Category: Contemporary Women Writers
Telling the Story That Haunts You
Telling the Story That Haunts You I told my first ghost story in the fall of 2015 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the annual Women’s Fiction Writers Association Retreat. I was embarrassed at first, because the truth was, I believed it. I really did. I heard them. I saw them. At a writing workshop run […]
Excerpt from THE STILLNESS OF WINTER by Barbara Mahany
From the front pages of The Chicago Tribune and her revered page-two columns to her sought-after blog, Pull Up a Chair, Barbara Mahany has shared stories of her family’s life that have drawn in thousands of readers for decades. In her new elegantly illustrated gift book, THE STILLNESS OF WINTER: Sacred Blessings of the Season (Abingdon Press Hardcover; October 6, 2020; $19.99), Barbara […]
Finding A Small Press for My Debut Novel
Finding A Small Press for My Debut Novel After my debut novel was passed on by mainstream publishers and it became clear my agent could do no more for me, we amicably parted ways. But I wasn’t about to put this baby, which represented years of my writing life, into my desk drawer. I was […]
To Raise a Novel By Barbara Josselsohn
“Congratulations!” a writer friend of mine exclaims when I tell her my third novel will debut this week. “You must be so excited. Another book baby!” I smile and thank her, nodding at this familiar comparison of books to newborns. Many, many writers I know liken the process of launching a novel to giving birth, […]
Three Tips On Writing Your Story by Annette Valentine
1. Enlighten The Path Ahead of You Seat yourself in darkness and you’ll not be able to do much of anything, let alone begin writing your story. To enlighten the path toward writing your story (personal or otherwise), ask yourself what flows naturally when you sit down to write. Beginning your story in your own […]
Authors Interviewing Their Characters: Lisa Braxton
The fiery issue of urban gentrification is the steady beat thrumming beneath the surface of the novel, The Talking Drum. In 1972 the fictional city of Bellport, Massachusetts, is in decline with an urban redevelopment project on the horizon that promises to transform the dying factory town. Sydney Stallworth steps away from her law studies […]
Fighting Against Myself and My Past
Fighting Against Myself and My Past: The Story Behind “Saving Ruby King” By Catherine Adel West “You should write a book!” It was a comment made in passing at a friend’s wedding sparking the first wisps of inspiration that eventually became my debut novel “Saving Ruby King”. That statement shouldn’t have affected me so deeply, […]
Writing And Research: On Wilder Seas
Nikki Marmery is the author of On Wilder Seas, a historical novel inspired by the true story of Maria, the woman who sailed on the Golden Hind during Francis Drake’s circumnavigation voyage in 1579. I first read about Maria in a popular history book, seven years ago. Though details about her life are scarce, she […]
Silence Did Not Stop Me
Silence Did Not Stop Me Terry Sue Harms After writing a novel, I thought writing a memoir was going to be less challenging. Not easy, but I couldn’t imagine how a story that I already knew could possibly be more difficult to tell than the one I had made up. After all, I understood the […]
Writing Meaningfully about Trauma
Courtney Ramm is a successful professional dancer and choreographer whose upcoming memoir, “Eris Rising” (Acorn Publishing, Fall 2020) is a deeply personal tell-all about falling for a highly manipulative and dangerous man. Over the course of their relationship, Marcus leads Courtney down a long, dark rabbit hole, gaslighting her until she uproots her promising career […]
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