Born to Write
A Blog by Author Amy Hill Hearth
ASJA Conference Underscores the Importance of Meeting in Person
April 29, 2013
Old friends, new friends, Facebook friends, Goodreads friends...I am beginning to think I know the whole world! Last Thursday, as a panelist at the annual conference of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), I was surprised by the number of familiar faces in the audience at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan. Read More
Where Do Characters Come From?
April 12, 2013
"Are the characters in your novel based on real people?" I am asked this nearly every day. My late mother-in-law is the inspiration for the character, Jackie a.k.a. Miss Dreamsville, and my husband inspired the character of her son, Jude, at age 11. Everyone else is invented. Where on earth do these characters Read More
Writing Tip: Crafting a Speech
April 4, 2013
My Dad is a retired marketing executive at General Electric, and he used to tell me that a good speech is constructed of three parts: "First, tell the audience what you're going to say. Second, say it. Third, tell them what you just said." When he gave me this advice for the first time, Read More
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On Being Labeled a "Woman" Author
March 25, 2013
I've noticed that Wikipedia has decided to put my Wiki bio in four separate categories. The first is "1958 births." Well, thanks a lot Wikipedia! (Just kidding - the year of my birth is all over the Internet anyway, thanks to Contemporary Authors and other sources.) The second category is "Living people." Well, that's always Read More
The Non-Stop Editor
March 15, 2013
This will sound strange to the non-writers out there, but I am constantly editing the written word in my mind, everywhere I go. Menus, signs, instructions - nothing escapes me. Misspellings don't bother me too much, and I'm not a perfectionist about grammar. What bothers me is when the language is not clear. Especially Read More