Tag: featured
I persisted
Despite obtaining my master’s degree in creative writing, and early encouragement from the professors I respected most, my route to becoming a novelist has been a circuitous one. When I was ten-years-old, at sleep away camp, I composed my first tome between archery and swimming lessons. In letters to my parents, I complained about having […]
Writing Loving before Loving: A Marriage in Black and White, Joan Steinau Lester
If I had a nickel for each time a stranger has told me, “I know my life would be a bestseller!” I’d be wealthy. Sometimes they even offer their story, asking me to simply write it down. “My life has been so amazing, the book would write itself.” Well, not really. Books do not write […]
Why Your Sixth Decade is the Best Time Ever To Write a Novel
Jane Rosenthal “You either walk inside your story and own it or you stand outside your story and hustle for your worthiness” Brene Brown I keep this quote from the lecturer Brene Brown framed in a little green heart on the bulletin board above my computer to remind myself why I write, why I put […]
A WOMAN WRITER’S MANIFESTO
By Joan Steinau Lester When people ask me what do you do, for the last twenty-five years I’ve answered, “I’m a writer.” Sometimes I add, “An author.” If the questioner still looks blank, I’ll say, with authority, “I’m a professional writer.” I’ve learned to define myself in a powerful tone because so many people have […]
Secrets
The roots of secrets can go deep, making it difficult to unearth. It takes time, patience and determination. It means poring through old scrapbooks, scrolling through newspaper archives at libraries, looking through government records. You need to pick at painful memories, where loss can overshadow past joys. It is hard to keep a secret. Benjamin […]
How My Women’s Writing Group Vents Together Instead of Tearing Work to Shreds
When I started writing a novel based on the story of Cupid and Psyche, I fell apart. I completed a hundred pages that covered the Greco-Roman pantheon before realizing I needed to focus only on my one new Internet goddess. I showed my fiasco to a kind, well-intentioned reader who happened to have an obsession […]
Inspiration Behind AMONG THIEVES
Since the deal announcement for my debut novel went out a little over a year ago, I have legitimately lost count of how many times I have been asked what inspired me to write AMONG THIEVES. The super fun thing is that every time someone asks me this question, I suddenly forget every single word […]
Heeding the Call of a Mentor From the Past
By Robin Clifford Wood In 2008 when I began working on Rachel Field’s biography, I was 47 years old, just the age Rachel had reached when she died suddenly in 1942. I didn’t recognize the confluence of our ages back then, but now I believe the timing was no coincidence. Rachel Field was a renowned […]
ISABEL COSTELLO – (Writing) Each Book Is A Different Story
ISABEL COSTELLO – (Writing) each book is a different story I have written three novels over twelve years: one which got me an agent (as yet unpublished); my debut Paris Mon Amour (2016) and my new novel, Scent. Each has been a unique experience and part of a learning curve which will never end. I […]
LEMONS IN THE GARDEN: NOT FAMOUS ENOUGH
Forty years ago, I had a dream in which Blanche Ames told me to write her autobiography. I’d read about Blanche while I was working on a team to write a massive women’s history reference book, and of course her name caught my attention. Then I learned that Blanche was my grandmother’s aunt. How was […]
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