New Indie Author ~ Frank Di Giovanni

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Linda Bonney Olin

Frank Di Giovanni, author of RIVINGTON STREET, reading from his play

Frank Di Giovanni, a long-time member of the W. B. Ogden Writers Group in Walton, New York, enthralled an audience at W. B. Ogden Library last night with a dramatic reading from his newly released play, Rivington Street.

The three-act drama follows the conflict between retired businessman Sam Israel and his son, Robert, a pushy lawyer. After the death of his beloved wife, Sam leaves their Florida residence and returns to the old neighborhood in New York City—over Robert’s fierce objections. Sam meets up with Dave, the present owner of Sam’s former clothing store, and can’t help but compare Robert’s attitude to the close, respectful relationship Dave enjoys with his adult son, Max. The fat hits the fire when Robert shows up, armed with papers authorizing him to take Sam “home” by force. Yes, Robert is one of those characters you love to hate. Don’t worry, though. “Salvation,” as Frank calls it, comes by the end of the play.

Missed the event at Ogden Library? Click here to listen to Frank Di Giovanni’s reading of Act Two, Scene One of Rivington Street. (The recording runs about 25 minutes. Please forgive the slight gurgle that was left behind when I filtered out a loud ventilation fan.)

Having heard Frank read his work at writers group meetings, I wasn’t surprised by the authentic characterizations he dressed his dialogue in. As audience members remarked during the question and answer session that followed the reading, both Frank’s writing and his animated reading put us right into the scene. Frank says he’s had no acting experience to account for his theatrical flair. He jokingly suggests it came with his Italian heritage.

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The Sacrifice Support Group Goes Paperback

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Linda Bonney Olin

12/2/2013: Please note that some publication information in this article is obsolete. See the post dated December 1, 2013, for current titles, contents, and links. – Linda

Home at last! After a six-week sojourn in a house without high-speed Internet service, I finally can post the latest news.

Today The Sacrifice Support Group: Lenten Drama and Discussion made its début in an 8”x10” paperback edition. This large format makes reproducing pages easy and economical. A church or small group can buy a single book and give photocopies of the dramatic comedy script to the cast and photocopies of the handouts to the discussion participants. A bargain, right?

A month after Easter may seem like an odd time to launch a Lent-themed book, but I wanted to experience print-on-demand (POD) publishing firsthand before teaching a couple of related workshops at Montrose Christian Writers Conference in July. I had published the Kindle edition of The Sacrifice Support Group in February, so that material was a handy choice for my first POD venture.

I’m a do-it-yourself kind of gal, so I designed the book cover and interior pages myself and uploaded the files to CreateSpace, Amazon’s POD division. The only up-front expenses were ten dollars for an ISBN (a book’s unique identifying number) registered in my own name as publisher and about seven dollars to have a proof copy of the finished book mailed to me.

Of course, the do-it-yourself method costs time, if not money. I had to adapt the ebook cover to the print edition’s dimensions and add a back cover displaying the requisite back cover stuff. CreateSpace furnished a Microsoft Word template for the interior layout, which needed a lot of customization for this project. Luckily, I found online resources that explained display and text fonts, page numbers, running heads, and other print book elements that I hadn’t had to contend with when formatting ebooks. The most helpful site was Joel Friedlander’s www.TheBookDesigner.com, a mother lode of book design instruction and all sorts of advice for indie authors.

This afternoon I clicked the final button. Voilà! The Sacrifice Support Group instantly went on sale in the CreateSpace online store. Individual books will be printed when they are purchased—in other words, printed on demand. Within a few days Amazon.com and other online book retailers should list it, too.

In spite of the time spent and the steep learning curve, I had fun building a POD paperback. I hope that the finished product reflects my desire to place helpful content into a polished, functional, affordable book.

Try a Sacrifice Support Group for Lent

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Linda Bonney Olin

Just when it hits you how miserably you’ve failed on your New Year’s resolutions, along comes Ash Wednesday, kicking off another round of self-denial.

That’s the object of “giving it up for Lent,” right? Growing holier through suffering. A little bit, of course, not too much. Maybe promise to knock off the sweets until Easter.

That prospect doesn’t exactly invigorate your spirit? How about a new approach to the old custom of Lenten sacrifice? Maybe put a little more GIVE in “giving it up”?

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Faith and Freedom ~ Veterans Day

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Linda Bonney Olin

Photo of Corporal Clarence Bonney in uniform

Corporal Clarence Bonney at Camp Crowder, Missouri, before deployment to Burma

My father, Clarence Bonney, served his country for four years during World War II, much of it at a jungle airfield in Burma. As the man in charge of maintaining the field’s electric generators, he worked under dangerous circumstances to support airplanes “flying the hump” to deliver supplies to our troops in China.
Today I want to thank Dad and all the other veterans of our armed forces, who sacrificed their time, their health, and in some cases their lives, that others might live in freedom.

Faith and Freedom

As a Lay Speaker/Servant in the United Methodist Church, I had the opportunity to lead Sunday worship services this morning at my home church and our sister church a few miles away. Preparing for my Veterans Day message, I was struck by the parallel between the service men and women who put their lives on the line so the rest of us can live in freedom, and Jesus Christ, who gave up his own life so that we might live eternally in freedom from sin. Workers in Christian missionary service, as well as those in the military service, can be called into harm’s way, even to death.

To make that point more personal, in place of the traditional Gospel reading and sermon I chose to portray the Apostle John speaking as a traveling preacher in the year 44 A.D., eleven years after the crucifixion of Jesus. In this dramatic monologue, John reflects on the recent execution of his brother James, the first of the twelve apostles to be martyred, and on what James’s death meant to their family’s faith.

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