The Creative Spark with Uvi Poznansky discussion

“What matters is only what’s here. I touch my skin right under my breasts, which is where the little one’s curled, and where he kicks, ‘cause he has to. Like, he don’t feel so cosy no more. Here, can you feel it? I reckon he wants me to talk to him. He can hear me inside, for sure. He can hear every note of this silvery music..."





It ripples all around him, wave after wave. I can tell that it’s starting to sooth him. It’s so full of joy, of delight, even if to him, it’s coming across somewhat muffled. Like a dream in a dream, it’s floating inside, into his soft, tender ear.
I close my eyes and hold myself, wrapping my arms real soft—around me around him—and I rock ever so gently, back and forth, back and forth, with every note of this silvery marvel. You can barely hear me—but here I am, singing along. I’m whispering words into myself, into him.”

Anita in Apart From Love

What she is envisioning is motherhood, which is the subject of my sculture by the same name. It is hard to imagine this is actually bronze, because the patina is made to look like marble. I polished the piece until it became completely smooth to the touch, as if nature--by gusts of wind and the flow of water--has buffed this rock over time, the way pebbles come to be.

But in the back, I 'carved' into the piece, so as to make it look as if it has broken. This makes for an interesting balance, as if you try to make a rock stand on edge. But more importantly, it is symbolic, for self-sacrifice is the nature of motherhood.

Looking for the perfect Mother's Day gift?
Get the beautiful print edition
Audiobook coming soon!

I have just read a truly enlightening article written by David Kudler, the gifted narrator of my upcoming audiobook. In it, he draws parallels between two of his recent projects, especially the use of music in both of them. Here is how he opens it:

"I’ve just wrapped recording on my second full-length audiobook this month — David Wesley Williams lyrical novel of sex, family, and rock ‘n’ roll, Long Gone Daddies. As I was listening through just now, I realized that there were a lot of similarities between this bluesy book and my most recently completed (and soon-to-be-released) project, Uvi Poznansky’s Apart From Love. Both books dissect tangled, dysfunctional families featuring deeply fractured father-son relationships, each of which is hiding some very important secrets. And music is very much at the heart of each.

For an audiobook narrator/producer, music is both a joy and more than a bit of a challenge. Audiobooks — for the most part — are not meant to include music tracks (Audible and Amazon don’t like them), and so any music must be created purely by the narrator in the character’s voice. When a song is known, that can be great fun; when it’s created by the author, that’s fun too… but can sometimes take your breath away."

To read more, and to take a listen to Aunt Hadassa, click the link:

You Haven't Lived Until You Heard Her Singing

"The piano towered over everything. It seemed so massive, so out of place that you had to squeeze around it, or else crawl underneath the belly of the thing.
But when mom played it, all that did not matter. The walls vanished and so did the clutter, because it was so riveting to watch her. You could see her long, delicate fingers as they went flying over the keys, to the point of turning, magically, into a blur. Her hands became transparent, and her ring, I remember, turned into a glow. She was air, she was music! Even when she stopped playing, those strings inside were still reverberating..."

Ben in Apart From Love

Going back to his childhood memories, Ben unveils his unflinching admiration to the most important woman in his life, up to this point: his mother, the inspired and inspiring pianist. His admiration will later stand in the way of him accepting her present condition. But for now, it is focused on one aspect: her hands. Long, delicate fingers, a symbol of her talent, and the one physical aspect that serves as a contrast between her and Anita.

Click here to listen to Ben (narrated by my gifted narrator, David Kudler, for the audiobook) describing his mother's hands: She Was Air, She Was Music

In addition to the Writing Contest in my launch event, I am announcing a new fun activity, somewhat similar to Join the Musical Chorus, which happened a few weeks ago. So, what will it be this time, you ask? Wouldn't you want to know! Together, we will be transforming the space of my large oil painting, titled There is no room to grow here anymore II, taking it from isolation to embrace, just in time for Mother's Day.



This painting has been inspired by an earlier one, titled There is no room to grow here anymore I (the banner image of my blog) where the space was harshly lit, parched dry, yellow, and utterly desolate. At the time, I asked myself: what would happen if I turn off the light, and turn every line in the first painting into a metal wire? What would happen if I drench the space in darkness, and let characters emerge from it? How would they relate to each other, and to their flimsy, confined existence, hanging somehow inside this contorted cage?

Despite the presence of these characters, the space retains an atmosphere of isolation... So here is what I ask you to do: help me transform it!

✿ First, join the event (if you haven't already.) Go here: ♥ Love ♥ then click Join.
✿ Then--in celebration of the upcoming Mother's Day--find an image of the most important woman in your life: your mom, or the mother of your children... The image can be a photograph or even a freehand sketch--anything goes! In it, she should give--or else, receive--a hug or a gift. The gift can be anything: flowers, wine, or a book (and why not give her my novel, Apart From Love... Hint hint...)
✿ Send her image to me through a private message on facebook; use Add Photo in that message. I will then add her into this scene, and we--all the mothers--will party together with a lot of hugs, gifts, and flowers!

Today, when I look back at those bygone 38 years of my active life (still active, though), I wonder what extra-ordinary have I accomplished. Nothing. It surely was a life, which included a humble childhood, charming youth, & struggle filled years of working for different corporations, with more downs than ups. Although, I did taste success, but it was only at couple them. After working for 16 long years (still working), I realized, a principled life or specific working style has no or least value in the wildly dark corporate world.

Moving a bit away from jobs and corporate world; I never realized during these 38 years that I had a gift of writing poetry. Wonder, whether it was lost, hidden, suppressed, or never exposed.

Maybe it was lack of time or time was waiting for the right opportunity.

Nevertheless, it was exactly 2 and half years ago; my hidden muse struck me right through my heart and I started scribbling. Initially with quotes, stories, and poems/poetry later.

1. If me being alive...

If me being alive
doesn’t uplift,
change and grow myself
in any form,
it should stop me
from glorifying,
the day I was born.

If me being alive
isn’t backing
and nurturing fellow beings
in any form,
it should stop me
from exulting on,
the day I was born.

If me being alive
doesn’t support
or stand for a social cause
of any form,
it should stop me
from observing,
the day I was born.

If me being alive
doesn’t help
and serve the nation
in any form,
it should stop me
from celebrating,
the day I was born.

If me being alive
doesn’t comfort
and console the troubled
in any form,
it should stop me
from jubilating,
the day I was born.

If me being alive
doesn’t aid
and assist the needy...

Complete post at http://t.co/MAwmEOS3Zr

Thank you much for adding me here, Uvi. Gave a chance to explore myself.

Aniruddha wrote: "Today, when I look back at those bygone 38 years of my active life (still active, though), I wonder what extra-ordinary have I accomplished. Nothing. It surely was a life, which included a humble c..."

This is so remarkable, Aniruddha, that the muse struck you in such a way, almost by surprise! Indeed, this poem is a reflection on the wonder of existence. Just lovely! Thank you so much for posting, and feel free to post more.

Today I am happy to invited to Laurie Hanan's MONDAYS ARE MURDER interviews. This is how she opened the conversation:

"It’s my pleasure to have as my guest today Uvi Poznansky. While she doesn’t write murder mysteries, according to Uvi her characters do harbor murderous thoughts. Here’s what she has to say about them..."

Check out my interview, which she titled Murderous Sparks and Murderous Rages.


On a different note:

A new author page now showcases highlights of my literary work: book descriptions, cover images, author's bio, excerpts, links and what not...
What, you may ask, is AUTHORSdB? Here is a quote that explains it:
"There are very few places where authors are able to add their information, one time, including promoting links to buy their books on all bookseller platforms. A place where authors continue to write while expert SEO people can assist in Social Media Marketing for free. Authors need an unbiased place to shout out about their creative works without 'big brother's' control—without fear of loosing to unknown algorithms."
-Angel Investor-

Take a look at my new author page and please, tweet or like it:
Uvi Poznansky's New Author Page

True. I agree with you, Uvi. Thank you.
I'll be posting here quite often. Feels good being here.
:)

Aniruddha wrote: "True. I agree with you, Uvi. Thank you.
I'll be posting here quite often. Feels good being here.
:)"

Great! Looking forward to reading more of your musings...

Have you ever listened, I mean, really listened to the lyrics of 'Twinkle, twinkle'? The words can truly take on different meanings, which is something I explored in moments of despair and moments of hope in my novel.

When Ben goes to Sunrise Home to visit his mother, who has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, he wonders about her. Can he reach her, can he evoke some memory in her mind? Her body is intact, but is it now merely an empty shell? He knows not what she has become, who she is... In the background, an old woman's voice can be heard, croaking a lullaby. And somehow, the words take on a meaning of a heart-wrenching farewell:

"Then, to the sound of the thin, painful voice in the distance, breathing the words, Though I know not... What you are... Twinkle, twinkle... Little star, I glance at my mother.
I wonder if what I am going to say about this or that photograph will make any difference, because now I am starting to lose heart. I doubt we can ever find a way—be it a way back, or a way forward—to connect to each other.
The time I remember is no more than a wrinkle for her."

Ben in Apart From Love


In another scene, Anita raises her eyes to the musical animal mobile, which she has hung up overhead, for her baby. She sings the words as she crosses her hands around her body, embracing him. Expecting new life, the lullaby takes on a meaning of hope:

"For now, I mean, until I get a cradle for my baby, it’s hung up in the bedroom window, right in the center, where the blinds meet.
So at night, when I feel sad, or tired, or just sleepy, I pull out the little string to wind the thing up, which makes the animals go fly—fly like a dream—so slowly around your head.
And at the same time, it brings out a sweet lullaby, chiming, Twinkle, twinkle, little star... How I wonder what you are...
I stand here, by the window under the mobile. I touch the glass between one blind and another, and watch them animals, mirrored. They come in like ghosts, one after another, right up to the surface, swing around, and fly back out, into the dark. Then I gaze at them stars up there, so far beyond, and ask myself if they’re real—or am I, again, misreading some reflection."

Anita in Apart From Love

The subject of motherhood is near and dear to my heart, and I express it in my writing and in my art, as you can see here:



To listen to the voice clips of these excerpts go here: A Mother's Lullaby

Gone Viral:

I thought I knew what I was doing: Usually, an image of one of my sculptures, combined with a thought around the same theme, or about the process of my writing, calls the attention of readers. But yesterday morning, a simple post has gone viral, and I am still trying to figure this one out... This is what I posted on Facebook:

"Brian M. Hayden, a dear friend of mine and a great author, offered me the opportunity of writing a guest post for his blog. This time I chose to write about The Cyclical Process of Writing. Check it out..."

Then I gave the link, and here it is: Guest Post by Uvi

As you can see when you go there, this little post garnered 196 'likes' on Brian's blog (let alone all the likes and shares it got all over Facebook, which I cannot even count, but for which I am so grateful.) Brian tells me it was the highest visited post. Over 1,100 visits in a single day!

Funny thing is, I wish I knew what magic dust was used here, because then I could repeat this feat with my next post... My best guess is this: here is a case of two authors combining forces, one opening the door for another, creating an inviting environment--and therefore, the friends and followers of both of them come in too, and they do it in great numbers!

This is really awesome.
Every time you post something on your blog or thread; you make it appear new. Amazing!
That's the trick to reach out.
Hats off!

On a hot afternoon, couple of days ago, my daughter - Chinmayee and I had a small chat, which reminded me I've and can write stories for children. I was pleased with her sharp memory, compared to what I have. Here's the conversation, which choked my throat and silently told me, I need to get back to writing for children apart from poetry.

Chinmayee: Come on, Dad, tell me a good story.
Me: I don’t know how to, Dear Child.
She: I know you can.
Me: I am a dumb poet, so how can I tell one.
She: Why do you say so? I remember the one about a parrot flying freely.
Me: Ah! Okay. Listen. "Once upon a time...

Pleasure sharing link to a short story book for children, published last December http://www.blurb.com/b/3941840-once-u...

Aniruddha wrote: "This is really awesome.
Every time you post something on your blog or thread; you make it appear new. Amazing!
That's the trick to reach out.
Hats off!"

Aw... Thank you Aniruddha!

And I am so glad you posted the link to your Children story! It looks so lovely! And the illustrations are endearing! And by the way, about this dialog here between you and your daughter, it is so touching, and tells so much about her curiosity and the fresh way of looking at things. My father kept an on-going diary about his conversations with me when I was this age...

"A week drags by—seven sleepless nights—during which I find myself missing my ma so much that it hurts, because now that the little one is finally here, I don’t even get how she did it, like, how she managed to take care of me all these years, all on her own. No wonder she ended up being grumpy, which is one thing I’d rather forget."

Anita in Apart From Love

I so enjoy writing a character with an accent! It is such a delightful challenge! Anita Southern twang, her way of speaking and even thinking, marks a boundary between her and the people around her. She is a stranger in a strange land, if you will.

Take a listen to the how faithfully my narrator, Heather Jane Hogan, gives voice to Anita: Missing Her When She's Gone

Uvi wrote: "Aniruddha wrote: "This is really awesome.
Every time you post something on your blog or thread; you make it appear new. Amazing!
That's the trick to reach out.
Hats off!"

Aw... Thank you Anirudd..."

You are very welcome, Uvi.

Am so glad you liking the post about my Children short story book. Whenever free, Chinmayee asks me to tell a story and then I make out a moral story from my experiences of life.

Yes, she's always curious to know more about new things.

Happy to know about on-going dairy of conversations between your Father and you. Quite new for me. I think, I'll use this concept for Chinmayee.
Thank you.

Aniruddha wrote: "Happy to know about on-going dairy of conversations between your Father and you. Quite new for me."

Aniruddha, when I was a little girl, my father kept an on-going diary in which he jotted down his conversations with me. It was written almost like a play, centered on the dialog between us. Six years ago, when I came back to my childhood home to mourn him (during the Shiv-aa, the seven days period after his passing) I unearthed many of his long lost documents, and among them--the diary.

It is in a surprisingly great shape, despite the yellowing pages, and even if you don't know a word of Hebrew, you can appreciate his strong, fluent pen stroke and beautiful handwriting. It is firm even in the process of crossing out a few words.



This handwriting must have been on my mind when I wrote the opening lines of a short story, And Then She Left Him:

"He looks at the line. It is written in blue ink, pressed into the sheet of paper—vigorously here, faintly there—with his usual stroke, a stroke that drives through the spikes and valleys in the shapes of the letters at a steady slant. The line reaches the margin, where it is punctuated, unexpectedly, by a red stain.

Blotting it is bound to leave fingerprints, and so Mr. Schriber decides to leave it alone. He lifts the paper by its corner—and a drop bleeds down; he lays it down on the desk—and the stain goes on spreading. Going back to his writing, he applies too much pressure on the pen—and the pointed nib digs into the paper. Taking a deep breath, he tries to compose himself. The pen is his weapon. The simple act of pulling it over the soft, white surface has never failed to calm him down. Letter by letter, mark by mark, it will soon draw him into a different state of mind."

Excerpt from Home

I love the idea of listening to a story. But being new to the technology I can understand the hesitation many of you may feel. If you have never listened to audiobooks before, perhaps you find yourself wondering, hmmm... What device do I need? As it turns out, you already have it:

You can listen to audiobooks on any device that is compatible with the mp3 audio format, including: Sony Walkman, Apple iPad, iPhone, iPod; mp3 players by Sony, Archos, Coby, Creative, SanDisk and many more; Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone 7 smartphones and tablets. Here's a good article about the use of your Smartphone for listening: How to Listen to Audio Books on Your Smartphone with Audible
You can listen to audiobooks on your computer, using iTunes, Windows Media Player, or any other program that plays mp3 files.
You can listen to audiobooks on your e-reader. Both the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook can play mp3 files. Here are two good articles about the use of e-readers for listening: How to Listen to Audiobooks on an Amazon Kindle or a Barnes and Noble Nook, and Listening to Audio Books on Kindle 1st Generation.

Even simpler: Audible, the Amazon company specializing in audiobooks, will gladly help you--24 hours a day, 7 days a week--to download the audiobook to your preferred device. It is quick and painless... Here is their help line: 1-888-283-5051 (US & Canada) or 1-973-820-0400 (international.)

If you spend a lot of time driving on long trips, doing yardwork, or even sitting around the fireplace, you can imagine what a great companion audiobooks can be to spin away the hours. Great narrators make books come alive. Being so close to you, breathing words into your ear, they make the experience both intimate and heightened, with every nuance in the story becoming fully expressed.



The audiobook of A Favorite Son is already here!

Download Apart From Love ebook
The audiobook is just around the corner...
Stay tuned!

This time, I will open in a round-about way. Do you like a 'open-ended' story? I mean, a story with an end ties most threads in the yarn but not all, so the story lingers in your mind--so you have to keep looking at it, this way and that, trying to imagine what else happened? In effect, you become the writer of the future events of the story.

Two of the chapters in Apart From Love are open-ended, and I am not going to tell you which ones--you will have to read the novel, and find out for yourself! What I am going to tell you is the trouble I found myself in, because of these open-ended ends--first, with both of my narrators, and then with ACX, the place where the audiobook is undergoing an intense process of Quality Analysis before it is offered for sale to you.

Most audiobooks are carried along by the voice of a single narrator. Apart From Love is unusual because we have a dual-narration project: he said, she said. For her part, Heather (who plays Anita) sent me three version of the last sentence, so I may choose the best variation of an unfinished end. And David (who plays Ben) did a couple of variations on the last sentence in another chapter, before I approved the entire project. In hindsight I have a better way of suggesting to them how to perform this feat: first, extend that last sentence, write something outrageous, horrible, funny beyond the last letter, and then stop just short of it--

Yesterday--taking a short break from chatting with you, and running the launch event--I sent a note to ACX. I was becoming worried that their approval process is taking too long, and started asking myself, Will I have to extend the launch event beyond Mother's Day? Will I have to stop and restart it later? I would hate to do anything like that... So here is what I said:

"I approved the audiobook production of Apart From Love on April 12, 2013, and received a note from you saying, 'Barring any issues in the quality check, that process should take around 2-3 weeks'. It is over 3 weeks now, and I am eager to let listeners know the audiobook is out. I am at the end of a great launch event for it, I do not want to lose their interest if it takes longer. Please let me know the status of Apart From Love."
The reply came in later that day:

"Chapter 17 has a truncated audio issue (file cuts off before audio track is finished)"

I replied, as did David from his end, that the end of this chapter is cut off by design, so as to let the reader imagine what happened. In response, they qualified their instruction, which--I hate to admit it--did make a lot of sense:

"Since the 'cutoff' is intentional there still needs to be a certain amount of room tone (spacing between the end of the narration and end of the file). It sounds too abrupt as is.... after being reviewed the files get sent to our encoding team, during this process they examine the files (the book was initially rejected due to the abrupt end of chapter 17)"

With that, came a list of instructions to please revise the audio files, recompile the entire fixed audiobook into a single zip file, with specific naming instruction; upload the zip file to their online dropbox; let them know it is ready for them, and wait for them to review the new submission, which they would do as soon as possible.



What happened next? At this point, this story is open-ended, too--
Stay tuned

I aim to make my books a work of art, inside and out. My artistic covers have won several contests. And when you open them, you can see how carefully I have considered every detail inside. This includes the choice of font, the size of different fields of text, the white space around blocks of text, the indentation of the first paragraph in the story as compared to the indentation of following paragraphs--all of which create a balance; a black-and white environment for you to sail away into the story.

In the case of my novel, Apart From Love, I have focused on several design details. For example, the first letter of each chapter in the book is unique, in the traditional manner of illuminated manuscripts. This special attention to the first letter signifies a beginning of a new thought, and an invitation to the reader to pause before delving in.

I chose a fancy font for the first letter, called Kokonor. Furthermore, I placed it carefully, like a piece of art, in relation to the following letters. This can not be done simply by typing the letters and selecting different fonts--but rather by adding a 'text box' and carefully placing it on the page, letting the text rearrange itself around it.



Here, in Anita's voice, is the text for the opening of the chapter shown above:

"Since the bleeding began, I’ve been missing my ma more and more. If she was here I could ask her, like, How come I feel so alone. How come I can see, all of a sudden I can now see how my youth is wasting away in this place. Like, I have no air, I’m wilting here. And Lenny, he don’t even pay no attention, ‘cause he’s back to his usual thing, which is: comb his thinning, gray hair—sleek it back, real slow and careful—and then work all day, write all night, either out or away.
Me, I thought getting married was meant to change things—but then, if things are changing it’s not for the better."

Treat yourself to a gift!
Get the highly acclaimed novel with 48 eloquent reviews
Dubbed "A literary symphony"

An artistically designed print edition
Apart From Love

★★★★★ "Uvi Poznansky has penned a literary symphony complete with a cast of likeable, bruised characters"
Review by Ashley Fontainne

ALL THREE WILL BE FREE!
When?
May 10-11, 2013
Home
A Favorite Son
Apart From Love

The clock is now ticking, time to set the alarm
Be super careful and you'll come to no harm
Head over to Amazon at the stroke of midnight
To find my book free! Oh what a delight...
Get Apart From Love, A Favorite Son
Get Home, and let the yarn be spun...

Check out the details here: All three will be FREE

Uvi wrote: "I aim to make my books a work of art, inside and out. My artistic covers have won several contests. And when you open them, you can see how carefully I have considered every detail inside. This inc..."

This is really amazing and it's got a lot of learning.
Thank you for sharing, Uvi.

Aniruddha wrote: "Uvi wrote: "I aim to make my books a work of art, inside and out. My artistic covers have won several contests. And when you open them, you can see how carefully I have considered every detail insi..."

My pleasure Aniruddha. I noticed that you gave a lot of thought to the design of your poetry books, too!

Let me give you the dearest gift that I can
Do not refuse me, for my story began
With passion at heart, guilt down at the gut
And sentences that I weave, then turn and cut
Now I give it to you, and this is my plea
Hold my book in your hand, it is yours, it is free!



All three will be FREE!!!
When?
May 10-11, 2013
What?
Home
A Favorite Son
Apart From Love

And psst... get the audiobook for Mother's Day:
A Favorite Son (US)
A Favorite Son (UK)

Uvi wrote: "Aniruddha wrote: "Uvi wrote: "I aim to make my books a work of art, inside and out. My artistic covers have won several contests. And when you open them, you can see how carefully I have considered..."

Yes, I did. I might have failed a bit with the first one, but ensured I work better on subsequent book/s. :)

Aniruddha wrote: "Uvi wrote: "Aniruddha wrote: "Uvi wrote: "I aim to make my books a work of art, inside and out. My artistic covers have won several contests. And when you open them, you can see how carefully I hav..."

:) I know exactly what you mean... We live and we learn!

I'm waiting to be taken, but now, be forewarned
Don't you dare come near me, or else you'd be scorned--
Unless you delight in contemporary fiction
And enjoy reading a book with detailed scene depiction

If you let me pull you in, deep inside
Until you find yourself there, in my characters' mind
I'll make you burn in hell, ablaze in desire,
I'll let you swirl like smoke, ever higher and higher

I'll bring you down here: Santa Monica, Venice Beach
For a father-son meeting, with a blame and a breach
You'll hear Lenny, Natasha, Anita and Ben
And be tortured by guilt, again and again

Find a path to forgiveness, find a way to come clean
Find the words to explain what exactly you mean
Turn page after page, then fall to your knee
'Cause Apart From Love, no feeling is free



All three will be FREE!!!
When?
May 10-11, 2013
What?
Home
A Favorite Son
Apart From Love

And psst... get the audiobook for Mother's Day:
A Favorite Son (US)
A Favorite Son (UK)

Uvi wrote: "Aniruddha wrote: "Uvi wrote: "Aniruddha wrote: "Uvi wrote: "I aim to make my books a work of art, inside and out. My artistic covers have won several contests. And when you open them, you can see h..."

Very true. I agree.

♫ °˚˚ Happy Mother's Day! ✿*‿*) ♡♥ ◦°˚˚
And what about ♥ Love ♥
A Last minute update



This is my watercolor titled A Thousand and One Nights, in which I explored how the roundness of the female figure is complemented and contrasted by the rectangular divisions in the picture plane. Here is Shahrazad, whose life depends on her story-telling ability. If the king is bored with her, he will send her to her death, as he has done with his previous harem girls. As long as he is intrigued by her words, he will let her live. In a way, she is the perfect symbol for what I am doing here: tell a story, and hope it will entertain you.

So now, bear with me: For various technical glitches at Audible, the audiobook edition of Apart From LoveApart From Love has not come out yet... So instead, I have changed course during the last couple of days, and offered you my gifts: my ebooks, just in time for Mother's Day. All the same, I so wanted you to have the opportunity to give the audiobook to mom on her special day... She would have loved it! How can I describe this experience? It's like witnessing a great performance, not in the theatre but in the intimacy of your own home. Still, the audiobook is coming, and soon. I hope you will consider getting it then. And so, here is my last minute update: I am rescheduling the last day of the event.

Please make a note of it: the launch event ♥ Love ♥ (please join, if you haven't already) will come to its high point on Friday, May 17th, 5:00pm--8:00pm PST. Until then, I will do my very best to promote the Writing Contest, where your beautiful entries are showcased. This way, more readers can come, and appreciate your work. So far, over twelve hundred page visits to the entries page during this month!

Then on Friday, I will announce the winners. Three front-runners will be chosen, and in addition, I will pick one more winner--a wildcard--out of a hat.

Please forgive me this last minute change of plan. And now, happy Mother's Day! If your mom is nearby, give her a big hug for me!


♥.•**•..
((¯`♥´¯)) ✰¸.•*¨`*•..¸♥
.`*.¸.*´¸.•*¨`*•..¸♥...♥

Come one, come all! Cast your vote in the writing contest!
Beautiful writings about love. Which one deserves to win?

Vote HERE

A new author page now showcases highlights of my literary work. Take a look at it and please, if you will, tweet or like it:

Friday night we have a date
Check your watch... Don't be late!
Just don't ask, Will you be mine?
Here's the bottle: uncork the wine

I'll bring chocolates, no need to cook,
Oh wipe my tears: the audiobook
Is still not here... But luckily
I just enjoy your company

No more sadness, no more blues
Lets put on our dancing shoes!
Friday night we have a date
Check your watch... Don't be late!

¸.•**•.¸¸.•**•.¸¸.•**•.¸


Come Join me Friday night, the last night of my launch event
♥ Love ♥

Get the print edition
Apart From Love
Audiobook coming soon



My sculpture, The Dance of the Old Virgin

You always every time have something new within your thread. I enjoy reading them.
Really amazing. Worth learning.

Life is a mix of struggles and rejoicing. It may be intense and depressing at one and smooth and pleasant at next. I do not have to reinvent the wheel; we all know this.

Everyone needs a moral support; be it tough or celebration times. Isn’t it?

We all need it. Don't we?

http://t.co/n0DpM3bWmw

Aniruddha wrote: "You always every time have something new within your thread. I enjoy reading them.
Really amazing. Worth learning."

"Life is a mix of struggles and rejoicing. It may be intense and depressing at one and smooth and pleasant at next. I do not have to reinvent the wheel; we all know this.

Everyone needs a moral support; be it tough or celebration times. Isn’t it?

We all need it. Don't we?"

Oh what a wonderful, uplifting post! Thank you so much Aniruddha for sharing this! Next time, post a longer 'teaser'--a paragraph or two, leading to your blog post. Love it!

Uvi wrote: "Aniruddha wrote: "You always every time have something new within your thread. I enjoy reading them.
Really amazing. Worth learning."

"Life is a mix of struggles and rejoicing. It may be intense a..."

Thank you so much, Uvi. Glad you love it.
You are very welcome and am grateful to you, for allowing me to post here.
Sure, I'll post 2-3 paras next time.

Aniruddha wrote: "Sure, I'll post 2-3 paras next time.."

Looking forward to read more from your pen!

Did you notice the new slideshow feature on my blog? Right at the very top?

If you are reading any one of my books--Apart From Love, Home, or A Favorite Son (in either Kindle or print edition) I will gladly feature your image here!

To learn more, click here: Your Image at the Very Top!

This is really exciting, Uvi. I'll try to get a picture of me shot, by myself.
Thank you for sharing.

Aniruddha wrote: "This is really exciting, Uvi. I'll try to get a picture of me shot, by myself.
Thank you for sharing."

Great Aniruddha!
My pleasure. It's a fun way of giving back to my readers!

I am so thrilled that my interview with Author Alliance has gone live! I loved the way it opened, with this question:

I understand that that your father was a great influence on you becoming a writer?

I started telling stories and composing poems before I knew how to hold a pen between my fingers. My father, a poet, writer and artist, would write these for me, and even quote words I invented. He would ask me to help him rhyme his poems, and later on, when I was twenty years old, he asked me to give him a selection of my poems, for inclusion in a book of poetry he was about to publish...

To read more, click here:
Author Alliance Interview with Uvi Poznansky

Hi everyone,
I am a poet from India. I mainly write form poetry unlike modern poets who write free verses. In a free verse you can enthuse the readers with vivid emotions and it is easier, many say so. I write poems restricted by meter and rhyme. I won the first prize at a poetry contest in voicesnet.com. Here is the poem.
The Song of Life( in strict iambic pentameter)
When cherry flowers spread their pink array,
Then spring comes with its charming, lovely grace.
A zephyr fondles the lush green display
And gently holds them in a tight embrace.

A respite from the chilly winter snow,
Its pleasant, cheerful nature welcomes all.
The golden sun shines with a mellow glow,
With beauty tulips blossom; large and small.

Lambs frisk about while shepherds pipe sweet songs,
The dulcet tunes of cuckoos reach my ears,
The happy bell of my heart booms and dongs,
Resounds through air that dries my glassy tears.

My gloom effaced with fast approach of spring,
Heart full of glee, the song of life I sing.

The above is a Shakespearean sonnet. Hope you like it.

Koyel wrote: "Hi everyone,
I am a poet from India."

Oh, these are lovely ruminations, Koyel, and they awaken all the senses! I especially enjoyed "The happy bell of my heart booms and dongs"--never thought of the heart as a bell before, and it is quite a striking symbol!

Thanks Uvi. I am glad that you liked my work.

Wow! It's Here! It's finally here!

This is a magical moment for me, one I have been waiting for! Apart From Love the audiobook edition, is finally out! Highly praised 5-star novel, 48 reviews:

"There is a quality so deep and raw in Apart from Love that it's almost impossible to put this book down. In my opinion, Uvi Poznansky writes like a painter. She starts with a clean canvas and dabs a little paint here and a little paint there as she develops her characters and creates her masterpiece. Her strokes then become broader, more passionate, more vivid and vibrant as she continues to let her characters' stories unfold. She draws you in to a deeper level than you might actually want to go as she ignites the fire to your own love, passions, and fears."

Treat yourself to gift! Download the audiobook:
Apart From Love

Print edition is here, too:
Apart From Love

"After a while I whispered, like, 'Just say something to me. Anything.' And I thought, Any other word apart from love, ‘cause that word is diluted, and no one knows what it really means, anyway..."

Listen to the voice sample

It was such a pleasure, and an honor too, to be invited for a chat with Lisette Brodey, the author of Crooked Moon, Molly Hacker Is Too Picky! and Squalor, New Mexico.

Just being here, at Lisette Writer's Chateau, makes you feel as if you have arrived from a ride at the French countryside, the gate opens before you and now a place is cleared beside her in front of the fireplace, where a little flame is dancing before your eyes...

Check it out: My Chat at the Chateau

A chance is not something that is given. It is something you take

My very first 'real' job was at T.O.A.M., a small architectural firm in Haifa, Israel. The work done in this firm was not part of the architectural mainstream. On the drawing board were the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute, which "dabbles it feet in the water" (as architect Ram Karmi described it.) Also, Beit Halohem (The Fighter's Home) which exhibits "impressive virtuosity in geometric combinations" (as architect Abba Elhanani wrote of it.)

At the beginning of my four years at the firm—a period which coincided with my studies at the Technion—I was thrilled at the opportunity to learn. But after a while I started to feel uneasy with the limited responsibility I was given, designing various details, such as staircases, railings, and small spaces in Beit HaLochem.



I went to my boss, the notoriously famous architect David Yanai, who at the time had exposed a corruption scandal in the construction of the project. The public fight which ensued meant that Beit Halochem was already doomed to remain on paper. I was young, and oblivious to this. All I wanted was to take a greater role in the design. I told him, "I want to be given a chance."

He replied—I will never forget it—"A chance is not something that is given. It is something you take."

Either way, I came out of that meeting with the chance I wanted: My new responsibility was to design the entire landscape around Beit Halochem, which was to be built on the side of the Carmel mountain, overlooking a breathtaking view of Haifa Bay.



In later years, when I came to visit the site, I saw the skeletal remains of the building, rusting there among the rocks on the steep slope, which is overgrown with thorny, wild weeds. Still, I see in my minds eye is papers upon papers of my landscape design, still rustling there, waiting. And all I can hear are those words, "A chance is not something that is given. It is something you take."

Uvi wrote: "A chance is not something that is given. It is something you take

My very first 'real' job was at T.O.A.M., a small architectural firm in Haifa, Israel. The work done in this firm was not part of..."

You got amazing experience, Uvi. Marvelous.
I too agree with "A chance is not something that is given. It is something you take." Sad to know, your project didn't come real at that time. Hope, it will, now.
Thank you for sharing.