Category: On Writing
Cancer Helped Me Finish My Novel, Almost Family
Cancer Helped Me Finish My Novel, Almost Family A cancer diagnosis has a way of concentrating the mind and muddling it at the same time. As the shock of mortality sinks in, all the nebulous thoughts about what you might want to do someday narrow to a few simple imperatives: spend time with those you […]
OLD MR. MA
By Cara Lopez Lee I love displaying old family photos where I can see them every day. It’s the expression of a deep urge for connection and belonging. But my grandma gave me one photo I keep hidden in my file cabinet. It’s an old black-and-white of a stern-faced Chinese man with a little bowtie […]
How Writing Saved My Life
As my debut novel releases, I sometimes stop and think about my journey to this point. My path to being a published romance author was anything but straight or expected. Every day, I find myself thankful for the winding path that brought me to this point. From the time I learned to read, the written […]
Jane Austen Wasn’t on Facebook
The Brontë sisters had each other, but did they ever chat with other authors about their writing journey with all its ups and downs, angst, and issues? Jane Austen wasn’t on Facebook. How did any of these writers get introductions to other authors, build a following of readers, or get slated for events, radio shows, […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Lee Upton
About Tabitha, Get Up: Tabitha, Get Up is a comic novel about an ambitious but perpetually out-of-luck biographer trying to create her own story. In an effort to restore her self-respect and pay her rent, Tabitha leaps at the chance to write two biographies during the same summer: one about a stunningly handsome actor; the […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Pamela Statz
Thorn City: A Novel Suspected murder, eclectic food trucks, and artisanal cocaine: just another day in Thorn Cit It’s the night of the Rose City Ripe for Disruption gala—a gathering of Portland’s elite. Dressed to kill in sparkling minidresses, best friends Lisa and Jamie attend as “paid to party” girls. They plan an evening of […]
On Writing California Dreaming by Noa Silver
California Dreaming is, in many ways, a love letter both to the Bay Area and to the twenties, “that unmoored, tripped-out decade between childhood and adulthood.” The book started in the spring of 2018 with just one scene. I was working on a project in downtown San Francisco, and I would take the train into the […]
Are You Afraid of What Might Bleed onto the Page?
By Nicole Meier In 2020, something unexpected happened to me. I’m not talking about the pandemic. I’m referring to a snag in my writing life. That year I penned a new novel manuscript and was feeling pretty good about it. In a flurry of inspiration, I rushed it off to my literary agent who, in […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Mary Pascual
WALK THE WEB LIGHTLY Fourteen-year-old Naya’s family is all about heritage: their art, their traditions, their secret ability to see time. Naya loves to walk the timelines, seeing people’s past and all of their potential futures, watching the world around her. There is one person she has noticed who always seems to be on the […]
What Men Whisper in the Green Room at Literary Festivals
In this piece, acclaimed writer Deanne Stillman talks about obstacles she still runs into, in spite of her extensive credits and numerous awards. “That’s very ambitious,” an editor said recently, in reference to my description of a new book I’m working on. Why not a throwaway compliment such as “sounds great”? I wondered to myself, as I […]
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