Tag: featured
Chaos to Order When Writing A Novel
I am staring at the blank screen unable to write. I am simply paralyzed by the notion of writing my first novel. My desire to be perfect, much like my desire to be organized is a strive for unattainable perfection. I begin to think about my most challenging organizing jobs, the ones that I can’t […]
The Inspiration for The Chalky Sea
I live in Eastbourne, on the English Sussex coast. My family lived here when I was a schoolgirl and I decided to move back recently after twenty years in London. I have always had a hankering to move back to the sea. What I hadn’t expected was that the town had a secret wartime history. […]
Going to College with a Book of Her Own
Some of us live our lives in Full Catastrophe. This was true for me that night in November 2000. That time between the stars and the sunrise, between our demons and our angels is a time the Romans call The Watch. We have all been there. At 3:20 a.m. How did I get here? What […]
Fashion of a Doomed Queen – the Inspiration behind The Wardrobe Mistress
I’ve always been drawn to history because of the people. It’s fascinating to me that some people are remembered so strongly, even hundreds of years later. That’s usually how I choose what historical period I want to write about: I come across an interesting person or opportunity, and the story blossoms from there – with […]
Writing in Disaster’s Wake
In January 2013, less than three months after Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast, an audience of volunteers studied the diagram on the screen. Titled “Emotional Phases of a Disaster,” the figure resembled a tremulous, lopsided W, each point labeled with a stage in a community’s typical reaction to catastrophe: Pre-Disaster, Impact, Heroic, Honeymoon, Disillusionment […]
What Makes Readers Open Their Minds and Bodies to a Story?
A reader who believes in a story opens to it, mind and body. Novels have to work harder than films or television dramas to induce this openness; they can’t dismantle defenses with mood music and explosions. But they must induce openness, in order to get readers to climb aboard their carnival rides and stay until […]
The Importance Of Listening To Your Editor
I am currently co-editing an anthology of short fiction. I also supplement my paltry writers’ income with freelance editing projects. I’m not a proof reader; the edits I offer are structural, though I will pick up on any punctuation that has gone awry. Editing is something I enjoy. The idea of helping a writer to […]
Food as an Enchanting Writing Tool
People sometimes ask me why I write about food. Is it because I love to cook and eat? I’m sure this is partially true, but of course I know there is much more to it than that. I recently watched the movie, “The Lion,” and was struck particularly by a powerful scene, which further solidified […]
Women’s Fiction Writers Association Star Award
If you are the published author of a book of Women’s Fiction, the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) has a contest just for you. WFWA’s annual Star Award is the only contest in the publishing industry that exclusively recognizes outstanding published Women’s Fiction. Is this your first book of WF? Don’t worry, you needn’t go up […]
Writing My Way Home
When I first began to write my memoir The Coconut Latitudes, it was so the past would not get lost. Like many others contemplating memoir, we are often keepers of family secrets, whether wittingly or not. Those circumstances can be paralyzing, and it certainly was for me for many years. But at some point the […]
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