Category: On Writing
Interview With Bonnie Tsu, author of Why We Swim
Humans, unlike other animals that are drawn to water, are not natural-born swimmers. We must be taught. Our evolutionary ancestors learned for survival; now in the 21st century we swim in freezing Arctic waters and piranha‑infested rivers to test our limits. Swimming is an introspective and silent sport in a chaotic and noisy age, it’s […]
How I Came to Write The Spiral Shell
How I Came to Write The Spiral Shell, A French Village Reveals Its Secrets of Jewish Resistance in World War II After publishing in literary magazines, after writing a novella, a three-act play, three novels, maybe more –so many revisions – and a memoir about my dad; after two agents took me on, one letting […]
Preparing to Write a Book is like Preparing to Cross An Ocean Alone
I have written four books of nonfiction and a number of novels. For every book that I write, before I even start to write, I follow the same routine to prepare for the task ahead. My routine is an immersive process of research, organization, and outlining that gives me everything I need to begin writing […]
WHAT SHE LOST, EXCERPT
Melissa W. Hunter is an author and blogger from Cincinnati, Ohio. Her articles have been published on Kveller.com and LiteraryMama.com, and her short stories have appeared in the Jewish Literary Journal. Her novel What She Lost is inspired by her grandmother’s life as a Holocaust survivor. We’re delighted to feature this excerpt. WHAT SHE LOST, EXCERPT […]
Don’t Worry, Or How My Writing Mojo Returned
I was sitting on my balcony this morning, reminiscing, wondering and observing nature and I smiled when I saw three little birds sitting on the lane together. Don’t worry, Bob Marley sang, about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be alright. I thought how many people currently disagreed with that statement. Understandably. But the […]
Q and A with Marly Youmans, Author of Charis In The World Of Wonders
Marly Youmans is an award-winning author who penned the novels, Catherwood, The Wolf Pit, Glimmerglass, Maze of Blood and A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage. Her latest novel, CHARIS IN THE WORLD OF WONDERS, takes readers along for the perilous journey as they root for Charis’ success amongst difficult odds. We’re delighted to feature […]
Reaching Into The Past For Writing Inspiration
As the author of eight historical novels, it’s a strange thing to me now that I didn’t enjoy history at school. I found the lists of dates and acts of parliament very dull and I never made the fascinating connection as to the effect these had on the man, or woman, in the street. What […]
On Writing: Janet Todd
I always wanted to write fiction. Over the years I started several novels—occasionally I even finished them. In subject they ranged from expatriate life in post-independence Ghana to a fictionalised biography of Mary Wollstonecraft’s unhappy sister. (Most attempts have gone out in black bin bags.) I had a family to support and it’s a lot […]
A Debut Author’s Story: How Science Facts Inspired a Thriller by Eve Smith
Eve Smith’s debut novel, The Waiting Rooms, is set twenty years after an antibiotic crisis. A nurse hunts for her elderly birth mother, in a world where no one over seventy gets access to new drugs. I had the idea for my speculative thriller, The Waiting Rooms, after reading some frightening facts about antibiotic resistance. […]
Why, As A Woman, I Write About Famous Men
“Why do you write from the perspective of artists, instead of women, perhaps from the viewpoint of a maid?” The man who asked this question was a professor emeritus of art history at a top-tier university, which I won’t name here. (Note that he didn’t qualify the word artist with “male.” Apparently, that qualifier is […]
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