Tag: featured
My Husband’s Child by Alison Ragsdale: Excerpt
My Husband’s Child When I find a little girl standing on my doorstep, I don’t know what to do. But as I take her small hand in mine, she whispers words that will change my life. ‘Mummy said you’d look after me.’ Ever since her husband left her for another woman, Cora has been trying to put […]
Rosie Radcliffe: On Writing
I’m the debut author of Frankie & Dot, and although this should be irrelevant I’m also 70 years old, a wheelchair user with severe inflammatory arthritis, a retired Church of England priest who gets bored easily, a lifelong feminist, and generally gobby old(er) lady. While these things are true I refuse to let any of […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Elaine Neil Orr
Elaine Neil Orr, interviewing Isabel Hammond from Dancing Woman, Blair, 2025 DANCING WOMAN Elaine Neil Orr, born in Nigeria to expat parents, brings us an indelible portrait of a young female artist, torn between two men and two cultures, struggling to find her passion and her purpose. It’s 1963 and Isabel Hammond is an expat […]
Where I Get My Ideas From
Catherine Hokin Most of the conversations I have as a writer revolve around ideas. People ask me where mine come from, they share that they have one of their own, or they ask the dreaded question I’m always afraid might actually be part curse: “aren’t you worried they might run out?” I’m not surprised at […]
Finding the Words: The Challenges of Writing a Memoir on Motherhood and Autism
By Jennifer Celeste Briggs Writing Watching Sarah Rise and getting it ready for publication felt almost as big and intimidating as running my Sarah-Rise program felt in my early days of getting it off the ground. I wanted to document and share the momentous thing that we had done to help Sarah, but I struggled […]
My Writing Process by Susan Ostrov
I understand why people who enjoy writing, and perhaps dream of publication, would benefit from writing groups, or writing seminars taught by professionals. Group members read each other’s work, give feedback and suggestions, and hopefully bestow praise that encourages and inspires, while writing seminars are meant to instruct would-be authors in the craft. This is […]
What (Not To) Expect At Your First Book Signing
My first time at a table in a busy large-chain bookstore, copies of my book stacked on either side and Sharpie at the ready, went much differently than expected. First, the good stuff: the full-circle moment when I walked in and saw my book front and center on a table (having frequented that location for […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Shirley Russak Wachtel
The Baker of Lost Memories From the author of A Castle in Brooklyn comes an epic novel spanning decades about the broken bonds of family, memories of war, and redemption and hope in the face of heartbreaking loss. Growing up in 1960s Brooklyn, Lena wants to be a baker just like her mother was back in Poland […]
Turning Rejection Into Resilience: Proof That Dreams Don’t Need Permission
By Kay Bratt If you’re familiar with the traditional publishing world, you probably know the nerve-wracking experience of submitting a manuscript to your editor and waiting on tenterhooks for their response. You may even know the sinking feeling of receiving feedback that says, “It’s a good story, but not for us.” I’ve been publishing books […]
On Writing the Biography of Chilean artist Violeta Parra
On Writing the Biography of Chilean artist Violeta Parra I am the author of Thanks to Life: A Biography of Violeta Parra. Born in the early-twentieth century in a small town in southern Chile, Parra invented and reinvented herself to become a world-renown songwriter, composer, and visual artist whose work continues to resonate today. Her […]
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