Category: On Writing
Interviewing My 16-Year-Old Self: Damn, That Girl Had Nerve by Deborah Samuel
Deborah Samuel is the author of Grace Through Fire: A Memoir of Murder, Tragedy, and Resilience If I could sit across from my sixteen-year-old self today, at fifty-eight, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t be intimidated by me. She’d probably check me out, wonder how the hell she got that old, and then start asking questions […]
The Inspiration for The Camp Muralist by Jacqueline Sheehan
Author’s Note The woods in the Connecticut town where I grew up were filled with treasures and it was our childhood our mission to uncover them. A secret path through woods near my house led to an abandoned cemetery from the 19th Century filled with headstones melting into the ground. We squinted at the barely […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Jessica Rao
NOWHERE TO GO BUT EVERYWHERE Helena Vinci might like grunge and Camel Lights, but she’s not a fan of frat boys or anything else about Albany college life. When she drops out and takes a job waiting tables near the Capitol, her plan is to save up to see “the real world” out west. But […]
Character Interview: Diane Schaffer
Interview with Noli Cooper, lawyer and investigator, protagonist in Mortal Zin MORTAL ZIN When corporate attorney Noli Cooper visits her godparents’ Santa Cruz Mountain winery, she’s hoping for a few quiet days to consider her future. But the future will have to wait. The body of her childhood mentor, a crusading social justice lawyer and […]
BACK TO SCHOOL REFLECTIONS: HOW GOING TO SCHOOL SAVED MY LIFE By Gina Barreca
If you’re the daughter of an unhappy mother, school can save your life. Most children don’t think of their parents as depressed, anxious, or lonely because we don’t yet have words for those nuanced emotions. We might know that “Mom is sad” or sense that it’s a good time to stay quiet because the air […]
A Conversation with Jaynie Royal: Building a Literary Press Rooted in Community, Collaboration, and Global Connection
By Jocelyn Cullity In an industry often defined by opacity and commercial pressure, independent publishers continue to offer alternative models shaped by mission rather than scale. At the center of one such effort is Jaynie Royal, founder of Regal House Publishing, whose work reflects both a personal reckoning with traditional publishing and a sustained commitment […]
Author Interviewing Character: Kathleen Fox & Evie Walters
Evie Walters Takes The Wheel In this warmhearted and witty debut, a mysterious gift spurs a widow to take a cross-country journey to find its sender—and along the way, she rediscovers herself. Evie Walters has lived most of her seventy-one years according to others’ expectations. But on the day of her husband’s funeral, she receives […]
Character Interview: Kathleen Reidy
At twenty-nine, Chelsea Lefevre’s life choices have been considered and prudent, meant to secure her on a shore far from the rocky place where she started out. Yet as Engineering a Love Story opens, the strands of Chelsea’s steady and safe life are unravelling. But I don’t know any of that. To me, Chelsea is […]
We the Living by Jocelyn Rasmussen
Every bone and joint aches. My heart races, and my stomach is kind of seasick. The ground is unpredictable and might meet my face instead of my feet. Ignoring the side effects of chemotherapy, I risk the yellow morning. The meadows have swallowed the late summer sun and offer it back to the sky in […]
The Romance of Ruins by Louisa Morgan
I happened to be touring the beautiful Middle Rhine area of Germany at the same moment that my newest Arthurian novel (The Faerie Handmaid) was being released in the United States. Many travelers, myself included, visit that romantic region because of the numerous castles, particularly on the Middle Rhine. They are best seen from the […]
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