Learning how to stay disciplined, grappling with doubt, failure, and rejection, finding one’s voice, struggling to stay solvent—we’ve all dealt with these issues. It’s comforting to know that Charlotte Brontë, George Sand, Louisa May Alcott, and others did, as well. But in the end, it’s not so much about experiencing these obstacles that matters, but overcoming them.
While researching The Literary Ladies’ Guide to the Writing Life, I delved into the letters, journals, and memoirs of classic women authors. I found that certain challenges were just as universal among those who eventually became literary icons as they are among today’s writing women, whether seasoned or aspiring.
Here are twelve nuggets of wisdom I gleaned from each of the twelve classic women authors I’ve grown to know and admire. Read More→
Britannia Mews by Margery Sharp is a 1946 novel that fits well into this British author’s skill for creating entertaining, lighthearted stories. Known for her wit and wry wisdom about human nature, Britannia Mews chronicles lives spanning three generations. The novel was adapted to a 1949 film, retitled The Forbidden Street. From the 1946 edition, the story is described in a nutshell:
“Britannia Mews had housed the horses and coachman of Adelaide’s family and their set in 1875. When Adelaide went to live there it was a slum, in which domestic tragedy and blackmail were only general terms for the turmoil of experience with that awaited her. Read More→
Margery Sharp (January 25, 1905 – March 25, 1991), born Clara Margery Melita Sharp in Salisbury, England, was a prolific British author. Though she wrote numerous books (many in the comic novel genre), her most enduring work is The Rescuers series for children, two of which were adapted into animated Disney films.
After completing a varied education in arts and languages, Margery started her career by getting her stories published in Punch magazine, at age 21. She continued to write for this and other major magazines in Britain and the U.S.
By the time she was 30, she had published her first novel, Rhododendron Pie (1930) which took her just a month to write. By the end of the 30s, she had married Major Geoffrey Castle, an aeronautical engineer. Read More→
