mssusanrubinwriter

Something Novel: Let’s Talk About Writing Books

It’s National Novel Writing Month! And I’m reflecting on my own process—and answering questions from novelists-to-be—all month long.

Reckoning With—and Rewriting—Beat History

October marks LGBTQ History Month and Domestic Violence Awareness Month. And this year, they both arrive as I’m reckoning with the history of homophobia and intimate partner violence in a new project.

How Creating “club termina” Taught Me the Power of Sharing My Story

You could feel it build as the women performed. Audiences got transported to this strange club, suspended in disbelief, rooting for everybody to survive. But when the character Secret, written in homage to my late friend Sigrid, did her monologue, people realized they weren’t going to get a happy ending.

One Last Time

“club termina” gave me the chance to bring my lost friend back onstage for two hours a night. I needed that medicine—because we had both expected to survive, and that’s not what happened.

From Terror to club termina

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And as a survivor, I have a lot to say about it.

When the Doctor Calls on Yom Kippur

Doctors don’t give good news in person on the eve of Yom Kippur. I was really scared.

Mapping the Road Not Taken: Partying Across Time and Space

For the holidays, I have been imagining the kind of party Deborah, the protagonist in my novel The Road Not Taken, would throw to celebrate.

Mapping the Road Not Taken: The Higgs Boson Particle & the Future of Womankind

In The Road Not Taken, our planet is up for judgment. The original inhabitants of earth, known as the Lost, keep tabs and can bring in the Boson Particle to end a failing planet or whole solar system.

Mapping the Road Not Taken: Becoming Deborah

What I learned from the five measly biblical lines was that Deborah was a prophet, a judge and a warrior. You’d think that would earn her some ink, but you’d be wrong.

Mapping the Road Not Taken: Do You Want a Do-Over?

I want a Do Over. I want to stand at the doorway to Time and Space and get to decide what will help my fellow humans, and what will destroy them. So far, I have not been invited to do this. But that doesn’t stop me from dreaming.