Writer Unboxed

This just in: How to Bake a Perfect Life is a finalist for the RITA award this year!! In 2010, I walked 100 miles of the Camino de Santiago. I have been thinking about it a lot, partly because my new book, The Garden of Happy Endings, is coming out in a few weeks, and [...]

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News! Because the idea was sparked by a blog post on WU, I wanted to announce here that I just inked a deal to write a book on writing and coping with doubt with Agate Publishing! Don’t have a title yet (stay tuned), but it’ll be out next year. Many thanks to Therese and to [...]

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Kath here. Today’s guest is Ellen Weeren. Ellen graduated from college with an English Writing degree 20 years ago and began her career as a law enforcement policy writer, newsletter editor, and conference planner. When her second child was born in 1999, she quit working and quit writing. Then, three years ago, her husband was [...]

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Today’s guest is Dorette Snover, owner and chef of the C’est si Bon! Cooking School, and an aspiring author. A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, she has worked as a doughnut maker, a cook in a fraternity, a chef for equestrian barons, and even had a stint on The Food Network. Her food [...]

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Prologue: Eureka moment, inspiration strikes. A new idea! Great excitement. Connections made in head, some scribbling in notebook. Floaty yet intense feeling, like being in love. Can’t think of anything else. Tingles up spine, gooseflesh, daydreams as the idea grows from little spark to fast-burning fire. Weird looks from people as novelist goes about muttering, [...]

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I recently had the opportunity to read a letter written by an independent bookstore owner about the state of his business. Though it’s not my place to share those details here, I do want to talk about a general sentiment read in that letter that made me feel both sad and frustrated. It went something [...]

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Therese here. Today’s guest is returning author and WU friend Kristina McMorris. Kristina’s second novel, a dramatic WWII tale called Bridge of Scarlet Leaves, released just yesterday to high acclaim. “[Bridge of Scarlet Leaves] gracefully blossoms through swift prose and rich characters…this gripping story about two ‘brothers’ in arms and a young woman caught in [...]

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Let’s face it. With the exception of the tiny handful of writers lucky enough to generate handsome earnings from their books or to have the full financial support of a spouse or a trust fund (two things I tend to longingly confuse), nowadays, most of us need some sort of gainful day job. In fact, [...]

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Therese here. Today’s returning guest is author Julianna Baggott. Julianna is multi-published with eighteen novels to her credit. Her most recent book, PURE–a dystopian, post-apocalyptic thriller–was released this past week. The reviews have been phenomenal. Said Publisher’s Weekly in their starred review: Baggott’s highly anticipated postapocalyptic horror novel … is a fascinating mix of stark, oppressive [...]

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I am so distractible. Dealing with that aspect of myself is one of my greatest challenges as a writer. Though my doc has assured me that I do not have an adult version of ADD, I’ve wondered a time a two. Being distractible can be caused by a whole slew of things—like genetics, parenthood, stress, [...]

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By all accounts, I’m a busy mom. I gave up my teaching career a couple of years ago so I could stay home with my children—one school-aged, and one who has just turned two. Soon, I’ll no longer be a mom of two, but a mom of four. We’re expecting a set of twins in [...]

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First, a disclaimer. Sometimes I pretend I’m an MD who has specialized in whatever medical issue happens to be going on in my midst. Last week at church, for instance, when my friend mentioned that earlier that day, she had slipped on her stairs and bonked her head, I became a Head Injury Specialist. As [...]

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