First drafts are my favorite drafts. I love the immersion in the story and the constant internal pressure to write and write until it is all out. When I’m writing a first draft I don’t screw off much on social media, don’t return emails promptly, and often drive by my exits on the expressway without noticing. During my first draft, I’m definitely a fly by the seat of my pants…
This week’s topic is the road not taken—how choosing a different path might’ve affected our writing. First of all, there’s a whole theory about Frost’s “Road Not Taken” actually being ironic, meaning that the choosing the other path wouldn’t have made any difference whatsoever. I prefer interpretations that irritate the majority because I am cantankerous by nature, so of course this is the interpretation I feel is most correct. The…
I first met Dr. Laurie Jean Cannady at HippoCamp—Hippocampus Magazine’s 2016 writer’s conference. I have to admit that I was so awestruck to meet her in person that I didn’t talk to her for more than 96 seconds. Writers are my rockstars, and I’m easily intimidated. It’s not that she was that terror-inducing as a person, it’s just that I loved her book, CRAVE: SOJOURN OF A HUNGRY SOUL so…
I have always been afraid. Whispering thoughts circle my head at night—so many things I’ve done, words I’ve said that I can’t take back. How my choices might hurt my children—the things that I can’t undo as well as the things that I don’t want to undo. I wonder what people really think about me, and who they tell. Will my children overhear them? It’s not lies I am afraid…
Today on the Debutante Ball, I’m honored to welcome our very own Lynn K. Hall, author of CAGED EYES, an insider’s account of misogyny and rape in the US military and her extraordinary path to recovery and activism. Desperate to realize her childhood dream of being an astronaut, Lynn K. Hall was an enthusiastic young cadet. For Hall, the military offered an escape from her chaotic home—her erratic mother, absent biological…
Congratulations to Krysti from YA & Wine, winner of our #DebBallGiveaway of Tiffany D. Jackson’s ALLEGEDLY! We send our thanks to our very own Abby Fabiaschi for being our guest yesterday on The Debutante Ball. If you haven’t already, pick up a copy of I LIKED MY LIFE. Or you can enter to win a signed hardcover by retweeting on twitter: Interview with Abby Fabiaschi + #DebBallGiveaway of I LIKED MY LIFE https://t.co/g6NNpL1Wty…
Since I first heard about Judy Batalion’s memoir, WHITE WALLS: A MEMOIR ABOUT MOTHERHOOD, DAUGHTERHOOD, AND THE MESS IN BETWEEN, I have been eager for its release. Finally, this past Tuesday, the book pubbed and I have a copy in my hands. I can tell you, it was worth the wait. The writing is crisp and funny, and while you’re reading it, you’ll wish Judy could be your best friend….
Have you ever read a book and loved it so much, you began getting nervous as you neared the final pages, wishing that you could slow it down and savor the story a bit more? This is how I felt reading Kim Stagliano’s heartfelt memoir. I wanted to linger in Kim’s world a little longer. Here’s the thing, no matter how much hardship she may have gone through in her…
