Category: Being a Writer
Nourishing the Self by Finding the Time to Write
We women are strong. We take on large loads and bear them bravely. But, too often, we neglect our inner selves in the process. This can have dire ramifications, especially for women writers. I’ve found that it is always when my life is at its most stressful that I most neglect myself. I stop exercising, […]
Loving the Alien
I can still recall the precise moment when I first set foot on foreign soil. It was 9.15pm on Friday, 21st July, 1978 and I was thirteen years old, tall for my age and skinny, with a mane of dark hair that was always in my eyes. I had been invited to stay with some […]
Writing as Escape: Bittersweet Heartache and Cancer
In 2009 I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. This cancer was known as “female teratoma,” and it meant that I basically had testicular cancer in the ovary. I got the cancer from my dad. It skipped a generation and was passed down to me from my grandmother, who passed away in 1989, […]
Poetry, a reflex, a knee-jerk
I began writing very early on. As a child it was all I looked forward to in literacy classes. Evenings I’d spend in my fairylight-lit den, scribbling stories about imaginary places and characters that felt more real than any friends I had at school. It was only when I got to secondary school that I […]
Kickstarting “Vuto” with AJ Walkley: An Interview
We are pleased to bring you this interview with A.J. Walkley, author and self-proclaimed fighter for social justice, discussing her book Vuto, which is currently on Kickstarter, her experiences in East Africa in the Peace Corps; and her writing journey. Pleased too that this is her second contribution on our site. – The Editors, Rachel and Anora. AJ, […]
Forty One Strange Years of Writing
It’s almost impossible to sum up and to make sense of over forty-one years of writing, of making up stories, of being rejected and accepted by publishers, of my stories being loved or not loved, of being published over and over, of being a storyteller. Truth is, wanting to tell stories is in the blood. […]
Let Me Tell You Why I Write …
“Let me tell you one thing about why writers write: had I known the answer to any of these questions I would never have needed to write a novel.” Joan Didion I understand what Joan Didion means – you wouldn’t write a novel, would you, if you could possibly avoid it? Because as all mere […]
Writing a Gay Private Investigator
How did a hospital secretary and single mom of four end up writing a series about a gay private investigator? My wonderfully intrepid and at times hot-headed character David Lloyd came about through a fusion of my love of crime novels, my undying support for GLBT rights and acceptance, and the brutal attack of a […]
Nurturing a Writers’ Group
Writers are fragile. When rejection slips pile up one yearns for reassurance. A decade back I would feel delighted if someone from my family or a close friend volunteered to read my work. But, often after reading they would feel obliged to make some positive remarks or critical comments. These casual reactions are just that: […]
Thanksgiving’s a Holiday Over Here
The American man’s voice sounded woken-up and irritated. “It’s Thanksgiving,” he said down that payphone. “So my roommates are off work and gone home. Like, Thanksgiving’s a holiday over here.” Oh, come on, I wanted to say. I mean, with nobody getting born or killed or risen from the dead, just how big could this ‘holiday’ of yours really […]
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