Category: On Writing
Why I Write From the Tub
The world is dramatic. Families are busy. Emails are endless. Those are the first three reasons that pop into my head when someone asks me why I write articles, sermons and stories from the tub. I think it started almost 20 years ago after my first son was born and I had founded a community for […]
Finding the Hero
Which was your favourite fairytale? I was asked this question by a Transactional Analyst when I was a training to be a relationship counsellor. His message was that these tales – made familiar to us as children – help to make us into the people we are. I’ve since realised that they also shape the […]
We Can Not Be Defeated
There are writers who are joyful when they write. I have moments like that, sure, but in general I am terrified. I am more plotter than pantser, but there are things, usually the most integral, that are beyond preparation. I believe that you have to prove yourself, you have to earn it, before the story […]
Diving Into the Silence: Writing Inspired by Real Life
My novel, The Herbalist, is set within living memory (1939) – and is based on a real-life court case I came across when I was nineteen. I was archiving yellowed local broadsheets crammed with small print when I noticed a tiny article. It referred to an Indian Herbalist who was arrested for an ‘offence against a […]
The Allophone Writer
I was in my third year at high school when my Galician Literature teacher gave us a lecture on allophone poets – that is, those non-native speakers who had written poetry in Galician, including a couple of internationally known names such as Federico García Lorca. I remember thinking at the time that writing literature in […]
The Settling Earth: Emigration to New Zealand in the Nineteenth Century
Imagine packing a trunk, probably a box no higher than your knees. In it you place clothes to see you through your journey and beyond. You squeeze in sewing equipment, a few books, photographs or miniatures – all mementos of a home that you are about to leave, possibly forever. Perhaps you are able to […]
Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil
Beryl Kingston is an 83 year old author, currently writing her 25th novel. She tells us what happened when she decided to share her truth. Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil… Well yes, but be careful. There are some pretty tricky devils out there, as I know rather too well and they can do […]
What I Learned from my Writing Retreat
Facing my empty nest and a ticking clock, I finally decided to plunge into the writing life. Writing more seemed too obvious so I searched for conferences or classes. I came across a “retreat” offered by the author of a bestselling memoir I’d recently read. Though I hadn’t done anything like this before, I was […]
From Homeshopping Diva to Writer
Millions of viewers have seen Meg Flather on QVC, USA and on The Shopping Channel of Canada as a brand ambassador and skin wellness expert. But in her new book, Home Shopping Diva: Lessons, Lyrics, and Lipstick, we learn that there is much more to her story. I am the writer who did not know […]
Negotiating the Swamp: When Am I a “Writer?”
In this world of the gainfully employed, the corporates who climb ladders and meet glass ceilings, and the professions that mean something because of the degree certificates it took to acquire them, swimming in this swamp is the full-time writer.I only appreciated the gravity of this title when I tried to fill in an application […]
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