Featured Essays

  • Book Review: Lisa Bloom’s Swagger

    Book Review: Lisa Bloom’s Swagger

    If you’re interested in a hard-hitting, information-packed, passionate examination of how our American culture is impacting boys in the beginning of this 21st century, Swagger will shake you up. The facts aren’t new. But like an award-winning documentary producer, Author Lisa Bloom focuses in on the important ones, and gives them context and conclusions. The [...]

    May 17, 2012 | 0 Comments More
  • Post Trauma Healing: An Interview with Author Michele Rosenthal

    Post Trauma Healing: An Interview with Author Michele Rosenthal

    “I began writing my story at the age of 37, because I’d read that in order to overcome PTSD one had to be able to tell one’s story.” Michele Rosenthal Every now and then when we need help, we’re fortunate enough to know exactly what type we need and where to find it. However, even in [...]

    May 15, 2012 | 0 Comments More
  • Writing in Stolen Time: 10 Ways to Create Time (Literally)!

    Writing in Stolen Time: 10 Ways to Create Time (Literally)!

    ‘How on earth did you find time to write a novel? You’ve got kids!’ This is a question I have been asked frequently since publishing my debut novel The Girl Who Came Home – A Titanic Novel on Kindle last month. I sometimes wonder myself! But, having wondered, I’ve realised that when you have a [...]

    May 12, 2012 | 5 Comments More
  • Meredith Sue Willis’ Re-visions – Book Review by Diane Simmons

    Meredith Sue Willis’ Re-visions – Book Review by Diane Simmons

    The stories in Mered­­­ith Sue Willis’ new col­­­lection, Re-visons: Stories from Stories, will take you back to your Scripture, your Shakespeare and your Harriet Beecher Stowe. And when you do glance back at the stories that Willis here “re-visions” you might be surprised at the way in which women figure in these well-known works from [...]

    May 8, 2012 | 2 Comments More
  • I Fell for 99 Artists – A Poem by US Artist Mariah Wheeler

    I Fell for 99 Artists – A Poem by US Artist Mariah Wheeler

    I Fell for 99 Artists I fell hard for the 99, these dreamers who hungrily feed us their songs, whose hearts flow tenderpink, whose cup-shaped palms cry long hidden crimson tales, who yearn to say what must be said, reflect sun as does moon.   These are brave pioneers and hard working hand weavers, who [...]

    April 27, 2012 | 2 Comments More
  • A Search Engine for Writers

    A Search Engine for Writers

    How do you search for writing articles on a particular topic? For most of us, we’d first pull up Google. Let’s say we’re struggling a little bit with POV (point of view) — we’ve gotten some editorial feedback that we’re head-hopping.  So we plug in POV to Google. The first result is a documentary series [...]

    April 23, 2012 | 5 Comments More
  • QUEER GREER: From Self-Published to Indie Pubbed

    QUEER GREER: From Self-Published to Indie Pubbed

    I wrote my first novel, Queer Greer, in 2007. The arduous process of querying literary agents and publishers started the following year. Several dozen rejection letters later, I was not dissuaded from my belief that I had a publishable piece of work – only that, perhaps, the traditional publishing route was not the best way [...]

    April 16, 2012 | 6 Comments More
  • The Challenges of Self-Publishing – And Why I’d Do It Again

    The Challenges of Self-Publishing – And Why I’d Do It Again

    With a publisher, fame and fortune would certainly follow.  Right? The idea for Found It: A Field Guide for Mom Entrepreneurs came to me in the night.  Literally.  At 2 AM, I raced to a lined yellow pad and each of the 51 chapters fell out of my head and onto the paper.  Just like [...]

    April 13, 2012 | 6 Comments More
  • Post-Publication Depression? The Months after a Book Release

    Post-Publication Depression? The Months after a Book Release

    The feeling took hold in slow small increments. It was inexplicable. Unfamiliar. An odd combination of melancholy and listlessness, a howl released into the night sky except echoing inward. My debut novel had been released in August and the excitement I felt at its release was euphoric. I was so lucky to be published and [...]

    April 10, 2012 | 6 Comments More
  • Discipline of Writing. Writing as a Discipline.

    Discipline of Writing. Writing as a Discipline.

    First, there is the discipline of writing. Writers have long touted the value of the discipline of writing. While the strategies and goals to accomplish this task vary, the primary advice is relatively consistent – write everyday. Some say its best to write for a fixed length of time, while others insist on a daily [...]

    April 4, 2012 | 2 Comments More

Women Writing Memoirs

Post Trauma Healing: An Interview with Author Michele Rosenthal

Post Trauma Healing: An Interview with Author Michele Rosenthal

“I began writing my story at the age of 37, because I’d read that in order to overcome PTSD one had to be able to tell one’s story.” Michele Rosenthal Every now and then when we need help, we’re fortunate enough to know exactly what type we need and where to find it. However, even in [...]

May 15, 2012 | 0 Comments More
When the Story Hurts too Much: Fakhra Younas’ Life and Memoir

When the Story Hurts too Much: Fakhra Younas’ Life and Memoir

When a woman tells her story, writes her memoir, she is writing her own history. She becomes visible to history; part of the human narrative. Telling her truth, her experience and wisdom, she leaves her legacy. When the life lived hurts too much… it’s hard to write, and hard to tell. And when the story [...]

March 27, 2012 | 39 Comments More

Women Writing Fiction

Claiming a Space in the World – Diane Simmons’ Short Stories

Claiming a Space in the World – Diane Simmons’ Short Stories

Chick lit covers wearing on you? Glossy images of impossibly long legs and microscopic pink dresses? If the shopping mall and the salon are too confining, enjoy kicking a little fictional butt. Little America Diane Simmons 115 pp. trade paperback The Ohio State University Press, 2011 In Little America, which won The Ohio State University [...]

January 20, 2012 | 6 Comments More
Initiation into Authorship: Calamity to Creation

Initiation into Authorship: Calamity to Creation

I was never meant to be a writer. Or so I believed until… After virtually forty years of training and practising the art of sculpture, my life took a surprising new course. It is said that a Shaman must endure some physical calamity – a fall from a high rock face, breaking every bone in [...]

January 17, 2012 | 20 Comments More

US American Women Writers

Book Review: Lisa Bloom’s Swagger

Book Review: Lisa Bloom’s Swagger

If you’re interested in a hard-hitting, information-packed, passionate examination of how our American culture is impacting boys in the beginning of this 21st century, Swagger will shake you up. The facts aren’t new. But like an award-winning documentary producer, Author Lisa Bloom focuses in on the important ones, and gives them context and conclusions. The [...]

May 17, 2012 | 0 Comments More
The Challenges of Self-Publishing – And Why I’d Do It Again

The Challenges of Self-Publishing – And Why I’d Do It Again

With a publisher, fame and fortune would certainly follow.  Right? The idea for Found It: A Field Guide for Mom Entrepreneurs came to me in the night.  Literally.  At 2 AM, I raced to a lined yellow pad and each of the 51 chapters fell out of my head and onto the paper.  Just like [...]

April 13, 2012 | 6 Comments More

Irish Women Writers

Writing in Stolen Time: 10 Ways to Create Time (Literally)!

Writing in Stolen Time: 10 Ways to Create Time (Literally)!

‘How on earth did you find time to write a novel? You’ve got kids!’ This is a question I have been asked frequently since publishing my debut novel The Girl Who Came Home – A Titanic Novel on Kindle last month. I sometimes wonder myself! But, having wondered, I’ve realised that when you have a [...]

May 12, 2012 | 5 Comments More
Aluine’s Gardens by C. Murray

Aluine’s Gardens by C. Murray

Aluine’s Gardens Before the house behind the sea, a garden. Before the mountain behind the house, a circuit of trees. Before the small house behind the grey sea, A strip of  lawn enclosed with box. Before the tall mountain behind those six white walls of house, rows of young alders a circuit make. Before the house [...]

September 12, 2011 | 2 Comments More

On Being a Writer

Writing in Stolen Time: 10 Ways to Create Time (Literally)!

Writing in Stolen Time: 10 Ways to Create Time (Literally)!

‘How on earth did you find time to write a novel? You’ve got kids!’ This is a question I have been asked frequently since publishing my debut novel The Girl Who Came Home – A Titanic Novel on Kindle last month. I sometimes wonder myself! But, having wondered, I’ve realised that when you have a [...]

May 12, 2012 | 5 Comments More
Discipline of Writing. Writing as a Discipline.

Discipline of Writing. Writing as a Discipline.

First, there is the discipline of writing. Writers have long touted the value of the discipline of writing. While the strategies and goals to accomplish this task vary, the primary advice is relatively consistent – write everyday. Some say its best to write for a fixed length of time, while others insist on a daily [...]

April 4, 2012 | 2 Comments More

On How to Write

Writing and a Busy Life?  Four Tips for Making it Work.

Writing and a Busy Life? Four Tips for Making it Work.

I was recently talking on the phone to my mother and catching her up with our family’s schedule for the next few months—my kids’ activities, doctor and dental appointments, carpools, writing conferences, a talk I was giving at the college I’d attended, and my next deadline—I’m under contract for two books for two different series [...]

February 8, 2012 | 26 Comments More
Beginnings in Life and Literature

Beginnings in Life and Literature

People look at the New Year as a new beginning. Although on December 31st/January 1st one year slips into another, we make a huge deal about the difference between these two days. As a writer—and a woman—I can tell you that new beginnings happen all the time, not just at the beginning of a calendar [...]

January 1, 2012 | 24 Comments More

Read More Here

Book Review: Lisa Bloom’s Swagger

Book Review: Lisa Bloom’s Swagger

If you’re interested in a hard-hitting, information-packed, passionate examination of how our American culture is impacting boys in the beginning of this 21st century, Swagger will shake you up. The facts aren’t new. But like an award-winning documentary producer, Author Lisa Bloom focuses in on the important ones, and gives them context and conclusions. The [...]

May 17, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Post Trauma Healing: An Interview with Author Michele Rosenthal

Post Trauma Healing: An Interview with Author Michele Rosenthal

“I began writing my story at the age of 37, because I’d read that in order to overcome PTSD one had to be able to tell one’s story.” Michele Rosenthal Every now and then when we need help, we’re fortunate enough to know exactly what type we need and where to find it. However, even in [...]

May 15, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Writing in Stolen Time: 10 Ways to Create Time (Literally)!

Writing in Stolen Time: 10 Ways to Create Time (Literally)!

‘How on earth did you find time to write a novel? You’ve got kids!’ This is a question I have been asked frequently since publishing my debut novel The Girl Who Came Home – A Titanic Novel on Kindle last month. I sometimes wonder myself! But, having wondered, I’ve realised that when you have a [...]

May 12, 2012 | 5 Comments More
Meredith Sue Willis’ Re-visions – Book Review by Diane Simmons

Meredith Sue Willis’ Re-visions – Book Review by Diane Simmons

The stories in Mered­­­ith Sue Willis’ new col­­­lection, Re-visons: Stories from Stories, will take you back to your Scripture, your Shakespeare and your Harriet Beecher Stowe. And when you do glance back at the stories that Willis here “re-visions” you might be surprised at the way in which women figure in these well-known works from [...]

May 8, 2012 | 2 Comments More
I Fell for 99 Artists – A Poem by US Artist Mariah Wheeler

I Fell for 99 Artists – A Poem by US Artist Mariah Wheeler

I Fell for 99 Artists I fell hard for the 99, these dreamers who hungrily feed us their songs, whose hearts flow tenderpink, whose cup-shaped palms cry long hidden crimson tales, who yearn to say what must be said, reflect sun as does moon.   These are brave pioneers and hard working hand weavers, who [...]

April 27, 2012 | 2 Comments More
A Search Engine for Writers

A Search Engine for Writers

How do you search for writing articles on a particular topic? For most of us, we’d first pull up Google. Let’s say we’re struggling a little bit with POV (point of view) — we’ve gotten some editorial feedback that we’re head-hopping.  So we plug in POV to Google. The first result is a documentary series [...]

April 23, 2012 | 5 Comments More
Deer in the Headlights: A Marketing Pro Self-Publishes

Deer in the Headlights: A Marketing Pro Self-Publishes

I should have known. In the passions of finally committing myself to the authorship of a book, one I knew from the beginning I would not shop with literary agents or publishing houses, I utterly failed myself in not treating my book, All That I Need, or Live Like a Dog With Its Head Out the [...]

April 20, 2012 | 2 Comments More
QUEER GREER: From Self-Published to Indie Pubbed

QUEER GREER: From Self-Published to Indie Pubbed

I wrote my first novel, Queer Greer, in 2007. The arduous process of querying literary agents and publishers started the following year. Several dozen rejection letters later, I was not dissuaded from my belief that I had a publishable piece of work – only that, perhaps, the traditional publishing route was not the best way [...]

April 16, 2012 | 6 Comments More
The Challenges of Self-Publishing – And Why I’d Do It Again

The Challenges of Self-Publishing – And Why I’d Do It Again

With a publisher, fame and fortune would certainly follow.  Right? The idea for Found It: A Field Guide for Mom Entrepreneurs came to me in the night.  Literally.  At 2 AM, I raced to a lined yellow pad and each of the 51 chapters fell out of my head and onto the paper.  Just like [...]

April 13, 2012 | 6 Comments More
Post-Publication Depression? The Months after a Book Release

Post-Publication Depression? The Months after a Book Release

The feeling took hold in slow small increments. It was inexplicable. Unfamiliar. An odd combination of melancholy and listlessness, a howl released into the night sky except echoing inward. My debut novel had been released in August and the excitement I felt at its release was euphoric. I was so lucky to be published and [...]

April 10, 2012 | 6 Comments More
Discipline of Writing. Writing as a Discipline.

Discipline of Writing. Writing as a Discipline.

First, there is the discipline of writing. Writers have long touted the value of the discipline of writing. While the strategies and goals to accomplish this task vary, the primary advice is relatively consistent – write everyday. Some say its best to write for a fixed length of time, while others insist on a daily [...]

April 4, 2012 | 2 Comments More
Breaking a Glass Ceiling

Breaking a Glass Ceiling

You’ve probably heard of THE glass ceiling. There is another glass ceiling that everyone encounters that has nothing to do with gender; it’s a glass ceiling of negative beliefs. I dreamed about my writing career since childhood and strived toward being a career novelist. I had “big ideas.” But even while writing and working toward this [...]

April 2, 2012 | 6 Comments More
When the Story Hurts too Much: Fakhra Younas’ Life and Memoir

When the Story Hurts too Much: Fakhra Younas’ Life and Memoir

When a woman tells her story, writes her memoir, she is writing her own history. She becomes visible to history; part of the human narrative. Telling her truth, her experience and wisdom, she leaves her legacy. When the life lived hurts too much… it’s hard to write, and hard to tell. And when the story [...]

March 27, 2012 | 39 Comments More
10 Ways to Love a Writer: On Valentine’s Day and Forever

10 Ways to Love a Writer: On Valentine’s Day and Forever

Author Aine Greaney has shared her fun post on ways to love a writer for Valentine’s Day. 1.       Forgive our occasional social gaffes, like when we  gaze off mid-dinner and mid-sentence to let that bistro meal grow cold. We’re not ignoring you. Honest.  We’re writing. Or eavesdropping.  Same thing. 2.       When we’re doing a reading or speaking on a [...]

February 14, 2012 | 2 Comments More
The Writer’s Ear: Hearing Prose, Poetry and Music

The Writer’s Ear: Hearing Prose, Poetry and Music

UK Author Jo Carroll very kindly responded to our question about how poetry and prose influenced each other in your writing. I have a diffuse boundary between poetry and prose. I know that one informs the other, but I’ve never tried to define that, nor explain it – even to myself – in a coherent [...]

February 11, 2012 | 1 Comment More
Writing and a Busy Life?  Four Tips for Making it Work.

Writing and a Busy Life? Four Tips for Making it Work.

I was recently talking on the phone to my mother and catching her up with our family’s schedule for the next few months—my kids’ activities, doctor and dental appointments, carpools, writing conferences, a talk I was giving at the college I’d attended, and my next deadline—I’m under contract for two books for two different series [...]

February 8, 2012 | 26 Comments More
Claiming a Space in the World – Diane Simmons’ Short Stories

Claiming a Space in the World – Diane Simmons’ Short Stories

Chick lit covers wearing on you? Glossy images of impossibly long legs and microscopic pink dresses? If the shopping mall and the salon are too confining, enjoy kicking a little fictional butt. Little America Diane Simmons 115 pp. trade paperback The Ohio State University Press, 2011 In Little America, which won The Ohio State University [...]

January 20, 2012 | 6 Comments More
Initiation into Authorship: Calamity to Creation

Initiation into Authorship: Calamity to Creation

I was never meant to be a writer. Or so I believed until… After virtually forty years of training and practising the art of sculpture, my life took a surprising new course. It is said that a Shaman must endure some physical calamity – a fall from a high rock face, breaking every bone in [...]

January 17, 2012 | 20 Comments More
Leaving a Mark on the World with Words

Leaving a Mark on the World with Words

“Even the biggest avalanche starts with one snowflake.” I still remember the moment I first became involved in fighting injustice. Up until then, I’d been busy raising kids and trying to keep our family’s head above water. But when I learned about a school that had been burned to the ground because of religious intolerance, [...]

January 14, 2012 | 4 Comments More
Reason vs. Heart: Still Tugging

Reason vs. Heart: Still Tugging

It’s mythic. And mundane. Heart battling Reason. Reason speaking for steady income, security, safety. Heart arguing for inspiration, energy, enthusiasm, vitality, passion. Reason boxing us in to the predictable and the unsatisfying. Keeping us, we hope, sheltered, clothed and fed. Heart allowing us to follow our life force, to create, imagine, stretch and play, experiment [...]

January 14, 2012 | 6 Comments More
The Key to Selling Self-Published Books

The Key to Selling Self-Published Books

Self-published authors face an uphill battle when it comes to marketing and selling our books. The stigma that self-published books face is a tough one to shed. And, to top it off, most of us don’t have much help promoting our books. So selling self-published books is a challenge. I have a Twitter account with [...]

January 4, 2012 | 6 Comments More
Beginnings in Life and Literature

Beginnings in Life and Literature

People look at the New Year as a new beginning. Although on December 31st/January 1st one year slips into another, we make a huge deal about the difference between these two days. As a writer—and a woman—I can tell you that new beginnings happen all the time, not just at the beginning of a calendar [...]

January 1, 2012 | 24 Comments More

Have You Registered Your Blog with Technorati

Technorati is one of the most famous blog directories. It’s focus is not primarily literary, so you will want to register your blog in other directories as well, but Technorati is worth looking at.   N7FEA257PQJS

December 26, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor

This letter is about what Women Writers, Women Books means to its  editor, within the context of her life. I grew up moving. Moved when I was 1, 2, 3, 5 and we kept moving. Cambridge, Massachusetts. London, England. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Amman, Jordan. Port Said, Egypt. And on. And on. So many places I had to write a [...]

December 1, 2011 | 46 Comments More
Reflections on Literary Creativity

Reflections on Literary Creativity

I can’t recall the exact day I started writing. For that matter I can’t remember the exact day I took my first meaningful photograph. What can I tell you? Writing and photography filled a deep hole that seemed to be growing inside me a long time ago. I could have put it down to a [...]

November 30, 2011 | 23 Comments More
Authors, Are You Ready – Media Ready?

Authors, Are You Ready – Media Ready?

(The book give-away contest has closed – and five writers have been selected! 12/9/2011) — Authors, are you ready –  Media Ready? Are you ready to answer questions? From fellow writers. Friends. Bloggers. Book reviewers. Radio interviewers. TV hosts. Questions like: ‘Who are you?’ ‘What’s your book about?’ ‘Why should I fork out twenty bucks [...]

November 30, 2011 | 67 Comments More
Wordsmithing: Go For It

Wordsmithing: Go For It

Words. Individually they’re just symbols on a page. Meaningless, really. But when you string them together into a sentence that conjures up feelings and images, THEN you have something. That’s what I call creative wordsmithing. We’re all capable of it if you put forth a little effort. True, some are better at it than others, [...]

November 29, 2011 | 8 Comments More
Heartsease: A Writer’s Vision

Heartsease: A Writer’s Vision

Over the years I’ve found all sorts of ways to overcome my inclination towards chaos in my writing, but none worked as well as the day I started working to a vision. I began writing in my early twenties as a form of catharsis, although I’m not sure I was really aware of it at [...]

November 29, 2011 | 16 Comments More
Reciprocal Influences in Poetry and Prose

Reciprocal Influences in Poetry and Prose

I’ve been trying to identify the driving force behind my writing. It is not an easy thing to do when you have been writing for so long. In fact, in trying to identify this I’ve come to realise that it has changed, and perhaps will continue to change. Perhaps this is the way for all [...]

November 22, 2011 | 12 Comments More
Predestined Inspiration

Predestined Inspiration

I was lucky to be born and to be raised in a family of people who loved each other to distraction. I was the only and the welcome child who was in a bath of unconditional love of my parents and my grandmother. I always knew that there were people in this world who could [...]

November 20, 2011 | 2 Comments More
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