Lisa Manterfield's Blog, page 9
January 3, 2017
Reigniting an Old Passion: Orienteering
I have a new short story out on Wattpad this week. Lost and Found is a true story about loss, finding strength, and the importance of telling the people you care about that you love them. I hope you’ll give it a read. Rediscovering an Old Passion In the story I write about one of […]
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December 28, 2016
My Fave Reads of 2016
It doesn’t feel like a full year has passed since I put together my Dazzling Dozen Reads of 2015, but here we are, almost at the end of December once again. This year, I developed a ruthless streak with regards to books. If something didn’t grab me and pull me in, I put it down and […]
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December 19, 2016
Beryl Markham: A Woman Ahead of Her Time
Have you ever felt as if you were born in the wrong era? I have an inexplicable love of both ‘20s jazz and ‘70s disco music, and often joke that I was born in the wrong decade. But, I’ve never had the experience of feeling I was born “long before my time.” Even though I’ve […]
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December 12, 2016
How Writing a First Draft is Like Taking a Cross-Country Road Trip
I’ve been nibbling away at the first draft of a new novel and it’s brought to mind a road trip I once took. At the end of my first year living in the States, a “gentleman friend” and I took a cross-country road trip. We had seven days to get from LA to Chicago in […]
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December 5, 2016
How to Be a Grown-Up Tip #37: Host your first holiday dinner while you can still laugh about it
The first Thanksgiving dinner I ever cooked was an unprecedented disaster. The turkey was black and crispy on top and decidedly pink in the middle, the stuffing was soggy and tasteless, and the adventurous pumpkin soup came out so thick you practically had to chew it. Thankfully, my friends cracked open a bottle of bubbly […]
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November 28, 2016
The Many Ways We Deal with Grief
I never intended to write a book about grief. A Strange Companion was supposed to be a story about soulmates and eternal love, but as I dug deeper into the writing, it soon became apparent that, at its heart, this was a story about grief. Grief is a funny thing. It affects people in so […]
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July 22, 2016
I’m Scared, So I Know I’m Onto Something Good
There’s a school of thought that says: When you start to feel afraid of taking a leap or making a change, that’s when you know you’re making the right decision. I’m choosing to subscribe to this school of thought this week, because I’m starting to feel nervous about an upcoming leap of faith. A couple […]
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July 15, 2016
A Campfire Story for Your Younger Self
Since we humans first began gathering into social and familial groups, we’ve used stories to create a sense of community. Early hunter-gatherers shared tales to pass along information, traditions, and important lessons. In this fascinating Life Science article, Campfire Tales Served as Early Human Social Media, researchers noticed a big difference between daytime and nighttime […]
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July 8, 2016
My Favorite Books of 2016…So Far!
I’ve read so many good books already this year, I decided not to wait until January to write up my Favorites list. If you’re looking for some good summer reading, here are the books that I’ve fallen in love with: Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng “Lydia is dead. […]
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June 24, 2016
Why Writers Must Ask “Why?”
Two weeks ago I got to visit the beautiful Pacific Northwest to teach a workshop about book promotion. I met the most generous and supportive group of writers at BARN (Bainbridge Artisan Regional Network) and we dug into how to find readers for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. One of the most important questions to ask […]
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