12 Grants for Writers

Guest post by Avasta team. Do you write full-time? Have you ever considered applying to grants for writers? Grants give writers the opportunity to work on specific project or ideas. Grants are fantastic tools to help supplement your income. We have put together a few grants for writers. Deadlines are a few weeks away! Please click on more…

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KSER Sound Living Interview – Isthmus & Storyteller Award

Guest post by Avasta team. In an in-depth interview with Ed Bremer from KSER 90.7, Gar touched upon the Gar LaSalle Storyteller Award: his motivations and vision for this grant, in partnership with Artist Trust. Gar talks about the storyteller award at (48:16). You can listen to the interview here: [button link=”https://soundcloud.com/90-7-kser/kser-soundliving-08-07-15-isthmus-lasalle” color=”green” size=”small” type=”” shape=”round” target=”_blank” title=”” gradient_colors=”|” gradient_hover_colors=”|” accent_color=””…

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How to Create an Award-Winning Book Cover

My book ‘Widow Walk’ won the USA Books News’ Best Book Cover Design Award in 2013. Widow Walk is set in mid-nineteenth century Pacific Northwest region, called the Oregon Country, which included parts of present day Washington state and Vancouver B.C. Author and publisher Kelsye Nelson interviewed me last week. We talked about the processes…

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Writing and the Splendor of Solitude

At every book reading and presentation, I have been asked questions about how I go about my writing: whether my process is compulsive/disciplined or impulsive/inspired, where I write and how frequently. My answer is that I am impulsively compulsive. I write when I have something to write and am disciplined only about preserving the turning…

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Announcement: Full Prize List for March Land Rush Campaign

Join the Land Rush to enter a drawing for a chance to win one of these fabulous prizes: [fontawesome icon=”fa-star” circle=”yes” size=”medium” iconcolor=”#a88458″ circlecolor=”#ffffff” circlebordercolor=”#e8e8e8″ flip=”” rotate=”” spin=”no” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][title size=”6″ content_align=”left” style_type=”single solid” sep_color=”” class=”” id=””][title size=”6″ content_align=”left” style_type=”single solid” sep_color=”” class=”” id=””]THREE-DAY WRITING RETREAT[/title] “There is nothing to writing. All…

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Postpartum Care in 19th Century America

French-Victorian-Childbirth-etching

One of the female characters in Widow Walk, Emmy Evers, receives postpartum care after suffering a miscarriage. Emmy was cared for by a male doctor and some female caretakers, whose greatest concern is her postpartum fever as they had seen so many women perish when this was present. Because she was hemorrhaging, the physician who attended…

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Cross Dressing Warriors in the Civil War

One of the characters our Emmy Evers meets in Book Three of the Widow Walk Saga, The Fairness of Beasts, is a young woman who disguises herself as a Union soldier in order to be close to her lover. Cross dressing was not uncommon. Although both the Union and Confederacy forbade women to enlist and women distinguished…

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The Butterfly Victim

Last evening I had the opportunity to see (again) and hear Madame Butterfly, the Puccini 1904 grand opera set in 19th century Nagasaki, Japan. This version was produced by the excellent local company Lyric Opera Northwest whose mission is to provide classical operatic venues in which local talented young singers can perform with seasoned international…

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The Cimarron

The Cimarron

The Cimarron (Cimaroons) were Congolese African slaves who escaped from the Spanish in Panama and lived in the forests of the Darién Gap. Masters of camouflage and known for their cunning ferocity, for hundreds of years, they and their descendants preyed on the travelers of the Camino Real and the Rio Chagres, allying themselves on…

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