Tag: featured
Courting Your Characters: Subconscious Writing
I think of writing as a courtship with my characters. I often ask them questions out loud and usually, after some wrangling, these personas will reveal themselves by page 40. By that point, if I don’t know their deepest desires and what they’ll regret most on their deathbed, I know I am in trouble, that […]
Using Fiction to Find Light in the Darkness
When I sat down to write my latest book, I knew very little about the plot. All I knew for sure was that it needed to start with an unprecedented tragedy—a state of international heartbreak and desperation so raw that the world would be at a total loss for what next. Because that’s the question […]
A Day in the Life of a Book Publicist
When I first daydreamed what it would be like to be a book publicist I imagined myself introducing an author to a packed Barnes and Noble book signing. In my daydream I also look like Angelica’s Mom from Rugrats. The reality turned out to be a bit different. When I’m asked what it’s like to […]
An Unconventional Signing: Unbound
I am a signed author with Unbound! I’ve been waiting for this moment since I was 6 years old. Now for the unconventional part. My publication is only guaranteed if I raise just over £10,000 in pledges. And as soon as money is involved people can become laser focused on that issue. Because ‘money’ can […]
Writing About Secrets
Several years ago, thinking up the plot of a novel, I wrote a paragraph about a man walking through a gate into a convent garden. His name was Liam, it was 1963. I knew the mood of that scene, he was grief-stricken, in mourning and couldn’t express it. I wanted to know why, and wanted […]
Five Things You Need To Do Before NANOWRIMO
National Novel Writing Month or NANOWRIMO, is only a few short weeks away. If you are unfamiliar with this phenomenon you can check out their website to read through all the details. This year marks eighteen years for the event, which started with just twenty-one participants the first year. Last year they had 431,626 participants, […]
Music And Manuscripts: Why I Couldn’t Have Written My Bestseller Without A Soundtrack
“Music thudded through Amy’s body and seized her heart,” My debut novel Try Not to Breathe begins. “Music so loud that her eardrums pounded in frenzy and her baby bird ribs rattled. Music was everything. Well, almost everything.” The word music appears three times in the first 30 words, and with good reason. It’s at […]
Writing Advice: How Fellow Writers Can Help You Get Published
Like the great cats, or giant pandas we labor alone at our craft, at least most of the time. Oh, we may venture out occasionally to find a mate as do the majestic beasts, but we have no colleagues with whom to shmooze, to bounce off ideas, or to complain about the frustrations of publishing. […]
A Return to Spain: Lessons on the Writing Life
Last week, I had a chance to stop in Madrid for a few days on my way home from Senegal, where I’d been visiting my daughter. I think of Spain as my touchstone—especially Madrid—because I have been here at so many different points in my life. I first lived in Madrid as a college student. […]
Q & A with Grace Bonney
Grace Bonney is the author of IN THE COMPANY OF WOMEN: INSPIRATION AND ADVICE FROM OVER 100 MAKERS, ARTISTS, AND ENTREPRENEURS (Artisan, 2016) and the founder of design blog Design*Sponge. Her first book, DESIGN*SPONGE AT HOME, became a national bestseller. The New York Times called D*S called “Martha Stewart Living for the Millennials.” The site reaches […]
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