While I'm frustrated at the amount I'm expected to take on in the present, the 1950s woman was frustrated by being excluded - not being allowed to take things on at all.
~ Sara Sheridan
Today women have the rights and equality our Victorian sisters could only dream of, and with those privileges comes the responsibility of standing up and being counted.
I'm not sure how much easier it is for a mother to balance her life now - have we simply swapped one set of restrictions for another?
I was asked the other day in which era I would choose to live. As a historical novelist, it comes up sometimes. As a woman I'd have to say I'd like to live in the future - I want to see where these centuries of change are leading us.
In the 1950s at least less was expected of women. Now we're supposed to build a career, build a home, be the supermum that every child deserves, the perfect wife, meet the demands of elderly parents, and still stay sane.
Looking at my life through the lens of history has made me increasingly grateful to standout women who pushed those boundaries to make the changes from which I have benefited.
I believe the era of the militant lady is back.
Often we don't notice the stringent rules to which our culture subjects us.
Change occurs slowly. Very often a legal change might take place but the cultural shift required to really accept its spirit lingers in the wings for decades.
As a novelist it is my job to tell stories that inspire and entertain but I am increasingly mindful that many of these historical tales (which of themselves are fascinating) relate directly to our issues in society today.
An important part of deciding where we want to go, as a society and culture, is knowing where we have come from, and indeed, how far we have come.
The net has provided a level playing field for criticism and comment - anyone and everyone is entitled to their opinion - and that is one of its greatest strengths.
I've been obsessed with stories since I was a kid so it's no surprise that I ended up writing for a living.
You couldn’t predict what was going to happen for one simple reason: people.
They march into the future to the rhythm of the past.
You have no future when the past rules you.
Our archives are treasure troves - a testament to many lives lived and the complexity of the way we move forward. They contain clues to the real concerns of day-to-day life that bring the past alive.
If we don't value the people who inspire us (and money is one mark of that) then what kind of culture are we building?
In wartime people took action because of what they believed in. In peacetime people were driven by their private concerns.
I think that everyone has something that they will kill for.
A vision of the little house in Soho flickered across his mind’s eye, his mother at a desk, writing in her journal, with hazy sunlight streaming through the morning windows. The woman inhabited a world he had once thought his own – a world of publishers and reliable suppliers. A London that was confident and competent amid its grey, puddle-strewn streets.
I can't bear literary snobbery.
Copywriters, journalists, mainstream authors, ghostwriters, bloggers and advertising creatives have as much right to think of themselves as good writers as academics, poets, or literary novelists.
Molly Bloom is simply the most sensuous woman in literature.
Edinburgh is alive with words.
A writer is like a stick of rock - the words go right through.
A word out of place or an interesting choice of vocabulary can spawn a whole character.
When you're depressed you retreat and you go into a smaller world. This is why Brighton worked well for the story, because it's a smaller world than London.
We can learn so much looking outside our core field of expertise.
You can’t trust anyone you have to pay, and really, they can’t trust you.
Jack had been the love of her life and he was gone. It seemed now that there had never been bad times, though she knew that wasn’t true.
If you've been hurt and you've grieved and you've been through the mill, it takes a long time to get over it.
Vesta was so good with paperwork – you could hand her a file of drab, seemingly dull information and she’d construct a story from it worthy of a novel.
Grabbing readers by the imagination is a writer's job.
A paucity of material can open up just as many possibilities.
I spend a lot of time imagining things - in fact, you could say that imagining things is my job.
Like good reading skills, good writing skills require immersion and imaginative engagement.
The curve of my waist in a tight fitting summer dress can really make me new friends.
I didn't expect to love being online as much as I do. I've met some wonderful people and discovered that however arcane some of my interests that there are people out there who are interested too.
Most fellas like the races, though, Miss. It’s only human nature
