My youngest son, age 10, was a little nervous about spending a week at Boy Scout camp. He knew the scouts don’t prissy around with luxury items like cabins and food that anyone might actually want to eat. But that wasn’t what worried him. It was the homesickness.My husband … [Read more...]
The Healing Power of Fiction
The best fictional characters are the ones we would be friends with if they weren’t so … you know … fictional.Not to say our favorite book-friends are perfect—their shortcomings are what make them intriguing. Their struggles become our struggles, as we hope, page after page, … [Read more...]
Desperately Seeking Anne Tyler: Starting a Novel and Looking for Inspiration
I’m about to start writing a new novel and I’m slightly terrified.What makes it so gut-twisting scary? I really have no idea. I’ve done it before and survived without any noticeable scars. In fact, once I’d started it was rather pleasant. I love spinning a story, birthing the … [Read more...]
Where I Write: Authors on their Favorite—and Strangest—Work Places
“Mom! Where are my cleats?!”This is not conducive to writing.Like interruptions to any work of focus, intrusions make the headlong forward motion of imagining a scene, dialogue, motive, setting, physical movement and internal turmoil grind to a screeching, asphalt … [Read more...]
Huntington’s Disease and the Friend Who Inspired The Shortest Way Home
I first met Sue Koehler when I was living in Seattle in the mid-1980s. We’d both been in the Jesuit Volunteer Corp—sort of a Catholic City Year—and had jobs working in homeless shelters. Both in need of a roommate, we shared an apartment for 2 years.I soon learned that Sue’s … [Read more...]
Temporarily Kid-less, I Somehow Forget to Write
I’d fantasized about it for months: the week when all three of my boys, ages 16, 12 and 10, would be at overnight camp. My 18-year-old daughter would be home, but this barely counts, since she’s gainfully employed, self-sufficient, and has a busy social life. I love my kids, but … [Read more...]
Audio Appreciation: An Interview with Narrator Michael Boatman
Of all the roles you’ve seen Michael Boatman play, Italian female anarchist and Irish cop from Boston aren’t among them. And unless you’ve been living a television-free life for the past twenty some-odd years, you’ve definitely seen Michael Boatman. With feature roles in series … [Read more...]
Up Close and Virtually In Person
I had been “visiting” book groups by phone for years. I’m always happy to do this—it never gets old hearing that people who are unrelated to me and don’t owe me favors chose one of my books over millions of others to read and discuss.Also, it’s usually really fun. It’s … [Read more...]
You Wrote a Novel … Now What?
In 2005 I wrote the last lines of my very first novel.“I finished,” I told my husband.“Honey, that’s great!”“Yeah … But what am I supposed to do now?”Honestly, I’d had doubts as to whether I could even complete the thing, so I was unprepared for taking the next … [Read more...]