Tag: featured
Who Writes a Memoir?
Friends asked what inspired me to write a memoir. My son was blunter: “Mom who writes a memoir – it’s not normal.” Indeed, few of us write memoirs. Unless we are writers by profession or famous, I would venture to guess for most of us the route to inspiration is circuitous. I would like to […]
Moving Beyond Trauma by Ilene Smith
Moving Beyond Trauma by Ilene Smith In my early forties, after a career in banking and real estate financing, I returned to school for a master’s degree in mental health counseling. I truly had no idea that this path would lead me to my greatest passion in life thus far. During my internship to complete […]
AUTHORS INTERVIEWING THEIR CHARACTERS: Jane Shemilt
Jane Shemilt, author of LITTLE FRIENDS/THE PLAYGROUND interviewing her character Eve Kershaw. LITTLE FRIENDS/THE PLAYGROUND has been described as BIG LITTLE LIES meets LORD OF THE FLIES; it is set in Dulwich in London and describes what happens when the lives of three very different families intersect; the adults are so busy watching each other […]
Writing Political Satire In ‘Interesting Times’
When I first had the idea for a satirical novel set in the near future the world was relatively sane. I happily imagined a post-politics system of government where nations are run by randomly selected citizens, just like jury service. The self-evident truth that politicians are the last people you want in charge of anything […]
Tell Your Story—When Life Becomes Myth
By Cerridwen Fallingstar In 1975, when I was twenty-two, working as a journalist for a feminist newspaper, my editor came in and said, “There’s a witch on trial for fortune-telling.” My hand shot up; “I’ll take that story!” And so my life of growing up in a scientific household where all religion was held in […]
Why I Love The “Outsider” In Fiction
I was an only child on a block of big families. The daughter of immigrants in an All-American town. A hippie-type in an era of the preppie look. It’s no wonder I gravitated to books and writing. I was an outsider in my world. I needed a place of belonging. Stories provided that. I never […]
The Magic Of Acts Of Kindness
It’s rush hour at Paddington station. Commuters stream down the stairs to the Hammersmith and City line, everyone hell-bent on getting home with as little interaction with their fellow-passengers as possible, headphones in, eyes on phones. As I step onto the top step leading down to the platform, I’m aware of something in my peripheral […]
Scratching on the Walls —Struggling for Words in the era of Covid 19
It feels as if the world we knew was a dormant volcano. Trudging through our days, a rumble in the air, we sensed that something was coming, but something is often nothing, so we let it slide away. Caught off guard, it erupted with a vengeance as we scrambled for shelter. From our on-line safe […]
Writing about War for (Men and) Women
Writing about War for (Men and) Women A few years ago, I explored the science behind what makes a book a woman’s book or a man’s book, if in fact there is such a distinction. “Of course, there is,” most writers and readers would say, without a moment’s hesitation—that is, most writers and readers not […]
Where I Find Inspiration
I was recently asked the following question in an interview: “As a writer, where do you go to find inspiration?” The interviewer cited the habit of Charles Dickens, who took to the streets of London every day in a five to six-mile stroll while looking for source material. I love the evocative image of this […]
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