I’m thrilled to introduce our readers to Rita Woods, author of the debut novel REMEMBRANCE. Rita is a physician and medical director who always felt a pull toward writing. I’m always especially inspired by stories like hers of people who have full lives and careers and then finally write their books. And, not only had Rita released her novel, it has also earned heaps of critical praise. The Boston Globe…
I’m delighted to welcome my friend Vijaya Nagarajan to the Debutante Ball this week! Vijaya Nagarajan is an Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Theology/Religious Studies and in the Program of Environmental Studies at the University of San Francisco. She writes about Hinduism, gender, ritual, ecology and the commons. Recently her work has centered around spiritual autobiographies of place, especially around immigration and motherhood. She has been active in…
This week we are talking about writing as women so I decided to to showcase several random features of being a woman as they relate to a writing career. Bear with me; not all of these will apply to every female author, of course. But I’m willing to bet many female writers will see something they recognize here. Emotional Intelligence The Upside—It’s a scientifically proven thing that women are vastly…
This week we’re writing about publishing as women, and of course I’m here to put my usual memoirist’s spin on the topic: I’m not just publishing as a woman; I’m publishing a deeply personal woman’s story. Youch! I know, how dare I? In Crystal’s Monday post, she mentioned that she wonders how people would respond differently to her novel if she used initials as a pen name, that way readers…
This week the Debs are talking about being a woman writer–how does gender play a role in the business of writing? The world of publishing, reading and writing is fraught with gender bias at every twist and turn. Case in point: The publishing industry is overwhelmingly white and female, US study finds – Keep in mind that these are the people choosing the books that get printed. Male authors accounted for…
I could never, ever discount the role that luck played in the publication of my book, SMALL ADMISSIONS. Of course, I believe in hard work (meaning writing, writing, writing, and then revising, revising, revising) above all else. The hours of editing are certainly, in my opinion, the single most important part of getting a book to the level of being publishable. But at the end of the day, certain things…
