Category: On Writing
Authors Interviewing Characters: D.M. Pulley
Stone Mad by D.M. Pulley On the coldest of nights, you can hear a girl crying . . . Life fell apart for Mannie Wallace when her daughter’s best friend was abducted from right under Mannie’s nose. Six years later, Mannie is working as an engineer-turned-insurance investigator and barely holding the pieces of her family […]
The Book My Mother Was Supposed to Write by Alicia Duncan
On October 29, 2021, my mother was released from an involuntary psychiatric hold in British Columbia. Four hours later, she died through Canada’s assisted-dying program, officially known as Medical Assistance in Dying. She was sixty-one, she was not terminally ill, and three days earlier, she had attempted suicide. In the years since, I have returned […]
Kent State and the Making of Alice Kaplan By Ellen Halter
As the official publication of my debut novel, All That I’m Asking, approached, I’ve thought about its sources of inspiration. Although set in 1968 to 69, the book’s focus on the social and political upheaval at the time was inspired by the protests against the Vietnam War. Weeks from graduation, I was an undergraduate senior […]
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 […]
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