Category: On Writing
Why Your Next Best Marketing Move Might Be . . . a Friend
By Carmen Amato “We’re going analog,” he said. “Analog?” I echoed. I was speaking to David Bruns, who with J.R. Olson co-writes the military-espionage Command and Control series. He explained that they’re skipping a digital-first playbook. Instead they’re leaning into an analog marketing strategy built around thematic speaking engagements, such as with veterans’ groups. It’s […]
My Year of Really Bad Dates: A Memoir by Rachel Lithgow, EXCERPT
My Year of Really Bad Dates: A Memoir For anyone who’s ever gone on terrible date, a vulnerable memoir that explores dating in midlife after divorce, with bad dates—from terrible one-night stands to promising matches who ultimately disappoint—anchoring the theme of every chapter. After two life-shaking events—losing her father and divorcing the man she’s spent […]
Lights in Cold Rooms: A Psychologist Reflects on Family, Aging, Love & Loss
By Joan Cusack Handler When I first started writing Lights in Cold Rooms and for a few years into it, I did not have plans for its future other than that it is/was a record of my depression and my efforts to bring myself to wellness during COVID when mandatory quarantine precluded working with a […]
207 West End Avenue by Randie K. Berman: Excerpt
207 WEST END AVENUE 207 West End Avenue” follows the journey of a young female attorney, Samantha Ross, as she navigates the highest highs and lowest lows of being made the youngest woman to ever make partner at Epstein and Littleton, a prestigious, male-dominated Park Avenue law firm. The reader experiences Sam’s legal brilliance and […]
When is it Time to Change Genre? Writing for The Market. Or Not.
By Sharon Maas Novelists write because we have stories to tell, and from the very beginning, I knew what my stories were going to be about. I’d grown up in Guyana, in the heyday of the colonial era, when it was still British Guiana, and that’s where I’d take my readers. Back to the post-colonial […]
Small Press Pages November 2025
By Christina Consolino November! The eleventh month of the year, and with it (at least where I live) comes the time change. I don’t know about you, but when we fall back, so do I—into my bed. Six o’clock rolls around, darkness descends, and I’m ready for pajamas, thick socks, and flannel sheets. And books. […]
On Writing Dieting Sucks for Women Over 40: 30 to Life: The Ultimate Weight Loss and Hormone Balancing Solution by Debbie Harris
By Debbie Harris Writing a book is something I always wanted to do. Books were my escape from childhood, and I read voraciously. Harold Robbins probably wasn’t ideal for a 12-year-old, but I devoured The Adventurers, The Carpetbaggers, and my first, A Stone for Danny Fisher. Reading brought me to exciting places and people. Later […]
How a Short Story Became a Novel: The Making of Mercy Town
By Nancy Chadwick-Burke The early summer morning couldn’t have been more perfect. The air was clean, with enough humidity to pull sweet and spicy scents from the tops of the trees to their footings as the sun floated just above the horizon. A walk through the woods took me to a little bridge, a spot […]
Why I Wrote Jack and Lulu Go to the Tree Farm
By Julie Ryan McGue Doesn’t everyone have a favorite tree? Maybe it’s the maple that shaded your childhood home, the pine you decorated every December, or the oak that stood watch over a backyard fort. Trees root us in place and time, and their steady presence often becomes part of our family stories. When I […]
On Writing High Hopes: A Memoir
by Anne Abel At the age of 60, after having one desk too many thrown at me, I quit my community college teaching job, and then I panicked. I suffer with severe recurrent depression. I was terrified that without the structure and focus of the classroom I would fall into the abyss of depression. Then I remembered […]
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