Past and Present by Debra H. Goldstein Do you remember when telephones rang? When rotary dialed objects sat on a table or hung on a wall made a ring sound? Was it that long ago before we relied on phones that fit in our purses or pockets and have individualized ringtones? I didn’t think it […]

Knowing When to Say “The End” by Debra H. Goldstein Five days ago, I typed the words “The End” at the conclusion of eighty thousand plus other words I wrote during the past few months. I rejoiced. Those eighty thousand plus words were probably more like one hundred plus words because on one day, I […]

It All Starts with the Subconscious by Kathryn Lane A recurring question I’m asked when I speak at book clubs is whether I plot the entire novel before I start writing. I usually respond by defining the two basic types of writers – detailed plotters or fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pantstypes. Once I’ve decided to begin a new book […]

My favorite shirt is torn. The minute the dryer buzzed, I stopped what I was doing and went to retrieve my shirt, so it wouldn’t wrinkle. I pulled it out, shook it, hung it, and saw the pinprick sized hole at the edge of the pocket. Perhaps it was a spot? No, a hole going […]

The Pinocchio Process by Warren Moore I’ve been writing since before I knew how to write – no, really. There are reel-to-reel tapes of a three-year-old me reciting songs and stories. My dad asks, “Did you make that up?” I say I did, and he says, “Pretty weird, kid.” It really hasn’t changed too much […]

Plotter or Pantser? What’s Your Style? I Think I’m a Binge Writer by Heather Weidner Thank you so much for letting me stop by for a visit on your blog. I love to talk about books and writing. Writers usually fall into one of two camps, plotters (those who plan, plot, and outline before writing), and […]

The End Of Our Thanksgiving by Debra H. Goldstein Thanksgiving week at the Goldstein’s house is coming to an end. The last child will be flying out tonight. The first one arrived last Tuesday. In between, a total of twelve people and one grand-dog descended on us. As parents, we will miss them and look […]

Sometimes a Bad Day Turns Into a Good Day, Especially If There’s Gin by Margaret Fenton 2007 was a great year. I went to Killer Nashville in August. I paid a lot of extra dollars and was given the opportunity to pitch my unpublished manuscript to either an agent or a representative from Oceanview Publishing. […]

Juxtaposing “Days of Wine and Roses” and “Where Did the Summer Go?” You know how a song gets caught in your head? Two phrases are ringing in my ears, but I don’t know how or why my brain thinks they go together. Logically, they don’t. There just isn’t an intellectual way to reconcile “Days of […]

When I moved to the Berkshires many years ago, I was an aspiring writer. So, I naturally sought out other authors who had lived and written there. The author with whom I felt the most kinship and who turned out to be an important influence on a novel I would eventually write was Edith Wharton. […]