by Eileen Granfors
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The lifelong differences between a perfectionist mother, Jolene, and her adult free-spirited daughter, Zoozle, collide as Zoozle tries to make a new start. An emotionally tense and humorous look at the generation gap. A book filled with insight into family issues. The books is populated with unforgettable characters, including a Newfoundland retriever and his suave owner.
AUTHOR BIO
The novel I wanted to write first has finally been finished after several tries over a period of five years. "Stairs of Sand," the tug-of-war between a perfectionistic mother and a free-spirited adult daughter, is now out on Kindle and in paperback here on Amazon. Here's the link to the preview trailer on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SnDv4THmmo
My first novel, "Some Rivers End on the Day of the Dead" is an upbeat, multicultural, coming-of-age story. The trailer for it is right here on this page. I also have a book of poetry out, "And More White Sheets." Check that trailer too! The sequel to "Some Rivers End" is planned to release next fall.
Books, those I've read and the words I've written, have been my most important bridge to the world, articulating what I have felt but have not spoken and helping me to understand the lives of others.
My father served in WWII on the carrier Enterprise, and joined the army after the war. I was an army brat. Before I was a one year old, we left for Germany, where my father was the commander of a brigade escorting the trains between Germany and the American sector of Berlin. We lived in Kassel and Frankfurt. Returning to the U.S., we moved to my mom's home town, the most southwesterly city in the U.S, Imperial Beach, California. My mom loved the outdoors and most of all, the ocean. She could body surf with the best of them, clear into her seventies!
It is at the center of my writing, this little town of Imperial Beach (fondly known as IB).
Many of my memoir stories and the novel-in-progress are set in Imperial Beach and the San Diego area, which will always be home to me. I left San Diego for UCLA and never lived "down south" full-time again.
Majoring in English at UCLA was a dream come true for me. . . I was going to get college credit for READING as much of the great literature of the world as the curriculum could require and then some, as I read in my free time too. And as I taught, I learned of more authors and more books, poems, essays. . .things I continue to think of and quote to myself even now.
When I remarried, I think I married Daniel Boone. He worked in Alaska and Dinky Creek, CA, and is bristling that we have neighbors near our retirement home in Galena, MO. (We didn't know they were THAT close until we saw a plane's view photo of the house). Our home always includes dogs from rescue groups--we have down-sized from labradors (after Pete and Clayton died) to smaller, crazier breeds, a cockerpoo and a terrier mix.
I taught high school senior English until I realized that I had more homework (grading papers) than my students did and finally said, "Hey--it's time to LIVE!
I am involved in the UCLA Writers' Program, which I love. I have used writing as my voice in the wilderness since I was about seven. As Annie Lamott said in "Bird by Bird," a writer is often the good, quiet child, watching from the sidelines, observing and remembering. So it was with me.
My husband and I plan to move to the Ozarks as soon as we can. I often visit our Missouri home for the solitude it provides for thinking and writing. We can't wait to move out of LA madness. And we will have the advantage of being nearer to our daughter and her partner in Raleigh, NC, and not too far from son and family in Arizona.
For the latest in what I'm reading and reviewing, check my blog
www.eileengranfors.blogspot.com
My first novel, "Some Rivers End on the Day of the Dead" is an upbeat, multicultural, coming-of-age story. The trailer for it is right here on this page. I also have a book of poetry out, "And More White Sheets." Check that trailer too! The sequel to "Some Rivers End" is planned to release next fall.
Books, those I've read and the words I've written, have been my most important bridge to the world, articulating what I have felt but have not spoken and helping me to understand the lives of others.
My father served in WWII on the carrier Enterprise, and joined the army after the war. I was an army brat. Before I was a one year old, we left for Germany, where my father was the commander of a brigade escorting the trains between Germany and the American sector of Berlin. We lived in Kassel and Frankfurt. Returning to the U.S., we moved to my mom's home town, the most southwesterly city in the U.S, Imperial Beach, California. My mom loved the outdoors and most of all, the ocean. She could body surf with the best of them, clear into her seventies!
It is at the center of my writing, this little town of Imperial Beach (fondly known as IB).
Many of my memoir stories and the novel-in-progress are set in Imperial Beach and the San Diego area, which will always be home to me. I left San Diego for UCLA and never lived "down south" full-time again.
Majoring in English at UCLA was a dream come true for me. . . I was going to get college credit for READING as much of the great literature of the world as the curriculum could require and then some, as I read in my free time too. And as I taught, I learned of more authors and more books, poems, essays. . .things I continue to think of and quote to myself even now.
When I remarried, I think I married Daniel Boone. He worked in Alaska and Dinky Creek, CA, and is bristling that we have neighbors near our retirement home in Galena, MO. (We didn't know they were THAT close until we saw a plane's view photo of the house). Our home always includes dogs from rescue groups--we have down-sized from labradors (after Pete and Clayton died) to smaller, crazier breeds, a cockerpoo and a terrier mix.
I taught high school senior English until I realized that I had more homework (grading papers) than my students did and finally said, "Hey--it's time to LIVE!
I am involved in the UCLA Writers' Program, which I love. I have used writing as my voice in the wilderness since I was about seven. As Annie Lamott said in "Bird by Bird," a writer is often the good, quiet child, watching from the sidelines, observing and remembering. So it was with me.
My husband and I plan to move to the Ozarks as soon as we can. I often visit our Missouri home for the solitude it provides for thinking and writing. We can't wait to move out of LA madness. And we will have the advantage of being nearer to our daughter and her partner in Raleigh, NC, and not too far from son and family in Arizona.
For the latest in what I'm reading and reviewing, check my blog
www.eileengranfors.blogspot.com
OTHER WORKS BY EILEEN GRANFORS
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