Our Writers Who Read series continues with debut novelist Amanda Gale, author of the Meredith series. Who are you? I’m a mid-30s mother of three boys. I have English degrees from Vassar College and Boston University. I taught high school English before leaving my job to be with the kids, and I copy edit from … [Read more…]
This is the first interview in the new Writers Who Read series. Click here if you’d like to read more about this series. Who are you? I’m Abby Chew. I grew up in beautiful Putnam County, Indiana along Big Walnut Creek. I studied English at DePauw Univeristy and earned my MFA from the Iowa Writers’ … [Read more…]
I’m excited to announce a new series on this blog, Writers Who Read. I’m both a writer and a huge book nerd, and I’m thrilled at the chance to bring these two interests together through a series of writer interviews particularly focused on books and reading. I’ll be interviewing writers–of all stripes, at all stages … [Read more…]
Today I’m welcoming romance author Carol Rose. Carol, a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart finalist, has written twenty contemporary romance books–her latest which is Thankfully Yours. Here are her thoughts on heroines (and heroes!) we love. Thanks for joining us, Carol! She may be testy when she’s on her period and she may not have … [Read more…]
Recently my friend Jenny Vinyl sparked a discussion on our reading and writing group asking how we “audition” books. This came from a recent episode of the Bookrageous podcast where Paul Montgomery used “auditioning” as a term to describe how readers decide which novels to pick from the vast cast of books waiting to be … [Read more…]
You know the old USDA Food Guide Pyramid, the shape that specified the amounts of grains, vegetables, and oils Americans should consume daily? I’ve been wondering if we can adapt a similar concept for reading–at least for those of us who like to consciously plan our reading, or maybe just the next book or two. … [Read more…]
I came late to Sandra Boynton. When my first son was a baby, we were given a copy of children’s author Sandra Boynton’s Moo, Baa, La La La! to read to him. I remember feeling underwhelmed when I first read the little board book. The story was just a bunch of animals, making sounds. Was … [Read more…]
I loved this recent post from Jeff Goins, The Wrong Reasons to Write. Goins makes a lot of good and interesting points here–the difficulty in writing for just money or fame, in particular–but what really has stuck with me about this post was the bit at the end about making the reader the focus of … [Read more…]
I’ve been looking at tons of romance novel blurbs at online bookstores this year–a consequence of being both an enthusiastic romance reader and writer. Looking at all those book covers and blurbs, I’ve noticed something: if I had a dime for every time I read the words “secret” or “alpha,” I’d be able to buy … [Read more…]
I’ve only been on Twitter a few months, but lately it feels like the honeymoon is over. At first it was glorious and wildly fun, but lately I’ve seen some bad behavior on there, tweets and tendencies that give me pause. Which I hate, because social media should be enjoyable and helpful–not like swimming in … [Read more…]