Tag: featured
What A Hazard A Letter Is: The Strange Destiny Of The Unsent Letter
I’ve always been fascinated by letters. Listening to Sylvia Plath’s being read on Radio 4 reminds me just how powerful they are, how swiftly they take us back into former lives – our own and other people’s. And for biographers, letters are like buried treasure. The American author and journalist Janet Malcolm describes them as […]
How My Work Influences My Writing
I help teach GCSE English to adults with learning difficulties. These include dyslexia, Aspergers and mental health issues. My students have experienced barriers to mainstream education because it is not sufficiently geared to their needs. Not only barriers but failure. Many have been told that they will never pass an exam, and see themselves as […]
Writing With—And About—Invisible Disabilities
It’s almost like you can watch my dreams die as each rewrite of my book progresses. The first draft featured protagonist Becca as a famous author who got six figure advances, whose book was being made into a movie, who employed several assistants to help her with fan mail. The second draft saw Becca as […]
Class And Writing
Street Cat Blues is my debut novel and it was a long time coming. I guess it could be categorised as cosy crime but with a definite noir bite. I am the child of what I sometimes think of as a mixed marriage. By this I don’t mean mixed in terms of ethnic or religious […]
Her Mother’s Daughter: Writing and Inspiration
My book is not an easy read. I know that, because it was not an easy write. It is not a true story, but there are elements that were inspired by my childhood, and many of them I wasn’t even aware of at the time I was writing. Rather than having inspiration for this novel, […]
Labor Pains: A True Life Story of Giving Birth to a Book
Writing a novel is hard work. Much like giving birth, one struggles to conceive, grow the thing inside you and then push it out—it is messy and intense, and you are never entirely sure of the outcome. Before encountering your child, there are countless nights when sleep is impossible, as complicated plot lines revolve around […]
Six Essentials To Pack On Your Novel Writing Journey – Marlene Adelstein
Have you ever gone on a trip and discovered you hadn’t packed all the right items? You didn’t have a sweater when the weather turned unexpectedly cold or an umbrella for that sudden rain storm. It’s uncomfortable to be away from home without the right gear. It can put a real damper on your trip. […]
Female Thriller Author Ditches Traditional Pub Track
In October, 2002, I stood across the street from the old HarperCollins Building at 10 East 53rd Street in midtown Manhattan and pointed it out to my traveling companions. “Someday,” I intoned tearfully, “Someday my novels will be published there.” “Great,” my husband said pointing at our cranky three-year-old in her stroller. “I think Layla […]
Author Brand: A is for Authenticity
What’s your brand? Do you have an author platform? Whether you are an indie author or traditionally published, every writer needs these. When I indie published my first novel, The Bridge Club, eight years ago. I had no idea what I was doing. One clear message that never stopped resonating was that, if I wanted […]
The Power Of Never Giving Up
Time flies. We all know it. Whether you’re having fun or not. Whether the years are filled with sublime happiness or utter sadness, or, like most of us, with a combination of both. It simply goes, and sometimes, our dreams go with it. We turn around and ten or twenty years have whipped by and […]
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