Category: On Writing
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 […]
The Importance of Diversity in YA Fiction
In the three years since I started writing my novel, a lot has changed. The issue of diversity in fiction has come to the forefront and it seems that it is here to stay. A few years ago I was looking for a book for my daughter who had become very interested in mythology thanks […]
When a “spicy” Indian storyteller goes looking for inspiration…
Earlier this year, my writer friend, Leah Zibulsky, invited me to one of her creative nonfiction readings on the lower east side. There were four, smart, sassy storytellers presenting that evening. As I heard Leah and her comrades share their dating stories at Dixon Place in NYC, I whispered to the woman on my left, […]
Recovering from Depression: My Writing Journey
Two years ago almost to the date I told my mother that I wanted to kill myself. That I cried every day and that I needed help. I was twenty-seven, a year out of university and working as a EFL and Business English teacher in various companies around town. I never quite earned enough money […]
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