Category: How To and Tips
Discomfort and Boredom: How I Wrote my Debut Novel
Discomfort and boredom: how I wrote my debut novel. Eva Aldea My husband still apologises sometimes for dragging me to Singapore just as I was offered a permanent post as a Lecturer in English Literature in London, effectively putting the nail in the coffin of my academic career. He also knows how much I hated […]
Micki Miller: My Writing Process
When I was asked to write an article on my writing process, I was a little stumped. My process, as I saw it, was to sit and write. No magic spells (I wish) no talismans, no rituals that make the words skip onto the page and arrange themselves in award-winning order. At times, my process […]
Why I Wrote a Disabled Serial Killer
Why I Wrote a Disabled Serial Killer by Elizabeth Mitchell Over the past few years, I’ve seen more disabled characters in fiction. What I haven’t seen is a lot of disabled people. As a woman with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and multiple other invisible illnesses, I find that troubling. Often, disability is used to bolster other characters, […]
How Your Cover Speaks Volumes
How Your Cover Speaks Volumes By Christina Hamlett The popularity of self-publishing has given rise to a new breed of frugal entrepreneurs—authors who eschew hiring professionals to edit their books, take their headshots and design their book covers. The latter strategy in particular is rarely a smart idea, especially if one’s cover art dictates a […]
How to get Publisher the Mindful Way
How to get published the mindful way Whether you are starting out as a writer, querying agents, or have a publishing contract, you will have experienced the highs and lows of this writing life. Social media is full of ecstasy and angst. ‘OMG I’ve had two full MS requests.’ ‘I’m so excited, an agent has […]
The Inspiration Behind A Dangerous Education, by Megan Chance
The Inspiration Behind A Dangerous Education, by Megan Chance Ideas have always come easily to me. I get them from everywhere: movies, the news, television, music, other books, research … really, they fly at me endlessly. What isn’t so easy is finding an idea that sticks, or that is big enough to hold its own […]
Kwan Kew Lai: On Book Events
The time has come, to talk of many things: Of book events— and signing—and book tours—Of Margaret Atwood —and Stephen King—- Recently Chelsea Banning, a librarian who published her debut novel, Of Crowns and Legends tweeted that she was bummed only two people showed up for her first book signing event despite several RSVPs. Famous […]
Publishing Journey: Of School and Women
I surprised myself by publishing a book. And at my age I didn’t think I had any surprises left. Of School and Women was born from my days as an undergrad and bartender. It’s woven together with my infatuation with the clarity of truth in hindsight, mixed in with nostalgia and blended with a dreamy […]
Translating Elena Ferrante
Some readers focus on a single author for an indefinite period of time; so was Ann Goldstein (a versatile translator and former editor at New Yorker) when she started translating Elena Ferrante, and so was I when I started reading her. I came across The Lost Daughter in a small town bookshop near my house […]
On Writing THE KEEPER OF STORIES
The truth is I might not have written The Keeper of Stories if I hadn’t been watching the Oscars. I was curled up on a friend’s sofa, it was very late – or rather, by then, very early in the UK – but it had become a tradition that we watched the Oscars together. When […]
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