Tag: women writers
From War Correspondent To Fiction Writer
WENDY HOLDEN, also known as TAYLOR HOLDEN explains what it’s like to be a war correspondent and how the legacy of her experiences unwittingly provided rich material for her first novel. THE IMAGES on our television screens or in our newspapers are frighteningly familiar – Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq – carnage, misery and bloodshed everywhere […]
Writing versus Not Writing
Most of us writers are plagued by bad habits: we repeat a pet phrase five times in a chapter and don’t even notice, we use too many adverbs, too many fancy dialogue tags. Some of us have even been known to hold ourselves hostage to our own perfectionism. But I think there is general agreement […]
Creativity Studies And Tricks For (Women) Writers
Do you love the creative process, but at times find it almost unbearably difficult? I can only answer with a solemn “I do.” Being an avid reader of Virginia Woolf, including her famous A Room of One’s Own, I started to suspect that writing, while difficult for everyone, can (given the mostly men-oriented system we […]
Exophonic Writers
What do you call an author who writes in a language that isn’t their mother tongue? Believe it or not, it does actually have an official name – an exophonic writer. Exophonic writers are an eccentric bunch, for it does take a peculiar mind to choose to express yourself in a language that isn’t really […]
Will I Ever Write Again? Surviving My Worst Fears As A Writer
Will I ever write again? Surviving my worst fears as a writer It was the morning of Thursday, September 20. I was in the train, headed back home to NYC from Maryland, after doing the introduction and in-author conversation at a friend’s book launch the night before. My heart was full for my friend; she had […]
The Case for Mentorship or Who’s Teaching Whom?
This year I have the great privilege of mentoring an intern from my high school alma mater – a talented student who is applying to college programs and developing her writing portfolio alongside her role as co-President of the high school’s Writing Club. We check in regularly to discuss writing – both the craft and […]
You Shall Not Pass! Writer’s Block And How To Un-Stick It
It’s a bit like ‘Macbeth’ for an actor – say ‘writer’s block’ to a novelist and they’re liable to go pale and break out in a cold sweat. And as for actually uttering those dreaded words yourself, well, that’s pretty much guaranteed to jinx anything you’re currently working on. But is writer’s block really a […]
Writing Indescribable
How do I begin to write the story of my childhood sexual abuse, how do I find the words to explain the indescribable situation my eight-year-old self-adapted to and compartmentalised at such a young age? Why was I compelled to write the ugliness of what happened to me? Shouldn’t I have left it silently awake […]
Coping: An Author’s Chat With A Character
Author Lynn Goodwin chats to her book character Sandee Mason. Dear Sandee Mason, I am so sorry our publisher gave up. I loved your story and I know you did too. You were always my favorite character. You let me know your opinions. Shared them without hesitation. Loved your streaks of maturity, your aspirations, and […]
Do Sales Equal Success?
What does success look like? Sometimes, I think as authors, one of the main ways we calculate our success is based on the sales of our books. It’s instant validation. Who doesn’t want that? But is that the best way to define what success is as an author? I don’t think so. See the problem […]
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