Category: On Writing
Inspiration for Secrets of Flowers by Sally Page
By Sally Page Hello Women Writers, My discovery that the Titanic was ‘a ship full of flowers’ led to a novel that was five years in the writing. The Secrets of Flowers is a contemporary tale of Emma, a young widow, interwoven with the true story of Violet, a stewardess who worked on the Titanic. A stewardess who survived the sinking […]
Pondering My Aviation Memoir After Three Fatal Plane Crashes
By Shirley M. Phillips One of the hardest tasks for me in finishing my memoir How Not to Fly an Airplane was choosing a title and cover. Although I suspect this is a challenge for many authors, for me it was compounded by the fact that my debut memoir is about my forty years of flying airplanes and teaching others how to fly. Although I […]
Mining My Own Experiences to Create a Cult
By Alexandria Faulkenbury As an author about to publish my debut novel, I’m often asked about the inspiration for the story. And at this point in the roller coaster that is publishing a book, I have a standard answer: I’ve always been interested in cults, so I wanted to write about one. But that’s only […]
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome to Manifest Abundance as an Author
By Betsey Kulakowski Imposter syndrome is something many authors — even those of us with almost a dozen books on the shelf — suffer from. No number of accolades, awards or best-seller badges can drive out the demons when you lack the feeling of being worthy. The key to building lasting confidence in your writing […]
From Classroom Stories to International Success: My Writing Journey
By Renee Ryan Who knew that making entertaining classroom content would launch a career in writing fiction? As a high school teacher juggling Economics, American Government, and Latin, I faced a daily challenge: keeping teenagers awake through subjects that weren’t exactly on their “most thrilling” list. My secret weapon? Stories. Instead of droning on about […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Patsy C. Robertson
A CONCOCTION OF LIES Yvonne Hollister is a wealthy, older woman who has led a privileged life in the US and Belize. But she’s suffering from chronic depression after the unexpected deaths of her immediate family members. She’s failed in-patient and outpatient therapies and is now a functional addict hooked on both prescription drugs and […]
Interview with Casey Mulligan Walsh, author of The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted, Everything I Feared
Interview by Morgan Baker If you read “The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted, Everything I Feared,” and you should, it may seem like the memoir is about Casey Mulligan Walsh’s son Eric’s untimely death in a single-person car accident when he was 20 and Casey’s grief. While that is most definitely part of it, […]
MAYA & NATASHA, Elyse Durham: EXCERPT
MAYA & NATASHA, Elyse Durham Maya and Natasha are twin sisters born during the Siege of Leningrad in 1941 and abandoned by their mother, a prima ballerina at the Kirov Ballet who would rather die than not dance. Taken in by their mother’s best friend at the Kirov, the girls are raised to be dancers. […]
Sister Collette Character Interview by Ellen Barker, author of The Breaks
Ellen Barker’s illuminating third novel, The Breaks (February 18, She Writes Press), takes a look at the deep injustice of wrongful conviction and what “freedom” means after release from prison. All this is set against the story of Marianne, white and middle-aged and struggling with her own life challenges, including sort-of dating a Black cop. Mixing […]
On Writing While Visiting Babette
While Visiting Babette, my new novella, struck Camille Griep, the editor of Does It Have Pockets, as a fairy tale. My publisher perceived strains of Alice in Wonderland, as did reviewer Devyn Andrews, who pointed out that “we first meet Ina when she is running late … and the Queen of Hearts makes a notable […]
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