Jessica McCann's Blog, page 4

Life Essentials

Food, shelter, purpose, companionship, and books: essentials of a happy, meaningful life. They don’t always have to be in perfect balance, but they are a package deal. #lifetip #writetip #FindYourPurpose

Tweet

#FindTheBeautyInAdversity #PeculiarSavageBeauty

Writing Advice and Lessons Learned

Historical novelist and creative nonfiction author Jessica McCann answers three questions from aspiring writers in this five-minute video.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to be a writer?What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started writing?What is the most important thing you’ve learned in your writing career?

Book Recommendation: Travels with Charley in Search of America

Steinbeck’s ability to create a sense of place and tell an entertaining story has always impressed me. This nonfiction account of his cross-country road trip in 1960 did not disappoint in that respect. It also gave me a new perspective of Steinbeck as a man and of the era during which he lived. 

He was 58 when he and his dog, Charley, set out in a modern, fully-stocked camper truck for a months’ long journey. Steinbeck’s goal was to rediscover the America and the people he’d spent decades...

Writing Research and Fieldtrips

Published author Jessica McCann spoke online with high school students about her writing and research process. The students were awesome and asked several great questions. In the coming weeks, this blog will feature video segments from the class. In this first post, McCann talks about how technological advances during her career has made book research much easier; yet, she stresses how also getting offline and away from technology can improve your writing in different ways.

Garden Library DIY

Garden library DIY project

This crafty do-it-yourself project has been months in the making. I’d been aching to improve the dreadful view outside my home office window for a couple years. Inspiration for a garden library DIY project finally struck early in 2020.  

I began stopping my car and hopping out to rescue stray bricks and busted pavers from curbs, gutters, sidewalks and embankments. These orphans would become my garden books. A busted, stained shipping-pallet and a weather-worn lat...

Video Teaser for Novel in Progress

People always ask authors, “Are you working on another novel?” The answer is yes. Always yes. Yet, we all write and create at a different pace. I’m an avid reader, too, so I understand the enthusiasm and anticipation one feels while waiting for a favorite author’s next book. So without further ado, I’ll share a brief, sneak peek at the idea board — imagery and themes — for my current historical novel-in-progress. Enjoy!

Nonfiction Book for a Nervous Planet

Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig is a fabulous read for anyone feeling unsettled, stressed out or anxious. In other words, pretty much everyone. It’s a small book packed with wisdom in bite-sized pieces – some sections are a few pages, others are a few paragraphs, or a poem, or a short list of things like “5 reasons to be happy you are human and not a sentient robot.”

Haig experiences anxiety, panic attacks and depression. His books – both fiction and nonfiction – tackle issues of men...

Book Recommendation – Simon the Fiddler

Paulette Jiles has secured her place among my list of favorite authors with her latest novel, Simon the Fiddler. Set in Texas, 1865, the book paints an evocative picture of life in the young, rough-edged state at the conclusion of the Civil War. It tells the tale of 23-year-old Simon Boudlin, an ambitious Kentucky fiddle player, and “the ragtag band of musicians with whom he travels ,” as well as the lovely Irish immigrant who captures his heart.

I loved Jiles’ novel News of the World ...

Literary Novel Portrays Life with Huntington’s Disease

[image error]

Reading novels enables us to understand and feel the thoughts and experiences of another person. Fiction, if it is done well, transports the reader to the fictional characters world and life. Author Malorie Blackman puts it this way, Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone elses shoes for a while.

An excellent example of this is Anne Petes new novel, The Speed of Life, about a woman coping with the fallout of her Huntingtons Disease (HD) diagnosis. HD is a fatal...

Historical Fiction Makes Us Feel

[image error]

Novelist Susan Vreeland said, Historical fiction makes us feel. It presents to us a truth more human than what history books present. Wise words. In the spirit of that statement, the following historical novels show the human side of history exceedingly well. They make us feel.

The Railwaymans Wife by Ashley HayA Gentleman in Moscow by Amor TowlesAll That is Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeonThe Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck.Leaving Atlanta by Tayari JonesThe Lost Wife by...