Category: On Writing
Writing Next Year in Havana
When I first came up with the idea for Next Year in Havana, a dual timeline novel set against the backdrop of the Cuban Revolution and the modern country that emerged in its wake, inspiration came from a family story of a night before my father and grandparents left Cuba in 1967. That evening, family […]
Penguin Women Writers
Penguin Women Writers is a new series of forgotten classics by women writers to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women getting the vote in Britain. In honour of the anniversary, Kamila Shamsie and Penelope Lively have selected and introduced four books by female authors which they felt deserve to be better known. Kamila Shamie, a […]
Are Writing Contests Worth It?
Writing contests are everywhere these days. A quick browse pulls up dozens of reference lists, blogs of encouragement and articles offering cautions. The rewards of contests range from cash to publication to feedback, and we all know that a few kind words from an impartial stranger can send the heart soaring. On the other hand, […]
Writing In The Dark
It is rare that an author decides to remain anonymous. This probably attracts speculation as to why an author would hide behind a pen name and not reveal biographical details about herself. In two famous cases of anonymous women writers, Belle de Jour and Elena Ferrante, their identities were finally revealed. So far, the people […]
Between the Lines By Nancy G. Shapiro
The persevering spirit that compelled me to write The Book of Calm flows from a daily awareness of awakening to both beauty and turmoil. When the contradictions clashed, I kept hearing the question, “How do I embrace these two realities?” Amazingly, my connection to this paradox has been strong, resilient enough that the book stayed […]
Writing Crime Close to Home
A disturbing true crime inspired pieces of my first novel, The Weight of Blood: in the small town where I attended high school, a teenage girl was held captive by a man and his wife for six years—a victim of human trafficking—and none of the handful of people who knew about it did anything to […]
You’ve Got To Have Friends: My Haphazard and Incredibly Lucky Innovations in Book Marketing
With so many books on the market, not to mention TV, films, the Internet and dozens of many other distractions clamoring for our collective attention, how does an author get her book to stand out? I don’t claim to be an expert, but as the release of my second book approaches, I think I have […]
Things I Finally Know About My Writing
I’m 72. When I was eight years old, I wrote my first story. It was a miniature comic book starring a budgie bird. Now, this was no accident, since we actually did have a budgie named Billy. However, my story’s budgie was different, since I turned him into a her. Yes: I wrote a feminist […]
Behind the Scenes of Daughters of the Night Sky
I begin the author’s note of Daughters of the Night Sky by admitting I am not a pilot, am not an expert on Russia, and had never really had more than the passing interest in World War Two than most history buffs share. Even with these challenges, it was a story I was compelled to […]
Inspiration Behind The Lydiard Chronicles
My first inspiration for writing The Lydiard Chronicles — a best-selling family saga — was Lucy Hutchinson. She was an extraordinary 17th Century woman; one of the first to be recognized as a writer and intellectual. Lucy was also my ancestress, and thus even more intriguing. After reading the book she wrote to clear her […]
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