Lois J. Funk

FOR THE WRITER who has a personal story to tell but doesn’t know where to begin, and for readers who will soon find that they have many stories to tell: SNAPS, SCRAPS & SNIPPETS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT offers a fresh approach to “show, don’t tell,” especially when writing a memoir, along with Getting the Picture exercises that will get you started and keep you going. Learn how to use snaps, scraps, and snippets of your own to search for, find, and share your memories, past or present. Readers reminisce while writers, beginning or seasoned, learn how to put their stories right up front for readers.

JUDGE’S COMMENTARY, 22nd ANNUAL WRITER’S DIGEST SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK AWARDS
I loved this book. Many of your memories are my memories. The most important thing I got from this book is to pass your ideas down to my grandchildren so that however many years from now they will have the scraps and snippets, perhaps in a journal so they may retrieve their memories. I’ve lost memory-starters each time we moved. I love your talent for writing your thoughts in poetry. You are a good poet, the kind that a non-poetry-fan can understand, enjoy and appreciate. The times and activities you describe somehow seem nicer than today. I guess that’s nostalgia. That’s where this book shines – in creating nostalgia. Your idea of taking small things to build back your memories is great. Your writing is very easy to read, the pacing is perfect and the format of poems inserted between explanatory text is great. I like that you titled the sections. You are great at metaphors, especially liking the sieve concept. I like the Getting the Picture exercises. Perhaps your book could be the foundation of a church group. I loved most of your poems, but I remember most the one about you and your sister planting seeds. In fact, this book may be a bridge over estranged years with my own sister. (See, we never know where what we write can end up. A snippet might change someone’s life.) The best part of the book is how many of your memories matched mine. You have definitely met your goal in writing this book for this reader. I plan to spread your ideas around in conversations with my friends. Thank you for making a difference with this book. You are a wonderful writer. Good luck.

An excerpt from SNAPS, SCRAPS & SNIPPETS:
I wanted to see the cinder driveway that had once run alongside our house, and the garbage pits and hollyhocks that had lined the alley behind it. I longed to see pictures of Mom’s clotheslines propped up and loaded down with the week’s wash; the tricycle that my sisters and I took turns riding to the neighborhood park just up the street from our house; and glimpses of my grandma’s kitchen where, in the aprons my mother always made for her, she taught me how to spell my name while she was baking cherry pies. Those were the details that added color and life to my childhood. But nowhere did I find them recorded on film. So I did the next best thing. I encouraged my mind’s camera to come up with mental images that I could translate onto…continued on Page 37 of Snaps, Scraps & Snippets of the Past and Present.

*****

LIGHT FOR THE BURNING SOUL:
Close on the personal tales of the author’s first book, SNAPS, SCRAPS & SNIPPETS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT (2014), comes LIGHT FOR THE BURNING SOUL, a collection of inspirational poems and anecdotes derived from her personal walk with God and her many years of teaching kindergarten-aged children the meaning of God’s Word. One such anecdote:

JUDGE’S COMMENTARY, 23rd ANNUAL WRITER’S DIGEST SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK AWARDS:
LIGHT FOR THE BURNING SOUL: SPARKS, FLAMES, AND EMBERS by Lois J. Funk is a collection of life experiences, poetry, vignettes, and thoughts that will make the reader think, ponder, and contemplate life and, most importantly, God, as He enters the little and big moments in life. This unique book is one that will bless all readers whether they read each and every passage, or pick it up to enjoy a few pages here and there. This would be a good book just to read from day to day, and a good book to share with other pilgrims as they journey with us along the way.
The cover is interesting and the clouds make us think of Heaven. I like how the picture of the clouds forms a pathway in the sky, making one think of a path to Heaven. Nice execution of the idea. The back cover copy is lovely.
I like the layout of the book and how the vignettes were divided into categories. I think the last thought is my favorite.
All in all, I think this is a beautiful, thought-provoking collection of ideas and vignettes that readers will enjoy. They are unique to the author and therefore quite special. Nice work.

And excerpt from LIGHT FOR THE BURNING SOUL:
Convincing the Invincible
After listening intently to the Bible story in which Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law, our pastor’s four-year-old daughter carried it a bit further by adding, “But she died later.”
I assured her with, “Oh, yes. We all have to die sooner or later.”
While most of the kids let the latter thought go right over their heads, one little boy looked directly into my eyes and said, “Well, I’M not going to die – sooner OR later.”

*****

PIECES OF HER MIND is a “well-crafted collection of English Language Japanese short form poetry” by eighteen women poets:

lost, he doubles back
without asking directions
man behind the wheel

main street cordoned off
one carload of clowns
heads the wrong way

tintype portrait
someone’s ancestor
with a price
on his head

For more about the author and her books, please visit her website at http://loisjfunk.com or her blog at http://loisjfunksnippets.wordpress.com. And please feel free to leave a comment or start a discussion.