Guest blog by Barbara Ridley I was raised in England in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The war was so recent it didn’t feel like history. Bombed out buildings still littered the streets and we had rationing for some items through the mid-fifties. People of my parents’ [...]
Guest blog by Eileen Harrison Sanchez Nearly seven years ago I began to seriously write a novel. It started as a writing critique on an ordinary Monday morning. The multi-genre group had copies of my eight-page attempt at memoir. My essay told the story of the 1969 November day I [...]
Guest blog by Rifka Kreiter I closed the book with a contented sigh just as the sun peeked through my bedroom window one summer morning in 1961. I’d been reading all night. Published in 1959, Mary Astor: My Story was one of the first confessional autobiographies to come out of Hollywood, by [...]
A reader recently wrote a review of my novel, Better Than This, and described that it was painful to read, but not in a bad way. Rather, it was a book that explored a difficult topic, but ultimately left the reader feeling hopeful and empowered. As a psychotherapist, I think [...]
Guest blog by Juliet Cutler When Grace was a child, she would cast shy sideways smiles at me covering her mouth, slouching her shoulders, and looking away. When she spoke at all, I would have to lean in to hear her. Now, in her adolescence, there’s a steadiness about Grace—a [...]
Guest blog by Elizabeth Anne Wood The very act of sharing our experiences with one another has the power to transform lives. Sharing stories gives listeners/readers the comfort that they are not alone and offers them new information or perspectives with which to approach their own challenges. Sharing stories spreads [...]
Guest Blog by Cheryl Campbell When people learn I am a writer, their first question is usually: “What do you write?” My answer: “Science fiction and fantasy novels.” The next question is: “What’s the difference?” The answer lies in genre conventions. A romance novel will have a love story. If [...]
Examining Sexual Assault in YA Novels Guest blog by Heather Cumiskey Remember the cringeworthy scene in the movie Sixteen Candles when Caroline, the ever-popular high school senior, wakes up after a night of drinking to discover that while passed out, she’s had sex with Ted, the freshman geek and former [...]
Guest blog by Maren Cooper When this post is published, I’ll be just two months out from my pub date for A Better Next, my debut novel. Writing is the fourth or fifth chapter in my own life’s book, and is an adventure I didn’t anticipate. One of the themes [...]
Guest blog by Deborah Burns My other-worldly beautiful mother seemed perfect. A chiseled work of art, she evoked the eternal female ideal, standing tall as a distant goddess on a pedestal that only-child me devotedly danced around. Paying homage and idealizing her in all ways was my default. How could [...]
