Category: Contemporary Women Writers
Tinseltown or Bust? The Hollywood Dream, Part Two
Read Part One HERE With new book-to-film opportunities springing up, it seems you can not only publish your book, but also venture into the world of TV and film without an agent or a traditional contract. Is it really as easy as it seems? Pipeline is an established US based contest taking scripts, short stories, […]
Letter to My Parents in Quarantine, 3,000 miles away
Dear Mom and Dad, How are you holding up? This afternoon? This hour? Today is a good day for me. I am reading wonderful writers who are tuning into the small things in this new reality: Karen Russell, Maggie Nelson. Also, listening to George Saunders read his letter to his creative writing student about the […]
PUTTING GHOSTS TO REST
PUTTING GHOSTS TO REST When you’ve had a few books out, readers ask what your favorite is. Or if they’re going to read just one, which should it be? The easy answer—the one I usually give—is whatever I just wrote, because it reflects how my writing has evolved, and what’s freshest in my mind. I […]
What Mama Brings to the Cradle By Irene Kessler
When we write there is always a bit of us in there, but as I look back on this book, my debut novel Mountain of Full Moons, I realize there were many things in my life that inspired what I put in writing. It even surprised me. The strange thing is that the words came […]
FINDING INSPIRATION IN UNEXPECTED PLACES
By Judith Keim Writers are the worst eavesdroppers, the worst snoops! Why? Because, if we pay attention, there are stories all around us. It can be as simple as overhearing someone say, “Well, I finally got that done!” Wow! There are a million stories in that one sentence. Who? What? Where? Why? And if someone […]
The New Coming of Age
First kisses. First loves. First rejection. First time experimenting with [fill in the blank]. First time knowing how to actually apply and wear eyeliner. Once you’ve passed the test of puberty and scaled the morbid walls of middle school, high school is often hailed as the “coming-of-age” period in an individual’s life. At least so […]
On Writing: Janet Todd
I always wanted to write fiction. Over the years I started several novels—occasionally I even finished them. In subject they ranged from expatriate life in post-independence Ghana to a fictionalised biography of Mary Wollstonecraft’s unhappy sister. (Most attempts have gone out in black bin bags.) I had a family to support and it’s a lot […]
10 Reasons To Be Less Productive During A Pandemic
1. You fear dying. Especially if you’re as much of a hypochondriac as I am. When I woke up with a headache, sore throat, and the dreaded DRY COUGH a couple of weeks ago, I feared the worst. I spent the next two days drinking lots of fluids, taking my (resolutely normal) temperature, and checking […]
A Debut Author’s Story: How Science Facts Inspired a Thriller by Eve Smith
Eve Smith’s debut novel, The Waiting Rooms, is set twenty years after an antibiotic crisis. A nurse hunts for her elderly birth mother, in a world where no one over seventy gets access to new drugs. I had the idea for my speculative thriller, The Waiting Rooms, after reading some frightening facts about antibiotic resistance. […]
What’s at Stake in Your Novel?
By Jill Caugherty What keeps readers riveted to a favorite novel, compulsively turning the pages? Sure, fast-paced action with car chases, gun fights, drug deals gone awry, and racy sex scenes might help, but many writers of character-driven fiction don’t rely on these techniques to ratchet up the tension. Instead, we often create conflict, and […]
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