Context reading

You know the term context drinking, don’t you? Ever noticed how that bottle of wine you share on a sun-drenched table perched on the cobblestone square of a charming little town in Tuscany or Provence tastes ever so much better than the same bottle you bring back home to drink in Peoria? True, isn’t it?…

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It takes a village to write a book

Yes, yes, we all know the old mantra that writing is a lonely profession. But is reviewing and editing lonely, too? Does it have to be? I’m pretty new to this, and I was slogging along on my own, but I recently joined a writing group in my city. I had seen an announcement for…

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Matera Women’s Fiction Festival

This past September, I signed up for my first writer’s conference. It was the easiest decision to make once I discovered the destination – the beautiful city of Matera, in Italy’s southern region of Basilicata. I had been to Matera over a decade ago, with my Italian husband who looked at me oddly when I…

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