just something so beyond what I perceived to be within the realm of possibilities – too fantastical and too idealistic – as to be nonexistent.
As for my legal career, I remember one of my sisters and I were watching a Miss Universe pageant sometime in the early 1970s and the contestant from Japan (if I remember correctly) said that she was or wanted to be a lawyer. An Asian woman at that time said she was going to be a lawyer? Mind blown! I recall my sister saying then that she too was going to be a lawyer. Lo and behold, not only did she become a lawyer, she went on to become an administrative judge for the State of California. I simply followed in her footsteps and went into law as well, mostly because I hadn’t considered anything else. Perhaps more accurately, I didn’t know any better to consider anything else. Medicine (either as a doctor or a nurse) was out of the question as I’m very bad at math and science. But, it had worked out better than okay for the last 40 years as I moved from one good position to a better one along the way so I’m not complaining.
Only after being a lawyer for 40 years did I consider being a published illustrated children’s book author. That opportunity came to me out of left field as well. By happenstance, I learned a former colleague with whom I worked in the 1980s had published a novel. Through the power of the internet, I contacted him to say congratulations. During our message exchanges, I expressed my glimmer of a dream to published one of the children’s stories I wrote for my daughter several years ago. Without knowing anything about my stories, he introduced me to his publisher. I took a fateful leap by re-working and modernizing The Lost Foal and then took advantage of the introduction by immediately submitting it for consideration.
When not writing/telling stories, what hobbies/passions do you indulge in?
I’m a bit of a dilettante. Among my hobbies/passions are traveling, reading, watching Korean dramas and Star Trek shows (not to the exclusion of other shows but those two types are my favorites), designing/sewing clothes, playing a little guitar (especially with my musically talented siblings – the Von Trapp family had nothing on us!), going out with friends to the theater, museums, restaurants, and the like, and just vegetating on the couch or in front of the computer. In short, anything but housework.
What outfits and shoes would you normally be found wearing?
Ah – fashion! Now, you’re talking my true language so buckle up!!!
To me, fashion is a form of storytelling. It is putting on different personas to fit the occasion, place, or other circumstance. Depending on the circumstances, clothing can make you feel confident, powerful, beautiful, sexy, fun, slovenly, depressed, comfortable, etc. Clothing is a very powerful tool in telling the world about yourself or how you want the world to perceive you. So, for me, there is no such thing as what I’d “normally be found wearing.” When I go to court or a business meeting, I carefully consider how I present myself. As a small Asian woman representing big corporations, I need to be taken seriously and heard in a predominantly male and/or White environment where people actively compete to be heard the loudest and the longest. So, I tend to wear clothing that telegraphs competence, confidence, and a certain sense of gravitas like a suit (either a skirt-and-jacket or pantsuit) or a prim but nice dress … and likely with some “kick-ass” shoes (no hose). If it’s a more informal business setting, I’ll still dress appropriately but more casually, like slacks or skirts with tops or dresses in less somber colors or maybe even prints … and likely with some “kick-ass” shoes (no hose). I break out the fancy/shiny/glittery stuff when I go to a gala, ballet, philharmonic, opera, or a fancy theater for a live performance. I have them so why not? If I’m going to an event that others went to a lot of trouble putting together, I’d like to honor and respect that by dressing up. And the atmosphere at any event becomes so much more festive when people take the time to look a little spiffier. For going out with friends? I have some great casual outfits that need to be worn instead of just hanging forlornly in my closet. I tend to have a more enjoyable time when I dress up in something fun and stylish. It also tells my friends that they and our time together are special.
I put my idea that clothes tell a story into practice as it relates directly to Hope and Fortune during a book reading last December. I wanted to wear something evocative of the fanciful fairies in the book, preferably the Fortune Fairy of Hope to pay homage to my mom and to my country of origin. As luck would have it, I found though online shopping a green bolero with the traditional Filipino bell-shaped sleeves with white floral embroidery – not unlike the top of the Fortune Fairy of Hope’s outfit! (My initial thought was to wear a light green dress with it but it was a very cold day, so I switched to black pants, top and booties instead, highlighting the bolero.) Many moms and kids complimented the outfit. When some asked about it, I was able to launch into what the bolero represents and how it relates to the Fortune Fairy of Hope –which, of course, is exactly the type of curiosity that I want the book to generate.
I also think carefully about what outfits to bring on vacation, dictated by where I’m going, what I’ll be doing there, who I’m likely to see and, of course, luggage space. When I travel, I don’t like to just go to a beach. I like to do, see, and experience many different things from the adventurous to the cultural (but always fun), so I try to make sure to have the right clothes for everything.
At home with just my family? I tend to be a slob dresser and even jeans feel dressed up. Depending on the weather, I’m in sweats or shorts and a T-shirt that I likely got for free at some fundraiser or giveaway because I like being comfortable at home and . . . well, who cares?
Do you have any favorite shops or online sites?
I do not shop according to the offerings of a certain shop or online site. I’m also not label- or designer-conscious because I have seen many designer outfits that wouldn’t look good on me.
Instead, I tend to visualize the design and color of an outfit or footwear I want. I then try to find it in a physical shop or online, without any particular loyalty to any vendor, designer or label. Sometimes, I get lucky. If not, c’est la vie, but maybe in my search, I see something else that I didn’t know beforehand I desperately needed. . .
What’s next on your clothes/shoe wish list?
Right now, I have no desire for anything (and I certainly have no need for more clothes). If you’d asked me this about a month ago, I would’ve said I wanted something brocade or embroidered with intricate gold designs. Why? Because lately I’ve been watching Korean historical dramas in which the characters – females and males – wear beautiful and elaborate costumes inlaid with gold or silver designs. Of course, I wouldn’t want to walk around wearing those hanboks (actually, I kind of do), if only because it would be impractical. So, I searched around for something more modern but still reminiscent of those fabulous costumes. I came upon a ¾-sleeve brocade topper (i.e., a long jacket that hits a couple of inches above the knee) with an upturned collar in a black background and different shades of gold paisley/curlicue design. Bonus – it has pockets! Quite by accident, I also saw a pair of deep black pants with a gold embroidered paisley-type design on the outside part of the lower leg of the pants. I’m shortening them to about an inch above my ankle bone to balance out the long jacket in a chic way. Paired with some killer stilettos or fun mules and it’s a fabulous “dinner party-ready” look.
When time permits or inspiration hits, I also like making my own clothes from scratch or re-purposing old or barely worn clothes to fit my current “clothes wishes.” For example, a few weekends ago, I was looking through my closet and came upon a forgotten pair of cropped jeans that I’ve had for years but hardly ever worn. I then rummaged through my sewing box and found some fancy ribbon trim and iridescent oblong Czech glass buttons. Spent a couple of hours with a needle and thread . . . voilá – a new and cute pair of jeans! They even go well with my new black-and-gold topper, giving a more casual spin to my wish for a modern take on the beautiful costumes on the Korean historical dramas I’ve been watching .Tip: I like to remove and save beautiful buttons, lace, patches, ribbons and other decorative trims from old or outgrown clothes to sew on to other clothing for a personalized style.
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Boots or shoes?
I have several pairs of both shoes and boots of different styles and colors, so my choice is dictated not so much by an inherent preference of one over the other (which I don’t have) but rather by what goes better with whatever outfit I decide to wear for the day. That said, I’m a little obsessed with mules with kitten or cute/interesting heels right now.
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