Tag: featured
Eight Ways To Read More, Even When You’re Deep Into Your Own Manuscript
Read often and widely: it’s the first commandment of writing. And as any writer committed to her craft knows, there’s no better instructor than the written word itself. Finding time to read, however, is a perpetual challenge when you spend much of your day trying to fill pages with your own thoughts (say nothing of […]
Fearless and Free: How Smart Women Pivot and Relaunch Their Careers
There is an expression – you write what you know. I say I’ve pivoted so much in my career, I’m pirouetting. “Fearless and Free: How Smart Women Pivot and Relaunch their Careers” was inspired by my own journey of trying to stay relevant as technology disrupted the workforce, blowing up certain industries — including my […]
Putting Descartes In His Place
I want to tell you about the book that almost wasn’t written. The book I nearly gave up on before a word had been placed on the page. That book, my first book, has since been published in seven territories and was recently shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2017. All of this has […]
Decluttering The Mind
Have you ever stopped, looked around and wondered how your home had become so…chaotic? So downright disorderly, even? A few weeks ago I finished my final book for the year. The last deadline was met with a certain feeling of jubilation, but then I had Christmas to contend with, and a much needed family holiday […]
Does a Writer Really Need a Professional Development Plan?
I spent years in organization development before writing my first novel. By definition every profession has a set of core competencies, and writers are no exception. Professionals in the traditional work world are told that they need an Individual Development Plan (IDP), which details what the person is willing to do to meet her personal […]
Writing The Happy Kitchen
Ever since my last major depressive episode just over a decade ago, I’ve sought to embrace a holistic attitude to my own mental health. For me it’s been a case of both ‘push’ and ‘pull’. ‘Push’, in the sense that, like many others, I’ve experienced some of the debilitating side-effects of antidepressant medication. These include […]
Changing Publishers
I tend to abide by the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” motto. I’ve held the same job for almost twenty years, been wearing my hair in the same style (give or take the bangs) most of my adult life, and I don’t immediately purchase “the next best thing” if my current devices are […]
The Story Behind the Story
My name is Victoria and I wrote a book with a taxi cab driver I met at an all-night diner. It was March 7th, 1994 at an all-night Greek diner called The Silver Star at 65th and Second Ave. in NYC around 1 a.m. I had just seen Schindler’s List and was craving bourbon – Maker’s Mark […]
The Midwife as Story Teller
Call the Midwife, the British television series is seen world- wide and has become popular in the United States. People who’d barely heard of midwives or thought they were old ladies who came to your log cabin back in the 1700s have become interested, even fascinated by the subject. Most people don’t know that the […]
Eight Tips for Seeing Your Novel with “Fresh Eyes”
Reaching the end of a draft always feels like cause for celebration. A trip away or simply a punch in the air Breakfast Club style…however we get our kicks, we need to make the most of them. Because soon enough it’ll be time for the next draft and that can be a tough nut to […]
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