Are you stuck in the middle of writing your first novel and can't imagine ever writing "the end?" Maybe writing doesn't "fit" with your life right now. Or you can't find the time. Or the confidence. I understand. It took me nearly a decade to write my first novel. My second novel took six months. … Continue reading A Tale of Two Novels
Tag: writing
Cure Homesickness: Write a Novel
Two years ago I began writing a story. We had moved from our home on the central California coast to Virginia, and I was homesick for the mountains, the cool coastal air, the golden evening light--the familiar beauty of our former home. For several months, I used my writing to capture memories of California, fearful … Continue reading Cure Homesickness: Write a Novel
How to Write a Novel in Ten Years
I recently read a Pulitzer Prize winner that took the writer about a decade to complete. What a coincidence! My first novel took me nearly ten years to finish. Now, I doubt Anthony Doerr followed my process when he knocked together All the Light We Cannot See, but if you’re looking to write a … Continue reading How to Write a Novel in Ten Years
Spring (Finally)
This poem lay dormant for months, seeded in the waning days of autumn, when I wrote Anthem. Finally, spring is here with "A shout of triumph / An anthem of joy." Tight, verdant buds dot the naked limbs laid bare in winter, and a chartreuse film covers the ground greened in new grass raised from … Continue reading Spring (Finally)
What’s So Great About Wuthering Heights?
I first read Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights when I was eighteen, more than two decades ago. And, until recently, I’ve never wanted to revisit it. However, when my two eldest children were assigned the novel for school, I began to wonder if a second reading might change my opinion.
Holy Week: Hope and Resurrection
How does the hard and frigid soil, packed from winter's brutal toil, think that spring will ever show-- unfurl above, thread below? What tiny hope stirs in the deep to resurrection's vigil keep? What life beneath is waiting there-- renewal's meat, drink, and air? It's Adam's dust, from Adam shaken, soil to flesh, the flesh … Continue reading Holy Week: Hope and Resurrection
Jacksie & Zelda
A few weeks ago, I sat with my youngest daughter in a doctor's waiting room. She had forgotten to bring a book and was bored. Very bored, and very restless. I pulled a pen and notebook from my purse and suggested we write a story together. We made it through the opening scene before we … Continue reading Jacksie & Zelda
Writing Life
"Flannery O'Connor said that anyone who survived childhood has enough material to write for the rest of his or her life." ~Anne Lamott "Getting Started" Bird by Bird "No matter how far I venture outside my own experience, I also know that I am who I am, and that my work will always reflect my … Continue reading Writing Life
Short Story: Three Chickens
As I explained in an earlier post, I like to use short fiction exercises to better acquaint myself with characters from a longer work. Sometimes I finish with a paragraph or two that puts a little flesh on an otherwise thin character; sometimes I gain a better sense of the character's voice, and sometimes a … Continue reading Short Story: Three Chickens
A Children’s Story (Excerpt)
I'm currently writing a children's story. It's a great deal of fun, primarily because I'm writing with my children in mind, thinking about what will interest and entertain them. They really are the perfect audience: endlessly forgiving and easily amused. In this story, I'm just getting to know a particular character. I know she walks every morning and … Continue reading A Children’s Story (Excerpt)
In the Quiet 