As we approach summer, it’s fun to remember the places we once stole away to in order to immerse ourselves in a good book. For this month’s Q&A,...
Blog

A Layered Approach to Theme
I once heard a speaker at a writing conference insist that theme was the most essential element in any novel. Chagrined, I realized I couldn’t...
7 Things About Gilded Age Fashion
If you’ve been watching the new Julian Fellowes series The Gilded Age, you’ll know that the fashion of the late 19th and early 20th century...
New Member Spotlight: Michal Strutin
Welcome to Paper Lantern Writers! How are you holding up nearly two years into the pandemic? I’ve survived the pandemic with mental health intact—so...
Talking Turkey About Family Stories
Happy November! Time to talk turkey* with and about your family. At least here in America where we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving soon. For many...
Strange Bread Fellows – Pumpkin + Peanut Butter
Open my cookbook cupboard with caution. If you move too quickly, you’ll be deluged with recipe clippings. Because though I have a good many...
No Summer Reading Allowed
One of my worst fears is being caught on the road without a book to read. Which is why, before I took off for a recent family reunion in Idaho...
The Appeal of an Antique Book Cover
Writer and director Donna Swajeski is drawn to the beautiful book covers created by master book designers over a century ago. Dazzled by the...
Things We’ve Recently Learned from Books
In order to write historical fiction, a writer must know or research many things from different eras—architectural and landscape features, clothing,...
A Year of Writing and Pitching in Place
When the pandemic began, I was still recovering from my first round of rejections for my debut novel. A few months before, I’d pitched three agents...
Where We Write, Part 2
This week we continue our tour of the Paper Lantern Writers’ “writing caves.” Come see where the other lanterns make writing magic happen. A...
Where We Write
Now that you’ve met our newest Lanterns, we thought you might like to see where they work their magic. We asked them to tell us about the writing...
Cooking Arcs for Characters
In a recent interview, author Bryan Washington shared that he c rafts a “cooking arc” for every character in his stories. While writing his latest...
Sharing Ancestor Stories
For our Tuesday blog posts this month, the Paper Lantern Writers will be sharing some things that make us grateful. I’ll start with Ancestor...
Midwives and Dowsers: Practical Magic in Frontier America
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Exodus 22: 18 ~ “The witch hunts left a lasting effect: an aspect of the female has ever since been...
New Beginnings ~ Opening Lines
September is a time of new beginnings. For those of us raised in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s when we traditionally go back to school. Even more so...
Travel Writing
A writer friend came for lunch today. You’d think we were storming a dragon’s lair rather than sharing a casual, weekday get-together. So it goes in...
July 31 ~ Q & A /Race Relations in Histfic
This week the Paper Lantern Writers tackle a topic for our times - How have you dealt with race relations when writing historical fiction? Tindoor,...
July 17th ~ Q & A
Writers draw from all sorts of creative wells and are inspired by creative people who rarely put pen to paper. Today the Paper Lantern Writers talk...
Summer Reading: Westerns for Women
We’re approaching a hundred days of confinement this week here in Northern California and I’m jonesin’ for a jailbreak. Unfortunately, the raging...
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