Category Archives: Resources for Aspiring Writers

Lydia Netzer

 

Lydia NetzerAn astronaut lost in space, his pregnant wife who has been bald since birth, their autistic son and a street of seemingly perfect neighbors.

Author Lydia Netzer has peopled her debut novel – Shine Shine Shine – with a cast of offbeat characters whose differences illuminate the universal need to connect with others while remaining true to one’s self. Netzer uses math creatively to explain relationships and she sets part of her story in space, but Shine Shine Shine is not science fiction. It is a tale of love, motherhood and what it means to be human.

Shine Shine Shine was a New York Times Notable Book for 2012 and an Amazon Spotlight Book of the Month. It was shortlisted for the LA Times Book Prize in Fiction. Netzer will participate in JRW’s Writers Conference in October 2013 and was interviewed in April 2013 by Kathleen Sams Flippen, a design blogger who can be found at A Flippen Life.

 

QUESTION 1. You have stated in other interviews that you conceived the idea for Shine Shine Shine when you were pregnant with your first child and worried that you were too “weird” to be a mother. You wanted to explore the idea of transitioning from woman to wife and wife to mother and the need many people feel to hide their oddities and present themselves as “normal.” Was there any specific incident that made you realize none of us is perfect and it’s okay to stop pretending and “rip your wig off”, as your character Sunny does?

I definitely survived many moments of trying to cram the wig on my head although it didn’t properly fit! The casseroles I tried to make from scratch because that’s what the “good” wife does; the lunch party I tried to host using all my mother’s china for the other moms on the block who showed up in capris and t-shirts wondering why they were drinking soda out of crystal; the many outfits I have tried to put together where my shoes and my sweater have a working relationship; the quilts I tried to make. It was a little scary there for a while. (more…)

Making a Great Impression with Booksellers

Fountain210Sad but true, the most difficult place to sell a book is in a bookstore. Your book is surrounded by its competition. The bookstore is the war zone, so to get your book noticed, you need a battle plan. More importantly, you need an ally like Fountain Bookstore owner Kelly Justice.

What does it take to work effectively with a bookstore and convince booksellers to want to work with you? Kelly has provided James River Writers and its members a list of the good, the bad and the brilliant things writers should keep in mind when working with booksellers.

Kelly’s Rules for Making a Great Impression as a Writer in Fountain Bookstore

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Rich Babbitt

Rich Babbitt wrote and self-published his first book in October 2010. Just five months later, Dementi Milestone Publishing agreed to publish his work as a paperback illustrated by artist Wendy Custer. The new book — From PAPERBOY to BOOMER: How Lessons Learned from Paper Routes and Lawn Mowing Helped Shape 10 Skill Sets of Today’s Leaders — was released in September 2011.

Melissa P. Gay, author of the blog This Common Reader, interviewed Rich in December 2012 and got some good advice for authors publishing and marketing their first book.  (more…)

Michele J. Rolle

Michele J. Rolle is a mammography health care specialist in Richmond and has been compassionately committed for more than 25 years to educating and mentoring women in the value of breast health. Her article “The Power of Caring for Others” on domestic violence was recently published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch weekly feature “In her Shoes.”

In her debut memoir, Invisible Warrior, Michele provides a valuable, historical account of growing up as an African American in New York’s failed housing experiment from the early 1960s until the late 1970s. Melissa P. Gay, author of the blog This Common Reader, caught up with Michele on the eve of her book launch in September 2012.  (more…)

Rosemary Rawlins

Rosemary Rawlins is the author of Learning By Accident, published in July 2011. The memoir grew out of a journal she kept after her husband, Hugh, sustained a traumatic brain injury. The couple now live in Richmond, Va., where she works as an inspirational speaker on topics of caregiving and personal leadership.

Rosemary shared how she published the book herself at The Writing Show on June 28, 2012. She was interviewed by Elizabeth Rabin, a freelance writer and  JRW website contributor, in May 2012. (more…)

Phyllis Anne Duncan

A commercial pilot and former official at the Federal Aviation Administration, Phyllis Anne Duncan now pursues her writing full time from her home in the Shenandoah Valley.  Phyllis has written short stories, feature articles, and book reviews for both print and online publications. She is currently working on several works of fiction, including her “opus magnum” A Perfect Hatred, a trilogy about an act of domestic terrorism in America. The books in the proposed trilogy are End Times, Downward Spiral, and Collateral Damage

Melissa P. Gay, author of the blog This Common Reader, talked to Phyllis about her writing process in June 2012. (more…)

Lula Belle

Lula BelleLula Belle wears many hats.  She is a mom, a writer and property manager. Her debut novel Expecting tells a thought-provoking story of a young woman’s challenges when Roe vs. Wade is revoked.

Melissa P. Gay, author of the blog This Common Reader, interviewed Lula about balancing her budding career with the rest of her life in May 2012.

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Valley Haggard

Valley HaggardValley Haggard is a writer and teacher. Her articles and works of creative nonfiction have been published in Style Weekly, Richmond Magazine, V Magazine, Skirt, the Writer’s Dojo and the anthology, Tarnished: True Tales of Innocence Lost, and has a monthly column in Belle. Valley is also the founder of Richmond Young Writers, a writing camp for kids, and has volunteered with James River Writers as both a board member and program organizer.

Melissa P. Gay, author of the blog This Common Reader, chatted with Valley about her writing process in March 2012.

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Andrew Jay Fox

Andrew Fox photo by Ellen DatlowAndrew Jay Fox is author of Fat White Vampire Blues, published in 2003, Bride of Fat White Vampire, published in 2005, and The Good Humor Man, or, Calorie 3501, published in, 2009. The Good Humor Man, or, Calorie 3501, was selected by Booklist as one of the Ten Best SF/Fantasy Novels of the Year. Andrew was recently a panelist at The Writing Show on February 23, discussing “Sweet Indulgences: Writing Food, Drink, and Romance.” He was interviewed by V. Mark Covington, a novelist and JRW website contributor, in March 2012.

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Pat Concodora

20120325-000433.jpgPat Concodora has published feature articles, trade magazine profiles, and business content. She is currently working on a memoir titled Untethered and a mystery novel titled The Hour to Reap.

Melissa P. Gay, author of the blog This Common Reader, chatted with Pat about her writing process in March 2012.

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