Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard My rating: 4 of 5 stars Oh, Ms. Dillard. I heart you. From the first time I opened Pilgrim At Tinker Creek in a ... Read more
My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Novels, Book One by Elena Ferrante My rating: 3 of 5 stars I finished this book a while ago and have been thinking about what to ... Read more
Just like the themes we are threading in our stories, these topics about the creative life resurface again and again. I’ve written many times before about focus, about staying in ... Read more
My best friend is the queen of unfriending. She has rules that define who to unfriend. Those who make passive-aggressive comments are the first to go. The signs are clear ... Read more
I used to spend a lot of time in the used bookstore downtown Aberdeen, sitting on the musty carpet floor with a stack of books to taste-test. I bought a ... Read more
Summer is ripe for nostalgia. As children, upon the arrival of summer, we become suddenly free to choose. Choose our own books (in my case by the armload taken from ... Read more
Yesterday a writer friend asked my advice on an awkward situation he’d gotten into where he’d given another writer feedback that was not well received. Shocked by the negative emotional ... Read more
The other day I may have bought a few books at the Half-Priced Books 50% off sale. While the checker was scanning each book (took a while), one book (John ... Read more
This is easier said than done, yet this is the message I’m hearing loud and clear. A message without pretense or subtlety. Let me explain what I mean, and also ... Read more
I can be an intensely goal-oriented person, and mostly this has served me well. I wrote a semi-autobiographical novella in part about resiliency, or at least that was the seed. ... Read more