Category: On Writing
From Private Investigator to Author
I knew I wanted to be a singer at age nine, and so I practiced singing every day. At age 13, I learned to play guitar and began writing songs. My mission: write a song of love, peace, hope that would heal the world. A grand dream that led me on a journey of frustration […]
Novelist Or Poet?
When I was thirteen years old, I announced that I was going to be a poet when I grew up. I had already been writing poetry for years – since the age of 10 – and both my fifth grade teacher, Mr. Alexander, and my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Melchior, had encouraged me. Mrs. Melchior, […]
Blogging On And On…
I have to thank Clare Mackintosh. Not only for her brilliant books (I Let You Go and I See You) but for a class she did last January in conjunction with Writers & Artists. Her talk was about social media and building an author platform. At that stage, I had written one book and was […]
Live Intentionally to Write Purposefully
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, “What is your writing process?” closely followed by, “How do you make time for your writing?” Although I’m prepared for these questions, I dread them. Not because they’re bad questions; rather, it’s because my response is often a long-winded diatribe to cover up the real […]
My Birth Father’s Double Life
Growing up adopted, I often fantasised about my back story. The scant information the social worker gave my parents, shortly before they took six-week old me home, provided only the barest of bones: My birth mother was ‘creative’; her mother, my biological grandmother, was uncommonly supportive. My birth parents wanted to marry and keep me […]
Oh, You Write Fiction? What Kind?
Someone asked me the question again last night. “Oh, you write fiction? What kind?” I sighed. I’ve had six novels published, but I still don’t know how to answer this question. I usually start out by saying what the publisher calls my books on the contracts. “I write women’s fiction,” I say. The trouble is […]
Putting My Hobby Onto The Page
They say (whoever, “they” is, with their infinite wisdom) to write what you know. Well, I’m a bit of a dork. What I know is math and reading. I know Star Wars and Star Trek (both old and new), I know Joss Whedon’s entire oeuvre. You know what doesn’t make a great book? A […]
From Publisher To Writer
It was a long held dream of mine to write a novel. In fact I attempted it several times before finally realising my dream. The problem was I never truly believed my writing was of any merit thus resulting in many unfinished manuscripts, which were unceremoniously consigned to a drawer that was rarely opened. […]
Finding Inspiration: Why I Write In The Kitchen
A room of one’s own? It’s the dream of every writer. I have such a place. I spent years designing it, and it is perfect. Let me show you around. It’s up a flight of stairs. Mind the pile of books on the landing. They’re waiting for me to put them in neat rows on […]
Kindness of Strangers
I love the kindness of strangers. I don’t mean the grand gestures we read about on popular social media sites, I mean sure – we’d all love to pay for a family’s meal out of the goodness of our bank balance, or donate a large sum of money to a struggling person for something […]
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