Tag: featured
The Chameleon: How Writing Changed Me
I was forty-three years old when I wrote my first novel. It was a game-changer, no question. Not for monetary reasons. Not for “fame.” But for allowing me an outlet where I could finally be me. I’ve led a chameleon’s life, an expert at blending in as circumstances dictate. I graduated from the United States […]
Shakespeare’s Sisters—The Bard’s most accomplished female literary contemporaries
April 23, 2016 marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death with worldwide celebrations to mark his legacy. But what about the women? In her iconic essay A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf imagines the life of Shakespeare’s brilliant sister Judith, barred from the grammar school because of her sex and forced to hide her […]
Choosing Your Words Carefully
Have you ever thought of words which excite a ready response in readers? Choice is important, and in cases of dramatic suspense, vital. Perfumes can awaken some nostalgic sense in the mind of the person who is reading the book. It may be the scent of honeysuckle, or the warm sweetish perfume of a byre, […]
The PHD I Didn’t Do and the Digital Apprenticeship I Did
‘Are you going to enrol for a Phd?’ As a longterm author with a varied back list, learning digital skills was a higher priority. ‘No. I’m going to do an e-apprenticeship instead.’ I opted for a digital apprenticeship to revitalize my literary output. Mistake or a significant learning experience? I needed to re-organise my literary […]
Writing It Forward
I remember standing on the corner of a dirt road as a child of eight or nine. I was shielding my eyes from the blistering sun of a South Carolina summer and bouncing on my toes as I strained to hear the engine of the approaching book mobile. Likely I would have been clutching a […]
A Writer’s Work Is Never Done
The other day my daughter walked into our family room and asked me for a ride somewhere. I didn’t turn my head; instead I waved her away, “Shh—I’m working!”“Umm, you’re watching TV,” she said. “Yes, I’m watching TV. It’s the last episode of Downton Abbey and yes, I’ve seen it three times. It’s called feeding […]
How I Came To Write The Bones Of You
During the summer of 2013, as far as writing was concerned, I reached a crossroads. I’d written and submitted to agents three commercial women’s fiction titles, the last of which was Wildflowers. I’d had enough positive feedback from some of the agents to keep me writing and Wildflowers had caught the attention of six, all […]
The Dinner Party: An Interview with Brenda Janowitz
Holidays give families a chance to gather, reflect on the last year, and create new memories. At least that is the ideal version of the concept. Brenda Janowitz’s lovely and fast-paced novel, The Dinner Party, captures a much more realistic view of the intricacies of a family gathering. I love how you used the four […]
Is There Any Hope For Qualifiers?
Very, quite, really, pretty, a bit, just, fairly, rather, amazingly, almost, nearly, obviously, clearly… such naughty words! Or are they? Placed directly in front of adjectives or adverbs they are a shorthand method of qualifying the meaning of that adverb or adjective. Sometimes they flounce around by themselves only accompanied now and again by a […]
Writing for a Cause
I write because I love to create stories; to formulate something from nothing that hopes to engage and inspire readers from all over the world. There is something magical in our imagination that allows us to send our audiences on a journey whether it is a true story or fantasy. That is what inspires me […]
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