I see, I listen, I think. Therefore, I write.
Pandemic life is strange. We’re forced to live even more in a virtual world. I watch as my niece’s two little girls argue over who gets to use the iPad first. Their mother has ruled that each only gets thirty … Continued
Do you have trouble throwing stuff? Those that you might have treasured in the past but are no longer of current importance to you. Not too long ago, I rummaged through a couple of old boxes to make room for … Continued
Here’s the first professional review of my latest book by Self-Publishing Review, cross-posted on the Independent Review of Books. The book will be free for the next two days: November 17 and 18. Get your free copy. And if you … Continued
When I do blog tours, like the one I’m doing with the release of my latest novel,The Shade Under the Mango Tree, at least one blogger would ask me if any of my own experience makes it into the book. … Continued
The protagonists of my latest novel, The Shade Under the Mango Tree, travel to exotic places. An experience I can easily relate to. Like the hero who backpacked at home and abroad, I remember spending summers as a college student … Continued
Every time is a good time for classical literature especially those addressing women’s issues, a hot topic for modern women. We can count the works of Elizabeth Gaskell (author of the popular historical romance North and South) as an important … Continued
Details convey character. They carry a lot of weight in fiction. “Often, a well-chosen detail can tell us more about a character — his social and economic status, his hopes and dreams, his vision of himself—than a long explanatory passage.” … Continued
I sometimes feel like an anachronism because I prefer inner-directed characters. Characters I’m more likely to find in the classics. I also tend to be more moved by the prose and stories of classic writers. With some exceptions, for sure. … Continued
I nearly zapped a historical romance out of my iPad in exasperation, while reading it one evening. Not because it was badly written. Nor was it boring. Rather, it annoyed me that for the umpteenth time, the author describes her … Continued
Margaret of the North, the first novel I published, is a historical novel. It’s a sequel to Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, a much loved classic, at least in its form as a BBC miniseries. Why write a sequel? I … Continued
Feminism in Victorian Novels? Impossible. Not when the status of women placed them just a bit above spoiled children. But I found Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South and realized it wasn’t so. I had never heard of Ms. Gaskell until … Continued