I joined the new Women’s Fiction Writers Association

I learned about this association on a blog I follow, author Amy Nathan’s excellent Women’s fiction writers blog. Amy, author of the soon-to-be-released The Glass Wives, posts lots of great author interviews for authors writing women’s fiction. Her site is a tremendous resource for those interested in the genre. It’s through one of Amy’s posts…

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Launch of Foreign Encounters e-book

I already announced the launch of the Foreign Encounters anthology, where I was pleased to have one of my stories – Missed Connections – included.  This week, the e-book version of the anthology was launched – on Valentine’s Day. I’ve enjoyed reading the contributions, both stories and essays, that are set all over the world,…

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Start those revisions with Critique Circle

I’ve already written about my wonderful, face-to-face writing group that I have here in Rome. I look forward to those meetings every two weeks and enjoy the company of a talented group of American writers in Rome. But I tend to write a lot and need a way to keep myself on-track with revisions. As…

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Why writers should love Downton Abbey

Well, perhaps in all honesty, I should entitle this post: Why this writer loves Downton Abbey. Still, I see it’s become something of a trend recently. The Writer this month features the British period miniseries Downton Abbey on its cover, entitled “True to the Period” and the excellent Nathan Bransford blog had a recent post…

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How do you find a literary agent?

Literary agent Rachelle Gardner recently posted on a topic near and dear to the hearts of many aspiring writers. Since I am just beginning the querying game, I have an eagle eye for advice such as this. Take a look at her excellent advice on how to find a literary agents. Plot spoiler: apparently there is…

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My story, Bitter Harvest, won a UK writing contest

Back in November, I wrote a post about National Short Story Week. In that post, I included links to markets for short stories and contests. I also decided to enter one of the contests myself. I’m a real sucker for writing prompts and this one intrigued me. The UK region of Hartlepool decided to sponsor…

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The Addictive Blog Award

Many thanks to Getsetandgo for nominating me for The Addictive Blog Award! Snigda, based in Mumbai, hosts a wonderful blog that lets me dream I’m travelling in south Asia (and gives me lots of great ideas for future trips), so it was a real honor to have been selected. For this award, I have to say…

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What are your 2013 writing goals?

A happy 2013 to everyone! Here’s hoping that your new year is starting out well. For writers, this is also a good time to reflect on writing goals for the new year … at least for those of us who might need an extra push, or those of us who don’t manage to get any…

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Writing inspiration on the slopes

Okay, I have a few days off around the holidays, nearby Abruzzo is buried under snow, and my kids are begging me to ski. What’s a girl to do? Hopefully, when this post goes up, I’ll be breathing in the fresh mountain air while I’m swooshing down the slopes. Perhaps I’ll be sad at this…

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Interview with author and NaNoWriMo organizer Grace Tierney

Grace Tierney  is a mother and writer living in rural Ireland. Her excellent blog, Wordfoolery, examines rare and unusual words in the English language. Grace is a prolific writer, working on both novels and short stories.  I had the good luck to meet Grace (virtually) when we became critique partners, and I’ve enjoyed getting to…

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