Random Thoughts On Nearly Four Decades Of Writing
River in New Mexico In a few days, I will be sixty-five. Got my Medicare card a few weeks ago. There aren’t many other tokens of this milestone, except being called a senior citizen. Which I’m not. Citizen, yes. Senior, no. In any case, I look ahead calmly and look back wisely. At twenty-seven, […]
Is Social Media Changing How We Write?
originally published in Writer’s Digest We’ve all heard it said that readers have increasingly short attention spans. Spending time with a print medium isn’t as engaging as watching things move or interacting with content on a screen. Does this mean that we should write stories that can be eaten up in one sitting, or […]
Keeping The Flame Lit
originally published in Women Writers, Women’s Book June 4, 2015 Writing is hard work. We all know that, right? We take an idea, move it along, push it this way, that way, leave it alone, return to it, and sometimes scratch it altogether. Once we’ve got something substantial, we tear it all apart and put […]
Why I Write – Lawrence Parlier
I’m always inspired by how other writers find their way. I asked my friend and colleague, Lawrence Parlier, to share his story with me. Lawrence’s debut novel, Sierra Court Blues, was published in 2013. Read my review here. Why I Write (Or the unintended consequence of loquaciousness) I’ve always been a […]
What Writing Means To You
Yesterday I posted a request on Twitter. I asked followers to tell me, in fewer than fifty words, what writing meant to them. I was to choose the “best,” and post it here, on my blog. This morning, I found four responses, all lovely, all heartfelt, and found I couldn’t really choose. This means I […]
What It Takes
Virginia Wolff is famous for having said that to be a woman and a writer, one needed a room of one’s own and five hundred pounds a year. In essence, she was advocating for space and time. Of course she was correct. Of course these are two essential components of a successful writing life. […]
When The Line Becomes A Circle – A Writer’s Story
In my new novel, What Is Found, What Is Lost, one of the main protagonists (there are four) reflects that “time was a loop, from now to then and back again.” Freddie, who changed her name at age twenty-one, and moved Heaven and earth to put a troubled past behind her, finds that the past […]