RSSCategory: Contemporary Women Writers

On Writing Sweet Freedom Whispered in My Ear

On Writing Sweet Freedom Whispered in My Ear

“Sweet Freedom Whispered in My Ear” is a memoir that delves into the depths of my life, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit overcoming the severe trauma and abuse. Over the years, many have urged me to write this book, finding inspiration in my story and believing in its power to provide […]

December 1, 2023 | By | Reply More
Pommes Frites

Pommes Frites

Pommes Frites In the spring just before my daughter turned ten, my husband’s parents invited us to share an apartment they had rented for a week in Paris. Michael didn’t have the vacation time, so I decided to bring our daughter, Sophie, as a special 10th birthday trip. It was my chance to show her […]

November 30, 2023 | By | Reply More
Second Careers and my Supposed Retirement

Second Careers and my Supposed Retirement

SECOND CAREERS AND MY SUPPOSED RETIREMENT “Retirement” is not something I ever aspired to, even when I took a buyout after more than two decades as the theater critic of The Baltimore Sun. I’m not particularly good at semi-retirement, either. I am an expert on second careers, however. I’ve had at least five. The most important of […]

November 29, 2023 | By | Reply More
Inspiration for Happy AF by Beth Romero

Inspiration for Happy AF by Beth Romero

Inspiration for Happy AF by Beth Romero Many people ask me what inspired Happy AF: Simple Strategies to Get Unstuck, Bounce Back, and Live Your Best Life. As the title attests, it is a comprehensive guidebook for happiness. I always respond that I didn’t set out to write a book, but rather the book set […]

November 14, 2023 | By | Reply More
Behind the Scenes: Writing Martha’s Story By Jodi Decker

Behind the Scenes: Writing Martha’s Story By Jodi Decker

Behind the Scenes: Writing Martha’s Story By Jodi Decker Sometimes the source of a story idea is in your DNA—literally. When my daughter and I embarked on writing Poems From the Asylum, about our great-grandmother and grandmother Martha Gruening Nasch, respectively, it sent us on a writing journey through genealogy, family history, and historical research […]

November 9, 2023 | By | Reply More
Saying Good-Bye by Jeannee Sacken

Saying Good-Bye by Jeannee Sacken

I love to read series. As a kid, I read The Bobbsey Twins and Laura Ingalls Wilder, then Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames. As an adult, I’m always up for the newest Lady Darby or Lady Emily historical mystery, a Kate Burkholder thriller, or one of Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooter books. Truth be told, I’ve got […]

November 9, 2023 | By | Reply More
THE WAYS OF WATER by Teresa H. Janssen: Excerpt

THE WAYS OF WATER by Teresa H. Janssen: Excerpt

THE WAYS OF WATER As Josie Belle Gore, daughter of a Louisiana train engineer and Texas seamstress, journeys with her itinerant family through the deserts of the boom-and-bust American West and revolutionary Mexico, she learns that in her life, two things are constant: water is precious, and her role in her family is to save […]

November 7, 2023 | By | Reply More
Connection Through the Narcissistic Parent

Connection Through the Narcissistic Parent

Connection Through the Narcissistic Parent Trying to describe what it’s like to grow up with a narcissistic parent is uniquely frustrating. If I say that my parent was abusive, people immediately assume that I’m talking about physical abuse and when I correct them, they often cannot understand that a person who doesn’t use their fists […]

November 7, 2023 | By | Reply More
The Context of Writing in My Life by Debbie Chein Morris

The Context of Writing in My Life by Debbie Chein Morris

The Context of Writing in My Life by Debbie Chein Morris From time immemorial, people have had the desire and the need to write. Even before modern-day alphabetic letters were created, before paper and pen, pictographs lined the walls of caves. Ancient tools were used to carve pictures into stone so that stories could be […]

November 1, 2023 | By | Reply More
From PhD Research to Fiction: The Struggles and Opportunities of Compiling and Editing “The Unpicking” for Commercial Publication

From PhD Research to Fiction: The Struggles and Opportunities of Compiling and Editing “The Unpicking” for Commercial Publication

From PhD Research to Fiction: The Struggles and Opportunities of Compiling and Editing “The Unpicking” for Commercial Publication Historical novel “The Unpicking” (October 2023, Fly on the Wall Press) is the creative writing element of a PhD thesis which explores the role of women between 1870 and 1920, particularly marginalised women whose lives are often […]

October 27, 2023 | By | Reply More