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The first Irish writer I ever fell in love with was Frank McCourt. His memoir, Angela’s Ashes, read like a novel with its terrible but beautiful setting, deft handling of the themes of religion and poetry, and carefully but lovingly drawn characters.

I am crazy about descriptive passages in novels. The ones I tend to keep are the ones that offer powerful visual imagery.

Most of us have heard this quote before. Counting my memoir revisions, before my book morphed into a novel, I have written upwards of 15 drafts of my story. I set it aside—twice—for six months, so I could come back with new perspectives and fresh eyes.

Did you ever wonder why small children (and most cats) would rather play with the box a gift came in that the present itself? Well, I think they are on to something. A toddler can think of a zillion ways to play with that box, to use their imagination to make it anything they want […]

If you are like me, you spend a significant chunk of time reading other writers’ blogs—for insights into and advice about writing in your genre. I have compressed a short list here of some of my favorite blogs (in no particular order), in case you are looking to add new ones to your list in […]

If you know me, you know I adore stories with a strong sense of setting. Novels in which the place almost takes on its own character. Where the protagonist has been shaped by where they live and can have a personality that mirrors the town she or he grew up in. The Home Place is […]