Join us as we hear from our BookSparks authors on where they write to find inspiration.
Introducing – Where I Write!

Where I Write – Sandra Butler

As a child struggling through daily piano practice, I imagined it would feel more satisfying to have a flute or a violin– an instrument I could hold in my hands. I was certain that enveloping an instrument would allow more a sense of connection with the music I was trying to make than sitting on a chair in front of a stationary object, trying to coax sound from it.

I write on a computer and use my desk for the tasks of daily life. But when I prepare to write, I unplug everything, settle into my old and yummy LazyBoy and lower the computer onto a lovely pillow in my lap. With my body enveloping the computer, I begin to reach for words. The desk is for bills and other administrative responsibilities. The computer nestled on a pillow in my lap is for writing.

Sandra Butler and Nan Fink Gefen

Sandra Butler is the author of Conspiracy of Silence: The Trauma of Incest. Her second book, Cancer in Two Voices, coauthored with Barbara Rosenblum, was the winner of the 1991 Lambda Literary Award. She is also the co-producer of the award-winning documentaries Cancer in Two Voices and Ruthie and Connie: Every Room in the House. She has two middle-aged daughters and a rich community of women friends.

Nan Fink Gefen is the author of Stranger in the Midst: A Memoir of Spiritual Discovery, Discovering Jewish Meditation, and Clear Lake: A Novel, winner of the IndieFab Gold Award for general fiction. After fifteen years in practice as a psychotherapist, she became the cofounding publisher in 1986 of Tikkun magazine, a journal of politics, culture, and society. In 2007 she founded Persimmon Tree: An Online Magazine of the Arts by Women Over Sixty, where she remains as publisher. Nan lives with her husband in Berkeley CA. Their blended family includes seven children and ten grandchildren.