We women are strong. We take on large loads and bear them bravely. But, too often, we neglect our inner selves in the process. This can have dire ramifications, especially for women writers. I’ve found that it is always when my life is at its most stressful that I most neglect myself. I stop exercising, [...]
I can still recall the precise moment when I first set foot on foreign soil. It was 9.15pm on Friday, 21st July, 1978 and I was thirteen years old, tall for my age and skinny, with a mane of dark hair that was always in my eyes. I had been invited to stay with some [...]
The street where I grew up in Rijeka, Croatia, is called Hosti. The name is derived from an archaic Croatian word for guests. Hosti’s non-indigenous population were allowed by medieval laws to settle in that particular part of town only. Most of them would have lived there only temporarily, although those who stayed over certain [...]
Twenty-six years ago, I left the US to live on a farm in the Galilee. It wasn’t a spiritual connection to the Holy Land that prompted this dramatic relocation, but a chance meeting with a handsome young Israeli farmer. In an act that was equal parts folly and fortune, I followed him back, married him, [...]
In 2009 I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. This cancer was known as “female teratoma,” and it meant that I basically had testicular cancer in the ovary. I got the cancer from my dad. It skipped a generation and was passed down to me from my grandmother, who passed away in 1989, [...]
Let’s face it, the American immigration story has been done to death. It’s the “been-there-wrote-that” tale. So would someone please tell why I’m sitting here writing a book-length memoir about leaving my native Ireland, at age 24, to come alone to live in America? While I’m penning my woman’s immigrant story, the very same story is being played [...]
I began writing very early on. As a child it was all I looked forward to in literacy classes. Evenings I’d spend in my fairylight-lit den, scribbling stories about imaginary places and characters that felt more real than any friends I had at school. It was only when I got to secondary school that I [...]
Mother’s Day is upon us. We honor our moms for nurturing care, but their contributions in other arenas are, inevitably, marginalized. Wikipedia recently excised most “American Women Novelists” from its “American Novelists” category – segregating them in a female subcategory, thereby rendering American novelists nearly entirely male. When we think of other public categories too, [...]
We are pleased to bring you this interview with A.J. Walkley, author and self-proclaimed fighter for social justice, discussing her book Vuto, which is currently on Kickstarter, her experiences in East Africa in the Peace Corps; and her writing journey. Pleased too that this is her second contribution on our site. – The Editors, Rachel and Anora. AJ, [...]
It’s almost impossible to sum up and to make sense of over forty-one years of writing, of making up stories, of being rejected and accepted by publishers, of my stories being loved or not loved, of being published over and over, of being a storyteller. Truth is, wanting to tell stories is in the blood. [...]
We launched our sponsorship program the summer of 2012 and are very appreciative of the first sponsors to step up. Until we have paid sponsors for all spots, we are filling some of the spots with the books and services of close friends. Women Writers, Women Books’ Current Sponsors Send us an email at editor@booksbywomen.org [...]
It’s almost impossible to sum up and to make sense of over forty-one years of writing, of making up stories, of being rejected and accepted by publishers, of my stories being loved or not loved, of being published over and over, of being a storyteller. Truth is, wanting to tell stories is in the blood. [...]
I have a herd of elephants dancing in my tummy; my head aches and I am intermittently overcome by a wave of panic which starts at my toes and oozes from my fingers as I type; I’m not sleeping too well either. I’m not ill or on drugs – unless you count the medicinal Pinot [...]
I had a wonderful childhood, and leading up to the present, well, like everyone, I have had my share of ups and downs. But as I will tell anyone and everyone who’ll listen, I feel that I experienced a turning point in my life only a few years ago. I awoke one morning, on a birthday, with [...]
I can still recall the precise moment when I first set foot on foreign soil. It was 9.15pm on Friday, 21st July, 1978 and I was thirteen years old, tall for my age and skinny, with a mane of dark hair that was always in my eyes. I had been invited to stay with some [...]
What can I tell you about my debut novel, Duty and Desire, the first in my Winds of Fire series, that would intrigue you? It was a 9 year journey to finish Duty and Desire. I began writing the original draft in 2002, shortly after we moved from Singapore to New Jersey, USA. My kids [...]
While no one-size-fits-all blueprint exists for promoting books on social media sites, there are several important areas to consider to connect with your target audiences. You can put as little or as much time and effort into promoting your book online as you choose; the power to connect with potential readers is in your own [...]
At the bottom of guest posts, we like to include links so that interested readers can learn more about the author and his or her written works. When submitting a guest post to Women Writers, Women Books, feel free to include a link to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Smashwords, or author website (or all [...]
Through the creation of my own website and assisting fellow authors to create their own, I have discovered one basic strategy that can help bring readers to your site. Many of us either do not have the time, or just do not want to learn the ropes of SEO for ourselves. Of course, this is [...]
Most writers feel that our work is to create the best book we can, and then we’re done, well, besides getting an agent or a publisher. But the success of that huge journey to write our best book is tied to your efforts in capturing the words and messages about your book that will create [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Hello! I am Patricia Carrigan; you can call me Patti. Here is a little information about me. I am 18 years old, and I graduated from high school a couple of months ago. I’m enrolled in a nearby college, and I’m a fashion consultant at a junior teen fashion store, as well as a published [...]
It’s every writer’s dream to receive an email that says, “We would really love to publish your book.” Well, it’s finally happened for me. I expected myself to jump up and down on the lounge suite like Tom Cruise on the Oprah Winfrey Show, but I didn’t. I just read over the email a few times to make [...]
While no one-size-fits-all blueprint exists for promoting books on social media sites, there are several important areas to consider to connect with your target audiences. You can put as little or as much time and effort into promoting your book online as you choose; the power to connect with potential readers is in your own [...]
Writing about Muslim characters, Muslim women in particular, must be one of the trickiest subjects to write about. Especially in this specific time when everything about women in Islam seems to be dissected, probed and questioned. No matter the conflict or the aspirations of the protagonist. One thing stands out immediately: she is Muslim. Hence, [...]
“Let me tell you one thing about why writers write: had I known the answer to any of these questions I would never have needed to write a novel.” Joan Didion I understand what Joan Didion means – you wouldn’t write a novel, would you, if you could possibly avoid it? Because as all mere [...]
How did a hospital secretary and single mom of four end up writing a series about a gay private investigator? My wonderfully intrepid and at times hot-headed character David Lloyd came about through a fusion of my love of crime novels, my undying support for GLBT rights and acceptance, and the brutal attack of a [...]
This spring I am working as the virtual editorial intern of the wonderful online literary magazine known as Women Writers, Women Books. Here is a little bit about who I am and how I became a part of the WWWB team. About Me I am currently a sophomore at Elon University, a liberal arts college in [...]
Women writers with a calling to the keyboard, I salute you. For you insist on defining yourself, rather than allowing others to do it for you. There is something about you that says I have to be me – whatever the cost. And you have been willing to pay the price, because for you, there has [...]
My name is Victoria and I co-authored a book with a taxi cab driver I met at an all night diner. The book, Interrogation Tango, was released at the end of 2012. It was March 7th, 1994 at an all-night Greek diner called The Silver Star at 65th and Second Ave. in NYC around 1 [...]
I don’t recall the name of the male author or the title of the book that I was reading in my early 20s when I came upon the phrase, “her heaving breasts” one too many times. Ugh! Who were these raven haired, luscious lipped female characters whose breasts were constantly heaving? Nobody I knew, that’s [...]
