Category: Contemporary Women Writers
The Fine Art of Being Crappy
This may seem like a strange title for an article by a debut author, but, I’d like to share how I managed to write, edit, win two awards, and find a publisher for my debut novel, The Exit Strategy. And it required mastering the art of being crappy. As children we are often taught, especially […]
Going With Your Gut: How Intuition Impacts Destiny
Who hasn’t ignored their intuition? It’s such a bummer to find the consequences embarrassing or even dire. The surge of electricity that delivers a foretelling gets ignored due to reasoning. These conjured reasons have everything to do with wanting to be right and fear of being wrong. “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and […]
Excerpt of The Nun’s Bethrothal
The Nun’s Betrothal “It is refreshing to see a tale achieve such titillating, erotic heights without resorting to a more unabashed, not to say lurid, style, a sign of the author’s novelistic subtlety…..An engaging love story, historically captivating and romantically gripping.” –Kirkus Reviews Set in ninth-century France, just before taking her vows, Sister Gilda, along with […]
Writing Fast Girls
One of the most frequently asked questions I field from readers is “Where do you find your ideas and how do you turn them into books?” Honestly, there’s no special magic fairy dust for this. Having an idea for a story and then turning that idea into a book requires discipline, curiosity, patience, not to […]
Where I find the spark: Janet Hoggarth
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’ […]
MUSCLE MEMORY: Excerpt
Places I’ve Taken My Body by Molly McCully Brown s a collection of essays about the author’s personal struggles with cerebral palsy, and her evolving understanding of the intersection between her physical body and that intangible other that she has come to call the soul. Molly is known for her award-winning poetry collection, The Virginia […]
Place In A Book – Do You Need To Go There?
Place in a book – do you need to go there? Some years ago I went to a talk by the award-winning Irish writer Colm Tóibín. It was after the launch of his much acclaimed novel, Brooklyn, and I remember him telling the audience that when he wrote Brooklyn he had never been to the […]
Inspiration and Writing
Inspiration and Writing By Catherine Bellizzi Inspiration for writing can come from the most unusual places. Even from something as misunderstood and anxiety-causing as assisted living. As I sat visiting my elderly aunt in her small apartment in the assisted living facility she had just moved into, I got the idea for my novel, The […]
The Real Life Horrors That Find Their Way into Fiction
For several years, I spent my nights fighting crime. I worked in the records department of a police station in Colorado. My job was varied. I was a reference librarian for the officers, and a department dispatcher for the public. I processed police records; performed research using local, state, and national criminal databases; entered warrants, […]
Writing Through Tough Times: Tips And Tricks
The question comes up a lot: What’s your favorite part of the writing process? Usually this is a multiple choice question. Is your favorite part the beginning of the story, when everything is possible? Is it the middle when things have finally begun to gel? Is it the end when all the choices have narrowed […]
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