For the Love of Writing
What folks are saying about
“The Square Donut”
“I laughed out loud on pg. 14
I cried on pg. 173
I looked up a word on pg. 230
I wished there was more on pg. 242
I had the middle seat on my flight and didn’t even know it!”
“Totally charming!!! Hard to put down, yet I didn’t want it to end.”
“This book was my reading pleasure for my week away at the beach. Thank you Lauren Crane. Loved every single page. Look forward to book #2.”
“Read in one day, and promptly passed along to those I think will love it as much as I did. Excellent read. Well done, Lauren Crane. Thank you for sharing that world with us.”
“The story is touching, funny and heart-breaking. I think many of us can relate to ‘walking around feeling like a donut…’”
“The Square Donut is clever, funny and heartwarming. (I didn’t copy that from NY Times Book Review.)”
“The highlight of my 4th of July weekend. Nothing better than a fabulous book and sunshine. Thank you, Lauren Crane. Loved every page. Please begin work on the next.”
“Almost done reading The Square Donut by my songwriter bud Lauren Crane. Highly recommended. I don’t want it to end!”
“Absolutely loving The Square Donut. It’s funny, witty, and makes you reminisce about your first loves in life.”
ON WRITING: Everyone has stories. We live in them. We tell them and retell them to create the narratives of our lives. Some of us capture the stories, run them through our filters and connect them to something larger than ourselves. Then we type them up. That’s what I do, anyway. I think on paper, feel in ink, reflect on a keyboard, revel in words and share the outcome with anyone willing to read, watch, look or listen. I had a long career in advertising; I write songs and perform them. I write fiction and verse. I publish through my company, Backyard Bird Publishing, LLC. Click the tabs up top for samples of my work. (Not that you haven’t figured that out yet. It’s kinda how websites work.)
The Square Donut
My editor said, “You know, you could probably get this published conventionally.” Maybe. Maybe not. I had already given it a lot of thought. After a long career of having other people call the shots on “creative” I thought that I’d like to put out some work that was not the product of a committee or ruled by the opinions of others. I liked the idea of working with a friend to create the cover. (She created, I approved.) Having a say in the typeface. The graphics. Really creating the whole piece. The volume feels good in the hand. It’s an easy read. The feedback I get tells me it’s entertaining. I enjoyed both the process of writing and publishing. It’s available on Amazon or can be ordered through me by hitting the buy now button below. I’ll sign your copy upon request, and you may just find a few other goodies in the package.
Graduating a year early with the Best from Hell to Heaven Class of ’77, seventeen-year-old Toby thought she was sentenced to a tediously dull life slinging donuts at her family’s shop, The Precinct Donut Emporium.
But when Carolina shows up with all of her cool intensity and sets up a pup tent on the Lake Erie shore just two short blocks away, Toby starts rethinking life in “Dishrag,” Ohio.
Just as she is finding her place in the world, the homophobic local cop goes on a rampage, and Carolina heads for home to face her demons, leaving Toby with a decision to make—is she brave enough to claim her love?
THERE IS ROMANCE IN THE KEYS OF A TYPEWRITER. The click, snap, ding and slide. I grew up with a family typewriter like the one pictured. I used to play with it all of the time. I took typing in high school and clocked 100 words per minute. When I graduated from Michigan State University I got a job, an apartment, a car and my very own Selectric Typewriter. It set me back $900 but it was worth it. I wrote on that thing for years. Journals and verse mostly. The time spent writing on that electric steel machine with it’s spinning, whirling ball was pure joy. I gave my prized Selectric to the Salvation Army several years ago, and frankly, I miss it. Today, of course, I write on my MacBook Pro. Not so romantic, but it does have its advantages. The ease of looking up references. Cut, paste, save. All good.
Although I have been spending much more time writing songs than fiction lately, I do love writing both. In writing fiction, there is a moment when the characters come alive. I like meeting, then walking with them as they take me into their world. I find myself laughing and empathizing as they lead me through their story. Oh, wait. The same holds true when writing songs. More often than not, there is a character involved. Seems like I just sit back and take dictation. Writing is an experience like no other. It is all-encompassing, difficult, challenging and the most rewarding work that I do.