Category: Contemporary Women Writers
Menopause and Writing
“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk […]
Coming Back to Writing
When I was a little girl I made a choice. At least I thought I did. I was nine years old. Mousey and a bit serious. I only cared about two things – reading teenage horror novels and Westlife. My Aunt was allaying herself of some furniture – she had a beautiful house – and […]
Getting In
As Heidi Klum says on Project Runway, either you’re in, or your out. The world of publishing works this way, too. There are barriers and hurdles to get over, doors to walk through, people who welcome you, and those who turn their backs. This is the story of how I got in, and why some […]
The Gatekeeper
On the morning of Friday, May 30, my husband and I got a call from India: my mother was in critical condition and hospitalized in New Delhi. I thought it was a bad joke because (a) My Mom wasn’t sick. I had barely spoken with Mom two days ago and promised to cook, Kalam Polow, a […]
Lost in Translation
The first guest post I wrote for WWWB was about me (you can read it here) but this time, it’s kind of about everyone else. And so it begins. The name of my book is Lost in Translation. It has my name on the cover, but for now that’s irrelevant. I’ve lived with that title […]
Am I Good Enough?
Am I any good? Is this poem, piece, painting, any good? It takes guts, major guts, to even expose oneself to this question. Do you realize how far you have come, how much work you have done, what courage it takes to open yourself to even your own judgment? Most of us who are engaged […]
The Crime Writer’s Choices
I really want to write crime fiction. I can’t help it. It may be an over-crowded field but I want to join the crowd and see what I can do. It may be a risk, but at my time of life you don’t hang around, so I’m going to give it a go. Or at […]
Why writers must ‘Lean In’ too
It is now five months since the publication of my debut novel. Five months. That’s all. I am a mere baby in a world full of writing grown-ups, who have double-figure novels to their name and impressive awards to add to their author bio. And yet, in those few months, I have learnt so much […]
Act, React and Interact
To avoid too much ‘telling’, characters should be allowed to act. This means they’ll react and interact, as well. Different characters react differently to the same incident, to external conflicts or stimuli, to internal conflicts and to each other Let’s look at the following passage: Joe squinted against the sunlight dancing on the lake, wiping […]
Why I Wrote a Self-Help Book
Looking through the shelves at my local bookstore, it seemed that I was spoilt for choice; I was going through a period in my life where I wanted answers, having had one experience of failure after another. I passed my fingers over the countless self-help books on the shelves, from books like ’10 Steps To […]
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