

A blog about books (mine and others)...perspectives on American culture (from my own POV and no other's)...and reflections on life in general.
I blog because writing is just something I have to do. And it’s a way to procrastinate from writing my novels and screenplays, while feeling like I’m doing something legitimate.
I certainly don’t believe I am a great writer, or even a particularly good writer. However, expressing my thoughts via a keyboard is as second nature to me as picking up a book to read when I sit down to use the…ahem…you know what I mean. And yes, it has to be a keyboard. While I will take pen or pencil to paper in a crunch, I do my best internal thinking when my fingers hover over the QWERTY pad. I'm a big believer in the power of journaling. It seems to me that blogging is just another form of journaling--a very public one, however.
Why MadCityWriter? I took that name on several years ago because I thought it was kind of clever, and it’s easy to remember. Mad, of course, is for Madison, which is often nicknamed MadCity, and does have its own sort of bizarre culture. The problem with using my own name is that Peggy Williams is probably one of the most common names in the universe. And, there’s another Peggy Williams (from Madison, if you can believe it) who is a clown. I don’t like clowns. I don’t dislike that Peggy Williams. I just don’t like clowns. [Image: africa / FreeDigitalPhotos.net]
My goal with this blog is to entertain, inform, and perhaps even engage you, the reader, as I embark on this new segment of my journey as a writer, a reader, a teacher, and an observer of life.
My life as a writer: I have always been a writer. I worked on my class newpaper in fourth grade, engaged in round robin writing with a group of friends during my middle school years (we were working on the next great Beatles movie!), worked on my highschool newspaper for three years, won a state level essay contest sponsored by the Pepsi Co. my senior year of high school, and enjoyed writing provocative essays for assignments in college.
As a freelancer, I have worked writing corporate and educational videos; I’ve written magazine and newspaper articles; I’ve contributed a vast amount of content to online enterprises such as Suite101.com and Examiner.com; I’ve co-written a dozen screenplays and a couple of plays; and most recently I co-wrote and published a mystery novel. I have also written a children’s novel that I hope to publish soon.
My life as a reader: I tend to enjoy non-fiction more than fiction lately, but I try to read widely, if not prolificly. I love discussions about books, and enjoy listening to authors talk about their books on NPR and other forums.
My life as a teacher: my experience for years and years and years was on the kindergarten/first grade level. I have been both a private/Catholic and public school teacher. I have a B.S. in education from Michigan State University (Go Sparty!) and a Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Go Bucky!) in curriculum & instruction. Most recently I moved out of the classroom and into a position where I provide professional development to teachers while still keeping my hand in testing and providing academic intervention to students one on one.
As a life observer, I probably have no more insight or an interesting life than anyone else. But including this gives me the flexibility to expand my “musings” on this blog. Hopefully you will find my musings worth the read and worth checking back in to see what else I may have to offer.
I’m also open to ideas, so feel free to leave comments, especially if there is something specific you would like me to muse upon; or if you would like to muse upon my musings, please do so.
Mark Twain said, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." I guess I'm about to remove all doubt. Wish me luck!