I almost didn’t read Frontline Angel by Genevieve Jordayne. I’ve been living with a Civil War nurse for more than a year — she’s the main character of my upcoming novel. But in the end, I couldn’t resist. And I couldn’t resist from the moment I opened the first pages where she’s trying to figure out…
I’m busy editing the manuscript of my Civil War novel. Cutting and pasting, rewriting and rethinking. Oh yes, and occasionally cussing over why I can’t keep things straight in Scrivener. (I’m learning!) So I laughed when I came across this photo from my visit to the Morgan Library in New York last December. When Lord…
If you ask a writer about her characters, she just may speak about them as if she could call them on the phone and discuss weekend plans, or the next twist in the plot. They’re as real as Facebook friends, blog followers and long-lost relatives who connect every Christmas. Maybe more so. What if a character…
Now I know what it feels like to get a book contract. Heady. A thrill up there with winning the lottery or taking an exciting new job. Scary as any step into the unknown. And it came as I spent a day in bed, sick as a dog. About 3 p.m. I felt well enough…
Usually, I wander idly through Twitter. It can be amusing or enraging. I laugh at the funny tweets and retweet the occasional brilliant ones. Sometimes, though, one sticks with me. This one did. “The first draft of your story is the story you tell yourself.” I never thought of that. But it’s true. My first drafts…
Too many adverbs. Telling instead of showing. POV problem. Huh? I can count on my eagle-eyed group of critique partners to point out my story’s flaws, mistakes and plain bad writing. I got lucky when I signed up for an online critique group. I was ready to let someone else read my story but I never…
Megan half expected the house to look different from the day she went away. Though it had been only a few days, she felt as if things had changed dramatically since she left to look for her brother Ben. Perhaps it was only she that changed. She watched Mrs. Johnson’s carriage drive away before taking a deep breath…
When I saw Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen, I couldn’t resist. I volunteer at the Edgar Allan Poe House in Baltimore every now and again. One of the things I usually have to explain is how this is the house where he fell in love with the teenager who later became his wife. Virginia, his younger…
Today seems like a good day to remember the passion and eloquence of one of my heroes. Fifty-four years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. was sitting in a jail in Birmingham, Alabama, writing a letter. He’d read criticism by fellow clergymen of his work for civil rights and was penning his own response. He scribbled…
They don’t even know it but I consider Laura Drake, Jenny Hansen, Orly Konig and Fae Rowen among my mentors. The authors who created Writers in the Storm offer practical advice on the highs and lows of writing. Their columns keep me writing when I feel off, and inspire me to go back to work when I’ve…
Mary K. Tilghman, writer 