Category: How To and Tips
Tell Your Story—When Life Becomes Myth
By Cerridwen Fallingstar In 1975, when I was twenty-two, working as a journalist for a feminist newspaper, my editor came in and said, “There’s a witch on trial for fortune-telling.” My hand shot up; “I’ll take that story!” And so my life of growing up in a scientific household where all religion was held in […]
Why I Love The “Outsider” In Fiction
I was an only child on a block of big families. The daughter of immigrants in an All-American town. A hippie-type in an era of the preppie look. It’s no wonder I gravitated to books and writing. I was an outsider in my world. I needed a place of belonging. Stories provided that. I never […]
Where I Find Inspiration
I was recently asked the following question in an interview: “As a writer, where do you go to find inspiration?” The interviewer cited the habit of Charles Dickens, who took to the streets of London every day in a five to six-mile stroll while looking for source material. I love the evocative image of this […]
Book Giveaway: Best & Worst Advice from My Super Model Mother
Best & Worst Advice from My Super Model Mother By Anna Murray Here’s my mom. Here she is again. And again. It must have been hard with her as your mom. I’ve heard that comment […]
Reading (And Writing) For Hope, Comfort And Happy Ever After
By Jen Gilroy Although I’m a published author, I was and always will be a reader first. From when I consciously “read” my first word (owl to match the colorful picture on a favorite childhood mug), stories have inspired, taught, helped and, especially at difficult times, given me much-needed hope and comfort. Pandemic reading As […]
Behind the Book – Bringing Amy Robsart to Life
I’d known for a long time that one of the historical mysteries I wanted to explore through fiction was the love triangle between Queen Elizabeth I, her favourite Robert Dudley and his wife Amy Robsart. It’s one of the most intriguing and enduring historical mysteries: Did Amy Robsart fall to her death in 1560 or […]
Whose Stories Can We Tell? Bonnie E. Carlson
Recent conversations with two editors about stories I wrote got me thinking deeply about this issue: Whose stories can we (legitimately) tell? This issue exploded recently with the publication of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. It’s been debated on TV, in the Twitterverse and in other forums. Must we be a member of a group […]
On Inventing the Past from a 21st Century Perspective, and Inventing the Present for Future Generations
The year 2020 has become historic within a matter of weeks, even days. There isn’t single person around the world who has not been affected in some way by recent events – every person has their own anxieties, heartbreaks or losses as a result. There are also so many accounts of triumphs and heroics – […]
Barbara Sapienza, Why I Write
“The writer follows her hand,” Gabrielle Roth, creator of 5Rhythms Dance, tells us, just “as the singer surrenders to the song, the mother to the child.” Writing for me is a daily practice, a gateway, which like a Zen prayer gives me more space. But it’s the mechanics of writing that intrigues me. I follow […]
Authors Interviewing Their Characters: Caroline England
Although I am still writing my ‘Caroline England’ psychological thrillers, I took on board the advice to ‘write what you know’, so I have used my career in the law as a backdrop for a new legal suspense series, written under the pen name Caro Land. The first, Convictions, was published in January of this […]
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