Category: Contemporary Women Writers
Always By Your Side: My Journey to Publication By Julie Haworth
Always By Your Side: My Journey to Publication By Julie Haworth On the 9th of August 2022 my debut novel, Always By Your Side, was published by Simon & Schuster and I fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming a published author. My journey to publication was a fairly unique story in itself and one that […]
Writing Scary Stories: Monsters 101
By Christina Hamlett Like a lot of kids, I grew up thinking that monsters lived in my closet. I had no real reason for believing this, nor did I ever ponder why they could be kept so easily at bay by a Tinkerbelle nightlight, an open bedroom door and a cadre of vigilant stuffed animals. […]
I Wrote Through Pain to tell a Story that would Empower my Children
“I wrote through pain to tell a story that would empower my children” I had a secret—a dark truth tucked deep in my brain that I held on to for years. Twenty, in fact. The secret was this: I was sexually assaulted as a young woman, and subsequently diagnosed with PTSD and bipolar. These are […]
Revealing the Secrets to Writing a Book
I stood in front of my classroom looking out at all the faces staring back at me, hungry for all the secrets on how to write a book, when the idea for How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies: Sweet & Savory Secrets for Surviving the Writing Life came to me. I get giddy […]
Writing Empathy Series: Empathy for YOU
Empathy for YOU Jen Braaksma There’s a story about literary icon Margaret Atwood. I don’t know if it’s real—but stories don’t have to be real to be true, right? The story goes like this: Margaret Atwood was at a swanky party when she was introduced to a doctor, a renowned brain surgeon. “Oh, you’re a […]
The Writing of Making the Rounds: Defying Norms in Love and Medicine By Patricia Grayhall
The Writing of Making the Rounds: Defying Norms in Love and Medicine By Patricia Grayhall February 2019 I take out the letters and journals in the file labeled Boston with shaky hands from the locked file cabinet in my closet. For forty years the letters from Dani lay unread because I couldn’t bear to look […]
The Inspiration behind One Last Gift
The Inspiration behind One Last Gift Like my debut novel, Always, in December, ONE LAST GIFT is a story that starts and ends at Christmas, though it spans the whole year. It’s also a story about grief, and about finding yourself in the wake of that grief. I sometimes get asked why I choose to […]
Lucy Banks: On Writing
Writing for me was always a hiding place. I grew up in a strange house with a turbulent family life, and writing was the one thing I could reliably turn to when I wanted to escape from the world. From an early age, I was fascinated with turning those troubling experiences into words. Somehow, by […]
The Journey Not the Arrival Matters
The Journey Not the Arrival Matters I first encountered this quotation by TS Eliot as the title of Leonard Woolf’s autobiography. Naturally, I had to read Leonard Woolf. It was one way of connecting with his wife, whom I count as one of my favorite writers. It was only gradually that I came to understand […]
Joanne Kukanza Easley: On Writing
My third novel, I’ll Be Seeing You, was recently released on my imprint, Red Boots Press. I had been published with a small press for my first two award-winning novels, Sweet Jane and Just One Look. While I am grateful for my start in the world of books, I felt it was time to put […]
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