Tag: featured
Kay Smith-Blum: My Writing Journey
My tale begins with rejection. My personal tally for the three manuscripts I have written since 2016 includes 68 rejections but one in particular was pivotal. On April 22, 2022, seasoned literary agent, Kevan Lyon, from whom I had “won” a First-Pages review via the WFWA auction, advised me in a very kind and empathetic […]
Literary Tools for Next Level Writing By Jessica McCann
By Jessica McCann When a couple has been together 35 years, they develop a sort of code for sharing opinions. For example, when I tell my husband that his guy movie is “hilarious,” he knows I mean idiotic. (Think anything with Chevy Chase.) Likewise, when he remarks that a book is “literary” or “poignant,” what […]
Nancy Drew’s Newest Case: Not Just a Homemaker
By Paulette Brooks When I was in junior high, I had a girlfriend who owned the entire collection of the Nancy Drew Mystery series. Once a week we would hang out at her house after school and I would take home the next treasure, returning that book in seven days. Our fun ritual petered out […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Shelby Saville
And They Had a Great Fall is a love story about a secret relationship between a single mother and a rising celebrity. Their romance started during the pandemic, a time when the entire world stopped. This unlikely pair reunite a year later in Copenhagen, after the world has reopened. What happens when they have to […]
Drawn to the Story: Researching and Writing About Macbeth
By Valerie Nieman The true story of the Macbeths has haunted me for many years, through the writing and publishing of several other books, before Upon the Corner of the Moon became reality. The infamous, murdering Macbeth first became part of my life when I found Tales from Shakespeare at home. Charles and Mary Lamb […]
What was the Inspiration for the Novel The Serpent Bearer?
Jane Rosenthal The inspiration for my novel The Serpent Bearer came from my own life, from the people I grew up around and the place of my childhood— the south, the Piedmont area of North Carolina, to be exact, right on the South Carolina border. That landscape—the red clay, the verdant green, rolling hills, the […]
The Common Wages by Helen Winslow Black
By Helen Winslow Black I’m often asked how I go about writing the scenes in my books that are super tough. The ones that depict domestic violence, or navigate the emotional impact of discovering lies or secrets in a marriage. The answer is: With great delicacy. No matter what kind of situations I create, there […]
How I Used Hate Mail to Propel My Book Forward by Amanda Ann Greogry, LCPC
How I Used Hate Mail to Propel My Book Forward by Amanda Ann Greogry, LCPC “Take your psychobabble elsewhere. This is a Christian Nation, and in this country, we forgive.” “You’re an idiot. The Bible clearly says that EVERYONE needs to forgive. Read Matthew 6:14-15.” These were a few of the many hate emails I […]
The Two Worlds of Being an Author by Susan Keller
By Susan Keller I wrote my second book, Mostly Sober: A Love Story and a Road Trip for the thirty-four percent of Americans who drink every night and worry about it. “Mommy wine” is a very real concern. My hope is that Mostly Sober will captivate, educate, and motivate the hundreds of thousands of readers […]
Location, Location, Location by Suzanne Trauth
by Suzanne Trauth When I think of some of my favorite authors, I immediately am reminded of the locations of the stories: the charming town of Three Pines in Canadian author Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache mysteries; gritty Chicago in Tracy Clark’s Harriet Foster novels; and, since I am a New Jersey native, the “Burg” in […]
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