Women Writers over 50
Fifty Odd is featuring women writers over 50 each week for 50 weeks. Each guest answers questions about her writing subjects, her writing inspiration, her purpose for writing, and her current books and upcoming writing projects.
Author Karen Pierce Gonzalez is featured this week.
Karen Pierce Gonzalez … Women Writers over 50
Author Karen Pierce Gonzalez
Women Writers over 50
Karen is an award winning fiction and nonfiction writer. Her writing credits include nomination for the Pushcart Prize and awards from Farmhouse Magazine National League of American Pen Women, California Writers Association, and others.
She has been a journalist and freelance contributor for The San Francisco Chronicle, Marin Independent Journal, Australian Trade Community Journal, and Press Democrat as well as other magazines and newspapers. Her fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including Farmhouse Magazine, Sonoma Style, Sonoma Mandala, and Zahir Tales.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Creative Writing and Anthropological Linguistics/Folklore from Sonoma State University in California. Her memberships include the Western States Folklore Society and is a columnist for Big Blend Magazine.
Links to Karen Pierce Gonzalez’s books and author page:
Black Pepper Visions: Original Folktales & Stories You Can Eat
Family Folktales: Write Your Own Family Stories – workbook
Family Folktales: What Are Yours?
Karen Pierce Gonzalez Public Relations Blog
Karen Pierce Gonzalez … Women Writers over 50
When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
I have been writing since I was 8-years-old and found the process both creative and comforting.
What or who inspired you to write?
My mother was an avid reader who shared her appreciation of books with me. As a very young teen I was inspired by the BEAT poets and writers and occasional school teachers who recognized that I had talent.
What do you hope to accomplish with your writing? (i.e….save the world, make people laugh, share knowledge, make a living, etc.)
I want my fiction to explore possibilities and flush out choices and potential consequences. In writing I seek out the humanity of characters and their situations, hoping to reveal them (to myself as well as others) with compassion rather than judgment.
I want my non-fiction (workbooks, journalism, blogs) to celebrate the folklore (customs, traditions, beliefs) of our lives and to introduce people to how others around the world express their versions of folklore.
What is your favorite part…(paragraph…page…line) from one of your books?
” At times I must blink to drive away the moisture that appears in my eyes. It is a sign, I am told, of growing old. In the opening and closing of my eyelids, I sometimes forget what I was thinking. And, standing here, waiting for the children to finish their lessons, this can be good. Back then I thought I would never forget the way my throat closed, not letting a sound escape. His efforts to comfort me were lost, too. Hearing that I and my fruits would be greatly missed did not touch me with the tenderness he had hoped. They could not erase the pain of my tightened face.
Sometimes, like today, I remember more than I want to. I can see again the way the sun ran its warm fingers through his dark hair as he bent down to pick up the fruit that had fallen from the tray. This is the best fruit and the children here are very lucky to have you,” he had said.”
From Isalene/Black Pepper Visions
What have you learned from writing?
Two important lessons I have learned:
- Writing is a process and I need to be willing to let go of ‘control’ while a piece is being formed. This allows me find the heartbeat and rhythm that, in the end, will dictate the structure (story/essay, etc.)
- Creating stories and writing news articles allows me to focus intently on the depths of a particular topic and at the same time provides a common bridge between me and others.
What are you working on now…or what is your next writing project?
I have just finished editing LOVE Lotions, Potions & Lore, a Kindle e-book sampler (20 authors/artists around the world). All proceeds benefit the National Center for Family Literacy.
I am also working on a collection of short stories.
Thank you to Karen Pierce Gonzalez for letting us learn more about her. Please follow the links and check out her works.
