Tag: Veronica Jorge

Home > ArchivesTag: Veronica Jorge

CAREFUL WHAT YOU READ BY VERONICA JORGE

June 22, 2018 by Veronica Jorge in category Book Reviews by Veronica Jorge, Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as book review, The Scribe of Siena by Melodie Winnawer, Veronica Jorge

Be Careful what you read. You might get carried away.

Time travel, suspense, history, political intrigue, murder and romance; The Scribe of Siena has something for every reader.

Transported back to the past and trapped in the Middle Ages, New York surgeon, Beatrice Trovato, is hard pressed to navigate the arteries of Siena, Italy…on the verge of the plague.

And a newly developed empathic power gives her more information than she knows what to do with, forcing her to seek answers beyond her normal world of intellect and science.

But more than that, The Scribe of Siena is a search for identity and belonging.

So many people are searching for their roots via DNA, Ancestry, and Genealogy sites, and are thrilled when they discover a part of themselves that they never knew. Visiting an ancestral country and wearing ethnic clothing often follow.

Like the true surgeon she is, Melodie Winawer takes her character further and deeper. Beatrice’s real journey is out of the brain and into her heart, where she discovers that love is a power that tra Write from the Heart | Veronica Jorge | A Slice of Orange nscends time and space. Now she must decide whether she belongs in the uncertainty and danger of Middle Age Siena, or back with her friends and lucrative medical practice in New York City.

Beatrice’s last name, Trovato, which means “found” should give you a clue of how things turn out. But the actual story, you’ll have to read for yourself.

And for those of you who prefer to travel light; The Scribe of Siena is also available in paperback.

4 0 Read more

A DANCE OF WORDS BY VERONICA JORGE

May 22, 2018 by Veronica Jorge in category Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as dance., music, Veronica Jorge, words, Write

Hispanola, which means the “Spanish island,” became the first Spanish settlement in America. It is my mother’s native country and today we know the eastern section of the island as the Dominican Republic; a fertile land abundant in mines and minerals and rich in a great variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, and flowers, where the sun shines brightly year round.

The merengue, the country’s traditional music, embraces you throughout the island for dancing is an entirely social activity independent of holidays or festivals. Any gathering includes dancing because Dominican’s don’t just listen to music, they live it. Emotionally, the merengue celebrates life wherein you partake of the rhythms of love, family and friendship. The most skilled dancer moves in unity with their partner, as one.

My mother, Write from the Heart | Veronica Jorge | A Slice of Orange Celina Antonia Luna de Jorge, (isn’t that lovely? Like a song in itself), left her beautiful, beloved island, and part of her heart, when she came to America at the age of seventeen. Like most of our ancestors, her family traveled to America in the hope of a better future. I’m happy to say that she found it. (She had me!).

Mom is most fully herself, most fully alive when she is surrounded by her family and cooking us all of the traditional delicious foods of her country. She fills and satisfies us with her peace and joy. And like the savory aromas that waft through the air, she makes our hearts swirl to the rhythms of her warmth and love.

And that’s what I want my writing to be like; a dance of words wherein writer and reader move in sync and taste the flavors of love, friendship, loss and new found purpose, joy and laughter. Writing that, in spite of sorrowful events or hardships, celebrates life and fills the reader with hope that today is indeed worth living.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I love you!

See you next time on June 22^nd.

4 0 Read more

WRITER SEEKS EDITOR BY VERONICA JORGE

March 22, 2018 by Veronica Jorge in category Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as pitching to agents and editors, Veronica Jorge

As I near the completion of my first novel, or so I hope: and by complete I mean as far as I am able to take it on my own, my thoughts turn to seeking a professional editor. Why, I wonder, aren’t there any editors who donate their time and skills to the literary world and to novice hopefuls? (Me, me, pick me, pick me!).

One can find volunteers in just about every profession, and organizations such as AARP and the Small Business Administration offer freebies for tax-returns, employment, business start-ups, and other services. Colleges allow Senior Citizens to take free courses. Even law firms provide free legal aid.

I sigh and look up at the white, blank like my bank account, ceiling. The 70s hit parade blasts on my radio playing, ‘Wanted, young man single and free.’ It inspires me to consider writing an ad of my own.

Wanted: Editor, faithful and cheap. Experienced with Kid-Lit and YA. Dowry small. Pro bono preferred. Let’s tie the knot.

Write from the Heart | Veronica Jorge | A Slice of Orange I imagine a reply and picture the Statue of Liberty waving at me with her torch and calling out, “Give me your bedraggled manuscript yearning to be perfected.”

With my thumb and pinky I hand signal and mouth, ‘Call Me.’

Her torch lights up.

I leap, arms stretched upward, and yell, “It’s a match!”

Veronica Jorge See you next time on April 22^nd.

Veronica Jorge

Manager, Educator, and former High School Social Studies teacher, Veronica credits her love of history to the potpourri of cultures that make up her own life and to her upbringing in diverse Brooklyn, New York. Her genres of choice are Historical Fiction where she always makes new discoveries and Children’s Picture Books because there are so many wonderful worlds yet to be imagined and visited. She currently resides in Macungie, PA.

5 0 Read more

AGENTS FROM HEAVEN BY VERONICA JORGE

January 22, 2018 by Veronica Jorge in category Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as Agents, Veronica Jorge, writing

Manuscript… completed.

Filed in pending like a treasure in a hope chest.

Praying I don’t end up an old maid: no agent, no publisher.

Living on standby.

Waiting for transport to book deal heaven or please…no, not the dreaded Depths of Sheol: REJECTION.

Watching the news for what’s flooding, raging or burning.

A wind-up toy falling off the edge.

A balloon losing air; out of control, and all over the place.

Waiting for Spring.

Hoping for agents, not pennies, from heaven.

Want to be a Weather Girl singing, “Hallelujah, it’s Raining Agents!”

Raining men: second choice.

See you next time on February 22^nd.

Veronica Jorge

2 0 Read more

TRADITION BY VERONICA JORGE

December 22, 2017 by Veronica Jorge in category Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as Contributions, Magnum Opus, Traditions, Veronica Jorge

Tradition | Veronica Jorge | A Slice of Orange Holiday traditions; we all have them.

I usually initiate December by watching, The Bishop’s Wife, a 1948 black and white picture about an angel, Cary Grant, sent to help a Bishop, David Niven and his wife Loretta Young, with a cathedral project and a strained marriage.

Monty Woolley portrays my favorite character, Professor Wutheridge, who’s always on the verge of completing “the next greatest history of Rome since Gibbon.” The trouble is he can’t find anything new to write about. Time is passing by and whenever he walks by the local church cemetery, he feels likes he’s shopping for a new apartment. He despairs of ever finishing his magnum opus. Yet, scholarly and old as he is, it does not prevent his heart from believing that Grant is a real heavenly angel.

Another of my holiday traditions is reading Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, mostly for the uplifting sentiments that it addresses. One of the thoughts I find most touching in the film version with Alistair Sims is spoken by Mr. Fezziwig when he explains that he has spent a lifetime building up a business, not just for the money, but to preserve a way of life.

The 1996 movie, The Preacher’s Wife, a remake of the original The Bishop’s Wife, features a Christmas song performed by Whitney Houston, Who Would Imagine a King?. Written by Mervyn Warren and Hallerin Hilton Hill, the lyrics poetically relate Mary’s awe concerning the child entrusted into her care who would one day change the world.

Write from the Heart | Veronica Jorge | A Slice of Orange When I measure my own life by these standards, I find that, like Professor Wutheridge, I too want to find something new to write about; to make some lasting contribution to the world of ideas, discoveries, and literature. But what can I say that has not yet been written? In what new way can I convey the world of the heart or express an eternal truth? And I realize that, like Mr. Fezziwig, preserving a way of living and thinking is important to me too.

I consider the Creator of the universe who made us in His image and likeness and I cling to the hope that the choices I make in living and in writing can make a difference in the world. Perhaps I may one day write a lasting novel that will become a tradition for readers. Better still, that my magnum opus will be the work-in-progress of a life well-lived that makes the world a better place because I am here.

See you next time on January 22^nd.

Veronica Jorge