Category: On Writing
Card Shops and Inspiration
Like all authors of fiction, I’ve often been asked where I get my ideas and inspiration from. And, like so many others, I reply that I am never short of ideas from the worlds around and within me but there is never enough time for them all to come to fruition. The beauty of writing […]
Why The Term Misery Memoir Offends Me
I may as well start off bluntly. I simply hate the words ‘misery memoir’. I can recall the first time I heard it. I was speaking to a sales account manager at a well known publishing house in London and she used those words in reference to my book. They were one of three publishers […]
Miracles DO Happen
Let me preface this by saying I believe in divine intervention. And for me that is God, for you it may be something else…but without that intervention…The Secret to Hummingbird Cake would have never happened. During the course of this story I don’t want anyone to construe anything I say as ungrateful, arrogant or pretentious. […]
Writing Retreats – what can they do for us?
Writers all work in different ways. I started writing when my children were young so I was soon expert at grabbing small pieces of time whenever I could. I was forever scribbling ideas and scraps of dialogue or thoughts in a notebook – whether I was in a doctor’s surgery waiting room with the children […]
A Room of One’s Own – it’s the Place in One’s Head
You’re a woman and you write, so no doubt you have a dedicated writing space and a private income? No, me neither. It’s quite a while since Virginia Woolf stated that “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”. When Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own […]
Writing About Life With Epilepsy
Like many of us, I have long thought I had a story worth sharing. As a physician with epilepsy, I felt that my own illness gave me a unique perspective on caring for those with chronic illness. As a mom and doctor with seizures, I hoped that sharing my story may help others also dealing […]
Dear Writers of All of the Stories I Read in 2015
Dear Writers of All of the Stories I Read in 2015 (An Open Letter From a Fan.) Dear You, I am a HUGE fan. Maybe your biggest fan. No really. (Ok, maybe your Mom ranks slightly higher than me. But only just slightly.) I’ve seen the way you make magic. Real magic. Not the sleight […]
Fanfaronade
You wouldn’t think one word I wrote in my debut novel, Annie’s Story, Book 1 of The Voyagers Trilogy, would cause a discussion between two mature men, would you? It was six months before my husband James actually asked to read my debut novel, Annie’s Story, published in April. I was quite surprised as I […]
Mental Health and Writing
Last night I watched, ‘Amy’, a poignant biopic of the young, troubled jazz singer who died at 27. As I watched I found myself becoming angry with her parents who saw the signs so early of her mental distress and chose to ignore it. And then I remembered that my parents had done something very […]
Behind Every Great Man: Lady Jane Wilde
When Lady Jane Wilde (1821-1896) learned that her son Oscar’s latest play had the provisional title ‘A Good Woman’, she wrote to express her disapproval: ‘I do not like it- “A Good Woman”. It is mawkish. No one cares for a good woman. “A Noble Woman” would be better,’ she insisted. Oscar renamed his play […]
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