I am always excited to share author Q&As with you. This time is even more of a pleasure because I took a play-writing class with Atar Hadari 11 years ago and before that I attended some of his classes at Bar Ilan University. So, we go way back.  Moreover, Atar has generously honored me with two of his poems for two of my own novels. I'm always thrilled when Jewish writers can collaborate and together extend their own works.  We connected over our love of writing but also over some of our shared background. Atar is a tenth generation Israeli and my family, too, came to Palestine in the 1880s. I've lived in Israel for 20+ years but have not met many people who share this dual background with me. I'd love to meet more if you're out there! I'm excited about Atar's new book "Lives of the Dead: Collected poems...

I am so pleased to introduce my third summer guest, Renee Howard Cassese. Renee has been a participant in two of my virtual classes over the last couple of years. It is a privilege that many of my class participants continue to fill me in on their writing lives. Thanks for the update, Renee and congratulations on your move to self-publishing, which I've asked Renee to discuss in today's post. You can take a look at her self-published paperback I am my Mother's Only Poem: http://www.amazon.com/Am-My-Mothers-Only-Poem/dp/1494962535/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402002896&sr=8-1&keywords=i+am+my+mother%27s+only+poemTo self-publish or not to self-publish, that was the question. Though I rejected the idea of self-publishing because I thought it would brand me as an incompetent writer and unattractive to agents and traditional publishers, over the years I gently but surely changed my mind. When it comes to novels I still believe traditional is the way to go, but I am considering looking for small presses...

Continuing my summer series of author guest posts, this week I'm featuring Diana Bletter.We've met virtually and I'm looking forward to one day meeting in person. Thanks for visiting, Diana.What? Huh? You’re 57 and you’re only publishing your first novel now?It’s not as if I didn’t try. I’ve wanted to be a published writer ever since the poem I wrote about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination was printed in a newspaper. I was eleven. I loved seeing my name in print. I loved the way my parents showed my poem to total strangers. But most importantly—and I realize this more and more—I loved the actual writing of it. The way I could make words dance the Salsa right over the page. I loved the timing, the rhyming. I was so proud of the poem's last lines: “Can we help with the things he lived for: peace and non-violence? If we don’t, there...