Heroes in Business - Charlene Wexler Author of Farewell to South Shore Elephants In The Room Lori Milk and Oranges Murder Across the Ocean and Murder on Skid Row. charlenewexler.com

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

Tune in to Eliances Heroes Radio Show with David Cogan as he welcomes the prolific author Charlene Wexler. Known for her compelling storytelling, Wexler has penned an impressive array of works including Farewell to South Shore, Elephants In The Room, Lori, Milk and Oranges, Murder Across the Ocean, and Murder on Skid Row. Join David and Charlene as they delve into her creative process, the inspiration behind her books, and her journey through the literary world. Don’t miss this engaging conversation with one of today’s most intriguing authors! charlenewexler.com

writing became my therapy and I started to write about that and I found that I really couldn't do it as myself but I found fiction and I could write it into fiction and that was my first book, Laurie, and it became historic history and fiction together and then I kind of went on with a lot of essays and short stories and friends liked them so much that I put them together into a book. And then I went on to do a couple seminars on mystery and I tried my hand at a mystery. But I'm really best at family sagas. I have two of them, Lori and my most new one, Farewell to South Shore. Yes, let's talk about that one too. So talk to us about kind of what, how that came to be and, you know, what it's about. Well, Farewell to South Shore, I first started writing about my

growing up in a family building. South Shore is a place in Chicago, but South Shore could be anywhere. It could be any ethnic building. It could be like the, my Greek wedding, or it would be like in the Heights, the play now, it could be any ethnic building, but it, it, I wrote it kind of from history and then I fictionized it and had fun with it. And I had my main character, Sherry. She was the first one to branch out of South shore and out of her ethnic neighborhood where everything was ruled by the father. Papa was ruled with love, a lot of food. And it was a different time.

And farewell to South Shore is kind of a metaphor for leaving that time. I know you're a little bit younger, but I know your family might have grown up in buildings like that. That's right. And it's a metaphor for leaving the time. And my main character did leave South Shore, and she went on to be the first one to go to college. She became a lawyer, and she becomes very involved in women's rights and a lot of things that are current now. I mean, she dealt with them in the 70s, such as helping Roe versus Wade and a lot of women's rights that are going on now. So it is current, even though it takes place more in the 60s, 70s,

80s. Interesting. Does it get any easier writing from your first book now? This is your seventh book. I mean, does it get easier? I'm not quite sure. I'm 81 now. I think it gets harder to keep up with it and get it right. I do love fiction, though you have to look up, you have to be accurate. But you can also add on. If you don't remember things, you can make them up in fiction. You can change your characters. fiction. You could change your characters. So it's, in the last two years, I wrote Farewell to South Shore. And I just finished, it's a series, I finished the second book, which is called We Won't Go Back and should be out next year. Wow. That, yeah, I mean, so the plan is, is the plan to continue to keep writing too? I hope so.

Yeah, absolutely wonderful. I just finished like these two in the last two years. So I'm taking a little bit of a break. Wow, wonderful. And again, we have with us Charlene Wexler, author of Farewell to South Shore, Elephants in the Room, Laurie Milk and Oranges, Murder Across the Ocean, and Murder on Skid Row. Talk to us too a little bit more about kind of the various themes, theme of the book though, like of the books that you've had and stuff. You mentioned about family and stuff. So go more deep dive into that of how that comes to be. In all the books or in Farewell to South Shore?

Farewell to South Shore. Okay. I write about strong women and I write a lot about the women's movement. And I get into a lot of current things, both in Farewell to South Shore and We Won't Go Back. I deal with AIDS. I deal with abortion. I deal with abortion. I deal with divorce, especially in the 70s when women first got divorced and had a hard time really working and taking care of their kids. There were no places for them.

So I'm very much dealing into a lot of the social issues. But I also have been accused of being a little bit like the old Arma Bombeck. And a lot of my writing is laughter and tears. Wow. So my first book, Laurie, as I told you, dealt a lot with losing a child right and but all my books are family oriented and they deal with family from 50s on to now right and do you feel that for example with Lori that it helps with the pain that took place in a way. Is it a therapy for you when you're doing that type of thing? It's a therapy for me, yes, very much so.

But I expanded on it. Actually, my main character starts in Chicago, and she ends up living in Arizona. Kind of the opposite. I have a son that lives in Arizona and I'm in Chicago. So I reverted. She leaves and he stays. Right, right. Absolutely. So I mean it's a way to deal with things then, right? Right, right. And Farewell to South Shore, it's on a lot of Facebook and it's on Twitter and it's on a lot of other places. And what's happened is it is a place in Chicago. Like I said, it's also a metaphor. But I have people coming out of the woodworks that I went to high school with or that I knew before.

And even you, I know you lived in Chicago, so you would enjoy a lot of memories about places in Chicago. Not necessarily South Shore, but I think you knew about it. Absolutely, yeah. So I'm getting a lot of people that are having a really good time with not only the characters in the book, but the places. What about, how would you give advice to others that have been thinking about a book, and most people think about a book, but never write, or they may start with one page and go, oh, you know, what they call it writer's block. I mean, it one page and go oh you know what they call it writer's

block i mean it becomes you know they know what they want to say but they can't say they can't start and when they do start it's that way but you've again seven books and counting how do you how do you get past the writer's block is there a good time to do it like what are some of the secret tips well retirement helped so i had more time to do it like what are some of the secret tips well retirement helped so i had more time to do it also i started like late 60s i always wrote for myself and i'd really like to tell everybody it's never too late to start on something you're dreaming about doing and also um I went to several seminars but I'm kind of too old for the seminars and I got accused in the murder mysteries of not following the pattern I guess murder mysteries he has a pattern and I felt like that was really encouragement I could do it my way instead. But really just to keep going and try giving a hand.

Just sit down and start writing. And if you get blocked, take a rest and come back to it. But think about experiences you've had in life and start with that. Do you think that everybody has a book within them that they could write? That everybody can have the opportunity to be able to write about something? Yes and no. A lot of people like my husband could never write a novel. But he could write a nonfiction book and tell you how to do something in dentistry or how to fix a plumbing thing.

So really, you have to be, there's two different ways of writing. And one is fiction and one is nonfiction. In nonfiction, you have to be willing to do a lot of research. In fiction, you still have to do research, but you can make up a lot. Do a shout out of the various places too, besides charlenewexler.com. Where can people find your book? Okay. It's on Amazon.

It's on Barnes & Noble. It's on amazon it's on barnes and noble it's on walmart target it's in london foylees it's in japan uh it's really you can find them almost anywhere online for sure you know with all the books that you've written and more coming and stuff, you could probably write a book about writing a book. I don't know about that. I'm the kind of writer that does, there's two kinds of writers. There's the one that outlines everything and is very precise.

And I'm the one that knows my beginning and knows my end and lets my characters help tell me where to go. Right. You know, it's what I do a lot of. And out of all the books and stuff of that that you have, is there any particular one that you reads first? Besides the new one that's coming out, like is there, you know, like if there's one that you should read,

you need to read this one first. Is there like an order of books? All right. There's a new one coming out. Then the next one would be, we won't go back. That's a series. Another series is Lori and Murder Across the Ocean takes Lori. The book starts out with Laurie as a 24 year old. Murder Across the Ocean takes her as a 70 year old and dealing with a granddaughter. And it takes her to London where the murder takes place. And it's very current on a lot of things too. It deals with the Holocaust. It deals with probably one of my favorites about it is I had fun dealing with a romance in it between 70-year-old Lori and Scott Lennon Yards, Sherlock Holmes, and between her granddaughter who's in her 20s and an FBI agent from Chicago. And I also had fun working with the difference between the English and the American in speech and ideas and how they deal with things. So that I had to do some research on. I don't know if I got it accurate. Absolutely. And talk to us about what are the various writing styles? And then how has your writing style transformed from all the various books you've written?

I think I kind of told you a little bit about writing styles. The people that do their outline ahead of time and the ones that just get an idea and dig in. But are there only two or are there different ways that people can do it? Oh, there's, everybody's an individual. So they have their different ways. And I really, I'm kind of one that just sits down and likes to write. And I haven't taken courses in it other than at one time I was a teacher for grade school.

I didn't know that. Yeah. The dental office business. Right. So it is one of the things of the challenge. I mean, there's so much noise going on in the world and everybody's got this and that going on and whatever and worries and all that. How do you, how do you, where, like, is there a specific place when you're writing these books that you're at and how do you keep out all the noise that tries to get in to be able to focus on, on the book, you know? And then the third part, there's a third part of that is, is how much does one write? Like what, how much would you suggest someone,

and how do you, how much do you write at one time? You have to, how much do I write at one time? In other words, yeah, when you're sitting down and writing. Yeah, I'll get up in the middle of the night, write it down, if I get a thought. And sometimes I write like Farewell to South Shore. I wrote the first part of it about five years ago when I wrote about the family building.

And then about two years ago, I got an idea of what I can do with it and how I could take it from the past and put it into the future. So it doesn't always go in a straight line. I have a lot of elephants in the room. I have a lot of short stories and essays that I then later took and developed it more into the novel. So I'm it more into the novel. So I'm not I'm new to the writing business so I'm into it

into the current writing. I have a publisher now so I'm doing a lot more marketing than I ever did before which is much more difficult than writing. Sure.

Especially for writers because they like to hide in the closet or hide somewhere and sit down and be typing all day. And at what point would you recommend someone get a publisher? Publishers are not that easy to get. You usually have to get an agent first. But I would look for a publisher after I've written a couple good books. Publishers like series too. So you can't, you have to sell your book to the publisher. It's really what it is. So after I've written a couple, at least one good novel. Otherwise, when I first started reading, I just went on Amazon, which so many people do now, self-publishing you can do on Amazon.

But with a publisher, you get a lot more input as far as marketing, a lot more work input as far as marketing. A lot more help in marketing. Yeah. And that's the thing is, is getting the word out there. And you're right on Amazon. There's, I mean, how many millions and millions and millions of books. Right. How do you get it where people will find you and that?

And especially right. Considering that virtually bookstores are, there's little to none left. Right. So it takes a lot. Yeah. Well, this has just been absolutely amazing. Again, Charlene Wexler, author of Farewell to Sal Short, Elephants in the Room, and so much more. And we're going to go through that again, too. But welcome again. Elephants in the Room, Lori Milk and Or murder across the ocean murder on skid row

more to come out make sure that you go to charlene wexler.com once again that's charlene wexler.com this has been david cogan with the alliances hero show thank you so much again charlene for being on the air with us tonight okay thank you but you got to dance a little bit too you got to dance a little bit