Margaret Willey

I had hoped to finish a first draft of a novel-in-stories, but the month of December was filled with tasks and programs and holiday concerns that took me away from a solid writing schedule. That's okay. I am about two-thirds finished with this new project, tentatively titled HOW SHE LEFT. Now it will take  Read More 

Tomorrow is the first of several video conference presentations of my Christmas book, A Clever Beatrice Christmas. I have been doing this in December for the past five years and every year the opportunity becomes more precious and meaningful. I share my life as a writer with listening children and also share the French  Read More 

Ah, Thanksgiving. Time of gratitude and feasting. "Again we will call them in from the sea, again they'll have Thanksgiving with Me!" My 2011 Thanksgiving will be quiet and restful with my beloved husband as we head up north, just the two of us, to the Traverse area. We've done this before when our children  Read More 

THE PACT is now FOUR SECRETS, a much better title I think. Today I am rewriting the final chapter for a more powerful ending. It is a little like working in a secret laboratory, trying to get a magic potion just right. I am so lucky to have a perceptive editor for this project.  Read More 

I am currently doing final revisions on THE PACT for Carolrhoda Fall 2012 as well as piecing together short stories with a strong autobiographical content--stories of two adolescent girls growing up in a large, chaotic family.
The PACT revision is a more analytic process--taking something I wrote 2 years ago and solving problems in logic and  Read More 

Epigram for the new novel: "Dreams are the touchstones of our character." Henry David Thoreau

I am nervous about my newly finished novel relying so heavily on the character's ongoing nightmares. It seems a tricky conceit, and one that is easy for writers to abuse. However, it is crucial to the plot that my  Read More