Tag: featured
The Less-ness of Things
The Less-ness of Things By Beth Kephart The blue-dotted skirt has two saffron-colored stains, and I can’t remember where they came from. It hangs from its pinched clips among the popped buttons and fray of my modest walk-in closet, among nothing remotely a la mode or swanky. I keep my drawers insouciant, too—plenty of air […]
One Year, Two Journeys, Two Memoirs
When I stepped onto my new husband’s 26-foot sailboat in San Diego, bound for Cabo San Lucas, I was a 28-year-old actress with no boating experience. Never could I have imagined that our proposed three-month honeymoon in Baja California’s Sea of Cortez would evolve into a year afloat that would change my life completely. The […]
Embody Your Inner Goddess: A Guided Journey to Radical Wholeness – My Writing Odyssey
Embody Your Inner Goddess: A Guided Journey to Radical Wholeness – My Writing Odyssey Writing a book has always been on my bucket list. As a voracious reader from a young age, the idea of creating my own literary world, where words flowed like rivers, captivated my imagination. But as life unfurled its unpredictable tapestry, […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Jessica Strawser
ABOUT THE LAST CARETAKER A woman in search of a new beginning is put to the test in ways she never imagined in an empowering and provocative page-turner by the author of Not That I Could Tell. Katie’s divorce was, in a word, humiliating. So when her friend Bess offers a fresh start—a resident caretaking job […]
On Writing Sweet Freedom Whispered in My Ear
“Sweet Freedom Whispered in My Ear” is a memoir that delves into the depths of my life, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit overcoming the severe trauma and abuse. Over the years, many have urged me to write this book, finding inspiration in my story and believing in its power to provide […]
Pommes Frites
Pommes Frites In the spring just before my daughter turned ten, my husband’s parents invited us to share an apartment they had rented for a week in Paris. Michael didn’t have the vacation time, so I decided to bring our daughter, Sophie, as a special 10th birthday trip. It was my chance to show her […]
Second Careers and my Supposed Retirement
SECOND CAREERS AND MY SUPPOSED RETIREMENT “Retirement” is not something I ever aspired to, even when I took a buyout after more than two decades as the theater critic of The Baltimore Sun. I’m not particularly good at semi-retirement, either. I am an expert on second careers, however. I’ve had at least five. The most important of […]
Humanizing Your Protagonist: a Crash Course in Character Development
Humanizing Your Protagonist: a Crash Course in Character Development by Nikki Stern Sam Tate, the anchor of a four-book mystery/thriller series, is a complicated woman. Resilient and resourceful, she is nevertheless plagued by nightmares. She’s known heartbreak as a child and as an adult and has a habit of sublimating her feelings. She’s at times […]
It Could Never Happen To Me
It Could Never Happen To Me Have you ever watched the news and seen one of those horrible stories about some stranger who killed their whole family and then killed themself? I have, I watched in horror, asking myself, “What kind of person does that?” I was thankful that I had a loving husband who […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Helen Hawkins
A Concert for Christmas Unwrap a story of festive song, good cheer and – just maybe – a sprinkling of love … Schoolteacher Sophie Lawson has fled to the Cotswold countryside after a tragic break-up and is throwing herself into dating and organising Cranswell’s annual Christmas concert. The festive fun is marred by the arrival […]
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