Publisher's Synopsis
While John Steinbeck, in his JOURNEY of a NOVEL (EAST of EDEN) wrote his feelings, his ideas, his prejudices, his biases; Henry David Thoreau wrote about the conflict between scientific observation and poetry, reflections on abolition, transcendental philosophy, and other concerns in his voluminous journals; other writers note their inner-most thoughts with directions that the book be burned upon the writer's death. Of many others who kept and keep journals, day-books, diaries, Pat Laster has chosen to jot down those things from her reading that she either did not know, had forgotten, or that piqued her imagination. Especially intriguing were the euphemisms for "dying," and the information she calls "mini-biographies" from obituaries. For several of her stories, and even in her novel, she used word banks of surnames to direct her focus. Included is a poem derived of surnames. Since she has been involved in mainline church music all of her life, the puzzle of how so many of the modern "churches" were named was fascinating. Although it is not a 'how-to' volume, writers, including poets, of course, might mine this compendium for ideas, and possibilities. Occasional poems and essays appear throughout as examples. Her published books also include a novel and its sequel, A JOURNEY of CHOICE and HER FACE in the GLASS, plus a book of short stories and long poems, HIDING MYSELF into SAFETY. She has been writing for thirty-five of her eighty-something years. She has a memoir in progress, a book of poetry after that, and has applied to earn an online M.F.A. in poetry.
