In June 2016, I was at a crossroads. I felt behind everyone I knew in terms of my career and life experience. I was sick with money worries, constantly anxious, and when I would glance ruefully at the dust on my writing desk, the specter of “real adult life” sounded a lot like my father…. Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Finola Austin. Finola Austin, also known as the Secret Victorianist on her award-winning blog, is an England-born, Northern Ireland-raised, Brooklyn-based historical novelist and lover of the 19th century. Her first novel, Bronte’s Mistress, was published in 2020. When she’s not writing novels or her blog, she works in… Read more »
Whenever I discuss humor writing with anyone—and I mean anyone—people seem immediately intimidated. Some people think that they are not funny enough or don’t have the personality for writing humor. Some might even say they are not familiar with humor but more with things like improv and stand-up. For those still curious how to write… Read more »
Welcome to the Author Marketing Toolkit, where you can learn from 20+ years of time-tested marketing and insights expertise, translated for authors. I’m Carol Van Den Hende, an MBA and strategist who’s known for bringing chocolate when I speak at conferences (surely, we’ll get back to in-person events one day!). I’m thrilled to be joining… Read more »
It’s already September! The new school year may be starting, but I am still clinging to the last vestiges of summer. Last month was a great reading month for me, despite a beach vacation where I didn’t actually get much reading done. That’s all right though. I had a great time and can’t wait to… Read more »
What is it about a book that compels readers to stay up far later than they should on a weeknight? What makes a story a so-called page turner? Unputdownable. Why is it we have trouble getting to the end of one book, yet we fly through another? The answers have a lot to do with… Read more »
On an old Curly Girl greeting card taped above my desk, a woman’s red-fingernailed hand wraps around a vintage microphone. Artist Leigh Standley’s caption sprawls above the illustration: “Find Your Voice.” Find. Your. Voice. Weaned on this advice, we fiction writers know that when an otherwise well-built narrative lies comatose on the page, only a… Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Marissa Levien. Marissa is a writer and artist who hails from Washington State and now lives in New York with a kindly journalist and their two cats. The World Gives Way is her first novel. In this episode Marissa and I discuss: How current and recent events influenced… Read more »
You know that feeling of flow when the burden of time lifts from your shoulders and something comes not from you, but through you? This flying-flow-feeling is as close as I’ve ever gotten to understanding why I’m here and who I am. I will do whatever it takes to get back into that flow and… Read more »
In this column, Life of a Writer, every 8 weeks or so I will share the next episode in my journey as a middle-aged woman who finally gets serious about her dream of becoming a published author. In Episode 2 of this column, I wrote about how I completed the manuscript of my first novel… Read more »
