Category: On Writing
Which Brazilian Goddess Would You Call for Help?
Which Brazilian Goddess Would You Call for Help? Insights and an Excerpt from Dance Among the Flames As I was researching and writing my new dark fiction standalone, what fascinated me the most were the syncretic religions that blended African Yoruba, Indigenous Brazilian traditions, and Portuguese Catholicism. In the Umbanda religion—known as Candomblé in Bahia—mediums […]
Falling out with a close friend
Falling out with a close friend Female friendship has always intrigued authors – it provides endless material because the bonds women share can be some of the most wonderful, supportive and rewarding. Women talk about virtually everything (sorry if it sounds sexist, but I don’t know many men who share in the same way) and […]
Cleyvis Natera: Authors Interviewing Characters
Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera An exhilarating debut novel following members of a Dominican family in New York City who take radically different paths when faced with encroaching gentrification “Strikes all the right notes—captivating characters, lyrical language, and a storyline that captures your imagination and refuses to let go . . . an […]
Inspiration Anywhere
Inspiration Anywhere By Kelly Sokol I first met Marleigh, the protagonist of BREACH in a group writing roundtable at The Muse Writers Center. I was taking a class called “Write Now,” in which we hand wrote timed responses to cues provided by the inimitable Janine Latus (this woman can pull creativity from a floor tile). […]
RBG A to Z: The Life of an Icon from ACLU to Gen Z: Excerpt
Ruth Bader Ginsberg is a feminist icon, liberal superhero, and trailblazer. RBG A to Z: The Life of an Icon from ACLU to Gen Z by Jo Stewart provides a comprehensive understanding of the incredible life of RBG. The book covers her humble beginnings in Brooklyn to her days at Harvard Law School in the Supreme Court. […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Robin Farrar Maass
Authors Interviewing Characters: Robin Farrar Maass The Walled Garden is an academic mystery novel about an American grad student who comes to England to finish her doctoral dissertation about an English garden writer and soon finds herself on the trail of a decades-old mystery, in a fight to save the writer’s historic gardens, and in […]
Mental Health Awareness Month: Reading List
According to Mental Health America, “19.86% of adults are experiencing a mental illness,” which is “equivalent to nearly 50 million Americans,” and “15.08% of youth (age 12-17) report suffering from at least one major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year.” These figures refer to reported cases, and mental health professionals believe that the true […]
Bone Necklace by Julia Sullivan: Excerpt
Bone Necklace by Julia Sullivan Bone Necklace is inspired by the true story of a small band of Native American warriors who, in 1877, held off four converging armies for four months while their families escaped to Canada. In addition to an Idaho militiaman and a Nez Perce warrior, the narrators include an English painter […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Connie Berry
What happens when you mix a suspenseful & elegant mystery set in Victorian England with plenty of antiques, a loveable amateur sleuth, a touch of romance, and an incredibly dark secret? You get the latest book by Connie Berry titled The Shadow of Memory The Shadow of Memory follows Kate Hamilton as she makes a shocking connection between a sixty-year-old murder and the […]
Excerpt from Pillar of Salt: A Daughter’s Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust
As the daughter of Holocaust survivors, Anna Salton Eisen’s memoir, Pillar of Salt: A Daughter’s Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust, breaks down the barrier of silence that was intended as a protective shield for her parents and their children. From early childhood, Anna, as a second-hand witness to the Holocaust, felt overwhelmed by […]
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