Meet Our Writers Week 7 on Ina

PS: Ina is an active blogger who attends Poets Rally, jingle Poetry Picnic, and Bluebell Short Story Slams, she has a book published and writes poetry in English, which is not her native language, yet she does extraordinary job...Thanks for reading...

Tell us about yourself:

I am Ina Schroders-Zeeders, I live on an island in the north of the Netherlands, married, 3 sons, and I am a novel writer

Tell me about your blog(s), name(s), what does it mean to you?  

The wordpress blog (Ina) is now mostly poetry in English, I do that for fun, to be creative that way

When have you started blogging? :

2005

What's the theme(s) of your blog(s)? What do you write most?

poetry, fiction or novel, or short stories?

 I have a blog with my family tree as well, and now this poetry. I also have a blog Poetry from the sea on wordpress, with poems inspired by or about the sea: http://poetryfromthesea@wordpress.com

What are the inspirations of your writing? :

Relations, love, sea

Does music impact your writing?

Sometimes. I like some songs and use the music to make new song lyrics. At the moment they are making a demo of one of my poems, in New Orleans I think that is fun to do too.

You are involved with Bluebell Books Short Story Slam writing challenge? How do you feel about it so far? What are the benefits of it?

I have done a few and it is fun. The benefits are that you learn how others interoperate a subject.

Do you have a favorite blogging friend to share? Tell us about his/her blog link and the writing in it! 

http://belfastdavid.wordpress.com 

David is a very good writer, and he encourages other bloggers.

Do you have a favorite book or author?

At the moment it is “Staying alive” an anthology of poems.

Do you have a favorite quote?

 “So far, so good” 

Any tips for those who started blogging and wish to become successful in it.

Comment on other blogs, take part in rallies and use a spell check 

What's your writing plans in the near future? :

Keep on writing, try to write song lyrics, and keep my writing job!

Saturday Biography: Maya Angelou--"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"

Title: “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”

Author: Maya Angelou

About the Author:

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has to; it sings because it has a song.”

Maya Angelou.

http://mayaangelou.com/

I find it a humbling affair to attempt to present the work of poet, educator, historian, educator, playwright, director, producer, actress Maya Angelou. An African American, Dr. Angelou was born in 1928 in Missouri and raised there and in Stamps, Arkansas. She studied dance and drama in San Francisco and became a significant force in the civil rights movement in the United States. Her participation in so many aspects of the artistic life earned her the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000. She wrote and presented a poem for the occasion of President Bill Clinton’s Inauguration in 1993.

You can listen to her recitation of “On the Pulse of the Morning” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDtw62Ah2zY

Publisher: Random House, 1969

Story Summary: The author’s rich life lent itself, not to a single autobiography, but to a series, of which this book is the first installation, covering her childhood and early teenage years. The victims of a failed marriage, Angelou and her brother, Bailey, were foisted upon her paternal grandmother at ages 3 and 4 respectively. Raised primarily in Stamps, Arkansas she experienced the significant hardships of being raised Negro in the American deep south in the years prior to the Civil Right’s Movement. For a short period of time, she was reunited with her mother in Saint Louis where she experienced the guilt that accompanies sexual molestation and the death of her abuser shortly after his trial. After this horror, she was returned to the care of her grandmother until age thirteen when she and Bailey once again joined their mother (a prostitute) in San Francisco. The story is one of survival…no, excellence, in the face of the utmost adversity.

Comments: Reading this memoir was a feast of words, descriptions, story, metaphor. A poet writing prose, Angelou has spoiled my taste for the banal. (The lyrical quality of her work makes me want to incinerate my own manuscripts!) This book has had and will have appeal for people all over the globe, especially those facing discrimination of any type. The characters are living, breathing, strong, flawed human beings.

Read more about this remarkable woman on her blog, referenced above and at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou