How to improve setting in story

 In South Africa's Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, I discuss improving setting in your story. 

Best marketing tool for writers

 Enjoy the view. Today's vlog was filmed at Chapman's Peak, a mountain on the western side of the Cape Peninsula, between Hout Bay and Noordhoek in Cape Town, South Africa.

Vlog Time: WATCH

How beautiful are these backgrounds? The cover photo is Cape Town's Table Mountain and this vlog was filmed at Chapman's Peak, overlooking Hout Bay, Cape Town, South Africa.  

Symbolism & Setting

Symbolism is one of the most underused techniques when it comes to story setting.  There's no better place to talk about setting than in Cape Town's beautiful Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.

I've been publishing in literary magazines since 2005 and, I admit, I'm addicted. I've had four novels accepted for publication to small presses, an offer of a young adult series and yet I always have at least a handful of submissions out there, far beyond what's considered the usual expiry date for writers. I can't seem to stop, though that's craz...

Writing funny flash fiction

Today's question is about adding some levity to your flash fiction. You don't want to write an extended joke. What's the difference?  

Today's question: How do I know when to extend my flash into a short story?  

He sighs and holds his glass up remembering things that happened years ago. I try to diminish myself in my chair, so he'll see his memories and share them instead of seeing me."I begged your father to run away to the kibbutz with me. So many young people were doing it then. There was no food in Jerusalem. But he was the oldest, and he wouldn't leav...

It was a pleasure to talk with Laura Parish, who hosts the fiction readers and writers blog, Novel Kicks. Thank you so much for having me. My first interview of 2019 and my first in the UK! Hi Gila, thank you for joining me today. Your novel is called Passport Control. Can you tell me about it and what inspired the story? Passport Control is a comi...

I'm so pleased to share Rebecca Klempner's review of Passport Control with you.  Reviewed by Rebecca Klempner Gila Green's recent novel, Passport Control, is not light entertainment. But it's perfect for those readers interested in a suspenseful, well-written, and thought-provoking piece of literary fiction that may make them deeply uncom...

Register Now:  Come as you are, with a fifth version of a piece you've been working on since your high school graduation or as a writer who has never heard of flash until you saw this advertisement and rushed to sign up. In the first part of this masterclass, we'll define flash fiction and take you all the way from idea to premise to micro fla...

Thanks Joanna Penn for hosting me this month.  

​I can't sum up how I feel about libraries better than this. I already have a vlog on writers block. Here's another take. This is my prompt to remind me to write a longer piece on podcasts. For now, This American Life podcast is an excellent cure for writer's block. 

The Opposite of Fate

 "What I draw from is not a photographic memory, but an emotional one."  Thank you, Amy Tan.  I reread that again and again. I must use this as a prompt to write about the truths in fiction.  What is the purpose of fiction? To write what I cannot say. Though I cannot tell you what happened for so many reasons (pain, shame), if I...

 Live Write thrive, Writers Write, Christi Craig, Kathy Steinemann, Kathryn Schleich, Writers Helping Writers, Fiction Magazine, The Book Designer, The Millions, WOW-Women on Writing hailing from USA, Canada, and South Africa. The writing community is global. Writers take note and think BIG.  

Wisdom Wednesdays

Thank you so much to life coach Bev Ehrlich, originally of Cape Town, South Africa, now of Modiin, Israel for her interview today. I am thrilled to be part of her "make your dream come true" series on Youtube, which she has titled Wisdom Wednesdays.  

I'm so excited to have Yael Shahar with me on my blog. I love introducing people to new fellow authors who live in Israel. We've met in cyberspace a few times but I find an interview is really a great way to connect with a writer and her work and this work I find particularly intriguing. Please welcome Yael Shahar. Bio Yael Shahar was born in ...

A Phone Call from Mom "Do you know what your brother did when he finished reading your novel?" my mother asks. "He WhatsApped me," I answer. "'Just finished your book. Great read'." I reread my brother's exact words from my phone. There is a cheery note in my voice because I've already won this conversation. With this book publication there will be...

 Publishing Your Story While publication is never guaranteed (unless you're self-publishing, but that's another post), there are a number of things you can do to help your story find a home. Start with this seven-point guide: 1. Don't rush. Is your story ready for publication? One of the biggest mistakes new writers make is sending out th...

A word after a word after a word is power." –Margaret Atwood Writing isn't just for writers, it's for anyone with a small business to promote. You might think as an author and book editor that most of my clients are other authors. Think again. People don't write new books every month. Many people take years to finish a first draft. If I waited unti...

BOOK LAUNCH LESSONS

​In 2013, I published my first novel King of the Class (KOTC). Three months later I wrote a post titled "What I learned from Publishing my First Novel." It was a necessary integration of what I'd gleaned after three months of full-time, dedicated hard work—the kind of 24-hour work after which you can't even think about the topic. I was burnt out of...

 Guest Post Ahead

 I won't make you wait. Here are three things I learned from writing my second novel Passport Control. 1. You can deviate from the traditional coming-of-age structure. Classically, protagonists in coming-of-age stories encounter a singularly painful experience that make them realize once and for all that they are alone in the world. They soon ...

​I am thrilled to be hosted today by Christi Craig. In addition to my guest post, we are having a book giveaway courtesy of my publisher S&H Publishing. 

 Thank you Sasson Magazine for posting "Roller Coaster," an excerpt from my novel in stories White Zion, forthcoming from Cervena Barva Press, April 2019.  Faith was too late getting down the stairs. By the time she made it into the living room it was over. She could only look from her son to her husband. Shock parachuted into the room li...

Today I was thrilled to be hosted on the Ottawa Mommy Club blog. Your Failure to Thrive Baby Doesn't make you a Failure as a Mother When most mothers think of challenging events in the first two years of an average child's life, they might think of vaccinations, fevers, tantrums, and night-waking. What about weighings? Believe it or not, for some m...

My new article is out in the latest Wrapt.   On Balance: The Biggest Mistake Working Mothers Make Got hot nit gekent zayn umetum, hot er beshafn mames. "God couldn't be everywhere, so He created mothers." A Yiddish proverb I won't write about work-life balance or for many of us, work-life-work balance. It's not because I think you've read...

Warm up with a free copy of Passport Control. ​Thank you to Christi Craig who is hosting me this week on her blog. To add to the occasion I'm doing my first ever book giveaway courtesy of my publisher S&H Publishing.  

My vlog is on WOW-womenonwriting's The Muffin

I'm excited to share with you that my vlog: "What is the difference between non fiction flash & essay writing?" is on today's The Muffin on the WOW-women on writing site.  If you have a question about writing, contact me and I'll do my best to vlog the answer in one minute or less. I'd love to hear from you. 

Image courtesy of City of Ottawa Archives

  My newest flash fiction piece is out on Writer's Bone.  Britannia is a hilly area with duplexes and triplexes on tree-lined streets. The Dillain's new convenience store is on the corner at the bottom of the hill. It has a picturesque frontal view of the large, local park and the Ottawa River, the chief tributary of the Saint Lawrence Ri...