North Shore Library - Celtic Lore Seminar

Yesterday was Día de los Angelitos, in the Spanish tradition, the "Day of the Angels."  As the legend goes, the veil separating the living and the dead becomes thin allowing our dear departed loved ones to reach out to us. Is it mere folk lore, fantasy, fairy tale, or, might there be some substance to the legend? 

Yesterday morning, gazing up into the sky during my morning walk with Jake, my yellow lab, I saw what to me felt like formations resembling my two angels, brother Mark and Lori's husband, Kent Parko. What I saw was more symbolic than some photo image, but when the clouds crossed I strongly felt the presence of these two dearly loved but now departed souls.

That same morning my sister, Lori, feeling the stress and pressure of a long series of days having to gear up for performances, forced herself to the gym and while there experienced an unexpected sense of peace and tranquility after gazing into the eyes of her brother, Michael, who was also there. For her, it was as if Mark or Kent or both had reached out through Michael's eyes to hug her. 

As the legend goes, if you put up an altar, light candles, display flowers & pictures, and have some of their favorite food items on plates, our Mark loved Hershey Bars, all this serves as an invitation for their spirits to visit and connect. Lori had done all that the night before while preparing for our North Shore Library seminar on the Celtic Samhain, Halloween, The Day of the Dead, and All Saints Day, and how Celtic lore was added to our novel, Hazel Moon. For Lori, it seemed as if the spirits of her beloved Mark & Kent did reach out to her.

Of course Día de los Angelitos followed Halloween on November 31st and today is Día de los Muertos or the "Day of the Dead." Last night Lori and I put on the seminar at the North Shore Library. I'd prepared by researching all the legends and lore surrounding Halloween for the many cultures who celebrate this time with a holiday tradition. 

I began talking about Celtic legends then, Lori went over to her Day of the Dead altar and explained the various items on the table and their significance.

Lori took some time to explain the inspiration of her husband's new wave band, Take Me, which led to having a band be the center of the action for our novel, Hazel Moon.

I, then, added more material about the background for Celtic lore, in particular, the Salmon of Knowledge legend.

 
When it was time for a reading from Hazel Moon we chose the Salmon of Knowledge scene and read it together, alternating roles.

During a lengthy Q&A we were able to share many more details about how the passing of our brother Mark and Lori's husband, Kent, led to writing our novel as a celebration of their lives and how our characters embody elements of all the people and activities in our lives which we dearly cherish.

The hour allotted to our seminar passed quickly and it turned out to be an inspirational, refreshing, and informative experience for all who attended!

Sisters Blend Magic, Music, and Mythology

Fox Point - Lisa and Lori Minneti are identical twin sisters who have done everything together.
They have been friends their entire lives, hanging out in the same social circle.
Now they have written a book together.

They will promote their book, "Hazel Moon," at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, with a visit to North Shore Library.

In writing "Hazel Moon", they reminisced about their 20s, when their lives were defined by new wave music acts like Echo and the Bunnymen. They got into the band because of Lori's late husband, Kent Parco, who was in Take Me, a Racine new wave band that opened for Duran Duran and Cheap Trick. Their love of new wave music surpassed appreciation, more closely resembling devotion.

"We didn't want to be anywhere else than seeing Take Me," Lori said. "The music was everything."

In "Hazel Moon," the Minneti twins blend their love for new wave music with Lisa's interest in mysticism. The sisters plan to write a trilogy of books in the same style, influenced by alternative music and the 13 cycles of the Celtic moon. They are in the process of writing a book pairing the Hawthorn Moon and grunge music from the 1990s.

The main characters in "Hazel Moon" are November and Angela, outsiders who spend their day at the mall and are planning to head to an Echo and the Bunnymen show that night. The characters were based on their experience, although they said they don't identify with one character over another.

"There's things about them that are like us, but as we were writing them they took on a life of their own," Lisa said.

"There's magic that happens in the writing process where things which just evolve and all of a sudden it works," Lori added.

Lisa, of Fox Point, is an interior designer, and Lori is an actress, singer and host of "Builders Showcase" on Fox 6. Lisa said she first got the idea to write a novel when she saw a brochure at a library. They say they never really grew up, which is how they created a book that appeals to teens and young adults, as well as older readers who appreciate mysticism and 1980s nostalgia.

Giving Back to the Library Culture

Taking Hazel Moon Full Circle...Lisa here, I was near my home in Fox Point and decided to stop in to our local North Shore Library. Our novel, Hazel Moon, got its start in a similar library almost 10 years ago now, when after spending time in the library I noticed a brochure about how to write a novel. 

Ten years later, I was feeling the need to give back and so I approached the librarian, told them about our novel, and suggested that Lori and I hold a seminar where we discuss the Celtic legends and lore connected to our story. We were given an enthusiastic green light, I gave them some of our books to make available to check out, and we're in the process of setting up the date for the full-circle experience of giving something back to the library culture that has meant so much to both our lives and to the lives of countless other children and adults!

Great Minds...

When Lori and I decided on the name for our main Hazel Moon character, November Rainer Savitchian, the inspiration came from knowing a good friend who was Armenian and recognizing that many minorities feel the sting of discrimination during their lives. We wanted to address that issue through our character of November.

Well, I guess Great Minds Think Alike because...

Our recent Facebook post: 

CBS writers "borrowed" our character idea!! In the new CBS YA film, Middle School, an Armenian boy, Rafe Katchadorian, can't stand all the regimentation and rules and decides to rebel...sounds a little like our beloved rebel, November Rainer Savitchian!!! Go CBS!! Of course, James Patterson, the author of the Middle School book series came up with the idea first, but honestly we did not know about "Rafe" when creating our character, November.

Here's a summary of the series: Imaginative quiet teenager Rafe Katchadorian is tired of his middle school's obsession with the rules at the expense of any and all creativity. Desperate to shake things up, Rafe and his best friends have come up with a plan: break every single rule in the school and let the students run wild.

PS Note, the film is based on a bestselling book series, which reminds us that if we want our dream to come true, to have a film made based on our Hazel Moon series, we've got to find a wider and growing audience of avid readers!

Turner Hall - Echo and the Bunnymen Concert

Last night, Thursday, September 15, 2016, was the Eve of a Full Celtic Moon, by Celtic tradition, a Vine Moon, shining brightly on the iconic venue, Turner Hall, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Echo and the Bunnymen were playing a concert. We'd hoped to have more of our friends and family there, but early on we only bought a handful of tickets, then, the concert sold out. Yes, this band from the '80s is still relevant. Our gifted cover photographer, Larry Zamba, was in the house along with our publisher, and our dear friend, Kelly, who will play our character, Mrs. Casimir, when we produce our book trailer.

When Lori and I learned of the concert date a couple of months ago we could hardly believe our good fortune. In a magical example of Life Imitating Art, Echo and the Bunnymen, a central character in our novel, Hazel Moon, was performing at a music festival on the Eve of a Hazel Moon. By what magic did the actual band show up on an actual Eve of a Full Celtic Moon in the real world Lori and I live in? But that morsel of mystifying magic is just the beginning.

Lori chose a black leather dress and fishnet stockings. The dress was a gift 30 years earlier from the actual man who inspired the Cash Reynolds character in our novel. This guy was a gambler and whenever he won big he'd share his good fortune with his friends and family. The fishnets turned out to be the actual ones Lori wore for the Hazel Moon cover shot (see below).

On the drive to Turner Hall Lori was reminiscing about the past times she'd seen the band live. Thirty years ago, in 1983, The Bunnymen played a concert near our hometown, Racine, Wisconsin, at the Uptown Theater in Milwaukee. Lori wanted to go, expecting to run into Kent Parco, the mysterious bass player of Take Me, but without someone to go with her Lori ended up not going. Kent was there and later on at the show last night she ran into several people who had been to that Uptown concert!

Kent and Lori soon became an item and by the time she did see The Bunnymen live in concert, she was married to Kent and the concert took place in Chicago around the year 2002. Kent, a fine musician in his own right, a bass player with the local band, Take Me, had taken to The Bunnymen and their music inspired the song lyrics and style for his band. When Lori got married, the wedding band played a Bunnymen tune, "Do It Clean" which the band played last night! Some years later, when Kent died, which followed the passing of our brother, Mark, Lori and I began conceiving of a story, a novel where we could honor their memories and Hazel Moon was born.

For Lori the night was filled with nostalgia, fond memories of the good days with Kent and cherishing his connection to Echo and the Bunnymen. Last night Lori mentioned how wrong she was about Ian, the lead singer. Before she actually saw the band Lori had the impression that Ian was a nerd of sorts, in a good way, but last night she was blown away by his superstar status, charisma on stage, and his vocal musicianship. 

Being a singer herself, she noticed he had four choices of things to drink to sooth his throat. She also noticed that he'd protected his voice early on, but as he warmed up his voice got stronger and impressively stronger. Lori even suspected he'd cut way back on his smoking, once a feature of his brand and only noticed him taking a couple of drags on a cig during the concert. Last fall we'd taken a spontaneous road trip to Detroit, to the Fillmore, for an Echo concert. Lori remembered that Ian, imitating the artists' voices quite well, covered both Frank Sinatra and Elvis songs and we got the feeling he thought of himself as being quite the crooner! The writer in us pitched some ideas about a new novel focusing on The Bunnymen exploring the idea that Ian leaves the band to pursue a new kind of singing career.

Before the concert we'd actually connected with the band via email, told them about our book, got on the guest list, and even was given a small table from which to promote Hazel Moon. We absolutely believe it would be a win-win for the band to get behind our marketing efforts. During the concert Lori and I went up close to the stage and noticed a whole passel of younger female fans. There music is that good, classic, and now timeless and our book could help build their fan base among this new generation.

After the show, we managed to interest a number of fans in our book and even though we weren't supposed to, sold a copy to a guy who had not only been at that first Bunnymen concert in Milwaukee 30 years ago, but who just happened to be longtime buds with my guy, Jeff. We got a strong feeling that our novel would be a big hit with The Bunnyman fans...and there are thousands and thousands of them!! Let's hope the marketing seeds sown that night will take root!!!

All in all, we were encouraged and intend to keep putting ourselves and our wonderful novel, Hazel Moon, out there!

PS PIC

We were thrilled to have gotten enough attention from the band that they put us on their guest list for the concert. Here's the ticket envelope with Lori's name on it!!!  

 

Armenian Fest Book Signing

Our Hazel Moon protagonist, November Rainer Savitchian, proudly Armenian, was inspired by one of our dear friends over the years, also Armenian, Christine Martin (on the right in the picture below). Early on in the process of conceiving, writing, and publishing our book we'd imagined sharing it with members of the Armenian Diaspora living here in America, but especially in our home town, Racine, Wisconsin. Well, today, that dream became a reality!

 

 

 

An unexpected celebrity was seated only a few feet from our book signing table upping the wow factor for our overall experience! Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, made an appearance to the delight of many of his supporters who had attended Armenian Fest!

One of the first amazing things that happened involved life imitating art. In the Prologue of our book, Hazel Moon, there is a scene where November has a Turkish Coffee drink prepared for her by a barista...and...not 10 feet from our book signing table was a vendor preparing, yes, Armenian (Turkish) Coffee!! Lori had just driven back from a long weekend performing up north and the delicious coffee was just the stimulant ticked to get up back up for the signing. (of course we had to drink our coffee from a straw!)

A note to you aspiring writers out there, getting your book published is just the first hurdle. Getting our book accepted by the Armenian Fest committee took persistence and perseverance, but in the end it was all well worth it.

The committee was looking for Armenian characters in any book before they would consider the authors for a book signing during their once-a-year festival. We had to provide an advance copy, some weeks passed, fortunately the church librarian, Pam, immediately returned a follow-up call, supporting the book, making everything possible. It was her influence that just got Hazel Moon accepted in time for the August 7th festival date.

The people running the cultural center could not have been nicer, engaged us about the book and it's Armenian character, November, gave us suggestions which we plan to use to up the Armenian factor in the book and or in its sequel, Hawthorn Moon.

For example, I wanted to honor the colors of the Armenian flag, red, blue, and apricot, by painting my nails those colors, but speaking with one of our customers, an Armenian professor, we learned that the colors of the flag had been a source of contention creating factions in the Armenian Diaspora.

But in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Empire, Armenian was once again resurrected as an independent country and the original flag with its original colors were once again accepted by all or most Armenians around the globe.

When we were discussing adding a scene with November painting her nails the colors of the flag, that sparked a lively discussion. With the book set in 1984, doing such a thing would have depended on which Armenian faction November's father identified with as to what he would have taught her about honoring the flag and its colors. On the other hand, November was something of a rebel anyway, her mother had died, then her father, so without being affiliated with an Armenian church, we all agreed that adding such a scene would be true to the character and not pose an ethical problem for today's Armenian reader.

So many wonderful people stopped by our book signing station, a number of them purchased books, but what was most surprising was their level of engagement and respect for our project once they learned that it featured an Armenian protagonist.

The professor was pleased that our story didn't focus on the Holocaust. He'd been hoping more authors would use fiction to describe the more modern experience of members of today's Armenian Diaspora, exploring the challenges of adapting to modern life in America and or in the Armenian conclaves anywhere else in the world.

When our book signing period ended, it was off to sample the wonderful ethnic food; the sarma and the hummus and the cheese beoreg squares, and the lahmajoon, the kebobs and pastries; the bourmah, mavish, shekerlama, zylook, katah and choreg, meet and greet a few other people, but then it was out to enjoy the music.

And the dancing...

Lori and I are known to be unable to just sit and watch when the right kind of music hits our ears. True to form, we tried to hold back, but first Lori...

...then I joined in...

...and amazingly Lori's performance practically stopped the band as they were transfixed by her beauty, grace, charm, and unique allure on the dance floor!

A wonderful time was had by all, our book signing was an unqualified success, and we felt grateful to have been able to share our story and our character, November Rainer Savitchian, with these incredible people today.

   

Q & A with authors Lisa & Lori Minneti

Hazel Moon authors, Lisa & Lori Minneti, candidly answer several questions related to their writing process and what inspired the writing of their novel in this series of videos.

In this first video they describe what it was like to be such close sisters and how it contributed to their collaborating on developing the story and characters for their novel, Hazel Moon.

In this next video they honestly share that working together wasn't always smooth sailing, there were disagreements and sometimes hard choices that had to be made!

Lisa and Lori have been in love with the concert culture forever and in this video they give their take on what it was like to be "groupies" although Lori disagrees strongly, insisting she was a "band-aid" not a groupie!

In the next video the authors discuss their opinions about the magic referenced throughout their novel and whether it has any relevance to their real lives and the real world.

In the final video the authors explain just how important the role of music was to both their lives and to the drafting of their novel.



Find below a more detailed Q&A

The Sister Angle

Q — How do two sisters — identical twins that obviously share a lot for starters — write a novel together?

Lisa: Twins are usually so close because they share all those memories at the exact same age from the moment they’re born. That’s certainly the case with Lori and I. We ended up writing about a time in our lives, growing up with music, when we fell in love with both life and the concert culture. All the characters and the plot were adapted from both our personal experiences. Though I was the one who acted like the secretary and wrote everything down, we were both critical to the process of creating the novel, both contributing ideas and shaping the scenes before pen hit paper.

Lori: The spark that led to writing Hazel Moon came from the untimely passing of our beloved brother, Mark, and my husband, Kent Parco. Shortly after their deaths we began writing Hazel Moon primarily to honor their lives through sharing our lives as adapted in the characters and storyline of Hazel Moon. That was nine years ago. A year ago we met our publisher who took on the project and the book was released in December of 2015.

Q — Did you and Lori ever disagree on how the plot of the story should develop, what should happen next, the end of the book?

Lori: Of course we disagreed…we’re sisters, after all, but we’re also the kind of sisters who supported each other, and were happy for the other sister's successes and contributions.

Lisa: That attitude carried over into drafting the novel. It was always about sharing, not competing. When we did disagree, I usually deferred to Lori. For example, in the final chapter Lori insisted I change a line that Lady Luna said, and I did just that!

Q — Which one of you would consider to be a more creative thinker?

Lori: Weve always been creative. We’re both drawn to the arts music color design song acting, and though we have our strengths Lisa’s more about color and design while my creative outlet has always been the stage, and I've been on many, acting, singing, and as a television personality.

Lisa: I always saw Lori as the creative one. Being with my sister makes me feel like there’s a novel to be written inspired by each day in her amazingly creative soul. I’ve always thought of myself as being more mysterious.


Life vs. Fiction

Q — How much of your real-life experience went into Hazel Moon?

Lisa: Well, on one page our protagonist, November, might be doing something Lori had done in the past, while on another page November or Angela might be reflecting something I’d done in the past. Everything Lady Luna does, however, that’s all Lori. Anyone who knows us well will see so much of ourselves, our personality traits, our strengths and quirks, embodied in our characters.

Lori: For example, I started it, drinking anything, wine, coffee, cola with a straw, Lisa followed, and our character November is shown drinking from a straw in our story! Of course, since we were young teens we've both been drawn to the concert culture and over the years each of us has attended hundreds of concerts, often together, and that passion is still there. 

Lisa: Last fall we hopped in my Subaru and drove to Detroit to see an Echo and the Bunnymen concert, a road trip made all the more memorable and significant because our novel featured that band. And that band was a symbol for all the wonderful live acts we'd both been present for over the years.

Lori: Our characters, Angela and November, are flawed real human beings and again, anyone who knows us will recognize how much they are patterned after who we are. 


Q — Do you consider yourselves “groupies?”

Lisa: Groupies...Lori would say...NO NO NO...but I might explain that I was one of those girls up in the front right by the stage dancing and screaming at every show of a certain local band and I guess that kind of groupie.

Lori: I wouldn’t really do that. For example with the local band, Take Me, after a show I would sit at the bar and wait for the musician I was interested in, Kent Parco, the bass player, whileLisa insisted he would never come over. To my surprise, he did just that!

Lisa: In one aspect we were both "band-aids" like in the iconic concert culture film, Almost Famous. That meant we didn't sleep with the musicians, we were there for the music, we wanted to support the bands and their invaluable contribution to the concert culture we thrived on.

Lori: Destined to be together, Kent courted me both of us sensing we would have a love affair spanning lifetimes.


Q — Does music effect your every fiber as it does November and Angela?

Lisa: Absolutely...and it's the same for both of us. When we get together at home we're spinning vinyl and reminiscing about songs and albums and bands and concerts.

Lori: I'm constantly learning new songs for new shows I'm performing in.

Lisa: And besides attending many concerts all year round, I'm fond of WMSE 91.7 FM because they showcase lots of local and other music that doesn't necessarily get played on the other stations. So much of the daily joy in our lives revolves around music. For me specifically, I’m never really comfortable indoors unless there’s music playing, outdoors it’s different, walking my dog, being in nature, but when the two are together it’s heavenly. 


Mental Health

Q — November seems to be a troubled individual, self-mutilating and such to relieve stress. What was your research in this topic?

Lori: We wanted to weave in characters with some of the mental health issues that some of our readers might be struggling with, but present them in a nonjudgmental real way.

Lisa: That being said, those issues don’t define the character, it’s not what the character is really about. Everybody has something, some demon they struggle with, so we are challenging the reader to look past the cutting and find what the character is really all about.

Lori: As far as research, we'd had personal experience with someone close to us who slipped into that dark place where stress and depression and deep mood swings led her into cutting as a form of self help. Fortunately, she was able to stop that practice and it is no longer a problem for her. So, our research was personal, not based on medical studies or other information. 


Q — Was it important to bring attention to mental health with November’s challenges, or was it simply a character development tactic?

Lisa: November’s character kept morphing when we were writing, especially when she came to life and began guiding the story and her development, describing herself to us. Many aspects of her transition were really not conscious except that we wanted to create a character people could relate to and root for.

Lori: November's cutting was primarily about character development, a way to let the reader know that if cutting was something they'd experienced, they were not alone. It wasn't about judging the act one way or the other, but it is a serious cultural problem as millions of girls primarily end up hurting themselves as a way to cope with dark periods filled with stress and depression. 

Other

Q — Is Luna a real person or more of a subliminal influence on November’s life?

Lori: Yes, Luna was a real person, someone who born, grew up, but when she died, Lady Luna became a spirit being and in a future sequel we’re planning to concentrate on her.

Lisa: She has one chapter in Hazel Moon, a flashback that reveals some of her past and in future sequels more scenes will be devoted to her past lives so readers can draw parallels between her soul’s growth and theirs.

Lori: One of the reasons Lady Luna became November’s spirit guide is that they share many similar personality traits. Lady Luna, however, knows who she is and knows how to take care of herself first before worrying about November. In the context of our fairytale, then, Luna is a real person, not a figment of November's imagination, like guardian angel might be, or a fairy godmother. Luna can shapeshift and she reincarnates from one lifetime to another.  
  
Q — Have you experienced or do you believe in the kind of mysticism as detailed throughout the book?

Lisa: We really do...in our world Lori and I refer to that kind of mysticism as "Magic" and recognize that magic surrounds most of us every day, often in little things that we can shrug off as mere coincidence when in fact the powers that bring magic into our lives do it to help us spread joy in the world through the knowledge that there is more to life than just what we can see and touch.

Lori: On our blog there are a number of examples of the magic that has accompanied the writing, editing, and publication of Hazel Moon. And those magical incidents have picked up once again as we began working on the sequel, Hawthorn Moon!


Lisa: And, I’ll admit to having quite a collection of Celtic magic spells which I’ve tried out from time to time. Lori’s late husband, Kent Parco, used to tease me about being a white witch.