..but please don’t call me a victim. ♦ “That’s where Mr. X kissed me,” I almost said. My husband Ian and I were watching the Hallmark movie A Heidelberg Holiday. It had been filmed in the German town where we’d met as teenagers while students at an American school. In our short time together (he’d transferred there … Read more
I interview a lot of writers for JaneFriedman.com, and I’ve also been listening to many interviews with writers, primarily on The VJ Books Podcast and The Thriller Zone. My favorite part of any interview is one in which the writer shares something illustrative of a determination to retain or honor an independent artistic spirit, to write what they want … Read more
I prefer the way I write when, while writing, I imagine being read as a man. There’s an immediate freedom to not be apologetic. To do as we were taught in high school English and eliminate the self-conscious “I think…” from the writing. I’m not sure when it happened, the shift into having to pretend. … Read more
Yesterday I asked Ian, my husband, how he’d feel if we were traveling somewhere and I offered to put his carry-on into an airplane’s overhead bin for him. Would he let me do it? No, he said, he would not. I asked why. “Because I can do it myself,” he said. “Why would I want … Read more
In an episode of Burn Notice, which I used to watch while exercising before I became a Caroline Girvan devotee, a man hires Mike (or, in our house, Burn Notice) to find the guy who beat up his sister and put her in the hospital. The guy and Burn Notice stand at the sister’s hospital bed. … Read more
“I shouldn’t say never but I’m dreading motherhood.” I saw that tweet years ago and haven’t been able to forget it. It sticks with me because I used to feel that way. In my first post-high school relationship, as a girlfriend to the guy who’d become my first husband before I turned 20, I sensed … Read more
This interview was originally published on the now-absent website Indie Bookworm, hosted/written by Cathy Murray. It’s short. Enjoy! P.S. If you’re interested in receiving a copy of The Year of Dan Palace for review or interview purposes, let me know! – Kristen ∞ Why did you write The Year of Dan Palace? When we … Read more
“I don’t want them to go. Seriously. I love them to death. But once they are gone, won’t it be kind of nice to have fewer complications, fewer interruptions?” These are the things you say before they go, before they’re gone. Up until the second it happens, their leaving is still theoretical, so it’s safe and easy … Read more
SOCIETY is already seated when MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN (MAW) enters the diner. Society watches as MAW approaches and sits down. SOCIETY: I’m pleased we’re doing this. I know you’ve been wanting to get something off your chest, and —Oh, yes, it is a bit of a crepey situation, isn’t it. MAW: Sorry? SOCIETY: (reaching across the table to … Read more
From: JessicaSmith@mail.com To: JessicaVale@agentmail.com Sent: Saturday, 11:07 PM Dear Jessica Vale, In my recent email to you requesting representation for my literary novel Letters Lost, I neglected to include my telephone number. I apologize for the oversight. You’ll find the number in my signature below. I hope this minor error won’t tarnish your opion of my … Read more
