Category: How To and Tips
My Writing Process by Celine O’Donovan
It started with a gentle nudge but soon took on a life of its own…… By Celine O’Donovan These opening words from my new book, Gifts from the Devastation pretty much sum up how I started writing and how the process has evolved since then. Writing this book was the first time I ever consciously […]
Allegiance to Winds and Waters: Bicycling the Political Divides of the United States
In 2011 and 2012, I bicycled around the perimeter of the United States, 12,000 miles. I was 53 when I began and 54 when I finished the circle fourteen months later. I was not an athlete. I was a laid off college instructor, a woman suffering from PTSD, a political activist and social movement scholar. […]
Who Needs Other Women?
The friend you used to tell every scrap of good news to, and every heartache, too. The sister you shared a bedroom with for years. The woman at work who knew more about your day and your reaction to it than anyone else. Where are they now? Women’s fiction is about relationships, and well-written books […]
Writing About Death by Saralyn Richard
As a mystery author, I’m often asked how and why I write about death. “You’re such a genteel lady. Why don’t you write about happy things: parties, petit fours, and puppies?” I do write about happy things. Parties, petit fours, and puppies inhabit my books, for sure, because those are some of the delightful things […]
How It All Started, by Suzanne Redfearn
By Suzanne Redfearn It started out simple: I had a story I wanted to tell. The hard part was I wasn’t a writer and didn’t know the first thing about writing a novel. Fortunately, when I started, I didn’t care if it was good. I wasn’t looking to get published. I was simply determined to […]
On Writing: You’re Stronger Than You Think
“You’re stronger than you think, and fiercer than you ever dreamed” ~ getting published takes bravery, persistence, and a stubborn streak. I was so lucky that one of my favorite writers, USA Today bestselling author, Abbi Waxman (The Bookish Life of Nina Hill and the upcoming Adult Assembly Required, among others) generously agreed to blurb […]
Writing and My Search for a Balance of East and West By Diane Dreher, author of The Tao of Inner Peace
Writing and My Search for a Balance of East and West By Diane Dreher, author of The Tao of Inner Peace Each of our lives tells a story with its own recurrent lessons. My story combines East and West in a personal quest for balance that led to my book, The Tao of Inner Peace. […]
The Story Behind the Story of Girl in Ice By Erica Ferencik
The Story Behind the Story of Girl in Ice By Erica Ferencik Like a lot of novelists, I write what I’d like to read, what I wish existed in the world but as far as I know, does not. Girl in Ice was inspired by a mingling of five fascinations: a scene from the original, 1931 […]
How a Song Became a Novel
By Jennifer Haupt The kernel of the idea for my novel began with iconic song lyrics: Come as you are, as you were As I want you to be As a friend, as a friend As an old enemy Nirvana’s powerful and haunting song “Come As You Are” has long been at the top of […]
Feminism and Domestic Space by Ariane Torres
My novel, We are the Kings, came together as a tangle of ideas not long after my grandmother died. Her death was sudden, a car accident, but that’s really all I know. I’ve sort of refused to learn more, mainly because it doesn’t really matter. I was lucky that I never saw her in decline. […]
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