Hilda McGilda readings:
Hilda McGilda readings are the perfect program choice for elementary schools, ladies clubs,
writers clubs, art associations, bookstores, libraries,
business groups and local civic organizations.
Contact us to arrange one today: [email protected]
Author, Michele Verhoosky, at Little Friends Children Boutique, Sunset Beach, NC
What a magical way to spend a great summer night, sharing Hilda McGilda's story with these wonderful children (and their adults!). At first some were afraid of witches, and most thought witches were scary. But thanks to Hilda McGilda, they now know that witches are great fun! They helped perform the spells, and were amazed when the spells backfired and poor Hilda grew prettier and prettier. "Oh no!" they cried. "Will Hilda have to stay a mortal and live in town and never ever practice magic again?" As you can see from their big smiles, they loved how everything worked out in the end, thanks to Hilda's friends and the power of perfume! Thanks so very much, Susan & Anne, and thank you Little Friends!
Reading Feedback:
Hi Michele & Lois,
Thank you both for allowing me to be a very peripheral part of your wonderful book. Michele, the kids were enthralled by you and your enthusiastic reading of the book. I do believe the characters came alive for them. Lois, oh yes, the kids loved your great illustrations. I asked Michele if I could pretend to be you for the evening...that didn't go over well :-)...for just 1 night pleeeeeeeeeeease? Oh well! It was lots of fun being there, especially when the toddler with his blankie sat on my lap. Then, when he left, his sister took his place. You've both given these sweet children a wonderful gift of knowing Hilda McGilda!
Love,
Nancy
Thank you both for allowing me to be a very peripheral part of your wonderful book. Michele, the kids were enthralled by you and your enthusiastic reading of the book. I do believe the characters came alive for them. Lois, oh yes, the kids loved your great illustrations. I asked Michele if I could pretend to be you for the evening...that didn't go over well :-)...for just 1 night pleeeeeeeeeeease? Oh well! It was lots of fun being there, especially when the toddler with his blankie sat on my lap. Then, when he left, his sister took his place. You've both given these sweet children a wonderful gift of knowing Hilda McGilda!
Love,
Nancy
Author Michele Verhoosky at Supply Elementary School:
Oh my stars! What a magical day it was reading Hilda McGilda to
200 kindergartners and first graders at Supply Elementary School! What a wonderful audience! They were thrilled that they could see all the pictures, thanks to our Power Point presentation, and I loved seeing their expressions as I read them the story that matched all Lois' marvelous illustrations. All of Hilda's colorful expressions cracked them and their teachers up: "Jumping Jehoshaphat!" "What in the moon?" "Ghastly horrors!" "Criminy!" Giggles galore! And their responses during the Q&A session that followed the story's end were priceless! "What happened to Hilda McGilda?" "She got too pretty!" "Really? How did that happen? "She drank Bubbling Brew and perfume!" "Oh my stars! What happened to her after she did that?" "She had to get married!" "She got married?" "Almost! But her friends saved her!" "Can you drink Bubbling Brew?" "No! No wa-a-ay!" I got so many hugs and thank yous for their spider rings - "They're just like Hilda McGilda's earrings!"- and coming to read to them, it was absolutely heartwarming. Thank you so much Dr. Willis, Ms. Woody, and Kindergarten & First Grade Teachers!
200 kindergartners and first graders at Supply Elementary School! What a wonderful audience! They were thrilled that they could see all the pictures, thanks to our Power Point presentation, and I loved seeing their expressions as I read them the story that matched all Lois' marvelous illustrations. All of Hilda's colorful expressions cracked them and their teachers up: "Jumping Jehoshaphat!" "What in the moon?" "Ghastly horrors!" "Criminy!" Giggles galore! And their responses during the Q&A session that followed the story's end were priceless! "What happened to Hilda McGilda?" "She got too pretty!" "Really? How did that happen? "She drank Bubbling Brew and perfume!" "Oh my stars! What happened to her after she did that?" "She had to get married!" "She got married?" "Almost! But her friends saved her!" "Can you drink Bubbling Brew?" "No! No wa-a-ay!" I got so many hugs and thank yous for their spider rings - "They're just like Hilda McGilda's earrings!"- and coming to read to them, it was absolutely heartwarming. Thank you so much Dr. Willis, Ms. Woody, and Kindergarten & First Grade Teachers!
Illustrator Lois Ebbert special guest celebrity at Ebb Valley Elementary School:
Lois Ebbert & Mrs. Yuhas
Great balls of fire! Illustrator, Lois Ebbert, shared the magic of
Hilda McGilda with 80 kindergarteners as the special celebrity guest of Ebb Valley Elementary School in Manchester, Maryland Oct. 22. The students and their teachers rolled out the red plastic carpet and were thrilled to have "Grammy Lois" sign all their autograph books! After being escorted to the special celebrity rocking chair, the children were then enthralled to be introduced to Hilda & The Gang through actual illustrations that Lois brought along. "I also showed them a painting
I had done of Ariel, Spook's artist model. All the children loved hearing how I used my own cat to draw Spook." The boys loved Hilda. "They thought she was pretty ugly!" Lois laughs. "And they were flabbergasted when I told them Young Jim falls in love with her and wants to marry her!"
The children also delighted in Hilda's colorful expressions. "They would giggle everytime we said, 'Dumpy, frumpy, spunky' and 'Great balls of fire!' and 'Hullaballo!' together." One little girl was clearly inspired by Lois' artistic talent. "How did you ever manage to paint so many pictures in one day?" "She was relieved to hear that it took me lots longer than one day, and that I had the help of my very good friend, Michele Verhoosky, who wrote Hilda McGilda. Michele and I would sit together and talk about the characters and Hilda's cave, and Young Jim's store. Michele would describe what it should look like and then I was able to draw and paint the pictures." In addition to inspiring the children to write and illustrate their own stories in their journals Lois and Michele were most delighted to learn that the children "played Hilda McGilda" on the playground later that day during recess. Now that's truly delighting in Hilda's magic! Thank you Ebb Valley Elementary School!
Hilda McGilda with 80 kindergarteners as the special celebrity guest of Ebb Valley Elementary School in Manchester, Maryland Oct. 22. The students and their teachers rolled out the red plastic carpet and were thrilled to have "Grammy Lois" sign all their autograph books! After being escorted to the special celebrity rocking chair, the children were then enthralled to be introduced to Hilda & The Gang through actual illustrations that Lois brought along. "I also showed them a painting
I had done of Ariel, Spook's artist model. All the children loved hearing how I used my own cat to draw Spook." The boys loved Hilda. "They thought she was pretty ugly!" Lois laughs. "And they were flabbergasted when I told them Young Jim falls in love with her and wants to marry her!"
The children also delighted in Hilda's colorful expressions. "They would giggle everytime we said, 'Dumpy, frumpy, spunky' and 'Great balls of fire!' and 'Hullaballo!' together." One little girl was clearly inspired by Lois' artistic talent. "How did you ever manage to paint so many pictures in one day?" "She was relieved to hear that it took me lots longer than one day, and that I had the help of my very good friend, Michele Verhoosky, who wrote Hilda McGilda. Michele and I would sit together and talk about the characters and Hilda's cave, and Young Jim's store. Michele would describe what it should look like and then I was able to draw and paint the pictures." In addition to inspiring the children to write and illustrate their own stories in their journals Lois and Michele were most delighted to learn that the children "played Hilda McGilda" on the playground later that day during recess. Now that's truly delighting in Hilda's magic! Thank you Ebb Valley Elementary School!
Author Michele Verhoosky at a Hilda McGilda reading:
It was so much fun reading Hilda McGilda and answering audience questions about how our little storybook witch and friends came to life! The audience grinned and giggled and laughed out loud right along with all of Hilda's antics - their spirits were just soaring! Incredibly we sold out before our program even began, and everyone in the audience wants to know when the sequel will be coming! Thank you, Lockwood Folly Women's Club! What a magical night for us all! (see "Hilda McGilda News" for more details of this reading.)
Responses to Hilda McGilda Author Interview:
Michele,
I think this is wonderful! I'm glad that NTD had a hand in helping through the Deaf Playwrights Conference. Congratulations and MUCH, MUCH success to you!
Betty Beekman, Tour Director
National Theatre of the Deaf
West Hartford, CT 06107
I think this is wonderful! I'm glad that NTD had a hand in helping through the Deaf Playwrights Conference. Congratulations and MUCH, MUCH success to you!
Betty Beekman, Tour Director
National Theatre of the Deaf
West Hartford, CT 06107
Hilda McGilda Author Interview with
Sleepytown Press' Randy Young:
Author Interview
(check out all interviews @ www.sleepytownpress.com "Author Interview")
Michele Verhoosky, Author of Hilda McGilda, “The Witch Who Was Too Pretty”
What would you like readers to know about you?
Although you’d never know it from my current (married) last name, I was blessed to be born into a family of Irish storytellers. Growing up in Ohio, we’d make the yearly trek to New England to visit with our relatives who – with their South Boston/Quincy/Irish Catholic accents – I thought were magical. We’d sit in the kitchen, or on the front steps, and be royally entertained every night with the most marvelous stories and songs they’d weave out of thin air into wondrous tales of adventure that often featured us kids as the heroes. And then all us kids – brothers, sisters, cousins and friends – would spend hours the next day making up our own skits and decking ourselves out in clothes from the dress-up trunk so we could perform right back in search of applause. Applause was everything: love, acceptance, joy, exhilaration, and the encouragement to create again, and again, and again.
Words, stories, songs were always around us. I remember there was some Storybook Theatre Radio Show that would come on, and especially remember “The Snow Queen.” My Grandma and Aunt Maureen and Aunt Carole would automatically fill in the gaps of what was being said for me. It was only later, when I turned 9 and finally had my first professional hearing test, that everyone realized how many of these words washing over me were simply washed away. I was half deaf! But like Beethoven (not to be vain here), my progressive deafness has actually proved a blessing. I’ve even been a church organist, which paid for the majority of my college education and a healthy portion of my children’s own. Music is just another language, another means for expression and telling a story. You feel it inside and see it in your mind’s eye in glorious color. Because I need to use my eyes so much I notice so much about people. There’s a wealth of insight contained in each expression, every gesture, every silence that speaks volumes about a person, about their character, their hopes/dreams/sorrows that I can so easily read. I love listening to people, and they love talking to me (whether in spoken word or sign language) because I give them my undivided attention. I have to; as a lip-reader I have no choice! Every person has a story, and all these stories are intertwined. That’s why I love dialogue so. I always hear it in my head. That’s why I’ve always told and written plays, stories, poetry, songs. Because in telling other people’s stories I’m learning my own.
Tell us your latest news?
Hilda McGilda is being featured in two simultaneous art shows: The York Art Association (in York, Pennsylvania) and The Lockwood Folly Artists Fall Showing (in Lockwood Folly, North Carolina). Hilda’s illustrator, Lois Ebbert (my dearest friend and kindred spirit) won an award for her illustration of an alternate cover for Hilda McGilda. And I sold a matted and framed print of one of the Hilda McGilda illustrations right off the wall as I was hanging our Lockwood Folly display!
When and why did you begin writing?
I remember being fresh out of kindergarten in Ohio. Every couple of weeks The Bookmobile (a traveling library) would come to our street and the mothers would gather up their broods and we’d all flock to pick out an armload of books to tide us over for another two weeks. For some odd reason this time I was there by myself (my current baby sister or brother must have been home sleeping). Anyway, I remember the librarian, on learning I’d be going into 1st grade in the fall, telling me I was old enough to have my very own library card. I was in heaven. No, actually, I was beyond heaven! I literally floated home thinking I’d just received the keys to the kingdom. As I said earlier I was blessed to be born into a family of storytellers. My parents (wonderful storytellers, gifted musicians and community theatre actors in their own right) would read to us every night. And I would pour over my favorite books, picking out words, scrutinizing the illustrations and just sit down and start writing and drawing my own. If I didn’t know how to spell something – oh well, no worries – I’d just verbally fill in the blanks while “writing” elaborate curlicues on the paper. I adored paper and pencil, paper and pen, paper and crayons, paper and paint and finally, thrill of thrills, paper and typewriter and the ultimate paperless computer. I wrote stories all through school. I even won awards for some and got to read them at special assemblies and be written up in local papers, which I loved. Because, naturally, each of these stories would turn into mini plays and I’d perform all the roles myself! Growing up I’d sometimes be referred to as “Sarah Bernhardt,” which used to infuriate me. After years as a church organist I’ve gone on to study Eastern religions while earning my teaching certification in yoga, my Mastership in Reiki, and my introduction to metaphysics when I became certified in hypnotherapy and past life regression. So who knows? Maybe in a past life I was an actor, was a writer. I’m just thankful to been blessed with those gifts in this lifetime!
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Hilda McGilda was actually a bedtime story I made up for my children. When taking a sign language class at The National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) I told that story in class one day using spoken word and my newly acquired sign language. The teacher, who just happened to be the director for NTD’s Little Theatre of the Deaf, liked it so much she saw to it that I was awarded a grant to study playwriting at NTD’s esteemed Professional Summer School. That led to my writing award-winning plays two years in a row which led to productions off-off Broadway and a New York Times rave review (see attached article). More importantly this all led to the opportunity to meet, study and work with incredibly gifted people such as Tony-award winner Phyllis Frelich from Broadway’s own “Children of a Lesser God,” Willey Conley, Aaron Weir and so, so many others. From them I learned the true power and beauty of language—and silence. Oftentimes it’s what a character doesn’t say that speaks and reveals volumes...
What inspired you to write your first book?
Meeting Lois Ebbert. It was a moment preordained by karma, Kismet, Fate. Actually our husbands met first over golf. Both of them commented on how their wives should get together since they both liked art. I had Lois and Marty over for supper. Marty, a cancer survivor, was having a lot of back pain. Mike, my husband, said, “Why don’t you let Michele give you a Reiki healing session,” and then proceeded to give Marty a picture-perfect description of what Reiki is. Marty was overwhelmed and a more than a little “freaked,” but Lois was enthralled. We spent the next couple of hours delving into the depths of our shared interests while our ever so logically-minded darling husbands watched sports. We became instant friends, and discovered we were kindred spirits. For years Lois dreamt about being a children’s book illustrator. In fact, several judges would comment, as they awarded her entries prizes, “I’m so drawn to your color and whimsical style. Have you ever considered doing children’s books?” I mentioned that I had an old story I had written for my children when they were growing up. This led to us discovering that we were both called, “Grammy” by our darling grandchildren. It had been years since my last play was produced. Though I kept sending things out to agents and theatre companies and magazines, I had hit the proverbial wall with production/publishing, and saw my secret dream of being interviewed by James Lipton on “Inside The Actors Studio” dwindling away. So in a “karmic moment of divine inspiration” Lois and I agreed to team up and put ourselves in “the hands of The Universe.” We initially were going to pursue traditional publication. But then, when Marty’s cancer returned and Lois nearly lost her own life in a freak fall down the stairs while at home, we felt a sense of urgency and looked into independent and POD publishing houses. It was important to us to do Hilda McGilda as a team so we could each of us help make the other’s dream come true and do so while everyone was still here to see the dream come to fruition.
Do you have a specific writing style?
I don’t really concern myself overall with a style. I just listen to my character(s) and tell the story as it needs to be told. They basically write the story. If I become self-conscious and try to do things “right” and “by the book” they will very quickly—and quite vehemently--let me know they are not all pleased and stonewall me. So once I finally stop talking they take me by the hand, so to speak, and lead me home. So usually I write in dialogue, and usually there’s a lot of humor involved because life, even at its bleakest, is filled with humor.
What do you feel are your “three” best writing tips?
Listen! To other people. To silence. To those voices in your head.
(No, not the psychotic ones! LOL For me, at least, those voices inside my head are the characters telling me their story.)
Look! Notice everything around you. Be still long enough to simply absorb and ponder and lose yourself in the moment, letting it carry you off or deep within.
Open yourself up and let it all pour out without censoring yourself. That comes later—if at all—in the rewrites, the reworking.
By doing all this I find that, for the most part, I get the gist of it right the first time. All the rest is just polishing and perfecting to the best of my ability at the moment. You don’t want to rework something to death, because then you risk losing what was true and magical about it in its genesis.
What books have most influenced your life most?
I love this question as it gives me an opportunity to pay homage! Okay, here it goes:
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Pat Conroy--for his incredible insight into the human psyche, his ability to paint a
picture with words and capture a place, a mood, an emotion. I love him
for his strength of spirit in undergoing and surviving heartbreak. All my
plays were coming-of-age stories, some based on my own life experiences. I can so relate to Pat Conroy, and so look up to and admire him.
Jacquelyn Mitchard--again for tackling tales of love and loss, of flawed human beings. Even in our children’s book, Hilda McGilda,
we have flawed characters. Belinda, queen of all the witches, is very deaf (as are Lois and I); Zelda is miserable in her
second-rate spinsterish mediocrity; Bitsy, the youngest and the most sweetly naïve, fears not being taken seriously. Nora Roberts--for her ability to turn anything that currently interests her into an amazing story filled with incredible characters and
romantic adventure. I especially enjoy her mystically slanted stories.
Maeve Binchey—an outstanding Irish writer. Need I say more?
What book are you reading now?
Pat Conroy’s SOUTH OF BROAD
What are your current projects?
Promoting Hilda McGilda
Percolating the next Hilda sequel
Turning my attention to getting my earlier plays (excerpts of which have been published in various academic journals) published by French’s Plays.
Do you see writing as a career?
I see it as a vocation that I would adore seeing bloom into a bona-fide career. Writing is something I’ve always done ever since I could put pencil to paper. I’ve always had to support my writing with jobs that would allow me to support myself and help support our family. I was lucky enough to make writing a huge component of these jobs but nonetheless, if I had to rely solely on my writing as a career I’d have starved. I’d be beautifully thin and svelte, but half-starved nonetheless! LOL
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
Nope! I love her pretty much just the way she is. If I could have revolving covers, then she’d be absolutely perfect! I loved working with Lois. Loved working on earlier versions with my son, Jason Verhoosky, from whom I learned so much about graphic design. And Lois and I both loved working with Randy Young of Sleepytown Press. The only thing I’d like to see is the cost of POD printing a hardcover book come more in line with the cost of POD printing a soft-cover book. This would greatly help book sales, and earn better royalties from online sales and through area bookstores.
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
In my youth, thanks to being read to as a child.
Can you share a little of your current work with us?
Hilda McGilda was a witch. A dumpy, frumpy, spunky old witch. Her ratty-tat hair was completely grey, her tattered robes patched, her warts on display. She had a long nose and snaggle-tooth teeth, the yellowiest color you ever did see. Among Dover Glen it was known she’d been a witch fifty years—multiplied then by ten!
“Who cares how long it’s been, dear Spook?” she asked her black cat as she thumbed through her book. “I’ve only reached spell 3,003. There’s still so much to learn, I’m sure you agree!”
To me this says it all. Embrace yourself, stay true to yourself, and always be open to life and the moment.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Not really. I just need to remember to stay out of my own way and let it happen!
Who are your favorite authors and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
They are the same writers I mentioned as my mentors.
Which of your books is your favorite and why? (Written by you or someone else)
Dan Brown’s THE LOST SYMBOL, ANGELS & DEMONS, and THE DAVINCI CODE for attempting to open all of us up and get us to question and expand our beliefs and see that there’s always so much more to learn.
Pat Conroy’s PRINCE OF TIDES, THE GREAT SANTINI, and SOUTH OF BROAD for showing us that oftentimes the deepest, most powerful journey any of us can ever hope to undertake is inside our own psyche, our own soul.
What do you feel is the hardest thing for a writer?
Well, it could be a hardship if you let it be, but Lois and I both kinda of actually embrace it and that is being looked upon at times as eccentric. I think that comes with living so much inside your head, because—for myself at least—that is where I hear my character(s) voice. The world of my imagination is rich, and full, and vibrant, and so very, vitally alive. In that world I hear/see/understand most everything. In the quote/unquote “real world” that’s not always the case since I’m sometimes at a severe disadvantage due to my hearing loss.
Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
Oh yes, tons! That’s one reason I so enjoyed tackling this joyful venture. I learned how to convey the images inside my own head to an illustrator (Lois) by breaking down the story into “scenes” much like a play. So, in my manuscript I would write, (1st illustration: See Hilda standing in her cave by her cauldron in colorful, tattered witchy finery, reading from page 3,003 of her spell-book while her black cat, Spook, looks on and interacts with her.) This was done for each and every one of the more than 32 illustrations. It freed Lois up to co-create right alongside me and bring Hilda’s world to glorious Technicolor life.
I learned tons about graphic designing and overall book design. What could and couldn’t be done. I learned about how to find Design Fonts. About margins and gutters.
I learned pricing and marketing and how to design, put up, and maintain our own website. And heck, I’m nowhere close to spell # 3,003 in my spellbook! LOL
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Love what you do and do what you love. Your entire life is a story you are writing with each and every breath you take.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Never give up. Whatever your dream, never give up. You may not be able to see your way past an obstacle now but if you stick with it you will see, looking back, that you were percolating. When you look back you realize that everything happens for a reason. If you stay present, stay open, you can take all those moments and string them together into perfect strands of heartbreaking/heart-warming stories.
(check out all interviews @ www.sleepytownpress.com "Author Interview")
Michele Verhoosky, Author of Hilda McGilda, “The Witch Who Was Too Pretty”
What would you like readers to know about you?
Although you’d never know it from my current (married) last name, I was blessed to be born into a family of Irish storytellers. Growing up in Ohio, we’d make the yearly trek to New England to visit with our relatives who – with their South Boston/Quincy/Irish Catholic accents – I thought were magical. We’d sit in the kitchen, or on the front steps, and be royally entertained every night with the most marvelous stories and songs they’d weave out of thin air into wondrous tales of adventure that often featured us kids as the heroes. And then all us kids – brothers, sisters, cousins and friends – would spend hours the next day making up our own skits and decking ourselves out in clothes from the dress-up trunk so we could perform right back in search of applause. Applause was everything: love, acceptance, joy, exhilaration, and the encouragement to create again, and again, and again.
Words, stories, songs were always around us. I remember there was some Storybook Theatre Radio Show that would come on, and especially remember “The Snow Queen.” My Grandma and Aunt Maureen and Aunt Carole would automatically fill in the gaps of what was being said for me. It was only later, when I turned 9 and finally had my first professional hearing test, that everyone realized how many of these words washing over me were simply washed away. I was half deaf! But like Beethoven (not to be vain here), my progressive deafness has actually proved a blessing. I’ve even been a church organist, which paid for the majority of my college education and a healthy portion of my children’s own. Music is just another language, another means for expression and telling a story. You feel it inside and see it in your mind’s eye in glorious color. Because I need to use my eyes so much I notice so much about people. There’s a wealth of insight contained in each expression, every gesture, every silence that speaks volumes about a person, about their character, their hopes/dreams/sorrows that I can so easily read. I love listening to people, and they love talking to me (whether in spoken word or sign language) because I give them my undivided attention. I have to; as a lip-reader I have no choice! Every person has a story, and all these stories are intertwined. That’s why I love dialogue so. I always hear it in my head. That’s why I’ve always told and written plays, stories, poetry, songs. Because in telling other people’s stories I’m learning my own.
Tell us your latest news?
Hilda McGilda is being featured in two simultaneous art shows: The York Art Association (in York, Pennsylvania) and The Lockwood Folly Artists Fall Showing (in Lockwood Folly, North Carolina). Hilda’s illustrator, Lois Ebbert (my dearest friend and kindred spirit) won an award for her illustration of an alternate cover for Hilda McGilda. And I sold a matted and framed print of one of the Hilda McGilda illustrations right off the wall as I was hanging our Lockwood Folly display!
When and why did you begin writing?
I remember being fresh out of kindergarten in Ohio. Every couple of weeks The Bookmobile (a traveling library) would come to our street and the mothers would gather up their broods and we’d all flock to pick out an armload of books to tide us over for another two weeks. For some odd reason this time I was there by myself (my current baby sister or brother must have been home sleeping). Anyway, I remember the librarian, on learning I’d be going into 1st grade in the fall, telling me I was old enough to have my very own library card. I was in heaven. No, actually, I was beyond heaven! I literally floated home thinking I’d just received the keys to the kingdom. As I said earlier I was blessed to be born into a family of storytellers. My parents (wonderful storytellers, gifted musicians and community theatre actors in their own right) would read to us every night. And I would pour over my favorite books, picking out words, scrutinizing the illustrations and just sit down and start writing and drawing my own. If I didn’t know how to spell something – oh well, no worries – I’d just verbally fill in the blanks while “writing” elaborate curlicues on the paper. I adored paper and pencil, paper and pen, paper and crayons, paper and paint and finally, thrill of thrills, paper and typewriter and the ultimate paperless computer. I wrote stories all through school. I even won awards for some and got to read them at special assemblies and be written up in local papers, which I loved. Because, naturally, each of these stories would turn into mini plays and I’d perform all the roles myself! Growing up I’d sometimes be referred to as “Sarah Bernhardt,” which used to infuriate me. After years as a church organist I’ve gone on to study Eastern religions while earning my teaching certification in yoga, my Mastership in Reiki, and my introduction to metaphysics when I became certified in hypnotherapy and past life regression. So who knows? Maybe in a past life I was an actor, was a writer. I’m just thankful to been blessed with those gifts in this lifetime!
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Hilda McGilda was actually a bedtime story I made up for my children. When taking a sign language class at The National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) I told that story in class one day using spoken word and my newly acquired sign language. The teacher, who just happened to be the director for NTD’s Little Theatre of the Deaf, liked it so much she saw to it that I was awarded a grant to study playwriting at NTD’s esteemed Professional Summer School. That led to my writing award-winning plays two years in a row which led to productions off-off Broadway and a New York Times rave review (see attached article). More importantly this all led to the opportunity to meet, study and work with incredibly gifted people such as Tony-award winner Phyllis Frelich from Broadway’s own “Children of a Lesser God,” Willey Conley, Aaron Weir and so, so many others. From them I learned the true power and beauty of language—and silence. Oftentimes it’s what a character doesn’t say that speaks and reveals volumes...
What inspired you to write your first book?
Meeting Lois Ebbert. It was a moment preordained by karma, Kismet, Fate. Actually our husbands met first over golf. Both of them commented on how their wives should get together since they both liked art. I had Lois and Marty over for supper. Marty, a cancer survivor, was having a lot of back pain. Mike, my husband, said, “Why don’t you let Michele give you a Reiki healing session,” and then proceeded to give Marty a picture-perfect description of what Reiki is. Marty was overwhelmed and a more than a little “freaked,” but Lois was enthralled. We spent the next couple of hours delving into the depths of our shared interests while our ever so logically-minded darling husbands watched sports. We became instant friends, and discovered we were kindred spirits. For years Lois dreamt about being a children’s book illustrator. In fact, several judges would comment, as they awarded her entries prizes, “I’m so drawn to your color and whimsical style. Have you ever considered doing children’s books?” I mentioned that I had an old story I had written for my children when they were growing up. This led to us discovering that we were both called, “Grammy” by our darling grandchildren. It had been years since my last play was produced. Though I kept sending things out to agents and theatre companies and magazines, I had hit the proverbial wall with production/publishing, and saw my secret dream of being interviewed by James Lipton on “Inside The Actors Studio” dwindling away. So in a “karmic moment of divine inspiration” Lois and I agreed to team up and put ourselves in “the hands of The Universe.” We initially were going to pursue traditional publication. But then, when Marty’s cancer returned and Lois nearly lost her own life in a freak fall down the stairs while at home, we felt a sense of urgency and looked into independent and POD publishing houses. It was important to us to do Hilda McGilda as a team so we could each of us help make the other’s dream come true and do so while everyone was still here to see the dream come to fruition.
Do you have a specific writing style?
I don’t really concern myself overall with a style. I just listen to my character(s) and tell the story as it needs to be told. They basically write the story. If I become self-conscious and try to do things “right” and “by the book” they will very quickly—and quite vehemently--let me know they are not all pleased and stonewall me. So once I finally stop talking they take me by the hand, so to speak, and lead me home. So usually I write in dialogue, and usually there’s a lot of humor involved because life, even at its bleakest, is filled with humor.
What do you feel are your “three” best writing tips?
Listen! To other people. To silence. To those voices in your head.
(No, not the psychotic ones! LOL For me, at least, those voices inside my head are the characters telling me their story.)
Look! Notice everything around you. Be still long enough to simply absorb and ponder and lose yourself in the moment, letting it carry you off or deep within.
Open yourself up and let it all pour out without censoring yourself. That comes later—if at all—in the rewrites, the reworking.
By doing all this I find that, for the most part, I get the gist of it right the first time. All the rest is just polishing and perfecting to the best of my ability at the moment. You don’t want to rework something to death, because then you risk losing what was true and magical about it in its genesis.
What books have most influenced your life most?
I love this question as it gives me an opportunity to pay homage! Okay, here it goes:
- All the fairytales by The Brothers Grimm
- Everything by Pat Conroy
- All the Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musicals
- All the mystical mentors Lois has introduced me to in what we fondly refer to as “The Sylvia Section”
- The works of Dr. Brian Weiss
- The works of Marianne Williamson
- Whatever incredible book I happen to chance upon. I love books, and love to—have to--read! If I don’t have a book or a magazine or a newspaper to read I will read cereal boxes, toothpaste cartons, road signs, anything! I have to read!!!
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Pat Conroy--for his incredible insight into the human psyche, his ability to paint a
picture with words and capture a place, a mood, an emotion. I love him
for his strength of spirit in undergoing and surviving heartbreak. All my
plays were coming-of-age stories, some based on my own life experiences. I can so relate to Pat Conroy, and so look up to and admire him.
Jacquelyn Mitchard--again for tackling tales of love and loss, of flawed human beings. Even in our children’s book, Hilda McGilda,
we have flawed characters. Belinda, queen of all the witches, is very deaf (as are Lois and I); Zelda is miserable in her
second-rate spinsterish mediocrity; Bitsy, the youngest and the most sweetly naïve, fears not being taken seriously. Nora Roberts--for her ability to turn anything that currently interests her into an amazing story filled with incredible characters and
romantic adventure. I especially enjoy her mystically slanted stories.
Maeve Binchey—an outstanding Irish writer. Need I say more?
What book are you reading now?
Pat Conroy’s SOUTH OF BROAD
What are your current projects?
Promoting Hilda McGilda
Percolating the next Hilda sequel
Turning my attention to getting my earlier plays (excerpts of which have been published in various academic journals) published by French’s Plays.
Do you see writing as a career?
I see it as a vocation that I would adore seeing bloom into a bona-fide career. Writing is something I’ve always done ever since I could put pencil to paper. I’ve always had to support my writing with jobs that would allow me to support myself and help support our family. I was lucky enough to make writing a huge component of these jobs but nonetheless, if I had to rely solely on my writing as a career I’d have starved. I’d be beautifully thin and svelte, but half-starved nonetheless! LOL
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
Nope! I love her pretty much just the way she is. If I could have revolving covers, then she’d be absolutely perfect! I loved working with Lois. Loved working on earlier versions with my son, Jason Verhoosky, from whom I learned so much about graphic design. And Lois and I both loved working with Randy Young of Sleepytown Press. The only thing I’d like to see is the cost of POD printing a hardcover book come more in line with the cost of POD printing a soft-cover book. This would greatly help book sales, and earn better royalties from online sales and through area bookstores.
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
In my youth, thanks to being read to as a child.
Can you share a little of your current work with us?
Hilda McGilda was a witch. A dumpy, frumpy, spunky old witch. Her ratty-tat hair was completely grey, her tattered robes patched, her warts on display. She had a long nose and snaggle-tooth teeth, the yellowiest color you ever did see. Among Dover Glen it was known she’d been a witch fifty years—multiplied then by ten!
“Who cares how long it’s been, dear Spook?” she asked her black cat as she thumbed through her book. “I’ve only reached spell 3,003. There’s still so much to learn, I’m sure you agree!”
To me this says it all. Embrace yourself, stay true to yourself, and always be open to life and the moment.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Not really. I just need to remember to stay out of my own way and let it happen!
Who are your favorite authors and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
They are the same writers I mentioned as my mentors.
Which of your books is your favorite and why? (Written by you or someone else)
Dan Brown’s THE LOST SYMBOL, ANGELS & DEMONS, and THE DAVINCI CODE for attempting to open all of us up and get us to question and expand our beliefs and see that there’s always so much more to learn.
Pat Conroy’s PRINCE OF TIDES, THE GREAT SANTINI, and SOUTH OF BROAD for showing us that oftentimes the deepest, most powerful journey any of us can ever hope to undertake is inside our own psyche, our own soul.
What do you feel is the hardest thing for a writer?
Well, it could be a hardship if you let it be, but Lois and I both kinda of actually embrace it and that is being looked upon at times as eccentric. I think that comes with living so much inside your head, because—for myself at least—that is where I hear my character(s) voice. The world of my imagination is rich, and full, and vibrant, and so very, vitally alive. In that world I hear/see/understand most everything. In the quote/unquote “real world” that’s not always the case since I’m sometimes at a severe disadvantage due to my hearing loss.
Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
Oh yes, tons! That’s one reason I so enjoyed tackling this joyful venture. I learned how to convey the images inside my own head to an illustrator (Lois) by breaking down the story into “scenes” much like a play. So, in my manuscript I would write, (1st illustration: See Hilda standing in her cave by her cauldron in colorful, tattered witchy finery, reading from page 3,003 of her spell-book while her black cat, Spook, looks on and interacts with her.) This was done for each and every one of the more than 32 illustrations. It freed Lois up to co-create right alongside me and bring Hilda’s world to glorious Technicolor life.
I learned tons about graphic designing and overall book design. What could and couldn’t be done. I learned about how to find Design Fonts. About margins and gutters.
I learned pricing and marketing and how to design, put up, and maintain our own website. And heck, I’m nowhere close to spell # 3,003 in my spellbook! LOL
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Love what you do and do what you love. Your entire life is a story you are writing with each and every breath you take.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Never give up. Whatever your dream, never give up. You may not be able to see your way past an obstacle now but if you stick with it you will see, looking back, that you were percolating. When you look back you realize that everything happens for a reason. If you stay present, stay open, you can take all those moments and string them together into perfect strands of heartbreaking/heart-warming stories.
'Wow, Grammy, that was GREAT! Can you tell us another story???'
