Saturday, November 21, 2009

The Art of Writing by Margaret (Peggy) Fieland

Born and raised in New York City, Margaret Fieland has been around art and music all her life. Daughter of a painter, she is the mother of three grown sons and an accomplished flute and piccolo player. She is an avid science fiction fan. She lives in the suburbs west of Boston, MA with her partner and seven dogs.

Her poems, articles and stories have appeared in journals and anthologies such as Main Channel Voices, Echolocation, and Twisted Tongue. Her first book, The Angry Little Boy, has been completed.

Welcome Peggy.

Thank you Brigitte, I'm happy to be here.

Tell us what you write about

I'm a professional Computer Software engineer (BA in mathematics, MS in computer science), but I've written poetry as far back as I can remember.

Who has inspired you in your writing?
Lewis Carroll. My all time favorite book is “Alice in Wonderland,” which I reread every exam time when I was in college, as I made it a habit to avoid the library during exams. I'm also very fond of Carroll's poetry. I've got several stanzas of Jabberwocky and You Are Old, Father William memorized.


What made you want to start writing?

Good question – I started and became addicted. I really love writing -- and I just plain enjoy writing poetry, rhymed and unrhymed. I've developed my own algorithm for generating rhymes, which means that I often don't have to use a rhyming dictionary at all.

Besides, if I don't write it down it stays stuck in my head.


When do you write? Do you work best when you set aside specific times?

Since I have a full time job, I write whenever the spirit moves me, and I have (or can make) the time. The nice thing about poetry is that a lot of it is short and taking a couple of minutes to jot down poetry is pretty easy to do. Waiting for appointments is a favorite time to write. I've had good luck being "inspired" by those articles you find in waiting rooms.

Do you ever have a problem with writer's block?

Not so far, thank goodness {pauses to knock wood}.

You may visit Peggy’s website at MargaretFieland.com to view some of her writing. Peggy is a member of VBT- Writers on the Move who are celebrating their anniversary this November.

Learn more about this fantastic promotional group for authors by visiting VBT-WritersontheMove.blogspot.com. Prizes are given away each day during this event.

11 comments:

  1. Brigitte, thanks for the wonderful interview. It's been lots of fun.

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  2. Great interview. I don't know how you find the time to write with a full time job, Peggy. I've featured some of Peggy's math poems in my newsletter. AS a retired teacher, I love the idea of math poems to help educate kids in math.

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  3. Peggy, the LA Times recently did an article on tech types who were poets. If that theme interested the LA Times, I'll bet your local press would be interested in the same angle for a story on you. If you haven't already thought of that, you can send me a bottle of champagne when you hit the fron page of the business section. LOL

    Best,
    Carolyn Howard-Johnson
    Author of the multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter, www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo

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  4. I hosted Margaret once and it was one of the more active days. I think people appreciate creativity. Math interwoven into poems for children? Its a great concept. Best wishes for your success, Margaret.

    Stephen Tremp

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  5. I agree, Stephen, people do seem to gravitate to creativity.

    Wonderful post, thanks, Brigitte and Margaret.

    Ah, Carolyn is always thinking! You should go for it Margaret. My local paper did a feature 1/2 page on me and my book.

    Karen Cioffi
    http://dkvwriting4u.com

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  6. What a great concept. I have two school aged girls and teach at a pre-school. They love this kind of writing.
    Martha Swirzinski

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  7. So nice to read about you , Margaret! I love Alice in Wonderland too.
    Great Post!
    Liana

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  8. So nice to read about you Peggy! I also love Alice in Wonderland.
    Great Post!
    Liana

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  9. Margaret,

    It's great to meet a fellow poet and yet another mathematician/scientist who likes to write creatively. When I was teaching full-time, none of my maths or science colleagues were interested in creative writing and it just goes to show that the one does not exclude the other!

    When is your book 'The Angry Little Boy' going to be published. Is it a rhyming picture book? What age group is is aimed at? And are you working on anything in particular at the moment?

    Helena

    P.S. I heard about your accident. I did the same thing last year. Please contact me if you feel like talking about it. Breaking a wrist is no fun, I can vouch for that!

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