AOTA-240308 - JD Nolan, Lisa Grozik, Spotlight Melli Hoppe

This week on Art in the Air, the featured artist is J. Dean Mullen, a large format black and white photographer. Novelist Lisa Grozek also shares her writing journey. Mellie Hoppe is offering a free class called Mindful Movement for Seniors starting on March 11th at Long Beach Community Center. Art in the Air is a weekly program covering the arts and arts events in Northwest Indiana. It is supported by various organizations and can be heard on different radio stations and streaming platforms. Mellie Hoppe discusses her project through the Indiana Arts Commission, which involves a seven-week residency working with seniors on improvisation and stage movement. The goal is to build community and provide a space for non-dancers to enjoy the benefits of movement. The class is open to participants with no dance experience and will focus on the elements of dance, including body, action, space, time, and energy. The goal is to have 20 to 30 participants to create a sense of community. This week on Art in the Air features large format black and white photographer J. Dean Mullen, who's works in still life and landscapes. Next, novelist Lisa Grozek shares her writing journey about her series of two supernatural based novels with a third in development. Our spotlights on Mellie Hoppe's new free class, Mindful Movement for Seniors, starting March 11th at Long Beach Community Center. Welcome, you're listening to Art in the Air, and I'm your host, J. Dean Mullen. Welcome, you're listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, WVLP 103.1 FM, our weekly program covering the arts and arts events throughout Northwest Indiana and beyond. I'm Larry Breckner of New Perspectives Photography, right alongside here with Esther Golden of The Nest in Michigan City. Aloha, everyone. We're your hosts for Art in the Air. Art in the Air is supported by an Indiana Arts Commission Arts Project Grant, South Shore Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Art in the Air is heard every Sunday at 7 p.m. on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, also streaming live at LakeshorePublicMedia.org, and is available on Lakeshore Public Media's website as a podcast. Also heard on Friday at 11 a.m. and Monday at 5 p.m. on WVLP 103.1 FM, streaming live at WVLP.org, and Tuesdays at 4 p.m. on WDSO 88.3 FM. Our spotlight interviews are also heard Wednesdays on Lakeshore Public Media. Information about Art on the Air is available at our website, breck.com slash AOTA. That includes a complete show archive, spotlight interviews, plus our show is available on multiple podcast platforms, including NPR One. Please like us on Facebook, Art on the Air WVLP, for information about upcoming shows and interviews. We'd like to welcome back to Art in the Air, and this time in Art in the Air Spotlight, Millie Hoppe. She is now doing a project through the Indian Arts Commission. She is a dance teaching artist, and will be offering a movement for seniors at the Long Beach Community Center. They'll be coming out in March. It's a mindful movement for seniors, and it's going to be wonderful. And last time we had her on, if you want to hear her whole interview, is October 28th of 2022. Millie, welcome back to Art in the Air, and especially Art in the Air Spotlight. Thank you. It's great to be here. I know, it's so nice to see you, Millie. So Millie, tell us about this project you got going. It's something for people that have no dance experience, so you're not teaching that, but it's just an interesting project, and I think what the Indian Arts Commission is involved. Tell us about that involvement. Yeah, there were 35 artists throughout the state that were selected to be the second cohort of the Lifelong Arts training. So we did three days of training with a national organization called Lifetime Arts, so it gets a little confusing. There's Lifelong, and then there's Lifetime. And we did a national three-day training with them, and then we basically proposed what we would like to do with seniors. So I proposed a seven-week residency, basically, with seniors, one workshop a week. The final day will be a sharing, and it'll basically be improvisation for seniors. I taught stage movement and improv for many years, and I'm used to working with non-dancers, so it's a way for people who are not necessarily comfortable or don't think of themselves as dancers to move and to enjoy the community and the benefits of moving. So it's not, you know, it's concentration, focus, community building, flexibility, balance, all of those things that dance have to offer without feeling like you're in some kind of structured class and maybe you don't have the ability to do maybe ballet or even jazz dance or, you know, traditional modern dance classes. So, Millie, can you give us an example of what a class might entail and what would be expected? I'm basing the classes on the elements of dance, so I consider there are five elements of dance, body, action, space, time, and energy. So with the body, the first class, they may be making frozen positions with their body, and that's any position they can do. And then maybe they're working with partners, going back and forth with making what we call shape in dance. It's actually a frozen position of the body. For action, we'll start with walking, and then maybe we'll add a freeze, and then we'll go backwards or sideways or whatever, you know, depending on what the comfort level is in the class. I've been doing a lot of training on inclusive teaching, and it's very interesting. Some of the artists, you know, think of the goal is that everyone is included so that we don't do anything that is going to stretch somebody to a point where they don't feel like they can participate. So whatever action, whatever movement we do, it's not going to, you know, we're not going to do anything that would exclude anyone. Right, so that means like if somebody needs to sit in a chair doing it, that that will be available. That will be available, and maybe we all do a chair dance for a while, or we just do something with our arms, or, you know, we definitely, there will be chairs around the space so that if people don't feel like they can stand even for the whole time, they can participate sitting. Yeah, balance is such an important thing, so it's wonderful that you're doing this class because it will promote that, you know. Yeah. Yeah, how to find your balance. So how many participants will you be having in the class? What's your goal? My goal would be to have 20 or 30 participants. I have already had 12 people signed up, which I'm really excited about, so I think it's going to go. It's going to happen, and, but I think, you know, a big part of the goal of these workshops, the lifelong learning, is to build community, and I think you definitely want a certain number to have a community. It's hard to have a sense of community if there's three or four people, so, you know, we want to have close to 20, I think, to have a sense of a community, that we're building community. So knowing you, I know this is going to be very successful, so with the IAC, are you, are you, will you be allowed to be in, like, the cohort 2024, or how would you be able to continue on with this if it is successful? This, it's a three-year grant, so this is our, my first year, so it, we are expected to do it two more years and build on this, so anything that maybe didn't work quite so well this time, we can kind of flesh that out, and next time, you know, make it stronger or whatever, so that's really exciting, that it is a three-year grant, so it will happen next year. Brilliant, wonderful. Yeah. Yeah, because you want to keep that community going. Right, right, yeah, and who knows beyond this grant what could happen, but it's, it's exciting for me, because I do, still do a lot of work in Indianapolis, and I think it's fun to be able to do something in my own community and with people closer to my age than the children I teach most often, so. Well, we're in about our last minute here. We want to give you a chance to tell people how, where you're going to do this, how you're going to do it, how they sign up for it, and everything like that. All right, the workshops will be taking place starting March 11th through April 22nd, and they'll be in the gym at the Long Beach Community Center, and that's 2501 Oriole Trail. If they'd like to register, they can email me at melihoppe16 at gmail.com. Okay, and that's wonderful that you're going to see that the Mindful Movement for Seniors offered at the Long Beach Community Center. Mellie Hoppe is going to be doing it, and you can find out information about that. It'll be starting on Mondays, March 11th through April 22nd. Mellie, thank you so much for coming on Art on the Air Spotlight. Thank you for having me. Yeah, thank you for offering this. In a quick Spotlight Extra, applications for Lake County Public Library's third annual Creative Arts Summit are due March 18th. Information is at their website lcpl.org slash CAS. Art on the Air Spotlight and the complete one-hour program on Lakeshore Public Media is brought to you by McAuley Real Estate in Valparaiso, Ola Patrician, Senior Broker. And as a reminder, if you'd like to have your event on Art on the Air Spotlight or have a longer feature interview, email us at aotaatbrech.com. That's aotaatbrech, B-R-E-C-H, dot com. Hi there, this is public radio theme composer B.J. Lederman, and you're listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Radio 89.1 FM and on WVLP 103.1 FM. We would like to welcome J.D. Nolan to Art on the Air. J.D. is an Indiana-based photographer. This camera is a 4x5 large format box style camera capturing stunning black and white images. J.D. is also an Indiana artisan. Thank you for joining us on Art on the Air. Aloha and welcome, J.D. It's really nice to meet you. Thank you very much. Well, and we were referred to us by the Indiana artisans. We'd like to thank her for that. We've been connecting with them. But we really want to know all about you. I always call it your origin story, how you got into photography, but even before that, how you got from where you were to where you are now. So tell us all about J.D. Well, I was born in January 19th, 1943, so I'm 81. But went to school in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where I was born. Went to St. Patrick's grade school. And then I actually transitioned in my freshman and sophomore year to seminary, where I studied to be a priest for two years. And at the end of two years, I decided that really wasn't what I wanted to do. So I went back to Fort Wayne and finished up at Central Catholic. And then it went to just a small college in Fort Wayne, International Business College, and studied to be an accountant. I got my degree from there. And then I got up. My first job was with Peter Eckrich and Sons out of Fort Wayne in their accounting department. And then I was I got married at the time. And my father-in-law at that time was in the entertainment business, did boat shows and things like that. And he asked me if I would come to work for him because he only had two daughters, the one I was married to and an older daughter who lived up in Chicago area. And so I said, I was 20 years old. So I thought, what the heck, I can try it. If I don't like it, I'll go back to accounting, I'll go back to. But then he passed away three years after I went to work for him. And then I took over the business and expanded. And I started doing things like, oh, it's in wrestling for a while, roller derby, globetrotters, stuff like that, kind of a little bit of rock and roll business. And I've spent 15 years up in Fort Wayne as a promoter, where I was either producing the shows or buying the attractions. And, you know, then you'd go out and sell tickets and hope you could get more money than you had to pay out. So you really had a show business career. And then I got from roller derby, we met two guys, we own the rights to roller derby for for Indiana and Michigan. And we're doing in Indianapolis, there was two fellows that were the promoters, and we were the presenters. And through them, one day, they called me out of the blue and offered me a job. They'd just taken on a situation at Butler University at their Clues Hall. And they were going to be buying touring Broadway shows and things like that. And they needed somebody to do their advertising and on site, looking after things and they couldn't do it themselves. So I took that job. And that was the best thing ever, best move I ever made. I finished my 25 years up working for them, especially the one guy in particular. And then I actually took over the running of Starlight Musicals, which was a big thing down there for three or four years. And then it was a nonprofit thing. And I got kind of tired of that after a while, because sometimes you didn't know where the money was coming from. And I started out in the box office. So I knew all the people in the box office, all the ushers and all that stuff. I thought, God, if I got to face these people, and I don't have any money, I wouldn't have the heart for that. Right. So one day I told him, I just can't do it anymore. And he threw a book on my desk and said, read this, because you're going to be my next company manager, because he was doing touring Broadway shows at the time. And I spent six or seven years as a company manager, I'd go into New York and pick up the show that was going to be there, do three weeks of rehearsals. And then we go out the road, all over the United States, Canada. We did some shows in Mexico. And we sent some over to Japan, stuff like that. And at the end of that period of time, I had open heart surgery when I was 47 years old at 1990. And listen, the actors complained because I had an eight o'clock bus call on Monday morning when we're traveling to the next show. This got to me so much. Because I thought, you can complain about the big things in life, but an eight o'clock bus call is not a big thing. So I went in to him one time and I said, I really can't do this kind of thing anymore. And he said, well, I understand that. He said, because I want my company manager or the head accountant to be here in town instead of at New York. He said, so you're going to be my next dinner ranger. Oh, there you go. Finished out the run from, oh gosh, about 92 till 2003. And that was the end of my living 40 years in the entertainment business. Oh my gosh, you know what it makes it just listening to that I feel like around the world in 80 days, it's so serendipitous. The way you tell it. And touring is tough to do. I mean, it is. But you're right. Sometimes actors are kind of like trying to herd cats in those situations. Well, you know, they were all most of them all came from New York. Right. So, you know, you live in New York, you've got to be able to fend for yourself, you know. But boy, as soon as I came in the first day of rehearsals, it's like, can you do this for me? Can you do that for me? But it was a great life because I enjoyed it very much. I look forward to going to work every day of my life. Just been blessed. Until you didn't. Until you didn't like it. I'm going to reel you back to elementary school for a minute. So in your schooling, were you, did they have art classes? Because I know in mine, in my early education, we did not have them. So was photography at all part of your childhood, the documenting of time? No, not at all. I tell you, the way I got into it was I'd been going to summer art shows and gallery openings for a long time. And I was attracted to black and white photography in particular. And I think it was because I saw Ansel Adams' work really early on. And I was just so taken by his images. They were in the 40s or 50s. And this was in the 80s. And just that they were so they were old, but they were so impressive to me. Like a master printer. I couldn't just walk by them, you know, you had to stop and look at each piece. And you'd be 10 or 15 feet away. And you see something in the print that was looks like it was all black. And then as you walked up and got within five feet or four feet of permanent, you're looking at these things that are all black and you're seeing texture all of a sudden, you know, and it just impressed me. But the one thing I saw, I started to see in black and white photography was, or just photography in general, excuse me, was something would be tack sharp in your in the image and something else would be a little bit out of focus. And I thought, that can't be a mistake. It's that they made and they're trying to sell it, you know, but I wanted to take a class and learn how they did that. And that's how I got started. I took a class at the Indianapolis art department, and they offered a black and white class on Saturdays. And so it did interfere with my work. And by the third week, I knew pretty much, I'd learned basically how they accomplished it, you know, but I thought about dropping out of the class at that time. And I thought, well, heck, I paid my money out to do the whole thing. And then we got to the fifth week, and we started to do our first enlargement. And that was, Wow, the dark room. You put the you got the light in there, your paper, you place the light and you put the developer and all of a sudden this black image comes up. And it just impressed me the devil. And that I was fortunate enough that the girl that was teaching the class, she saw in me something, you know, and other guys would come out of the dark room and show her something that they did. And she was like, Oh, that's really good job, you know, or whoever, you know, and I would come out, and she would look at it and say, I think you could do a little better job with this thing or, or a little add some light or dodge a little bit here. And I'd go back in and do it. And eventually I took two by two beginning classes from her. But after that, I met a man who taught at the Indianapolis Arts Center, who actually founded the photography department. But he worked for Ansel Adams, for like 13 years in the workshops in Yosemite. And I took a class from him. And then the following year, I think it was 99. He, he lived, he had a summer place in Idaho, and he would take a group of campers out there, like eight, eight of us all together, and travel around, we spent a week, and would photograph all kinds of things, you know. And then, and while we were out there, a girl was his assistant. And she came up to me one time, and she said, well, Mike and I are breaking up after this is over with, and he's going to need a darkroom assistant. Would you be interested? And I said, sure. Because it used to tell great stories about Ansel Adams and stuff like that, you know. And I thought, well, it'd be a good opportunity to learn some more and not have to pay for classes anymore. So, J.D., what camera were you using during all this time? A 35 millimeter Minolta, and it didn't even belong to me. A good friend of mine, she had the camera and didn't use it much. And I shot for a year and a half with it. And then when I did this workshop out in Idaho, he had a list of a bunch of things you had to have. And I thought, well, I'm not going to buy stuff for her camera, I'll just have to buy my own. And that was where I bought my first medium format camera. And from there, well, actually through Michael, I met or was introduced to John Sexton, who was Ansel Adams' second to the last darkroom assistant. And I went out and did a workshop with him, a week-long workshop with him. And that was a pretty good thing. And then I came back home. And later on, Michael told me about a guy up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, whose name was Howard Vaughn. He took Ansel's workshops out in Yosemite, but they had become pretty good friends because he taught me music at the University of Michigan. And Ansel Adams, it's a little known fact, but he studied to be a concert pianist, which a lot of people don't know, but they had that one thing in common. And he became a pretty good photographer himself, you know. So my experience with those three fellows were that they all used medium format cameras. And six years after I bought the medium format one, I thought, what the heck, I'm going to try a large format. Yeah. I'd studied, did a lot of research. And I came up with a wizard technical field camera, 4x5. And that really impressed me the way that was made. And they, one, I was, I used to buy a lot of stuff on eBay. And one day, I ran across the one of one model I wanted. And the guy who was selling it was from Michigan, or Muncie, Indiana, which is like 45 minutes away from me. And I was the winning bidder on it. And I called him up. And I said, I'm I can just come up and pick it up. You don't have to mail it. And he said, good enough. And so that's how I got into it. That was in 2004, in the in the fall of 2004. Then I read a one book I bought. And I read it must read that book four times, learning the techniques you had and what you could accomplish with that thing. And then January of 2005, I took my first picture. Wow. Now, did you do medium format before that, like, like a little Roloflex or something like that? Or do you just went straight to a box camera? No, I went to it was a it was a like a box thing, but a small thing. It was a six by four or five. Okay. Yeah. Right. So that's it. You've been pretty much shooting that all the time. We'll talk more about your images. But I was I'm curious, have you ever dabbled in digital at all? You know, I separate you obviously not from the four by five camera. But have you explored that at all and seen the similarity between what you do in a dark room and what you do like with a Photoshop? Or have you even touched on that? No, I've never touched on it. I don't I've never owned a digital camera or anything like it. Right. I got my iPhone. And I think the funniest thing with that is, I'll be someplace. And I'll see something that I think about buying. And I have a kind of got to remember this price and what it was. And I'll drive away. And I get home and I think, geez, I could have taken a picture. Right? I don't, I don't think of the thing as a camera. It's just a phone to me. Right. Or else, you know, the, you know, with the four by five, it's it's not an immediate process where so I would imagine like, camera in your mind means extended exposure, you know, and the one thing I found out that I really like about the medium format is it slowed me down, where you might be walking someplace, you know, the woods or wherever, and you see something that you think is neat, you're snapping three or four shots. With a large format, it takes a little bit of time to set the thing up. And a lot of times I'll be halfway through setting it up. And I'm continuing to look at what I'm photographing. And all of a sudden, the excitement isn't there. You know, and so I just back up the camera. That's where your phone could act as like we used to use Polaroid to at least get, you know, a look see before we committed. Yeah. So when you purchased the first four by five, from the gentleman in Muncie, had he been using it? And were you able to get any information from him? No. Just from watching Michael with these workshops, I went out with him a few times as his assistant to just watch him work with it. But I had never worked with one before at all in my life. Your audience might be interested in some of the differences between you were shooting film 35 millimeter to a box camera, especially by photographers that listen to this. Tell me your process of setting up. I mean, you know, it's slower, but also like the resolution you get on a four by five piece of film. Yeah, it's, it's amazing. First of all, you're working upside down. And you got to remember that the left side is actually the right and the right side is actually the left. One of the first times I was taking a photo, I got I saw something on the left side. I don't want that in the picture. And I moved it over to the left. All of a sudden, it was in the middle. Yeah, I should move it this way. It impresses me a lot. Because you small aperture and a long shutter speed, you get so much more information on your negative that you do with something with something that maybe f 22 is the big thing. But those are the big differences, I think. So you know, you have a lot of images, it's like two bodies of work, the images outside and then the images that you've been taking in your studio of like the flower. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah, the studio is really straightforward work. You know, there's not a lot of twisting and turning and stuff like that you do. We're outside. And I don't really do much of that anymore. Because of turning 81. And I haven't for about four or five years, I've just been concentrating on the florals. But I kind of miss it, you know, but just lugging the camera around and carrying the backpack and all that stuff. Just it's not my world anymore. Yeah, I was wondering because you're shooting in public places like the cathedrals and things. And I always wonder because as sometimes you're lost in the experience, and you don't notice the photographer there. Are there any? Have you had? Yeah, or somebody's walked into the frame? Yeah, well, yeah. I've never really had that experience. Because I'll wait around in anything, especially outdoors, till the people are gone. I remember one time I was in a monument park, I think. And the Japanese people and tourists and buses kept coming through. They've taken the photo. They're standing right in front of the camera. I think that didn't maybe they didn't see me. I don't know. But you do that. And another thing is, I never take a photograph that I think is going to be a big seller. It has to talk to me, I have to feel it. And I don't care if anybody buys it or not, you know, it's an image that speaks to me. So I got to take the picture. You know, I'm interested in, have you explored any color on your medium format or four by five camera? Because, you know, you've done exclusively black and white. And I understand what black and white is, you remove color, now you're working with shapes and textures and things like that. But have you experimented with color at all? No, never. No. Color photography never appealed to me that much. Some things do. But by and large, I don't really care for color photographs. In fact, Edward Weston had a son. And I forget his name, it wasn't Brett, one of his sons, but he made the comment once that anybody could be taught to be a good color photographer, because you're just copying what you see. But black and white, it's like you've got to learn a foreign language, because you've got to know, is it going to go black or white or gray? And that's the thing that I like the most about it. Right. You want to capture all those tones in that photograph, too. You want, you know, deep blacks and all those in between tones. Yes, indeed. Well, real quick, you're also an Indiana artisan. And we only have a little less than two minutes left. But tell us about the process of becoming an Indiana artisan. You just have to limit or enter a number, I think it was about five of my images. And then they have a group that comes in and they jury it. And you get enough votes, you get in. If you don't, you don't. But there's a benefit to being in it, because they give you a website and exhibit possibilities also. Oh, that's true. That's true. Well, J.D., we have about a minute left. I'm going to give you an opportunity to let people find out how they can reach you to see your photography. And, of course, you're going to be your first chance of doing the eclipse with your camera. But how can people find you, like on the Internet and such as that? I have an Etsy site. You go to Etsy.com forward slash shop forward slash capital J, capital D, capital N, Nolan.com or photography, photography, and that's it. You're in. And I also have, we're in a part of a co-op. I was a co-founder of it. It's been in business for about 23 years in Zionsville, Indiana. It's called Art in Hand. Excellent. Well, we appreciate you coming on Art in the Air and sharing your photographic experience. I'm sure our photographers in the audience and the elder people will really enjoy it. And good luck in shooting the eclipse that's upcoming later this time. And we'll have a link on our website from your photograph. J.D. Nolan, photographer, uses a four by five box style camera. Thank you for coming on Art in the Air. Thanks for asking me. Yeah, thank you so much. It was so interesting going along that journey with you about your life. It's really fascinating. It's life's been a pleasure. Art in the Air listeners, do you have a suggestion for a possible guest on our show, whether it's an artist, musician, author, gallery, theater, concert, or some other artistic endeavor that you are aware of, or a topic of interest to our listeners? Email us at aotaatbrech.com. That's aotaatbrech.com. Art in the Air is supported by the Indiana Arts Commission Arts Project Grant, South Shore Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Hi, this is singer-songwriter Kenny White, and you're listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Radio 89.1 FM and on WVLP 103.1 FM. We would like to welcome Lisa Grozek to Art on the Air. Lisa started writing in her teens, mainly poetry, continued through college, and began her first novel after she married. A quick second novel came shortly after that. She is a high school English teacher and a runner, having participated in several Chicago marathons. Her novels are The Lonesome Isle and Above and Below. Plus, she has a poetry book titled And They Danced, Songs of Life. Thank you for joining us on Art on the Air. Aloha and welcome. It's very nice meeting you, Lisa. Thank you for having me, and very nice to meet you as well. Well, Lisa, we always like to know about the background of our guests. I know since before this interview we became Facebook friends, I see you almost writing every morning, so it's like you have your little thing out there, so kudos to you for that. But Art, it's always nice to know all about you. I always like to say your origin story, how you got from where you were to where you are now. So tell us all about Lisa. Okay, well, I am very well-versed in Northwest Indiana. I grew up in Dyer, and as I like to say, I moved all the way to Cherville, so I'm really, really far. I did go to IU Bloomington in between for college, but I have spent most of my life here in the region. Honestly, I think I found my love for writing very young. When I was probably third or fourth grade, I had an assignment where I had to write a story, and I do not remember what teacher I had that year, so it's probably a good thing, because I was not happy with the grade I received. I worked very hard on that story, and I only got a C, and I think ever since then, I just wanted to write. I don't know, it spurred something in me. So did you ask that teacher why a C, and were they able to give you any clues? No, it was elementary. I just remember being upset about it. I think I probably cried to my mom a little bit, and then just let it go. But, I mean, I really didn't start writing again until high school. Were you involved in journalism in high school or anything like that? I was not. I've always had a bit of an artistic flair, but it's been more on the visual side. I tried drama in high school and found out very quickly that I get nervous on stage, and so having that audience in front of me was a lot of pressure. So, yeah, I decided not to do that, but I did find my people as far as authors go in high school. Actually, it wasn't even high school, it was middle school. My 8th grade middle school English teacher, shout out to Pam Miller, she inspired me. Actually, she introduced me to Edgar Allen Poe, who is probably my first love in literature, and then from there, I found my second love, and that came along in high school, and that was Stephen King. So, I always say, when I'm giving my elevator pitch, when I'm talking about my books, I always say that I try to model my writing after Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King with a little less gore, that I really appreciate the cleverness in their writing, and that's what I try to embed in mine. So, your book was actually, what is that, Songs of Life, is that it, and They Danced, is that one, was that the first one that you did? That one came along quite a bit later. No, that was after both of my novels, and that was actually, I went into poetry, was what I started writing in high school, and when I put together the Songs of Life, I went through my old poetry file, both my college and high school poetry, went through it, kind of piece by piece, and looked at some of them and went, boy, boy, I was angry that day, and then other ones that I really enjoyed and thought, okay, these could make it in, so they kind of made the cut, and I put some from both college and from high school, and then I had written a couple pieces since then over the years, and the title piece, And They Danced, actually was something that was based on a dream that I had had, and that was relatively recently, and by relatively, I mean probably in the last ten years. So I found it very interesting when I read that you started your novel shortly after you got married, and it deals with, you know, good and evil and all of that, so had you had the idea before you were married and just felt that that was the time you could start it, or what was it about the marriage that brought about the novel? It was actually the honeymoon, believe it or not, and my husband. So we were out on our honeymoon. We were on Martha's Vineyard. We were actually on a bus tour, which is where I start The Lonesome Isle, and we were going past this island, and it was a small abandoned island, and both of us were like, wow, an island inside of an island, how cool is that? And he looked at me and said, this would be a great setting for a novel, and I went, yeah, you're right, it would, and it just sort of blossomed from there. I'm not entirely sure. I know we went antiquing on our honeymoon. That's when I bought my first Underwood typewriter, and, you know, I have that right up here by me on my desk. And I came home, and I started writing, but it was one of those things that I wrote for a while, and then I would shut it down, and then I would write for a while, and then I would shut it down, and it took me some time, but the story just came together. What is the significance to you about the green eyes? That really stood out as part of the character and part of the book were the green eyes. I really think I've just always had a fascination with eyes that draw you in, and honestly, most of the time they're blue, but I like green because it was different. You don't see a lot of green eyes all the time. I mean, yes, they exist, but it's just one of those things. I didn't want to do the prototypical blue, so I chose green, but it is the fact that I think you can really just dig out a lot about a person from really looking closely in their eyes. So who is your first editor? Does your husband help you with that? Does he say, hey, read this, whether you read it out loud or something like that? Is that someone who helps you edit? He's not so much a reader, no. Usually it's teacher friends. I'll find teacher friends who are willing to do a beta read with the latest, because both of these novels I had revamped in the last couple of years. I didn't change a story, but I updated them. Being that those were the first stories that I read, there were some things that I felt needed to be done better. So when I was in the process of doing that, I asked a couple of teachers to edit them for me. Being an English teacher, I know a lot of English teachers, so a lot of times they're usually the ones who are willing to give it a shot. Well, it's always good to have that, get the objective eye on things. So describe for, outside of your poetry book, the two books, and I guess there's going to be a third in the making, what your genre is, I mean, for our audience. So since they haven't read it, but give us an idea of what exactly your genre of writing is. So that's something that I actually learned a little after I started writing, because I don't really fit into the horror genre, and I don't really fit into fantasy, and I don't really fit into kind of the supernatural, but I have elements of almost all of those in my books. So I believe it best fits into the genre of speculative fiction, which I guess is best defined by that idea of speculation, speculating about, you know, things that, you know, the paranormal. Like, again, the paranormal is in there, in The Lost Mile, but really it's kind of a mystery story. It's also a story of a family coming back together after being, you know, blown apart by circumstance over years. So, you know, there's a lot of realistic elements in it, but it also does have that paranormal edge to it, and that mystery and suspense edge to it as well. So again, I think the best category that does fit under is speculative fiction. You know, it might be a good point to maybe start with the first sample from the first book called The Lonesome Isle, and maybe get it set up, and then we can, you know, go into some of the exploration of that. So if you would, do you want to read a little section of that? Absolutely. This is from the very beginning of the story. So Chapter One begins. The night sky on the island was always the same. Stars sprinkled the black night, and there was a full moon that shone down on the sandy beach. The warm air seemed oddly calm through the treetops, though the treetops would sway periodically as if there was a wind that wasn't making it to the surface. Two figures outlined in the distance were having a heated discussion regarding what I may or may not do at some point in the future. She won't do it. I know it's been a long time, but I know my daughter. She is not about to come over here of her own free will just because you want her to. She has too much to live for. She is young and just starting out in life. I don't care how convincing you can be, she will not want to come, my mother said to the man with the bright green eyes. Oh, I think I can take care of her desires, he smiled. You're ridiculous, Dominic. She's full of life. She'll want to go back to her friends and family. Well then, we'll just have to bring her friends and family here, my pet. Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. Clarissa is just about ready and so is Elizabeth. We'll all be together soon. And why do we want the Renson family here, she asked. Oh, it's all part of the plan, my dear. You'll see. There was that bothersome confidence again. My dream is coming to an end now. I've been having the same dream so often lately that it was more like a rerun playing on loop. Dominic was about to kiss my mother on the lips, then turn and look directly at me and wink. Then I'd wake up wondering again who the Renson family was, who Clarissa was, who Dominic was. And why my mother, dead for the last 16 years, was arguing with him about me. Okay, and that's from the Lonesome Isle, Lisa Grozek. And it's, of course, available on Kindle, hardcover, paperback. We'll give more information about how to get those and everything like that. So you've teased what's going on with that and everything. So without giving away, can you tell us just a little bit more about the teaser audience and what's happening there? Sure. And that's honestly probably one of the things that I'm most proud of is how I kind of start that and draw audience in. And it does lead into a very convoluted story of mother and daughter, kind of how their differences, their similarities, how they form in one another and about one another, while also sharing kind of a bit of a love story. You know, the family that comes in that's a little separate, again, trying to work around without giving too much away. But, you know, the family that comes in and how they end up being an integral part of that, the family that's in the main story, the Elizabeth and her mother. And so that all kind of gets blown up through the separation, the parallel universe, the years that they've been apart and kind of the life that's been lived in between and then how it all comes back together in the end. You're listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Media 89.1 FM on WVLP 103.1 FM. How do you personally begin your work? Do you lay out chapters? Do you know where it's going to wind up? I do know. How long does it take to develop the characters? You know, when do you meet them in the process? I am a classic, I write it as it comes kind of writer, in which that tends to get in my way sometimes. There are times where I wish I could be a planner when it comes to writing my novels. But I've never been a planner. Even, you know, back in college, I actually tried it. I tried to listen to my teachers at one point and, you know, I wrote an essay where I let it sit for a while. I had it done well ahead of time, let it sit, came back to it, did some editing, turned it in. And it didn't do poorly, but it was not the best grade I've gotten in college. I usually work well under pressure. So, interestingly enough, when I wrote The Lonesome Isle, I actually had a whole other character in there. And through the course of writing the story, he just sort of petered out. And so I took him out. And I found the story didn't miss him. And then one of my main characters, who, again, I don't want to reveal too much about, but one of my main characters actually followed an entirely different path than I had first laid out for that character. So, it definitely, I kind of, I write as I go. Sometimes I try to loosely sketch out, like with this last book, I know where I want it to end. And, of course, I know who my characters are because it's part of a series. But as far as kind of the meat of how A is going to get to B, I'm still, I work on that as I do the writing. When you first wrote your first novel, did you think that this was going to be a series? Or, I mean, having read the ending, I have kind of a feeling about that. But did you say, okay, this is book number one, and then there'll be a book number two, or did you plan that? No, that came along later. I kind of set it up to where it could be. But at that point, when I had finished that first book, I was just so thrilled that I had written a book, that I was like, well, I could continue this, but I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to. I have a lot going on, you know. So, I did not, I, again, kind of had it loosely in my mind. But, no, I didn't know. And I most certainly never expected there to be a third. Right. And do you see it ending at a third, or do you think it might? I mean, like, what's your impression? I do see it ending at a third. I have a couple of book starts that are separate. They're standalones from the Lonesome Isles series, and I really want to give them their due. There's one I'm especially excited about. And I want to be able to, you know, get back to those. So, yes, I do feel that this is going to be the end. There's just something about that three. I kind of, I like ending it on a third. So, do you share your writing and your books with your students? I do not. That is something that I let them find. In fact, I have a very cool story, if I have a minute. Yes. Anyway, just this last school year. So, generally, just to answer your question, generally, they know I'm a published author. I have my books in my classroom. And I will be more than happy to answer questions. But I'm always worried about kind of that fine line in between work and my position as their teacher and everything. So, I don't really do that unless they ask me to. But the very cool story was at the end of this last school year. I had a student come to me. This is, you know, not unusual, asking me to sign their yearbook as the year was getting ready to end. So, I signed his yearbook and handed it back to him. And he said, OK, can you sign this now? And he handed me my book. And that was just like the coolest thing, the coolest experience I've ever had. Which one was it? It was Bill Owens and Miles. Nice. So, talking about your sequel, without giving away too much, but I think it's OK, is it does happen sometime later. So, I think it would be a good time to hear a reading about that. And hear a little bit from your sequel novel, how that relates. So, that's from Above and Below. Awesome. OK, Above and Below, this is also from the beginning of the novel. It's a little bit shorter on this one. And this one includes a prologue. So, this doesn't die right in. This is a little before. He looks so much like you, Thomas said while adoring our son. All except for those green eyes. I'm so glad our little Mitchell finally came to join us. As Thomas finished his statement, he turned his eyes to glare at me, which suddenly became flame red. His face quickly elongated and his features became razor sharp. He seemed to be struggling with a screen that wanted to break through his locked jaw. His agonized expression only lasted a moment, and then he broke into the sweetest, most charming smile. This was no longer my husband of six months. This was the man that tried to take me away from everyone that I loved. Dominic's eye color turned the superficial green that it had been during the time I'd known him. They were the emerald green that I could never quite get enough of. The same color of the sun that he was still cradling in his arms. A terrified sound came breaking through the surface, and before I knew it, Thomas was in a panic. Lil, Lil, Elizabeth, honey, wake up. It's just a dream. You're safe. Honey, you're safe with me. Thomas's arms were around me, holding me tight, comforting me with their strength. The screams stopped and the tears began. As usual, Thomas rocked me gently, like I was a child, and waited for it to stop. This can't be good for the baby, he lamented while he held me. I know it's hard to do, honey, but honey, Dominic is dead. We watched him die. He's not coming back. You have nothing to fear. And then they'll tease into the third book in our last, you know, few minutes here. We take the next story, and so we're going to follow the same characters. Is it going to happen like on the tail end of your second book, or does it? Yes, that one, timeline-wise, is going to come about just after the end, maybe a month or so, but certainly not several years later. Same locale, everything will be the same locale. Do you have a title picked for it yet? Dividing Lines. Okay, excellent. And then you have some other books in the works. Are those going to be in the paranormal genre, or are they going to be something completely different? I have one that's in the paranormal genre, and that is the one that I'm most excited for. That is the one that I mentioned, and that one is called Shuttered. I do have a title for that one. And then there's a sci-fi that I've started, and I really love the way it started, but I'm a little stuck on where to go with the story. And then I have a little bit more of a personal story that's certainly not in the paranormal genre at all. So that one is kind of on the back burner, and we'll see if I ever get to it. Are you still writing poetry? Here and there, not very often. It's something I want to get back to, I just, usually it's one of those things I would love to do more, I just don't often find the time. But I've actually recently found a love for photography, but I usually do that while I'm running. Well, real quick, one thing, where do you write? Do you write at your desk, and do you have a disciplined time that you do that? Do you stay so much every day, or is it the weekend, or what? I have a desk. It's actually the one I'm sitting at right now. This is typically where I do my writing, and I do tend to zone in. And so I don't follow a great schedule, I kind of schedule in here and there when I can find the time. I will say, though, that once I do get into that story, whatever it is I'm writing, literally the entire house could be burning down around me, and I would not notice. Well, Lisa, in our last few moments here, we want to give you a chance to tell us about websites where people can find your books, contact you, and things like that. Sure. My website is grozekwrites.com. I am available on Amazon. That's usually the easiest place to find my books, but my books are also available on my website. So those two are probably the best. Excellent. So that's Lisa Grozek. She's a Norfolk, Indiana author. Her novel is The Lonesome Isle, and the sequel is Above and Below, and her third one is coming out shortly. Thank you so much for coming on Art on the Air and sharing your writing journey. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate the time. Yeah, thank you so much. We'd like to thank our guests this week on Art on the Air, our weekly program covering the arts and arts events throughout Northwest Indiana and beyond. Art on the Air is heard Sunday at 7 p.m. on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, also streaming live at lakeshorepublicmedia.org, and is available on Lakeshore Public Media's website as a podcast. Art on the Air is also heard Friday at 11 a.m. and Monday at 5 p.m. on WVLP, 103.1 FM, streaming live at wvlp.org. Our spotlight interviews are heard every Wednesday on Lakeshore Public Media. Thanks to Tom Maloney, vice president of radio operation for Lakeshore Public Media, and Greg Kovach, WVLP's station manager. Our theme music is by Billy Foster with a vocal by Renee Foster. 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That's aota at breck, b-r-e-c-h dot com, or contact us through our Facebook page. Your hosts were Larry Breckner and Esther Golden, and we invite you back next week for another episode of Art on the Air. Aloha, everyone. Have a splendid week. Express yourself through art, and show the world your heart. Express yourself through art, and show the world your heart. You're in the know with Esther and Larry, Art on the Air today. They're in the know, Larry and Esther, Art on the Air are way. Express yourself through art, and show the world your heart. Express yourself through art, and show the world your heart. Express yourself through art.