Guest Blog by Barbara Stark-Nemon Nearly a year ago, my nephew and his husband welcomed their first child into the world. Five years after legally marrying, they established their careers, bought a home, and researched a number of ways to create the family they both wanted. They chose surrogacy as [...]
Guest blog by Mary K. Jensen The first time it happened I was not prepared. I was sitting atop a high stool, reading to a roomful of women who smiled and laughed as they enjoyed excerpts from “Rudy’s Rules for Travel,” the story of our marriage of opposites meeting [...]
Guest blog by Betsy Graziani Fasbinder More than a decade ago I attended a workshop offered by one of my favorite authors, Pam Houston. Houston offered many nuggets of wisdom that have served me well, but one thing she said has informed my writing and coaching in a profound way: [...]
Guest blog by Bonnie Monte What is it about cozy murder mysteries that devotees of the genre love? Surely it’s not the murder itself. In my experience, cozy lovers are some of the least violent (and brainiest) people I know. What engages their sharp little minds is the puzzle, the [...]
Growing up in the South yet living on the West Coast for nearly 40 years, I resonate with the idea that you can never fully “take the South out of the girl.” I still feel Southern in many ways, as if the culture were in my DNA, even though it [...]
Guest blog by Francine Falk-Allen My book, Not a Poster Child: Living Well with a Disability – a Memoir, was challenging to write, taking me several years. I revised it eighteen times, and then revamped it with a capable editor. But it wasn’t just the writing and editing that was [...]
Guest Blog by Mary E. Plouffe Ph.D. When my sister died suddenly, unexpectedly, I should have had all the books I needed. I was a clinical psychologist with 20 year of experience. My office was filled with books on adult trauma and grief, and child therapy texts to help me console [...]
Guest Blog by Ellen Notbohm “We called him Barney for short,” Mark Twain relates in Following the Equator. “We couldn't use his real name, there wasn't time.” Long name, short name. Popular name, uncommon name. Family name, Biblical name, exotic name. Compound name, nickname, unusual-monogram name. If you’re writing fiction, [...]
Guest Blog by Leah E. Reinhart I am a true product of Oakland Public Schools. And that is not a compliment. When I attended in the mid-seventies and eighties, Oakland had the worst schools in the country and was one of the most violent cities as well. There wasn’t much [...]
Characters are always an important part of any book, but they can often take a back seat to the story in a more plot-driven novel. Think about a suspenseful thriller or mystery where you become completely caught up in the twists and turns of the action – or a historical [...]
