I’m a born rebel, so when I set goals as a NaNoWriMo rebel, I pick the ones that fit with my writing habits. These are habits born of observing my best writing periods and replicating what worked, forgetting what didn’t. For me, as a National Novel Writing Month fan, word counts don’t work. For me, daily writing works. But you may be a different kind of writer. How can you use NaNo to your advantage?…
THE INVISIBLES. Two sisters. One ghost. An impossible sacrifice. In this magical realism tale of two sisters and a family ghost, Elinor and Saffron inherit their father’s cottage on the Italian coast. Their longtime rivalry explodes through a struggle for control of the inheritance. As they rehab the house for sale, Italy infuses its magic into them, and harmony and love begin to soften their conflict, but a shocking night changes everything. A tale of…
Love stories — why do we adore them? Three reasons: 1) love is essential to every life — love of someone or something 2) stories of love help us understand our relationships 3) every love is unique. Story Genius author and master storytelling coach Lisa Cron thinks humans evolved by learning problem-solving by hearing stories. And if there’s one big problem in your life, it probably has something to do with “LOVE” — or lack…
Sibling relationships and specifically sisters is what I’m thinking about. I’m finishing a new novel. It’s about two half-sisters who feud about an inherited cottage in Italy with its resident ghost of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Sisters — we love to explore these complicated lifetime pairings. In real life and literature, sisters stand out. From Jane Austen with her siblings, to Emily Dickinson and hers, to those fabulous Brontes, the stories of siblings have…