About Colleen
Colleen A. Parkinson is the award winning author of the harrowing plays, "The Injured Child," and the poignant one-act play, "Waiting For The Train." She has also penned book and music reviews on Amazon under the name "Noratsinthecorn." As an avid supporter of fellow authors, Colleen has made her book reviews of others' works available on Amazon, Good Reads, Facebook, and her website https://thefinesthat.jimdo.com/. (Oh, wait... you're here already!)
Having grown up in a household where the old tube type television only worked sporadically, her family had shelves of books to read that alleviated summer boredom. Naturally curious about these written works, she learned to read early in life, and she learned what made a great story. By the age of nine, she was writing short stories and serials for her elementary school newspaper, and became the local hospital's Author in Residence when a serious health crises almost took her life in the summer of 1966. After that, she never stopped writing, and wrote some dreadful stuff that she had the gall to think was actually good and marketable. Well, life experience, education and maturity converged to produce the seeds of promising works. She's an old lady now... a tough old broad, and still tapping the keyboard well into the night and early dawn hours.
Somewhere between her day jobs and life upheavals she found therapy acting in community theater and industrial films, but never made it as an actress, not for lack of talent but because her unusual looks deemed her as not fitting any particular "type" for casting. Screw show biz! It was fun while it lasted.
However, finding success as a novelist is just as difficult, but she continues onward because words are her passion. Words inspire. Words heal. Words teach. Words create worlds.
And maybe someday far into the future when she has rotted away in her coffin, someone will read a Colleen A. Parkinson novel written way back when. And maybe that novel will bring them joy or something. And that will be okay.
Besides writing and theater, her interests include American History, genealogy, archaeology, literary classics, modern fiction (especially by indie authors) and every kind of music. Oh... and she loves all animals, especially cats (ask any cat). And antiques... she's nuts for antiques. And belly laughs, sunrises, sunsets, and warm summer nights.
Colleen believes in performing anonymous acts of kindness whenever the opportunity arises, giving back to her community, encouraging the discouraged, and always - always - paying it forward.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Author/ColleenParkinsonNovelist/posts/
I review books, too!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/645417322869098/
BOOK BUB
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/colleen-a-parkinson
GOOD READS
https://www.goodreads.com/colleenaparkinson
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26161037-the-finest-hat-in-the-whole-world
INTERVIEWS
Yes, that's me in my favorite kid-sized rocking chair.
"I'm ready for my close-up, Mister DeMille."
THEATER AND FILM DAYS
The 1980s - 1990s
Good, fun times. One of the best times of my life. The photo on the left was my professional headshot. It reminds me of when I was in London, and a British actor I became acquainted with told me quite bluntly while discussing casting woes, "You're no glamour girl, y'know." A year later I posed for this and other photos for my acting portfolio. Okay, I really was no glamour girl (I never needed anyone to tell me that), but I got to be one just for a moment, as seen here.
WAITING FOR THE TRAIN
With the help of my director/producer friend John Allred (from my theater days), we made a short film version of my one-act play, "Waiting For The Train." The story takes place during WWII on the night America learns bandleader Glenn Miller's plane had disappeared in flight to Europe.
It is about Tony, a boy who disembarks at the wrong train station on his way home after being expelled from Military School. There, he meets a young woman (Lonetta) on her way to Hollywood. They are dealing with similar tragedies in their lives: Tony does not want to return home after his failure at school and then the death of his soldier brother; Lonetta is leaving behind an abusive husband after the death of their baby. Yet, even though Lonetta can not change her path, she can change Tony's.
What follows is a supernatural occurrence that leads to a shocking conclusion.
(Photo at left is a stock photo, not from the film.)
BETTE DAVIS WAS RIGHT!
"Getting old isn't for sissies!"
(Sigh of regret here.) Yeah, I'm old now. When I was young I knew all the risks that came with smoking, but I did it anyway. I was a pack a day smoker by the time I was 35. Besides the detrimental effect on my skin, what it did to my lungs was much worse. Eventually, I will die of COPD even though I'm now cigarette-free. That's what will get me unless God sends a surprise my way in the form of some disaster that will take me at a moment's notice. That's okay, though.
(This photo is scarier than anything I would write.........................................................................!)
We all go; it's how and when, and what's beyond that we don't know. Yet, it's the kind of stuff writers love to ponder. It's the kind of stuff that can inspire interesting stories, fantastic worlds, and multi-faceted characters readers fall in love with. There's always the good that follows the bad. Like Jake said in my novel Hell is in Me, "Everything here is a two-sided coin."
