Category: Contemporary Women Writers
Writing and Research: Tips
Eleanor’s Secret is my second novel inspired by real events from the Second World War and it required thorough research for background, for inspiration, and to help create an authentic setting for the story. The idea evolved after reading about the War Artists’ Advisory Committee that was set up to produce an artistic and documentary […]
My Journey of Writing and Autoimmune Disease
It’s been almost a decade since I began writing to share with others, I was blessed, I was offered two different publishing contracts and within six months became a best-selling author. I was living my dream. After only a few years life had different plans. I began getting sick and didn’t even realize it. I […]
Manifesting Time and Me – Leah E. Reinhart
Being a new author comes with its fair amount of challenges, especially when juggling multiple jobs. It can be expensive and extremely time consuming. But, I’ve never been one for doing things the easy way. For example, I finished my first manuscript during the time I opened up my business; The Wellness Garden Tool Shed, […]
On the “Critical vs. Creative” Divide
As an English instructor, one of the most common claims I hear from students is that they are either “critical” or “creative” writers. Academic writing is dry and logical and difficult, they insist; by contrast, fiction writing is freeing, enabling, liberating. Sometimes they put the two into a relationship: creative writers make the art, and […]
Giving Ourselves Permission to Write
Most women writers I know—published, unpublished, bestsellers and beginners—are wrestling with the problem of balance. How do we find time for our writing when we are also responsible for kids, households, pets, partners, aging parents, social expectations and day jobs? Far too often, by the time we work our way through the To Do list […]
Using What We Know To Imagine What Might Have Been
Using what we know to imagine what might have been: Weaving technical expertise into creative writing Had you asked me five years ago if I would ever write a memoir, I might have answered “maybe.” If the query had been about writing a novel? Never! My brain, schooled and journeyed through decades of a profession […]
Authors Interviewing Their Characters: Jacqueline Sheehan
In the novel, The Tiger in the House, Hayley, a six year-old girl, is the survivor of a triple homicide. Due to her age, but more importantly the trauma, she is unable to give Delia, a child protection worker, any information that would find Hayley’s parents or information about the violent crime. The author, Jacqueline […]
Characters and Craft – Learning To Leave Yourself Behind
Literary fiction is a strange, yet compelling animal. So much emphasis on language, rhythm, imagery. And let’s not forget character. Some novels are all about the character and the mad world behind her eyes. When I started writing fiction, my characters had a bad habit of sounding a lot like me. Sadly, they suffered from […]
Midwife to Author: A Winding Path
I didn’t exactly decide to be an author, but as a midwife, I’d always been a storyteller. I used stories to teach, to warn, to share personal experiences, to make patients laugh, but I had no aspirations to be an author. I even kept a journal for years and wrote poetry, most of it bad, but there […]
Rea Frey On Becoming A Writer
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” I ask my daughter this loaded (and wholly unfair) question. She studies me with her missing front tooth. The new one pushes through slick pink gums like a slice of bread easing out of a toaster. “Happy,” she says. My mom heart swells while my […]
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