Category: On Writing
Taking Back the House By Elaine Neil Orr
The year I attended first grade, I lived with my family in a two-story house (the style is called a foursquare) in the West End neighborhood of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The house already seemed a bit run down. It had probably been a rental for some years. Among my most vivid memories is a small […]
Walking My Talk
As an author of a self-help book, I’ve done my best to share and live what I have learned about gathering calm around me during times of change. Feeling exposed, definitely not a calm feeling, has been my most prevalent emotional state as I’ve stepped into this new role of published author. Last month, a […]
Interview in Writers Digest: Curation & Community: Inside the Online Literary Magazine Women Writers, Women’s Books
We’re hugely excited about featuring in Writer’s Digest! Read the interview HERE
Gondoliers and Writing
Your story sounds like a movie or a book. You should write one. The gazzillionth time I heard those words when first meeting someone was when I decided to take that advice. So began a nine year passage to learning and self-discovery; almost a decade dedicated to writing a story inspired by a chance encounter […]
Writing Is Re-Writing, It Takes A Village
I’ve rewritten most parts of my book at least 100 times. From the moment I first tried to express myself in 2002, I’ve changed the scope and details of my memoir over and over. I’ve learned that it takes a village, not only to raise a child, but to birth a book. The help of […]
Seeking Inspiration
Writers are often asked: “Where do you get your inspiration?” There are probably as many different answers as there are different authors, but my answer would be that my writing is frequently inspired by existing works. That was certainly the case with my first novel. It’s almost forty years since I first saw Franco Zeffirell’s […]
How To Take Your Writing To The Next Level
Finding your way in the publishing world as a writer isn’t always easy but She Writes University aims to bring authors the tools they need to successfully write, publish and promote their books. With webinars kicking off on April 5th, writers will have the opportunity to learn from some of the best in the publishing […]
When Facts Become Fiction: From Journalist in Rwanda to Novelist
Novels usually draw, to some degree, on personal experiences and historical research, and memoirs have come a long way since the scandal of James Frey’s personal revelations being more fiction than fact. The blurring of lines between the real world and the imagined has been an interesting process for me during the eleven years I […]
The Story of Infidelity: The Movie
When Infidelity: a Memoir was first published in 2000, it was greeted with a starred review from PW, a paperback auction, sales in the UK and Australia, and a movie sale. As time went on, it went out of print. Dzanc Books decided to reprint it and a trade paperback will be on the shelves […]
I Wish I Wasn’t Brave
I’m sitting having coffee with a friend when I receive a phone call to tell me that I’ve won an award at the Amazing Women Awards for No 1 Magazine in Scotland. I was shocked, as I had no idea at all about being nominated by my eldest daughter and was very touched to have […]
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