My characters have flaws. They’re blemished. Defective. And interesting.
No one is all good or all bad. Well, maybe Tess’ father Liam Riley is all bad. I don’t think I gave that man one redeeming feature. I was more generous with Abner Manning. He may treat Lucy as her brothers’ second-class sibling but he respects her [...]

In my historical novel A Shocking & Unnatural Incident, Elizabeth Cady Stanton complains that her friend Jane Hunt cannot open a checking account for her sewing circle even though she’s the treasurer. Her husband must open it in his name.
Women in the United States and other countries are no longer blocked from banking like they [...]

On Dec. 18, 1979, the United Nations agreed to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women as a critical pillar of human rights.
Thirty years later, the United States still hasn’t joined the rest of the world community by ratifying that treaty, putting itself on par with Sudan, Somalia, Iran [...]

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve learned as a writer is to make your characters suffer.
If your protagonist’s life is as sweet as a peach, who cares? If no one steps on her toes, if she has no flaws, if conflict is mild and everyone gives in and makes up easily—who gives a [...]

E. Benjamin Skinner is a modern day abolitionist crusading against modern day slavery.
An independent journalist, Skinner infiltrated trafficking networks, slave quarries, illegal brothels and urban child markets to find subjects for his book A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery .
In Haiti Skinner went undercover and bargained for a domestic and sexual slave. Within [...]