Five Ways To Fight White Supremacy Now

By: Amira K. August 14, 2017August 14, 2017 Politicsantifa, Charlottesville, fascism, featured, Nazism, politics, white nationalism, white supremacy4 Comments

Under normal circumstances, the phrase “if you’re not with us, you’re against us,” is a horrible thing to say. There’s plenty of room for nuance in debates over economic policy, political strategy, how to chop an onion, and whether Korean tacos are an acceptable mash of food culture. But when white supremacists take the streets…

Branding For Authors: An Overview

As a writer and a winemaker, I think a lot about branding. Branding is critical for selling wine, because it’s impossible to know what’s in the bottle until you buy it and open it. Branding builds a relationship of trust between the buyer and the winemaker: when the buyer knows the brand, he knows the…

Writing As Political Resistance

By: Amira K. December 21, 2016June 12, 2017 Politics, Writing1984, conservatism, donald trump, featured, george orwell, liberalism, native son, political resistance, politics, resistance, richard wright, writing5 Comments

On March 24, 1933, the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic passed the Enabling Act, which gave the German Cabinet the ability to enact laws that bypassed the Reichstag, essentially conferring dictatorial power upon Adolf Hitler. On October 27, 1917, the October Revolution by the Bolshevik party established the Soviet government in Russia, a government that…

What I Write

By now most of you know that in addition to being a blogger, runner, winemaker, and constant consumer of too much food, I also write books. I have co-written three novels along with my mom Kristy and my sister Elena. The books follow the story of Remy Alexander, a young Resistance fighter and artist desperate to…

Who I Am

My name is Amira. I eat a lot of food. I’m a lot of different things, but I’m three things primarily: a writer, a winemaker, and a historian. I also cook a lot. (See above.) I’m not a blogger by trade, but I write here sometimes about things that I’m interested in. I have co-authored…

Need an Editor?

Are you a first-time novelist who’s just typed out the magic words “The End” – but doesn’t know where to go next? A new writer who wants to get published but isn’t ready to hit the market? Or even a seasoned author looking for insight and advice on a new manuscript? I’m here to help.…

Book Review: The Windup Girl by Paolo Baciagalupi

A dystopian future where genetically-modified food is ever-present. Where the rising tides of climate change have permanently altered human landscapes and agriculture. Where corporations and governments use biological warfare to enslave and oppress. Where political webs are woven and unwoven every day, with millions of lives hanging in the balance. Am I describing the Seeds…

A Minimalist’s Guide to Content Creation

By: Amira K. July 17, 2017July 16, 2017

Musings, Publishing, Writingblogging, content creation, digital minimalism, environmentalism, minimalism, reduce reuse recycle, writing7 Comments

When was the last time someone told you to “do more with less”? How about “think less, live more”? Or, “reduce, reuse, recycle”? When was the last time you saw an article about the tiny home trend? Minimalist design? Or a DIY Pinterest post about reducing consumption via, well, doing it yourself? Minimalism as a trend…

Bringing SEEDS to the Silver Screen: Part One

In December of 2015, I was being terribly impolite by checking my phone at Christmas dinner with my family. I glanced through my emails to find an unexpected missive from a man named Josh Tickell. I skimmed it and then sat back, stunned and suddenly incapable of participating in the banter around the table. I…

Mornings

By: Amira K. July 8, 2017July 8, 2017

Compositions, Poemsart, coffee, Laura In The Poppies 2, love, mornings, poems, Poetry, romance, Shawna Ankenbrandt, sunlight, writingLeave a Comment

Lazy on top of the sheets, dozing off again, your hand reaches out for my skin you sigh and roll over and snore The sun as lazy as we, languishing on our bellies You stir and touch my thigh and come closer You pull me in and in and in You make coffee and hand…

Book Review: The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness

By: Amira K. July 6, 2017July 17, 2017

Book ReviewA Discovery of Witches, All Souls Trilogy, Deborah Harkness, epic fantasy, fantasy, genetics, magic, reading, romance, science, vampires, witches, writing7 Comments

Have you read Deborah Harkness’s A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES yet? If not, why not? It’s okay if you haven’t. I’m late to the party, too. The first book was published almost six years ago and I didn’t know about it until last year. You could have asked me that question a little over a year…

Book Review: THE SNOW LEOPARD by Peter Matthiessen, and THE GLASS BEAD GAME by Herman Hesse

By: Amira K. February 25, 2017June 12, 2017

Book Review, Musingsbook review, Herman Hesse, meditation, personal, Peter Matthiessen, reading, The Glass Bead Game, The Snow Leopard, writing, Zen Buddhism2 Comments

It must have been an act of supreme universal goodness that delivered each of these books into my hands at differently similar times when I needed them for differently similar reasons. The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen I half-borrowed, half-stole from my sister almost two years ago when I was re-embarking on a journey I began almost…

What To Drink With What You Read (Political Resistance Edition)

Are you a #NastyWoman who has recently joined the Resistance movement against Trump’s fascist administration? Are you a long-time political activist with a renewed call to duty? Are you an ordinary citizen trying to figure out how to turn your Facebook activism into political activism? Well, you’ve come to the right place. In this post,…

Four Ways to Ease the Transition from Writing Fiction to Non-Fiction And Vice Versa

By: Amira K. January 10, 2017June 12, 2017

Publishing, Writingbusiness, craft, fiction, marketing, non-fiction, novels, publishing, writing4 Comments

So you’re a writer. You’re creative, right? You’re multitalented, right? You’ve got loads of ideas spinning around that ol’ brain of yours, and you want to bring them all to fruition. Whether as short stories, poems, novels, or creative non-fiction, you’re a writer with a lot to offer, and it’s time to turn all those…

Building Up The Bones: A Poem

By: Amira K. December 5, 2016July 8, 2017

Compositions, Poemsart, fiction, magic, music, poems, Poetry, writing8 Comments

I am ready to build my house, now I have bones to to build my walls Feathers to put a roof over my head Stories to lay as my foundations. My windows will be made of eyes So that when I look out of my house, I will see souls The fences around my house…

Book Review: “The Awakening of David Rose” by Daryl Rothman

By: Amira K. August 4, 2016August 3, 2016

Book Reviewbook review, books, daryl rothman, fantasy, fiction, reading, the awakening of david rose, writing, young adultLeave a Comment

In 2013, I met a friend. His name was Daryl. We met at a writing conference, and he told me he was (unsurprisingly) writing a book. Several, actually. He was editing one, a young adult fantasy novel, and was pitching that, along with an adult literary fiction novel, at the conference. He seemed cool. We traded…