Category: Being a Writer
Farewell From Assistant Editor Victoria Shockley
“When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness. I’m trying for that.” – Maya Angelou Roughly five months ago, I had a conversation with Anora McGaha, founder […]
Domestic Abuse and Isolation in Relationships
For Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we are featuring a number of blog posts by women writers on the topic. Sexual assault, addiction, and suicide are unsolved social problems that carry stigmas. The stigmas cast a code of silence that do not solve problems. The result of not speaking about the crime of sexual assault is too often […]
A Turning Point in My Life
I had a wonderful childhood, and leading up to the present, well, like everyone, I have had my share of ups and downs. But as I will tell anyone and everyone who’ll listen, I feel that I experienced a turning point in my life only a few years ago. I awoke one morning, on a birthday, with […]
Finding My Voice Again: A DV Story
The air in my upstairs bedroom was cold. In the rooms below me, my daughters and husband slept soundly beneath quilts and blankets. As I sat at my desk in an empty room, dark October branches brushed against the window, letting me know I was not alone. Comforted, I wrapped my hands around my mug of tea, […]
Musings about Magic
Maybe it’s because I grew up too fast. A bespectacled avoider of physical education, I became too serious too soon and now long to recapture my childhood. Or maybe this is my way of protesting. On the other hand, at this mid-stage point in my life, I’m hungry for adventure. Whatever the reason, my writing […]
Interview with Canadian Writer Bolaji Williams
We met Bolaji Williams on Twitter. She responded to one of our tweets. We read a recent blog post and loved the clarity of her writing and topic, so we invited her to do something with us. Voila, an interview with writer Bolaji Williams. When did you first know you loved to write? To be completely honest, […]
How to Stay Motivated to Finish Your Writing
As any writer or author knows, starting a new book or other writing project is usually fun and exciting. But once you get started, staying motivated to actually finish writing the book or project can be pretty tough, especially if you’re working on something that can take several months to complete. My first book, a […]
Inspiration for Mystery: The Dark Side of Oxford
Oxford. The name invokes classic images: ancient, golden, stone buildings such as the Bodleian Library, which alter dramatically in color according to the light, nestled beside bookstores, pubs and cathedral spires; the site of the discovery of penicillin and the founding of automobile manufacturer Morris Garages; the home in various centuries of Donne, Shelley, Browning, […]
Literary Festivals: From Jaipur to Beijing
Two countries, two civilizations, and two literary festivals. As a writer I had the pleasure of participating in this year’s Jaipur International Literature Festival in India. Six weeks later, I discarded my summer tops in India for woollen sweaters in snowy China to attend Beijing’s Bookworm International Literature Festival. I combined the festivals with a […]
Reflections on Native American Novelist Leslie Marmon Silko
It is a “given” that for bibliophiles like me, there is nothing better than curling up with a good read in a quiet house with a cup of steaming coffee – I take mine with cream and sugar. And there are scores of genres and sub-genres from which to choose. Romance. Inspiration. Poetry. Biography. You […]
Recent Comments