frances figart

The Frances Files

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  Editors, the conductors of the publishing world

  I was recently asked by a potential employer to describe the editor’s role within the publishing process. I immediately thought of Swiss conductor Mario Venzago, former Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Music Director. Each time I have attended a performance by a symphony orchestra, most memorably those directed by Venzago, I have sat through most of it […]

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  Changes are shifting outside the world*

  As a student of English Literature, I learned that for a narrative work of any kind to be truly engaging, the main character has to undergo a change. In the terminology of dramatic structure, going all the way back to Aristotle, there is a climax or turning point that marks a change – for better […]

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  The lesson of the Kudzu Bug

  Having always gravitated toward creative and imaginative interests, I recall very few scientific concepts from my school days. One of the ones that stuck is the idea that if we study a living thing, we change it by the very act of examining it. I’ve recently relocated from Central Kentucky to Western North Carolina, with […]

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  Songs of a new order

  My mother gave me many gifts, one of the most treasured being the sensibility to appreciate the artistic marriage of music and words. Those who were able to attend her funeral heard an array of classical, traditional and contemporary compositions that were chosen and put in order by her – not recently, but years before […]

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  Let’s roll: A tribute to Ruthe

  My mother did not want it said that she died peacefully. True, she was in her home, surrounded by the people and things she loved. But despite the fact that she had no fear of making the transition out of her earthly, physical form, she fought willfully for more time here, mainly to be with […]