Tag: women writers

Hannah Sward (Strip: A Memoir) interviews Courtney Kocak on her debut memoir, Girl Gone Wild

Hannah Sward (Strip: A Memoir) interviews Courtney Kocak on her debut memoir, Girl Gone Wild

GIRL GONE WILD is a collection of exploits and delusions about chasing your dreams with reckless abandon and what happens when their pursuit becomes a new kind of trap. In this memoir-in-essays, Kocak takes readers along on her heady metamorphosis from girl to woman and from dreamer to professional artist, as she is transformed in […]

June 4, 2026 | By | Reply More
Channeling Marilyn: Why This Story is So Important to Me by Mima Tipper

Channeling Marilyn: Why This Story is So Important to Me by Mima Tipper

A few years ago, I sat with my then young daughter looking through a fashion magazine—I think it was Teen Vogue—and noticed yet another ad paying homage to Marilyn Monroe. That got me thinking about Marilyn’s on-going fame, and a question whispered at me: What would Marilyn’s spirit think of this ad?   This wasn’t a […]

June 2, 2026 | By | Reply More
A Memoir’s Journey: One Writer’s Process by Margaret Whitford

A Memoir’s Journey: One Writer’s Process by Margaret Whitford

In the aftermath of my mother’s death, I wrote in response to my complicated grief, not only for my mother but also for the maternal relationship I’d hoped for but did not have. Within the blank pages of my journal, I tried to fathom why we were not together during her final days.  My need […]

June 2, 2026 | By | Reply More
My Writing Journey by Ellen Baker

My Writing Journey by Ellen Baker

I loved the feel of a pen gliding on paper as a kid. My mom, an English teacher, would bring me red and blue Papermate ballpoints from work. I was so driven to write that, at seven, after falling off my bike and breaking my right wrist, I scrawled out a messy story about it […]

June 2, 2026 | By | Reply More
A Fork in the Road by Liz Flaherty

A Fork in the Road by Liz Flaherty

I’ve kind of enjoyed the inevitable forks in life’s roads. Not that I’ve always taken the right one, you understand. Heaven knows there were a few boyfriends and lots of outfits and hair colors I should have taken a pass on. I sometimes paid the wrong bill in the days of robbing Peter to pay […]

June Recommended Reads

June Recommended Reads

THE HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET, Jennifer Sklias-Gahan In The House in the Middle of the Street, Jennifer Sklias-Gahan conjures a haunting modern fairy tale of inheritance, secrets, and the creatures we invite into our lives. When Rebecca and her husband inherit a stately old home, they imagine it as the perfect place to […]

June 1, 2026 | By | Reply More
Understanding the Black Middle-Class—from Childhood Seeds to Sustained Sociological Inquiry By Angela Simms

Understanding the Black Middle-Class—from Childhood Seeds to Sustained Sociological Inquiry By Angela Simms

I grew up in a middle-class Black family in the 1980s and 90s. My dad, Everitt, and my mom, Joan, raised me and my brother, Joshua, in Prince William County, Virginia, a suburb in the DMV, as we locals say (the DC, Maryland, and Virginia Metropolitan Area). As such, my sociological intuition regarding race and […]

May 31, 2026 | By | Reply More
From Coffee to Debut Novel: I Have So Many Questions by Denise Smith Cline

From Coffee to Debut Novel: I Have So Many Questions by Denise Smith Cline

Almost every family has an odd story or tradition. We may not know how surprising it is until an outsider hears about it. My aunt did a handstand against the dining room wall in her best Sunday dress after every Thanksgiving dinner, after which her husband played “White Christmas” on the piano. Nothing about this […]

May 30, 2026 | By | 1 Reply More
THIS IS GOOD

THIS IS GOOD

G.P. Gottlieb Long before I started writing books, when I was focused on creating, teaching, and performing music, I was plagued by a little voice continuously telling me that I wasn’t good at any of it. That voice never shut up. When I was raising children, I never felt like I was the best mother, […]

May 30, 2026 | By | Reply More
It Takes a Village to Write a Novel by Martha Conway

It Takes a Village to Write a Novel by Martha Conway

I spend a lot of time alone. I like it. I like writing, I like doing research, I like thinking about what I’m writing, and I like making notes and scene lists. When I’m alone, I can dig deep to explore what is meaning to me, and how best to express it.  But during the […]

May 29, 2026 | By | Reply More