Tag: featured
How Book Blogging Launched My Career as an Author
“This book is horrible. I can’t believe people are reading this. I have to tell them not to read it. I think I’ll start a blog.” And so it began. My unfortunate run-in with the book-that-must-not-be-named upon the recommendation of a popular parenting magazine led me to write my very first blog post ever. I […]
How I Became A Writer
I became a writer when I was ten years old, the same year that I discovered Agatha Christie – and therefore crime fiction. On Christmas Day 1984, I unwrapped a notebook and a box of pens, and after lunch, while everyone else dozed chipolata-stuffed in front of the TV, I made a nest in the corner […]
Q&A with Kerry Lonsdale
Kerry Lonsdale is the Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon Kindle bestselling author of EVERYTHING WE KEEP (Lake Union, September 2016) and the upcoming ALL THE BREAKING WAVES (Lake Union, December 2016) and WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND (Lake Union, publication date TBD). Kerry is also a founder of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. She resides […]
Love Letters
The first letter I ever wrote to my maternal aunt Ruth, was in 1965. I don’t remember what possessed me to write to her. The risk was great and the reach was far. The letter was no doubt desperate, confessing my troubles to someone who was related, but whom I barely knew, someone I had […]
Blending History Into Fiction
Research can make your story accurate, but you have to dig deeper to give it life. The last major revision of my new novel THE TASTE OF AIR (Red Adept Publishing, Sept. 2016) changed the points of view to focus on the three women at the center of this story. Sisters Nell and Bridget were […]
Viewpoint: Gender Bias In The Literary World
In a recent interview with the critically acclaimed Irish author John Banville, he was quoted in The Irish Times as saying “I have not been a good father. No writer is.” Granted, it may be a bit unfair to quote people out of context, but the twitter-storm blew a fury nonetheless. I was heartened to […]
Who’s Your “Writing Bestie?”
Writing every day can be treacherous and tiring, harrowing and heartbreaking or, on those fabulous days, like one big party. Creativity guru, Julia Cameron, says the role of an artist is to show up and let the work move through them. But what about those days when you show up and nothing moves? No sentences […]
A Woman Fakes Her Death on 9/11: The Story Behind the Story
They say you need to be able to summarize your novel with one, solid sentence. I’ve always had a hard time with that. I feel the need to go into paragraphs of description, with lots of “First this happens and then this happens…” Then, in 2009, I stumbled upon the kind of idea that has an […]
Why The Publishing World Is Not Closed To You
Several months ago, I had the opportunity to hear a famous author speak at a live event near my hometown. I had just finished reading her most recent best-selling novel, and I was awestruck. To me, she was a Writer with a capital “W.” Her writing was beautiful, thought-provoking, luminous. I arrived ready to absorb […]
How I Name My Characters
The first thing I do when I begin a new book is to open a folder on my desktop and give it the name of the lead character. I don’t use working titles. With over 20 books, I forget titles, working or otherwise. But I never forget a character’s story when I hear her name. […]
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