Category: How To and Tips
The Power of Healing Fiction: How Writing Helped Me Reclaim Myself
By Megan Walrod What if fiction could be a form of healing—not just for the reader, but for the writer too? Over a decade ago, I woke up with a dream image of a woman watering a lemon tree, along with a first line of text. I felt compelled to sit down and start typing. […]
What I Learned About Grief and Grieving by Writing The Married Widow and Dear Bobby
Diane Papalia Zappa Prior to my 75 year old husband Bob Zappa’s passing away in 2018, I hadn’t thought much about grieving. And then suddenly his unexpected traumatic death from hereditary Amyloidosis plunged me deeply into it. In writing my two memoirs, The Married Widow: My Journey with Bob Zappa and Dear Bobby: My Grief […]
Author A. M. Jaxon’s Writing Journey: Tips, Slips and Hits
Hello, wonderful women writers! I’m A.M. Jaxon, a newcomer to romantic suspense books. By newcomer, I frame that by saying it’s been eleven years of toiling away. I’ve been asked to write a little about my journey. I’m not sure I qualify to give anyone ‘sage’ advice about writing, but with my seventh book being […]
How Summers Away Helped Me Find My Creativity
During the summer of the pandemic, many of us city-dwellers were trying to flee the cramped towers of downtown for the sprawling landscapes of the countryside, and I was no exception. Stepping into my partner’s family’s rustic cottage on the North Bruce Peninsula felt like an exhale of relief. That summer was a turning point […]
Why Women Writers Should “Work It”
It stands to reason that great fiction would take place in the great arenas of the human experience: the places where we test our talents, boundaries, and mettle. This could be the battlefield, the sports field, outer space, the kitchen table, or the classroom, among zillions of other places. But puzzlingly, in contemporary fiction, one […]
Irma Venter, author of Red Tide, on Women Characters in Crime Novels
Irma Venter, author of Red Tide, on Women Characters in Crime Novels What does a strong female character in a crime novel look like? This question has intrigued me since I was a teenager scouring the library for my next read. Often the female characters were one of two things – the (often passing) love […]
Does Grief Transform What you Write?
By Sweta Vikram We were at a dinner gathering the other night when a few people asked, “When are you writing your next novel?” I didn’t have an answer. These people knew that I started work on a new novel in summer of 2020. They had shown interest in the storyline. They wanted to know […]
A Writer’s Life is a Roller Coaster. How Best to Avoid Whiplash
By Lorraine Devon Wilke When I was in grade school, my class participated in a special pullout session to watch an interesting documentary about noted anthropologist Louis Leakey. I was mesmerized throughout, so when we were assigned to write an essay immediately afterwards, I jumped in, flush with enthusiasm. Imagine, then, the blow of getting […]
From Proscenium to Paper: One writer’s journey by Jayne Chard
by Jayne Chard I started writing at about eight; I wrote all the junior school plays. When I was fourteen, I wrote my first “novel.” One of my friend’s Dad was a writer, and I always remember him saying, “If you want to be a writer, you have to write every day,” I guess I’ve […]
CHASING SHADOWS: How a Real-Life Mystery Inspired a Co-Written Novel
By A.C. Adams My wife and creative partner, Christina Adams, and I met in San Diego in our early twenties. She had just returned from a tour in India and Europe as the lead singer of Vrindavan, a world music ensemble. I was the composer and book writer for an original rock opera, An Eye […]
Recent Comments