Tag: featured
DOCTOR ON CALL: Chernobyl Responder, Jewish Refugee, Radiation Expert
Dr. Alla Shapiro – a pediatrician and hematologist in Kiev in the 1980s – was one of the first physician-responders to the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in Ukraine on April 26, 1986. Chernobyl changed her life and career forever. Within a few short years, she and […]
Pacing, Line by Line: #Writing Advice by Chris Eboch
Pacing, Line by Line: #Writing Advice by Chris Eboch @Kris_Bock Fast-paced. Gripping. A page turner. “I couldn’t put it down.” Why do some books get these comments, while others are called slow or flat? Characters, plot, setting, and theme are all part of pace. Create compelling characters, so readers will care about them and want […]
Getting Started by Rachel Lynch
A writer’s existence is one of isolation, and in the past year, we’ve seen the whole of society experience this secret world of staying at home. It’s tough. It’s lonely, and sometimes it’s easier to throw in the towel and not write today, because you don’t have to. Unless there are looming deadlines, there’s always […]
WHY DID YOU WRITE THAT SCENE?
WHY DID YOU WRITE THAT SCENE? By Deborah K. Shepherd I’m on the phone with my sister-in-law, discussing the upcoming debut of my novel, So Happy Together. As is the case with most of my other relatives and friends, Jaye is excited to have “an author in the family” and has many questions, most of the […]
Imagination, Leashed and Unleashed
By Celia Jeffries My novel Blue Desert began as the story of an older woman looking back at a life she had kept secret, the life she had once lived in the Sahara. I had no trouble ‘tuning in’ to the voice of this character and following as the writing took me into a different […]
Defy Difficult Times by Setting Creative Goals
Our world has had a brutal year. We’ve all struggled to stay positive and productive while stuck inside our homes. We’ve sweated to Peloton workouts, snapped cute Instagram pics of our latest recipes, or binge-watched The Crown and Firefly Lane. Following the travails of Queen Elizabeth in her gilded palace or sympathizing with Tully Hart […]
Author Friendships
Back in November 2020, I received some unexpected and unwanted news about a project. While writers are accustomed to the ups and downs of our chosen profession, some knocks hit harder than others. This one knocked me flat. My first calls were to authors Lisa Barr and Camille Di Maio. After listening to their sage […]
Hit Hard: One Family’s Journey of Letting Go of What Was–and Learning to Live Well with What Is
by Tammy McLeod I wrote Hit Hard seven years after my sixteen-year-old son suffered a traumatic brain injury playing football and became severely disabled for life. After a year of trying dozens of interventions, it was clear that Zach wasn’t going to have a full recovery. I started reading grief books, but they didn’t connect […]
What’s So Special About Venice? By Rhys Bowen
Rhys Bowen returns with a sweeping historical novel that will leave a mark in the hearts of readers everywhere. THE VENICE SKETCHBOOK (Lake Union | on sale April 13th, 2021), opens in Venice, 1938: a country on the brink of war and a woman at the beginning of a quest that begins with locked-away memories from a family […]
Writing from Multiple Viewpoints
Writing from Multiple Viewpoints Natalie Lund My first novel, We Speak in Storms, rotates between four perspectives—three teenage outsiders who encounter an abandoned car in the wake of a tornado—and a fourth voice, the ghosts of a tornado that struck the town drive-in generations before. In my second novel, The Sky Above Us, I rotate […]
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