Though I’m in the middle of rewrites on my second novel, I thought it was about time I began organizing my mother’s stories, which have a lot to say about my amazing grandmother, Lukia. I cannot fathom how she survived burying a husband and four children and then came up with the strength to bring her remaining four children, a daughter-in-law and one grandchild to Canada at the age of fifty-two. I am looking forward to putting her adventures on the page.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Though I’m in the middle of rewrites on my second novel, I thought it was about time I began organizing my mother’s stories, which have a lot to say about… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[9,146,27],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-novel","tag-rewrites","tag-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2794,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2016\/books\/homage-to-booklovers-everywhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":0},"title":"Homage to Book Lovers Everywhere","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u0421\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"National Book Lovers Day When I read that there was such a thing as \"National Book Lovers Day\" in the USA (August 9th), I decided to re-blog a post I did four years ago, titled \"The Love of Books.\" Back then I wrote, \"with the advent of e-readers and tablets,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"National Book Lovers Day","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Shipping-News.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":883,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/uncategorized\/a-korean-novel-shines-a-spotlight-on-mothers-everywhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":1},"title":"A Korean Novel Illuminates Mothers Everywhere","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"16 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s still a few months away from Mother\u2019s Day, the day we publicly\u00a0honour our mothers. 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Its Korean author, Kyung-sook Shin tells the story of a woman with dementia and how the ravages of that\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Please-Look-After-Mom.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1102,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/writing-family-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":2},"title":"Writing Family History","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"5 \u0416\u043e\u0432\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m back to working on my baba\u2019s \u00a0story, NO TIME FOR TEARS, which is essentially an immigrant\u2019s story. \u00a0It\u2019ll be published as a novel, as I\u2019ve had to do a lot of research to fill in the blanks. \u00a0Because she lived behind the Iron Curtain, in Eastern Europe, information has\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/P1090283-300x297.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":333,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/what-j-d-salinger-taught-us-about-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":3},"title":"What J. D. Salinger taught us about writing","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"17 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"An article in the Feb. 2011 issue of Vanity Fair looks at J. D. Salinger and his war experience. There's also some background information on how he made his mark as a short story writer prior to being shipped off to fight in World War II. What I found inspiring\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/JD-Salinger.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3532,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2018\/writing\/looking-for-a-book-cover-design\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":4},"title":"Looking for a Book Cover Design","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"24 \u0421\u0456\u0447\u043d\u044f, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This January, I finished revising my third novel, a historical one, as different in feel from the first two I've written, as the second was from the first. It's about a Ukrainian peasant farmwife, who shortly after her husband joins the Tsar\u2019s army has to escape with their six children,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"book cover design","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Oleksander-Murashko-Peasant-Family-1914.jpg?fit=498%2C510&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":765,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/the-many-paths-of-inspiration\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":5},"title":"The Many Paths of Inspiration","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"29 \u041b\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0430, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've written about inspiration before, but I gave it short shrift. The Encarta dictionary defines inspiration as: \u201cstimulation for the human mind to creative thought or the making of art\u201d. 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