Category: On Writing
Secrets in the Suitcase: Five Lessons from Writing my Memoir
Visiting my mother at her home in Richmond, Virginia involves equal parts big hugs and, frequently, big worries. When, a year ago, I stepped out of the airport taxi, my first thought – usually, I hope she’s doing well – was of the draft manuscript of my memoir in my bag. Rather than set it […]
Gifts For The Writer
I met Elizabeth Peavey at the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast summer workshop several years ago. As the playwright of “My Mother’s Clothes Are Not My Mother,” she gave her audience something to laugh about. She is a funny lady. As a workshop leader, she made her group of aspiring writers smile and laugh; if […]
The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant
A half-forgotten family story provided the inspiration for this novel about an impossible love story, difficult choices, and their consequences, and a woman who rises from the ashes of her life. When I was about nine or ten, my family lived in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, in a small-ish town not far […]
The Shaman’s Guide to Power Animals: An Excerpt
Excerpted from The Shaman’s Guide to Power Animals. Published by Four Jaguars Press. Copyright © by Lori Morrison. https://lorimorrison.com It was a rainy day in the Pacific Northwest. I lifted my five-year-old body into my father’s delivery van. Our cargo was buttermilk pancake mix, maple syrup, bacon, potatoes, carrots, and canned goods. We were heading […]
THE WILD IMPOSSIBILITY: An Excerpt
Ossola’s novel, The Wild Impossibility (May 2019; Regal House Publishing), has been described as “breathtaking…[a] beautiful page turner” by New York Times bestselling author Katie Crouch, and praised for its “wonderfully rich prose and layered story” by award-winning writer Nina Schuyler. Traveling between modern day Berkeley, CA and a notorious WWII-era Japanese American internment camp, the novel explores the unbreakable bond […]
The Best Books Of Summer 2019
The Enlightenment of Bees by Rachel Linden At only 26, Mia West believes she has her entire future planned out. But then her boyfriend announces he needs time apart and everything she knows about her life is thrown into chaos. Leaving her heartbreak behind, she agrees to travel the world with her roommate and a group […]
The Provence cliffs that inspired Carol Drinkwater’s new novel
Cobalt skies, a stunning rocky coastline and the Mediterranean sea provide the backdrop to Carol Drinkwater’s latest book The House on the Edge of the Cliff. My new novel, The House on the Edge of the Cliff, is set, or predominantly set, in the South of France. Think cobalt skies, lapping waves, a rocky coastline, […]
The MS Factor
I’m a social worker and horrible with names. Whenever I arrive to conduct assessments I have to glance at the information on my paper before the door opens. However, I’m great with remembering faces and places. It was a Friday when I pulled up to my final assessment of the afternoon and knew I’d been […]
Excerpt of Heartsong: Living with a Dying Heart: A Memoir
Anita Swanson Speake’s got the news that her heart was dying at age 65, but she wasn’t ready to be done with this life. Everyone is dying, fast or slow—and the need to find a way to be OK with that is as urgent for this author as it is for readers, in her memoir, Heartsong. […]
Stumbling Into a Dream
I never thought I would be a writer. As a young girl, I dreamed of winning the Olympic Gold Medal as a figure skater. I even spent three years living away from home at a training camp in Colorado Springs. When I was sixteen and my talents fell short, I looked for a new dream. […]
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