When I think of the Pulpwood Queens, I think of books, girlfriends, and road trips. I knew I wanted to attend Kathy L. Murphy’s next Girlfriends’ Weekend the minute I met her at New Orleans’ Words and Music Festival. Kathy was impressive, a storyteller herself. I could feel her passion for books and the authors who […]
You can read my guest post, “Improve Your Story By Watching Movies‘ on Southern Writer’s Magazine’s Authors Blog. In it I share four ways watching movies can make your story sing. You can read it by clicking here.
We’re all a little too busy these days, and busy-ness can lead to overwhelm, which leads to exhaustion. My coaching clients and friends ask me how I schedule my day often. How did I get my book written? I’m certainly far from perfect, but I usually get what needs to get done, done. I thought […]
The Virgin Bookstore in Beirut reopened its doors after the 2006 war and again and the 2008 demonstrations that shut them, expanding to three more Beirut shopping districts. Today it’s tweeting about Glow Pens and Whatzzup power banks: “Whatzzup power banks are unbeatable style pieces! one at $31.99! #GenerationFutureVM Full collection:… https://t.co/mpQuIbsTJY“ I bought a […]
So much has changed in the publishing world today, you may want to support your friend who has published a book, but you may not know how. Here are a few suggestions: Buy or rent their book. This one is pretty obvious. You can ask for a book in your local bookstore, in your local […]
Most of my readers have come to like them both (thus far), but you may find Qasim charming and Dianna wishy washy. Or you may find Qasim chauvinistic, even immoral and Dianna relatable. One recent reader didn’t like Dianna because she felt Dianna was, well, wimpy at the beginning. I made a conscious decision as […]
As I’ve been speaking, people ask me how they can help, what they can do, to unite a nation, and world, that sometimes seems so divided. Here’s what I tell them: 1. Invite a person of another culture to your home. 2. If a person from another culture moves into your neighborhood, throw them a […]
When you spend a week with many gifted writers and erudite minds at a writer’s conference, it’s near impossible to focus on just one memory, but David Ryan’s craft talk on memory and consciousness will stay with me for a very long time. David is a musician who toured with a rock band, an avid […]
In these days of bad news, fake news, and pejorative (difficult to confirm or to dispute but easy enough to argue about) broad strokes, I’m publishing a novel this summer that I hope turns this whirling macrocosm onto its microcosmic head. With an albeit fictitious more personal view of what can happen if we don’t […]
When I began writing The Shores of Our Souls, I knew my choice of point of view was critical. Point of view can make or break a story of interplay between cultures. I started the novel in my protagonist Dianna’s point of view. I’d always been fascinated by Scout’s point of view in Harper Lee’s […]
