posts by Alison Atlee:
The school year isn’t fresh and new everywhere at the beginning of September, but it’s a good excuse to bring you some books with peeks inside the classroom. These stories also share the theme of communities facing conflicts of values and culture: In Merry Farmer’s historical In Your Arms, a ... more >
With reader and writer “conference season” upon us, I thought I’d bring to Dear Author a few authors who also make great presenters on panels and workshops. Grace Burrowes was a wonderful discovery to me last year–I didn’t know her when I went to see a panel of headliner historical ... more >
This past spring, I enjoyed offering a DA interview on Brenda Novak’s annual auction to benefit diabetes research. Lauren Hawkeye (who also writes as Lauren Jameson) submitted the winning bid (thank you!), and I’m happy to host her here today with Unraveled, a box set released this week. Joining Lauren ... more >
Samuel Johnson observed, “A writer only begins a book. The reader finishes it.” With an audiobook, a voice is added to that mix, one that can profoundly affect the reader’s experience of the story. Audiobook narration is an art and craft that’s long fascinated me, and June Is Audiobook Month, ... more >
Brenda Novak and her team have raised an inspiring amount of money for diabetes research over the past few years. Just a few days remain for this year’s auction, so I wanted to remind authors that Dear Author has an item up for bid, one of the DA3 Interviews I ... more >
Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock popularized the term “MacGuffin,” using it as shorthand for whatever object put the characters (and the story) in motion. For Hitchcock, the MacGuffin mattered mainly because the characters cared about it enough to go after it–whether the audience precisely understood it was a secondary concern. Today’s novels ... more >