Writing Blog
Time to sign up for the Matera Women’s Fiction Festival
As some of you may know, for the past two years I’ve attended the Women’s Fiction Festival held each September in the beautiful town of Matera, in Italy’s southern region of Basilicata. The festival is a great way to learn about the publishing industry today, how the environment is changing and what writers should do…
Read MoreWhich author do you write like?
My fantastic critique buddy, Nicola Layouni, posted a wonderful method of procrastination for writers tearing their hair out with revisions tool for writers. Using the “I write like analyzer” and pasting some pages of her text in the text box, Nicola discovered that she wrote like James Joyce. Pretty nice compliment, right? Since I’m right…
Read MoreGender-bias in book covers? Coverflip.
I’m proud to write women’s fiction, but I know this genre label can raise hackles far and wide. The argument goes that, when men and women write about similar, (often domestic) topics, the men’s work is seen as serious fiction (a.k.a. The Great American Novel), while the women’s work is written off as light, beach-reading…
Read MoreAuthor interview with Time Changes Everything’s Melinda Dozier
I am very excited to announce the launch of Time Changes Everything, a romance novel by Melinda Dozier. I’ve been faithfully following Melinda’s path to publication. Melinda has been one of my amazing critique partners for over a year, and I was so pleased when she informed me that the book I’d so enjoyed critiquing,…
Read MoreFavorite web resources for writers
I’m not always a fan of tecnology, and I often lament the fact that it takes us away from the daydreaming and writing that we writers should set aside more of our time in pursuing. But I’m also the first to admit that a writer’s job – particularly a writer just starting out – is…
Read MoreCall for submissions at Writers Abroad
Writers, sharpen your pencils. The submission period is open for the Writers Abroad annual anthology. Each year, the writers group Writers Abroad publishes an anthology, organized around a particular theme. This year’s theme is Far Flung and Foreign. They seek submissions of short stories (up to 1700 words), flash fiction (up to 500 words), non-fiction (up to 1000…
Read MoreWorking art into literature
As an undergraduate in a school that didn’t have minors, I unwittingly almost triple majored in art history. I’d accumulated so many classes in it that by senior year I was just shy a couple. In the end, living in Italy, I (only half jokingly) claim it’s the most important subject I ever studied. After all, here in Italy…
Read MoreMore fun with historical research: Ball gowns!
And here’s where most men will stop reading… As Mr. Bennet himself put it so elegantly when his wife attempted to describe ball gowns to him in the BBC film version of Pride and Prejudice: “No lace. No lace, Mrs. Bennet, I beg you!” Chapter three of Pride and Prejudice expresses Mr. Bennet’s disdain for discussions…
Read MoreI finally joined the Twitter bandwagon
It took me a while, but I’ve finally joined over 200 million users of Twitter. I’ve been using Twitter for my work, and find it quite useful for reaching specialized audiences. Unlike Facebook – which I hate, loathe, despise, makes me break out in hives – I find Twitter to be a great way to…
Read MoreAuthor interview with Crime & Passion’s Chantel Rhondeau
Chantel Rhondeau is a talented writer of romantic suspense and one of my first critters over at the on-line critique group Critique Circle. Over at Critique Circle, I’ve been the beneficiary of all of Chantel’s helpful critiques, which have done so much to help me improve my work. And I’ve also had the chance to review…
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