D. Jean Quarles

Thursday's guest

is 

Lucille Rains

As a piano technician and sole breadwinner of my household, the writing came after the children were in bed. Despite hard times, writing kept me alive and in touch with myself. Writing, especially writing humor, softens the harshness of life and transports you to a better world. Then one day a Pulitzer Prize Author of American Humor wrote me that I have talent for Satire. A light bulb went on in my head that led to my book, Ya Wanna Laugh?, a collection of humorous stories. My time is now divided between piano restoration and writing. To me, it is just as miraculous to take a relic of a piano and transform it into a magnificent musical instrument as it is to take a barrel of words and transform them into a meaningful human experience. They are both works of art. I did not pursue writing, writing pursued me. I wrote a letter to the editor and it caught the attention of a mayor. I became her ghostwriter. At the same time, the editor of a local paper asked me to do a column. For the past four years, I have been writing monthly humorous story for a Volvo Newsletter. 

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Lucille Rains was a jazz pianist and bassist in New York City until she became breadwinner of her household and left New York for the suburbs. She had been tuning her own piano right along, so it was inevitable that she would go into tuning to support her family. She happened to write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper that got the attention of the mayor; she became the mayor’s ghostwriter. The local editor also invited her to write a column. This unexpectedly launched a second career for her, in the writing field. Then when a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer put his stamp of approval on her writing, it led to her book of humorous essays, Ya Wanna Laugh? (Xulon Press, 2011). At present, Lucille Rains divides her time between tuning and writing. She can be reached at lucille.rains@gmail.com