Category: On Writing
Putting flesh Upon The Bones ~ Using Creative Non-fiction to Tell Her Story
When Judy Pollard Smith came across an article on missionary Alice Seeley Harris, whose photographs brought down the Belgian Congo, she couldn’t believe she’d never heard of her before. Intrigued, she began to research, which led to her writing a biography of Alice, the woman she calls the mother of all human rights work. This […]
The Highs and Lows of Writing
When Women Writers, Women’s Books suggested that I should do another blog I was cautious. What should the subject be? Perhaps I could write on the pleasure of getting an option for a three part TV series for my novel Burnt Norton, but there are many options taken out each year on many books. Some […]
Rosie Garland: From Mslexia Novel Competition to Harper Collins
This month, three judges decide the winner of the 2nd Mslexia Unpublished Novel Competition. Someone is about to receive a life-changing phone call. Two years ago, I was that woman. I never imagined I would be. Fairytales are for other folk. I’d lost faith in my writing ‘getting anywhere’: indeed, I’d lost faith in my […]
Literary Friendships
We have always felt fortunate to have found each other. Ever since meeting as young English teachers in rural Japan, when we talked of our literary ambitions over bowls of noodles and bottles of Asahi, we have shared both the uphill struggles and delightful discoveries of each other’s creative journeys. But we only recently realised […]
On mirror neurons and Schrödinger’s cat: writing as exploration
Some explore to answer questions. Others explore to ask them. The map is ridiculously simplified, as the three-block walk from the hotel has proven. I cram it in my pocket and turn into the narrow alley that apparently doesn’t exist, stepping willingly into uncertainty. No matter where I end up, I will have seen that […]
Researching Burnt Norton
Fifteen years ago Caroline moved with her husband and seven children and stepchildren to Burnt Norton, the house made famous by TS Eliot in the first of his ʻFour Quartetsʼ. Very much influenced by Eliotʼs theme of time and redemption, she started to research the strange and tragic history of the Keyt family who owned […]
Unforgettable Picture Books
There is a book which has stayed with me for years, a book whose text is written lightly across my heart in inky words the same colour as my memory. A book I’ve never read, but listened to again and again in a voice almost as familiar as my own: my mums. And now those […]
Interview with Isabel Allende
We were delighted when Isabel Allende agreed to an email interview with Women Writers, Women Books. We asked you to come up with some questions. Here is the result! You seem to be fond of, or at least feel sympathy for your characters, even Esteban Garcia in ‘House of the Spirits’, who you describe as […]
A day in the life of… Joanne Harris
Ever since I left teaching in 1999, I’ve been waiting for a typical day to come along, so that I could describe it to all the people who kept asking. Some time ago, I realized that typical wasn’t really a word that fitted my life all that easily. When I was a teacher, I had […]
But Who will Want to Read it?
An esteemed British writer, one whose novels have been published for half a century, advised me recently not to read my own book reviews – unless they’re written by someone whose opinion you respect. Good reviews will make you vain, they told me, and the bad ones will crush you. Since then, I’ve tried to […]
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