You can tell when it’s stacking up to be a bad writing day.You look at the list of non-writing stuff that needs to get done, throw up your hands and think, No possible way.Or the thought of whatever project you’re working on ignites that gnawing insecure feeling that … [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...]
My Next Big Thing
Thanks to my friend and Beyond the Margins co-blogger, Dell Smith, I’ve been invited to participate in an online literary blog called My Next Big Thing.The blog is a series of questions about my work-in-progress. Many national and international writers have participated. It … [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...]
A Book in The Drawer … Right Where It Should Be
I have a book in the drawer. Okay, it’s not in an actual drawer. It’s in a box with old tax documentation under my fax/scanner. I also have electronic copies stashed in several places. Not that it matters. It will never see the light of day.The Book in the Drawer is a phrase … [Read more...]
When Bad Meditation Inspires Better Writing
I’ve tried meditation off and on since my twenties, and I love the concept: quieting the mental noise, clearing away the chatter for a period of time, inviting stillness. With four kids and their friends coming and going from our house like it’s a train station on the Green Line, … [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...]