As you read this, I’ll be on a plane home from Louisville, Kentucky, returning from a Homecoming celebration at my MFA alma mater, Spalding University. But I’m writing this several days in advance, the Tuesday after Memorial Day to be exact, because, duh, I won’t have time while I’m gone. Meanwhile, I’ve managed to catch […]
I am brain dead. I’m writing this love letter on Saturday morning, so that I can get it scheduled for release on Sunday. And for the last two days I’ve been at a writing conference. I’ll be returning for another dip this afternoon. It’s not just any conference, it’s AWP. AWP. Often the name is […]
I’m reading The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life, by Marion Roach Smith, which I find charming in many ways. It is a slim volume by a popular writing teacher which has many good ideas for memoir writers. In it, the author rants against the use of prompts, writing exercises, and […]
Here’s a short list of people I envy: All writers everywhere on the planet who have a book contract with a major publishing house. All successful self-published writers. All writers who have control of their own schedules, i.e., plenty of time to write. All writers who do not live with seven- and three-year-old boy hooligans. […]
My life is chaos and distraction at the moment. As many of you know, my daughter and her husband and two boys are living with us while we build an addition, after which my hub and I will move into that space and they will take over the main house. As if living with a […]
Okay, this is it, I’m going to tell you how to do it. After all these years, I’ve finally decided to share the secret. I am going to tell you the one right way to write. Are you ready? Here it is: The one right way to write is the way that works for you. […]
When I was younger, I smoked. It’s been twenty years now since I quit, but I still remember how much I loved smoking. (For years, I swore that once I hit my eighties I was going to take up smoking again, because at that age, who cares, right? But I no longer have any desire […]
I’m such a sucker for reviewing and planning at this time of year. I’ve tried a million systems, some expensive, some not, some helpful, some way too detailed and structured to work for me. I’ve bought programs from Michael Hyatt, and calendars from Leonie Dawson. Often I buy expensive planners that promise to make me […]
I’m two weeks out from my hip replacement surgery, and, as noted last week, I’m doing well. I jokingly tell people I’m a little disappointed—I thought I was going to have at least a month to laze about, reading and recovering. And now I feel like doing all the things! Including writing. Sort of. Because, […]
Years ago I read a science fiction novel, the name and author of which is long lost in the mists of time and my brain. A female scientist (I think), living on another planet (of course), was studying an alien life form that appeared in the form of lights in a lake. The lights blinked […]
