To kick off a new month at the Blood-Red Pencil, please welcome one of our favorite guests, Susan Wittig Albert . After nearly three decades of writing traditionally-published fiction and nonfiction, I decided to publish a standalone novel under my own imprint, Persevero Press. (For the reasons behind the decision,  go here .) I have to admit: this has been a major adventure—the equivalent of a hike across the U.S., maybe, or a safari in darkest Africa. I’m not out there trekking by myself, of course. There are dozens—hundreds, thousands—of authors heading in the same direction, many of them quite a distance ahead of me, and I’m grateful to them for blazing the trail. But there’s one little side road on this trip that I’m taking on my own—well, probably not, but it feels that way. My book—a biographical/historical novel called A Wilder Rose —is about the collaboration of Rose Wilder Lane and Laura Ingalls Wilder on the writing of the Little House books. Since most...

Patricia Stoltey recently discussed various points-of-view (you can read the post by clicking here ), and today we welcome Susan Wittig Albert to discuss an unusual and little-used narrative POV she employs in her Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter series. Welcome, Susan, on this tour stop for the seventh book in the series, The Tale of Oat Cake Crag , and thank you for sharing your insights with us. ~~~~~~ The Narrator and the Reviewer In Mystery News a couple of years ago, Diana Vickery wrote a review of The Tale of Hawthorn House that made me smile. “Much of the book’s appeal,” she wrote, “was its twinkly third-person narrator. I could imagine her speaking voice—sweet, breathy but firm—and her personality traits: finely honed sense of both propriety and humor. And when she speaks directly to readers, they sit up and take notice.” Hey, I thought. This reviewer really got it. Because this is very close to the image I have in my own mind of the narrator of these family-f...

Today we welcome Susan Wittig Albert, prolific author of numerous mystery novels , perhaps less commonly known as the creator of the Story Circle Network , and now author of her first memoir, Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dani: Susan, we've talked all week about memoirs, and earlier we discussed the Story Circle Network which you founded. What prompted you to start that group ten years ago? Why then? Susan: I’d been teaching lifewriting (journaling and memoir) to women for five or six years, and I’d just written Writing From Life . I wanted to encourage women to document their lives--to tell the true stories of their experiences--and it seemed to me that what we needed was sustained personal encouragement from other women. A book can help give guidance, but I felt an organization could best do that job. (For more backstory, click here .) Dani: Why write a memoir? Susan: There are lots of reasons: to record your life; get clear ab...

If you're not yet a fan of author, Susan Wittig Albert's blog , head over there today and read a couple of good posts about the use of pseudonyms in writing. She has some interesting stories to tell about her own choices over the years! (Note for later: July 18 & 19, 2009)

I belong to the Story Circle Network , a writing organization for memoirists. We have an active Yahoo!Group for members, and every weekend chat about books we're currently reading. Recently, we discussed long-time serial authors like Nevada Barr and Sue Grafton, and most of us had strong feelings that their evolving series had become too plot-driven, perhaps even too sensationalized, with a disappointing lack of deep character development. I'm really ready for Kinsey Milhone to have a serious love relationship, aren't you? Anna Pigeon could have spent a little time with her new husband after she got married, but didn't. Call me disappointed and a little unwilling to read the newest book unless I know she'll be spending some time with Paul. One of the things I like most about L.j. Sellers' Detective Wade Jackson character, is that he does develop as a person from novel to novel. It's not just plot-driven writing although the current events issue in each book...