Most readers know me as a mystery author, but for the past five or six years, I’ve been indulging my interest in biographical fiction. My first biographical novel, A Wilder Rose, told the story of Rose Wilder Lane, the woman who rewrote the family stories her mother—Laura Ingalls Wilder—had written down. Together, they created the […]
StoryCraft: Writers Write About Writing has moved to Substack. There you will find writing on the art, craft, and publication of women’s memoir, fiction, biography, poetry, drama, and more.
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Recent Posts
StoryCraft: Writers Write About Writing
Memoir: The Craft of Revision
Richard and me–in shadows–at Carpenter Ranch on The Big Trip, our last trip together Back in May, I started on one last revision of my new memoir, Bless the Birds, after receiving comments from editors at good publishing houses that they loved the story, but… But it was just too personal, but it was […]
In Good Company
Tomorrow afternoon will be the first meeting of the Writing Circle I’m starting in the Houston/Galveston area, and I’m beyond excited. The group is comprised of both old and new friends, including a high school classmate I have not seen for 20+ years. Our ages span from the 30s to the 80s. Just thinking about […]
I Never Gave Up My Dream
I never gave up on my dream. That is the key. All it took was the persistence to never give up. Early on in my life I thought of myself as a journalist and creative writer, but after college I settled for something more practical–technical writing and editing in the aerospace industry. And while I […]
From Memories to Memoirs — Remembering Vividly
This is the third in a series on moving from memories to memoirs. Click here to read Memories to Memoirs, Part 2. In part two, we used map drawing to trigger memories about place and time in our lives. In this article I present another technique to release sensory details from the subconscious and bring amorphous memories into […]
From Memories to Memoirs — What is Memoir?
Our greatest desire, greater even than the desire for happiness, Is that our lives mean something. This desire for meaning is the originating impulse of story. ~Daniel Taylor I believe that everyone’s lives, however “ordinary,” are filled with experiences that speak to universal human experience and are therefore interesting to other people. Today I’m beginning […]