Category: Contemporary Women Writers
My Path to Publication: A Long and Winding Road
I was probably eight when I discovered I could lose myself in words, and from there it wasn’t long till I hunkered down in my bedroom and devoured every novel my mother owned because I’d already torn through every age-appropriate book available to me. She eventually opened a Book-of-the-Month Club account just so she could […]
Drawing Inspiration from Life
When I started writing my first novel almost twenty years ago I had no idea what direction my writing would take. Initially Slur had a chic lit feel to it but as I headed towards the halfway stage I felt that the novel wasn’t really going anywhere. I put it to one side for a […]
The Write Cocktail for Your Book
There’s doubt that Ernest Hemingway actually said, “Write drunk and edit sober.” He denies that he ever mixed his pleasure with his work. He was a professional, and writing was his work. Writing drunk, Hemingway alluded, was something only William Faulkner did. Twentieth century author shade aside, the accuracy of the quote is just a […]
How To Handle Feedback On Your Writing
Let’s be honest here and say the only feedback a writer really enjoys getting is along these lines: I’m in awe of how clever you are and I wouldn’t change a word. But… We all know that feedback is vitally important. Every writer needs it. Even the Stephen Kings and Ann Tylers of this world. […]
The Writing of Hunting the Devil
When I decided to celebrate my sixtieth birthday in Africa, I didn’t realize the culmination of my life-long love affair with Tarzan would result in my book Hunting the Devil. As I made plans, I asked my son if he’d accompany me, and he replied with the ultimate teenage endorsement: “I guess so.” With this […]
A Letter To My Unpublished Self
Dear Andie, Wow, who knew writing a letter to your unpublished self would be so hard? I’m feeling many things as I sit at my computer and think back on your life as an unpublished writer. Immediately I’m tearing up, and there’s a lump in my throat. Why? Because little one, the next ten years […]
Acting And Writing
Tina Sloan is best known for her twenty-six-year role on CBS’s soap The Guiding Light and as the author of Changing Shoes: Getting Older – Not Old – with Style, Humor and Grace based on her autobiographical one-woman show. The Changing Shoes book release coincided with the launch of the show in New York, which went on to grace stages across […]
One Dangerous Liberty
We who write stories are damn brave. We spin out people with whom we live in almost every moment of our lives. We create their world. They create ours. We take them places. They take us. We live with them, fuss over them, argue with them, let ourselves be surprised by them. We dive into […]
Rhythm Of Writing
I remember 1981. It was an important year for me for two reasons – I started kindergarten, and my parents ordered cable TV. Instead of being at home all day, I now joined my sister in that mysterious tan brick building that smelled of ditto ink and chalk. Instead of three local stations and PBS, […]
On Inspiration
Inspiration – there is no such thing as ‘standard’ but that’s okay Inspiration is defined as ‘the process of being mentally stimulated to do something, especially something creative’ and ‘someone or something giving you the idea to do something’; which leaves you with an extremely broad scope for where ideas can come from. This can […]
Recent Comments