Category: Author

Meet Jeff, Amanda, and Josh, the family that writes together!

What’s your genre?
Middle-grade mystery fiction

Are you published?
Self published

What inspired you to become a writer?
I have always enjoyed writing stories dating back to my days in elementary school, excelling in creative writing. My teacher said I had a way of spinning a story. I was inspired by mystery and detective stories. School House Rock fueled my desire to write. My go-to song when writing (that still inspires me today) is Across the Universe by the Beatles.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
Three of my favorite authors are Agatha Christie, John Grisham, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. What inspires me most about these three authors is the point of view (POV) in which they write their stories and how the POV shapes the plot from beginning to end of the book. I enjoy writing mystery and suspense with a touch of humor and sarcasm.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
Agatha Christie – Evil Under The Sun
John Grisham – The Runaway Jury
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – A Study in Scarlet

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
My co-authors and I are family, my daughter Amanda M. G. Busch and son Josh Crise. Besides co-authoring the Sherbert M. Holmes Detective Series, we graduated college together twice and ride motorcycles together (Harleys, of course).

What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
You will be told no more than yes. Critics and haters will come from all around to bring you down, making it easy to give up and quit but don’t. If you dream of writing, then tell your story. Your writing is unique and memorable, so tune out the noise. You may never have a best seller, but that doesn’t mean your writing isn’t worthy of print. Stay the course; nobody can live your dream for you. Write away and tell your story only you can tell!

About the authors:
Writers, riders, and family members Jeff Crise, Amanda M.G. Busch, and Josh Crise are the co-authors of the Sherbert M. Holmes Detective Series that follow the catastic detective Sherbert M. Holmes, an orange and white long hair cat, solving complex cases with his sister Dr. Pipper, a travel-size calico cat. When the authors are not writing, they enjoy riding their motorcycles as a family exploring new adventures, one mile at a time. Learn more about Sherbert M. Holms, here.

What is your genre?
Historical fiction

Are you published?
Indie press publisher

What inspired you to become a writer?
As a reader, I have always been in awe of writers. A few years ago, my former student sent me her self-published book. She inspired me to take the leap.

What author do you admire and how have the inspired you?
I have always admired Margaret Atwood because her writing is sophisticated. She also makes her readers think. Atwood uses her craft to make our world a better place.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Giants in the Earth – O.E. Rolvaag

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
I’m a farm girl even though I no longer live on a farm. Those experiences have become the lens by which I often see life.

What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
Don’t worry about what you’ll do with your writing. Write for yourself.

Author Bio
Ann Hanigan Kotz was born in Denison, Iowa, and lived on a farm. During her summers, she often stayed with her grandparents, on their farm in the Loess Hills area. They often took her to visit her great-grandfather, Tingvald Olson. The smell of his pipe and the sound of his fiddle found themselves in some of her story lines. Ann attended UNI and earned a Bachelor’s in English. She taught for 33 years, finishing at Waukee High School. She also received a Master’s in Education from Viterbo University. Ann was passionate about making her students better writers and readers. She credits her writing ability to studying and teaching the craft. Retired from teaching, Ann Hanigan Kotz currently resides in Adel, Iowa, with her husband John.

David Gonzalez is a storyteller, playwright, and performer whose poetry has been featured at Lincoln Center’s Out-of-Doors Festival, Bill Moyers’s documentary Fooling with Words, and NPR’s All Things Considered, and at universities and performing arts centers across the country.

“Oh Hudson,” a long-form piece, was commissioned by the Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center to commemorate the Quadricentennial of Hudson’s exploration. “City of Dreams,” a spoken-word/Latin jazz project, commissioned by The University of Maryland and La MaMa, has toured throughout the U.S. David wrote the opera libretto for “Rise for Freedom,” as well as numerous plays, including “The Man of the House” (commissioned by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts); “Mariel,” an Afro-Cuban musical (commissioned by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); “The Boy Who Could Sing Pictures,” and many more.

David has toured widely throughout the U.S. and abroad. He received his doctorate in Music Therapy from New York University and has garnered numerous awards and commissions. He is a Joseph Campbell Foundation Fellow, has extensive experience supporting communities through the arts, and is a proud recipient of the International Performing Arts for Youth “Lifetime Achievement Award for Sustained Excellence.”

David’s professional life began scholastically in the field of Music Therapy, where he earned undergraduate, master’s, and doctorate degrees. For twenty years he worked at social service sites throughout the New York City area with disabled and medically ill children, as well as adult psychiatric patients. The joining of art and human services set the context for meaning in his life and shaped the artistic vision that continues to drive his creative work today.

He has published two books for young readers that are available on Amazon: “Tío Jose and the Singing Trees” and “Tito and the Bridge Brigade”. David lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York State.

David’s latest release, Soundings, is his first book of poetry.

What’s your genre?
Poetry

Are you published?
Traditional publisher
Indie press published

What inspired you to become a writer?
Growing up, I loved drawing, painting, making sculptures, taking pictures, cooking, singing, and playing clarinet in the marching band. My first major in college was theater; after one year, I switched to fine arts. Eventually, poetry had its turn, and I was hooked. The immediacy of it was like visual art or food. You could perform it like music, or a theatrical monologue, or both! And best of all, a poem didn’t have to be true.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
There are so many. Kimiko Hahn’s book TOXIC FLORA shaped several poems in my most recent book. Hahn explores the most subjective subjects using the seemingly objective language and tone of science communication. Her poem, “Butterflies,” begins with a seemingly impersonal description of butterflies that one might find in the Encyclopedia Britannica, but by the end, she has landed somewhere deeply personal—and shocking because it’s so personal. The amount of ground Hahn covers as she moves through the poem astounds me. Every step feels so solid, yet where she lands is a complete surprise.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
Anything by Alice Munro
Popular Longing by Natalie Shapero
The Worshipful Company of the Fletchers by James Tate

What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
There are two steps in the process: writing and editing. Writing is when you talk to yourself. Editing is when your writing talks to others. Don’t be afraid to plant yourself in the first part of the process and write things that aren’t for other people. Write with a pencil on paper. Studies show that, much like REM sleep, writing with a pencil connects the hemispheres of your brain and exercises areas that are affected by trauma.

Author Bio
Jennifer L. Knox is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently, Crushing It. Knox received her bachelor’s from the University of Iowa, and her master’s of fine arts in poetry writing from New York University. Her poems have appeared five times in the “Best American Poetry” series, and in publications such as the New York Times, The New Yorker and American Poetry Review. Learn more about Jennifer, here.

“Pie is meant for sharing. Pie connects people. Pie knows no cultural or political boundaries. Pie Makes people happy. And happy people make the world a better place. That’s why the world needs more pie.”

Beth M. Howard is an author, blogger, and radio commentator. She is also known for being the (former) resident of the American Gothic House in Eldon, Iowa, where from 2010 to 2014 she ran thePitchfork Pie Stand. Her books include Making Piece: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Pie, which tells the story of how she turned to pie making after losing her husband, and how the journey led her back to her birthplace of Iowa and into the American Gothic House. She has written for the New York Times, Real Simple, Country Living, and many other publications; she’s been featured on CNN, CBS This Morning, BBC, NPR, and more; and she has given a TEDx talk about the healing powers of pie. She is a regular commentator on Tri States Public Radio. Learn more about Beth, here.