I'm so excited to have Julie Gray on gilagreenwrites today. For a change, I've actually met Julie the old-fashioned way-- in person. It was delightful to meet up in Tel Aviv and Julie gave me a boost of energy that day which I hope to repeat. She's a tremendous resources for writers here in Israel (and abroad) and now she's working on a few ne...

Thank you so much, Natasha Murray for hosting me on your blog. It was a thoroughly enjoyable interview. Welcome Gila to my blog, please let everyone know about your writing journey. 1. What made you want to write a book? It's a wonderful idea to think there's even the possibility that I might write something another person will connect to. We all n...

Jennifer Lang is one of those writers who combines writing with another passion of mine: exercise. True, I  lean more to Pilates than Yoga (yogalates anyone?) but at any rate, we both have the mind/body connection up front and center and I'm so pleased to finally have her on the site. I am also, as always, keen to introduce more people to writ...

I'm happy to share my interview with Rachel Barenbaum with all of you. I had the privilege of attending one of her author readings while she is spending the year in Israel and it was well worth it. It was a pleasure to speak to her in person and even more fun to have her on the site. I hope to catch her again before she returns to the U.S. Rachel, ...

I've known Kathryn virtually for years and was thrilled when she asked to interview me for her author site. I hope you enjoy the interview.  Busy author Gila Green has written several fiction books, traveled the world, and teaches courses for WOW-Women On Writing . She grew up in Ottawa, Canada, then moved to Israel for a year where she met he...

Have you ever met someone virtually and thought, I would love to meet this person in real life? That's my experience with Miryam Sivan. It might be because she also grew up in North America with Israeli parents and growing up for me that was an extremely small club (me and my brother). In my day Israelis who left the country were looked upon differ...

​ I am absolutely thrilled to have Norene Gilletz on my blog today. Norene's motto is "Food that's good for you should taste good!" Her first cookbook Second Helpings, Please! is a true classic. I received it for my wedding and it still has a prominent place on my kitchen shelf all these years later. It's a pleasure to interview her on the occasion...

 I get excited about author interviews and I never imagined when I began chatting with other authors how much I would enjoy it (shout-out to you authors, yes, I love hearing from you). This month I interview Tara Lynn Masih and it turns out we are both being published by Cervena Barva Press , something I did not know when we first connected an...

I'm always excited to share author Q&A articles with you and I'm particularly interested in letting you know more about fellow Canadian, Jewish writers. I heard about Sharon from a mutual friend from Toronto and, as often happens, she suddenly appeared on my Linked-In and we connected right away. Sharon Hart-Green is a Canadian writer and acade...

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 ...

I'm thrilled to have one of the most influential editors on my work here today on my blog. I met Mark as a student at Bar Ilan University fourteen years ago and I've been lucky enough to continue to learn from him . He is a constant support.  Mark Jay Mirsky is professor of English at the City College of New York, a former director of its...

  I'm always excited to share author Q&A articles with you. I'm thrilled to have another Israel-based writer joining me on my blog. I virtually met Diana after I published my first novel King of the Class and I've been following her blossoming publishing career ever since. I still hope to make it up North to meet Diana in person or to catc...

I'm always excited to share author Q&A articles with you. This time stands out because I rarely meet a Jewish writer from my hometown, Ottawa, but I found Brandon on Linked-In in 2013 when my first novel King of the Class was published and we connected quickly over shared writing interests. I'm excited about Brandon's Jewish history reference b...

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+poem To 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,...

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...