As soon as I thought about one of my favorite women in history — there are so many! — the poet, Emily Dickinson , came to mind. She was born in 1830 in Amherst, MA, and had only 10 poems published, yet she wrote almost 1800. Nobody really knew about her passion until after she died and her sister found the poems. The sister had a collection published, but allowed the poems to be edited to fit popular fashion (bah humbug!). Only in 1955 did Thomas H. Johnson create The Comple

Sometimes we humans get pretty judgy about what other people read. Then we get indignant when they throw shade at what we read. Lesson: don’t judge! Each of us have very different reasons for choosing what we read. If a book takes you where you need to be, that’s awesome! I like: sci-fi, literary, poetry, memoirs, essays, short stories, novels What’s your jam? ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways, subscribe to her website: MarthaEngber.com . SC

Women’s History Month has arrived! Every Monday I’ll post a question that’ll hopefully encourage you to think more deeply about the women who’ve been in your lives. My answer to this question: women who help, but if they need it, accept help, too. I’ve found that’s a necessary combo for every character I’ve ever created, and for myself, too, which I discovered while writing BLISS ROAD . I’ll be the first to admit that the second part of that combo is sometimes wicked hard. _

A story that touches on anything Alzheimer’s might seem too heavy from the get-go, but PERFECT LITTLE WORLDS by Clifford Mae Henderson injects so much humor and humanity that I found myself alternately smiling and tearing up. In 1989, Lucy Mustin, a middle-aged lesbian cake baker from Portland, gets a call from her possibly autistic, and definitely neurodiverse sister, Alice, who says she needs help with their dementia-affected mother. Lucy reluctantly makes the long drive

Buy NOW! Valentine's Day has never seemed like a fair holiday: if you don't have a love interest, too bad for you. So Valentine’s Day has become, for me, a day about loving yourself. And if you're like Mary Donahue does in SCATTERED LIGHT , you might have to learn to love yourself. Because it’s hard to love others if we don’t love ourselves! ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways, subscribe to her website: MarthaEngber.com . SCATTERED LIGHT , a n

Today 10 internet bookish gals — dedicated readers all — are going to start a monthlong read-along of SCATTERED LIGHT , the sequel to WINTER LIGHT . If you want to join, DM me! Out of curiosity, how many of you are in book clubs? Thank you Kelly Lacey and Love Book Tours for organizing this read-fest! ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways, subscribe to her website: MarthaEngber.com . SCATTERED LIGHT , a novel, sequel to WINTER LIGHT , (Nov. 202

Buy NOW! I started researching THE WIND THIEF in 1995, the story of Madina, a strange, young Sahara Desert woman who believes she can stop a forthcoming war of winds, and Ajay, the young male thief from Mumbai who tries to dissuade her. The concept of climate change had been a thing for some thirty years already. What inspired me more than any news reports about a warming globe and more severe weather, however, was experiencing nature while backpacking. Standing atop a snow-

Buy SCATTERED LIGHT! Even when writing WINTER LIGHT , my YA book about Mary Donahue as a teen, I already had the ghost of an idea: to show her life in a trilogy. Now that SCATTERED LIGHT , the second book, was just published, I’m hard at work on the third book, OCEAN LIGHT. This has always been my thinking: we all have points in our life where we change, and change big because of what happens to us. After my mom died, I changed, and changed big. Big enough to write my memoir

Order NOW! I'm so grateful to Haley Blanchard of Readers' Favorite for giving me a 5-star review! Here's the whole review: "Scattered Light by Martha Engber follows Mary Donahue, a smart but cautious lawyer in Chicago who has just won a big case on her 36th birthday. To celebrate, she decides to treat herself to lunch at Herzl's. This is where she meets Damba Rugundi, a law professor and human rights activist from Uganda. Damba is charming and graceful, and what starts as a p

Order SCATTERED LIGHT now! I know carving a few minutes out of your evening might not sound like fun, but then you’ve never seen a free spirit like Elaina Battista-Parsons operate! Please join our discussion and get the chance to win a free copy of SCATTERED LIGHT ! 6:30 EST (3:30 Pacific/4:30 Central) Wed., Dec. 10 IG Live (@WritingInThe.Winter) ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways, subscribe to her website: MarthaEngber.com . SCATTERED LIGHT

Buy NOW! Holy moly, look who just received copies of her newest book! Come on friends, family and fans of Mary Donahue, buy your copy of SCATTERED LIGHT , the sequel to my edgy award-winning YA novel, WINTER LIGHT . Mary awaits your scrutiny! ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways, subscribe to her website: MarthaEngber.com . SCATTERED LIGHT , a novel, sequel to WINTER LIGHT , (Nov. 2025) THE FALCON, THE WOLF AND THE HUMMINGBIRD  a historical nov

Buy NOW! I love strong, feisty, smart female protagonists. In THE MAESTRO'S DAUGHTER by Catherine Thrush (The Lady Blade Series Book 1), teen Francesca de DiCesare, daughter of the Maestro, a famous fencing master in 1716 Tuscany, Italy, is all that. A natural rebel, Francesca strongly objects to everything young ladies are supposed to learn in order to become the wives of nobles. Cooking, household management, gardening. No thanks! What she really wants to do is fence like

Buy NOW! Though the video has a fun vibe, trauma is a fact of life, and it’s no joke. I come from a background where people told me, “Get over it!” We humans try, but we often can’t. In fact, according to the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress , 70% of the world’s population has been exposed to a traumatic life event. What ends up happening is that the stress and hurt — sometimes consciously unknown to us — comes out in different ways. We’re short with other people. Our

Read NOW! My thanks goes out to Barbara Bos of Women Writers, Women’s Books , which just published my essay, "Scattered Light": How Fiction Can Help Us Heal Our Own Past Trauma . I hope you take a read and let me know: Does fiction help you discover more about yourself, and in some cases, heal? ___ For updates about Martha’s forthcoming books, news and giveaways, subscribe to her website: MarthaEngber.com . SCATTERED LIGHT , a novel, sequel to WINTER LIGHT , (Nov. 2025) THE F

Buy NOW! Happy birthday to THE FALCON, THE WOLF AND THE HUMMINGBIRD ! It launched three years ago and has aroused a lot of comments from...

Order NOW! I don’t know about you, but I was reared in a family of three girls. And while the careers back then were only just opening up...

Preorder NOW! I just got that email every author awaits: the one that contains the cover for my next book, SCATTERED LIGHT (the sequel...