That's What Family Are Good For!, 1989, by Louise Porter-Cleaves

From MemoryArchive

Who:Louise Porter-Cleaves (pen/stage name:Lisa Forestier)
What:Characters:That's What Family is Good For!
When:1989
Where:Braddock Heights, Maryland

A born writer, I learned early on that family is one of the best resevoirs for creative writing material. More shaped by Southern writers than Northern as I developed my writer's voice (Southerners being more appreciative of "domestic" and "front porch" and "ghost story" writing) I created characters and voices just a step away from front porch, living room and dining room gossip. It was a habit that took and I never shook. For example, a vivid piece of family gossip, passed on to me by my mother, about one of my North Carolinian cousins and his mother, moved into my "Southern Sonnet # 1", published by ENCOUNTER magazine in 1989. The moment was a nice sweet bit of family revenge and a literary coup, but a sad moment because it was the magazine's last issue.