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Fran Orenstein
The Mystery Under Third Base
The Mystery of the Green Goblin
The Calling of the Flute (YA and ADULT)
Fat Girls From Outer Space (OLDER TWEEN)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Fran Orenstein wrote her first poem at age eight and has never stopped writing. She grew up in New York City’s Brooklyn and the Bronx and is grateful for all the exciting opportunities in education and culture. She has been a teacher, a magazine editor/writer, a counselor, managed state government programs for women and children, and served as Special Projects and Disability Officer with Americorps. She lives in Tampa Bay, Florida with her furry feline friends, happily writing. Meet her on www.franorenstein.weebly.com.
Says “Ellen in Atlanta” power reviewer for Amazon.
The Wizard of Balalac is a delightful start to a fantasy series featuring two 12-year-old boys from New york City. The premise of the book is unique, and the writing is crisp and delightful...It is an excellent addition to the adventure genre adding to the Perseus Jackson series (Riordon) and the Alchemyst series (Scott) - Well worth reading.
Dr. Fran Orenstein wrote her first poem at age eight and has never stopped writing. She grew up in New York City’s Brooklyn and the Bronx and is grateful for all the exciting opportunities in education and culture. She has been a teacher, a magazine editor/writer, a counselor, managed state government programs for women and children, and served as Special Projects and Disability Officer with Americorps. She lives in Tampa Bay, Florida with her furry feline friends, happily writing. Meet her on www.franorenstein.weebly.com.
Says “Ellen in Atlanta” power reviewer for Amazon.
The Wizard of Balalac is a delightful start to a fantasy series featuring two 12-year-old boys from New york City. The premise of the book is unique, and the writing is crisp and delightful...It is an excellent addition to the adventure genre adding to the Perseus Jackson series (Riordon) and the Alchemyst series (Scott) - Well worth reading.
www.franorenstein.weebly.com
About Fran: Background
Dr. Fran Orenstein was born in New York. Growing up in Brooklyn and the Bronx, she experienced a fine education in the public schools and the varied culture of New York City. She has a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education from Brooklyn College, a master's in Counseling Psychology from the College of New Jersey, and a doctorate in Child and in Youth Studies from Nova Southeastern University.
Fran wrote her first poem at age 8 and got her first rejection slip for a short story at age 12. In her teens, Fran wrote for her high school newspaper and continued to write poetry and stories for her own pleasure.
Fran has over 30 years experience writing and publishing academically and professionally. She has written articles, newsletters, political speeches, and brochures. Fran presented workshops and papers on gender equity, violence prevention, sexual harassment and disabilities at local, national and international conferences both here and abroad.
Fran wrote her first poem at age 8 and got her first rejection slip for a short story at age 12. In her teens, Fran wrote for her high school newspaper and continued to write poetry and stories for her own pleasure.
Fran has over 30 years experience writing and publishing academically and professionally. She has written articles, newsletters, political speeches, and brochures. Fran presented workshops and papers on gender equity, violence prevention, sexual harassment and disabilities at local, national and international conferences both here and abroad.
Publishing
Short Stories
"Destiny" in From The Shadows
"The Journey Home" first place winner in Florida AAUW short story adult writing contest
Poetry
Five, Six, Pick-up Sticks a book of poetry for children ages 4 - 8
Poems in Love and Romance Anthology edited by Deborah Simpson and Tales of the Supernatural
edited by Deborah Simpson, Everything Under the Sun from the Sun City Sunscribers.
The Mirrors on Her Wall second place winner in Florida AAUW poetry writing contest 2007 - 2008,
The Veil of Loneliness honorable mention Florida AAUW poetry writing contest 2008 - 2009.
Fran Orenstein thrives on reading 3 - 4 novels a week, which she considers an escape from the real world and insight into the written word. Her favorites are detective stories, legal mysteries, political intrigue, plus the ariety of books she reads for her book club and The Great Books Society.
Fran proudly considers her children, James, Susannah, and Peter and her grandchildren, Rachel, Aaron, and
Zayden her finest legacy. Surrogate daughter, Robin and Robin's son, Vaughn have a very special place
in Frananana's heart.
Fran Orenstein's Philosophy
1. There is a solution to every problem using creative and positive thinking.
2. Help others, either by a simple act of kindness, or a volunteer project. It will come back even though it might not be obvious or immediate.
3. Life is an adventure, live it.
2. Help others, either by a simple act of kindness, or a volunteer project. It will come back even though it might not be obvious or immediate.
3. Life is an adventure, live it.
Places to find Fran as well as her favorite links.
Become a member of www.authorsden.com
Authors visit her at www.theauthorssociety.ning.com
See her choices and books on www.shelfari.com
Check out this Ebook site: http://www.ringsurf.com/ring/epicauthors/
Particpate in www.linkedIn.com
Read her blogs and comment at www.newworldpress.com
Fran's Interview for Sleepytown Press August 2010
What would you like people to know most about you?
---I am a prolific writer, usually working on multiple projects at the same time. I get bored easily so I write in a different forms including novels, short stories, poetry, and in a variety of genres. I am a loyal friend and I adore my wonderful grandchildren. I believe that everyone has some creative ability lurking in their brain that has been squelched by someone in their childhood playing critic.
When and why did you begin writing?
---I started writing at age eight. I was always an avid reader and my mother was a wonderful storyteller. At eight, I read the book Bambi and was so moved by the story that I wrote a poem about it. At age twelve, I got my first rejection slip from McCall’s magazine for a short story The White Dress. It was also my first exposure to the cruel world of publishing. Three months after the rejection letter came, they published a very similar story with the same title. There was nothing I could do, I was only twelve.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
---I’ve always written in some form or another, either for a school newspaper, poetry, short stories, and academically and professionally. It never occurred to me to call myself a writer because I just wrote all the time. When I finished my second or third novel back in the 1990’s a friend who is an artist asked me when I was going to call myself an author. That was a wake-up call.
What inspired you to write your first book?
---This same friend had a past-life regression standing on a balcony of a chateau in the Loire Valley in France. She told me the story and I was so intrigued that I developed it into The Spice Merchant’s Daughter.
Do you have a specific writing style?
---I don’t think about my writing or use an outline, just have an idea in my head. I use a story board to keep track of characters and locations, but I just keep writing and the story just evolves.
What do you feel are your “three” best writing tips?
---Learn your character, create dimensions for her/him, and develop a ‘voice’.
---Don’t get bogged down in trivia…get the story down and expand during rewrites
---Keep a dictionary, thesaurus and style book next to your desk and use them.
What books have most influenced your life most?
---I read constantly. Not having several books on hand causes withdrawal symptoms. As a child I would say The Secret Garden, Nancy Drew, The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, The Anne of the Islands series, classic poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shakespeare. As an adult, Pillars of the Earth, The Stand, Robert Frost and mystery, intrigue, and horror.
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
---Robert Frost for Poetry
---Dean Koontz for imagery
---Janet Evanovich and Chris Moore for humor
What book are you reading now?
---Daniel Silva’s The Rembrandt Affair
Do you see writing as a career?
---It’s a very difficult career in this current economy to earn a decent living, but yes it is a career as long as you have another source of income until you ‘arrive’. I am fortunate to be retired with an income, so I can indulge myself full-time in writing and everything that goes along with it.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
---No, I am usually satisfied that I’ve taken it as far as I want it to go once it is finished.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
---Keeping track of character’s names, repetitive errors I make in grammar, making the books long enough to qualify in their age group. I tend to be terse when I write and believe less is more. I probably wrote the shortest doctoral dissertation on record…88 pages.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
---I don’t have one favorite author…I read so much and I love whoever I’m reading at the time. But if I had to give one, I would say Dean Koontz because his writing is beautiful. It defies the subject matter. I call him the master of the metaphor.
What do you feel is the hardest thing for a writer?
---Getting published. You can be the greatest writer in the world, produce an amazing book and then can’t get a foot in the door with a publisher or an agent. I tried for 15 years. I had agents for books, I had editors love the books and swear they would be published and then got the fateful rejection letters eight months later. It’s a long process and a painful one. A writer has to believe in herself, keep a positive outlook, and not take anything personally. That’s why there are so many self-published authors, small press and POD publishers out there. The public has to respect the tenacity of writers to get their work published. We all can’t be published by the five major publishers, but every writer can find an audience.
Did you learn anything from writing your books and what was it?
--- I always knew I could write well from earliest childhood, probably from validation in school, but I’ve come to believe in myself as a writer, a hard task in this climate. I’ve learned that getting the books out there to the public is a tough job. It takes a thick skin, tenacity, and belief in yourself. There are many unscrupulous, nasty people in the publishing field, just as there are in most of the arts, but if you love to write, then persevere, but be alert.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
---Take writing courses and workshops, go to conferences, find a positive critique group and DON’T GIVE UP! Write because you love to write and have something to say. Become a master of the language, the beauty and variety of words, proper grammar and what appeals to the reader you are reaching. Your writing is a reflection of you and something you want to be proud to have others read, for it is what people will remember about you.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
---Enjoy the journey. Reading is an adventure that’s easy to achieve. You can be transported into another world that goes way beyond your every day existence, so get on the reading train.
---Introduce books to children at 5-6 months. Show them pictures, talk to them about the pictures. Do it every day for just a few minutes. Use simple words, repeat them over and over. “This is a bunny, see the bunny hop, the bunny is white.” Starting out young inspires children and gets them immersed in the world of books. As they get older, you can use the author’s words to tell the story and actually read the book to them. Reading will become part of their everyday routine, and once they learn to read, books will be an integral part of their lives.
---I am a prolific writer, usually working on multiple projects at the same time. I get bored easily so I write in a different forms including novels, short stories, poetry, and in a variety of genres. I am a loyal friend and I adore my wonderful grandchildren. I believe that everyone has some creative ability lurking in their brain that has been squelched by someone in their childhood playing critic.
When and why did you begin writing?
---I started writing at age eight. I was always an avid reader and my mother was a wonderful storyteller. At eight, I read the book Bambi and was so moved by the story that I wrote a poem about it. At age twelve, I got my first rejection slip from McCall’s magazine for a short story The White Dress. It was also my first exposure to the cruel world of publishing. Three months after the rejection letter came, they published a very similar story with the same title. There was nothing I could do, I was only twelve.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
---I’ve always written in some form or another, either for a school newspaper, poetry, short stories, and academically and professionally. It never occurred to me to call myself a writer because I just wrote all the time. When I finished my second or third novel back in the 1990’s a friend who is an artist asked me when I was going to call myself an author. That was a wake-up call.
What inspired you to write your first book?
---This same friend had a past-life regression standing on a balcony of a chateau in the Loire Valley in France. She told me the story and I was so intrigued that I developed it into The Spice Merchant’s Daughter.
Do you have a specific writing style?
---I don’t think about my writing or use an outline, just have an idea in my head. I use a story board to keep track of characters and locations, but I just keep writing and the story just evolves.
What do you feel are your “three” best writing tips?
---Learn your character, create dimensions for her/him, and develop a ‘voice’.
---Don’t get bogged down in trivia…get the story down and expand during rewrites
---Keep a dictionary, thesaurus and style book next to your desk and use them.
What books have most influenced your life most?
---I read constantly. Not having several books on hand causes withdrawal symptoms. As a child I would say The Secret Garden, Nancy Drew, The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, The Anne of the Islands series, classic poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shakespeare. As an adult, Pillars of the Earth, The Stand, Robert Frost and mystery, intrigue, and horror.
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
---Robert Frost for Poetry
---Dean Koontz for imagery
---Janet Evanovich and Chris Moore for humor
What book are you reading now?
---Daniel Silva’s The Rembrandt Affair
Do you see writing as a career?
---It’s a very difficult career in this current economy to earn a decent living, but yes it is a career as long as you have another source of income until you ‘arrive’. I am fortunate to be retired with an income, so I can indulge myself full-time in writing and everything that goes along with it.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
---No, I am usually satisfied that I’ve taken it as far as I want it to go once it is finished.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
---Keeping track of character’s names, repetitive errors I make in grammar, making the books long enough to qualify in their age group. I tend to be terse when I write and believe less is more. I probably wrote the shortest doctoral dissertation on record…88 pages.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
---I don’t have one favorite author…I read so much and I love whoever I’m reading at the time. But if I had to give one, I would say Dean Koontz because his writing is beautiful. It defies the subject matter. I call him the master of the metaphor.
What do you feel is the hardest thing for a writer?
---Getting published. You can be the greatest writer in the world, produce an amazing book and then can’t get a foot in the door with a publisher or an agent. I tried for 15 years. I had agents for books, I had editors love the books and swear they would be published and then got the fateful rejection letters eight months later. It’s a long process and a painful one. A writer has to believe in herself, keep a positive outlook, and not take anything personally. That’s why there are so many self-published authors, small press and POD publishers out there. The public has to respect the tenacity of writers to get their work published. We all can’t be published by the five major publishers, but every writer can find an audience.
Did you learn anything from writing your books and what was it?
--- I always knew I could write well from earliest childhood, probably from validation in school, but I’ve come to believe in myself as a writer, a hard task in this climate. I’ve learned that getting the books out there to the public is a tough job. It takes a thick skin, tenacity, and belief in yourself. There are many unscrupulous, nasty people in the publishing field, just as there are in most of the arts, but if you love to write, then persevere, but be alert.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
---Take writing courses and workshops, go to conferences, find a positive critique group and DON’T GIVE UP! Write because you love to write and have something to say. Become a master of the language, the beauty and variety of words, proper grammar and what appeals to the reader you are reaching. Your writing is a reflection of you and something you want to be proud to have others read, for it is what people will remember about you.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
---Enjoy the journey. Reading is an adventure that’s easy to achieve. You can be transported into another world that goes way beyond your every day existence, so get on the reading train.
---Introduce books to children at 5-6 months. Show them pictures, talk to them about the pictures. Do it every day for just a few minutes. Use simple words, repeat them over and over. “This is a bunny, see the bunny hop, the bunny is white.” Starting out young inspires children and gets them immersed in the world of books. As they get older, you can use the author’s words to tell the story and actually read the book to them. Reading will become part of their everyday routine, and once they learn to read, books will be an integral part of their lives.