Last week, Ray, my mailman, found me washing dishes in the kitchen. He'd been knocking on the front door (haven't had a functioning doorbell in this house, ever) but I thought it was just the noisy construction guys around the corner, so I ignored the sound until he came around to the side door to […]
Last week at the Fall Writer's Loft orientation, we held a panel on The Writing Life. I moderated, and mentors Bill Brown, David Pierce, and Linda Busby Parker participated. It was a freewheeling and wide-ranging discussion, as I'd hoped. Since I was moderating, I scribbled notes, just in case the conversation lagged and I needed […]
When it rains in Nashville, the heavens open in a biblical manner. If you happen to be caught outside in it, you are soaked to the bone instantly. Often the rain is accompanied by scary bursts of thunder and lightning. Perhaps the thunder and lightning is scary to me because I experience it so rarely […]
A quick note–I want to let everyone know that the All Modern contest, originally slated to end tomorrow, has been extended over the Labor Day Weekend. My contact at the site is on vacation. This is good news for him and good news for you as well, because it means more time for you to […]
We're getting a new roof put on. Not only that, our old roof leaked, so there's some damage that needs to be repaired in the house itself. This means I currently have two work crews at my house. At the moment, the sounds are: pounding, the screech of a wood truss being ripped from the […]
It is August, the crickets sing at night, and my pug is dying. I want to honor him while he is still here, which will not be for long. My pug Igor, has been a constant companion the last ten years, even after turning blind, and lately, developing a limp in his rear leg. He […]
I'm a journal and notebook junkie.
I carry around a journal with me wherever I go, and over the years I've been through many a different kind of journal. But lately, I have discovered Moleskines, and I am in love.
Sitting in the garden at the Pasadena coffee shop called Zephyr, I whiled away a few good hours talking with my screenwriting friend Brian. We discussed the movie biz and the publishing world while a gentle breeze rustled the ivy covering the patio walls and handsome Armenians smoked hookahs at a table nearby. Russian literature […]
Having some difficulty creating full, true-to-life fictional characters? Why not let Marcel help you? Yes, that Marcel, the most famous one of all–Marcel Proust, author of Remembrance of Things Past, the only part of which I remember is when he waxed poetic about Madeleines, the shell-shaped, mini-cakes that melt in your mouth. Thanks to the […]
I'm a junkie for writing books. The good ones get me so excited about writing that I have a hard time finishing them because I put them down to go write (sort of like what I hope this blog does for people). And even the bad ones generally offer some tidbit or another. So when […]
