Interview by Diane Gottlieb Diane: Congratulations on your wonderful book “All the Bad Girls Wear Russian Accents” and on your winning the 2024 San Diego Writer’s Festival Poetry Collection of the Year! You’re a woman of several countries and languages. In the...
As an Earth-centered psychotherapist, writer, and Nature lover, I’m often asked about writing in nature. It occurred to me that this question is another perfect opportunity to shift our thinking about our relationship with the other beings we refer to as nature. Many...
We authors have it tough, don’t we? Challenges range from writers block to rejections, and there’s always something to, well, write. So when some “expert” recommends putting together a digital author press kit, many of us tune out. That’s a mistake. The media is drawn...
American Confidential, Tennessee Williams, and the Role of Place By Deanne Stillman My books are generally place-based stories of war and peace in the real and mythological West. In my view, the personal isn’t just political, as the saying goes, it’s geographic as...
1. Use strong verbs. Question every appearance of the verbs “to be,” “to do,” or “to have.” 2. Substitute an Anglo-Saxon (shorter, punchier) word for a Latinized (longer, more abstract) one, when possible. 3. Question all transitional phrases. Is it...
“Where are you now?” “Honestly? Laura said, I’m on the floor, staring at the ceiling. I’m convinced I will never have another original thought in my brain. Laura was a highly sought-after creative professional with a fierce inner critic....
