And Now A Word For My Friends....

First time I witnessed the power of Louise Ure's words was during a read aloud of a writing class exercise more than a decade ago. She had produced a paragraph about not being able to grow flowers and something about loving Australia and missing her friends there. Whatever she said, however she said it, she had the rest of the class in thrall and made all other exercises banal. Forgettable. I have no idea what mine was about, yet all these years after the fact I still recall the essence of hers. It was that powerful.

In the time that has passed, Louise has published three mysteries: "Forcing Amaryllis" was her lyrical and wonderful debut. "The Fault Tree" features a blind protagonist who at some point flies a plane (a bit of the novel that Louise researched with a phone call to none other than the legendary Ray Charles - a blind licensed pilot himself. How cool is that!) "The Fault Tree," by the way, won the Shamus Award. "Liars Anonymous," which came out in 2009, was, unfortunately, her last. They are all available online.

All three mysteries, good to read just because of the riveting plots, showcase Louise's own sense of prose. The pages drip with Tucson heat. I highly recommend them. And my fingers are crossed that Louise's time away from writing is nothing but a well deserved break.

Three must reads

Buy this book

Guy Bommarito was Executive Creative Director at the company that facilitated my sabbatical last year. In fact, both of our sabbaticals were facilitated at the same time. He put his time to use wisely and the result is "Creative Bones" - a must read for anybody with or without a creative bone in their bodies.

A liberal arts student as well as an agency creative will learn from reading Guy's book. Lots of good sense approach to the creative process. But this would mean limiting the book's reach. A biologist, train conductor, big shot executive, receptionist, physician, barista, wine maker, accountant, home maker, web developer and every CEO will benefit from applying Guy's easy principles to work. Or to life.

Or else just read it for the pleasure of hearing Guy think and the easy way words flow from his pen. Or his mac.

Oh, and "Creative Bones" is available on Amazon.com.



Lastly, here is a bit of advance notice, a 'coming soon to that Amazon.com always near you.' Another friend, Buddy Mapel, has a book coming out this month: "The Quail Runner." A Southwestern mystery that will give Tony Hillerman a run for his money. I will announce and share my thoughts as soon as it's out. I know it will be good.

If you've been reading my posts, you know I keep score. Thus far, all my comparisons end, in the parlance of the current world cup, with all the people I admire, and now a number of my friends, scoring a goal or more, me nil.

Oh well. Still working to find a way to even this out. Any time now...