Category: Contemporary Women Writers
Writing Together
We, Charlene Ball and Libby Ware, both love to read mystery novels. We also love collecting and selling antiquarian and rare books. We exhibit at Antiquarian Book Fairs and have gotten to know book dealers, among them some interesting characters. When we decided to write a mystery together, we both wanted it to be a […]
Janet Hoggarth: Where I find the spark
Every book or article I have ever written has sprung from something else entirely. Several other ideas can be on the boil at the same time before I finally commit to writing a specific book. I will have written their rough synopsis (I never know the ending just the general direction), delved into the characters’ […]
Excercise And Writing, How Does It Compare?
As part-time Les Mills Body Combat Instructor and the author of Two scoops, not Three, I feel I have worked hard to be able to do the two things that I love. And interestingly, I have used similar methods for both exercise and writing. I started writing my debut novel – Two scoops, not Three […]
How I Got My Writing Mojo Back By Diane Barnes
Like many novelists, I rely on my full-time job to pay the bills. Fortunately, I enjoy my daytime gig. My co-workers are smart, supportive, and funny. We share a lot of laughs throughout the day, and I get to do what I love — write. So except on the occasional bad day, I’ve never seriously […]
Writing Mature Female Characters – Let Grandma Be Cool!
I write contemporary romance, but this particular pet peeve applies across all genres. Fictional grandmothers (or women old enough to be grandmothers) are stuck in a time trap. Stuck in Mayberry, if you will, where grandmas wore gingham aprons and always had a batch of their famous chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven. […]
Why Does HE Get to Do All the Swordplay?
Why Does HE Get to Do All the Swordplay? by Kathleen Marple Kalb, author of the Ella Shane Mysteries There’s nothing like the climactic duel on stage or screen: swords ringing steel on steel, combatants pushing each other back and forth, swashbucklers fighting for their lives and honor. It’s an iconic scene…and one that’s almost […]
My stroke of Fortune By Amy Maroney
I grew up in Northern California, in a family of bookworms. Every week I checked out the maximum number of books (five…so few!) from our local library. I wrote little fictional stories inspired by my favorite genres — fantasy, science fiction, mysteries. Maybe unconsciously, I sought out stories with strong, adventurous heroines. I was content […]
Does Writing Foster Self-Acceptance?
by Dorothy Rice The question gives me pause. It shouldn’t. I recently published Gray Is the New Black: A Memoir of Self-Acceptance (Otis Books, 2019). It’s right there in the subtitle. Yet as I sit on the couch sipping coffee and struggling to find the right words, I have a confession. The journey isn’t over. […]
Pantser, Plotter, Plantser and Everything in Between By Ashley R. King
We’ve all heard the terms pantser and plotter. Pantsers let the story take them where it may whereas plotters have a pretty good idea of where they want their story to go, possibly even outlining it with beat sheets. Then there are people like me, people who are a good mix of both, a plantser, […]
He Came In With It: Excerpt
When her son teenage Nick was diagnosed with schizophrenia, Miriam’s frenetic but happy life as an artist in Los Angeles was upended by one catastrophe after another: unexplainable violence, unanswered questions, endless disappointment, frustrations, and chaos. In her tireless search for help and answers, Miriam learns about the shocking shortfalls of our mental health system and […]
Recent Comments