I found something amusing on Amazon today. There’s a concordance for my story collection, The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress. The concordance lists the 100 most frequently used words in the book. They tend toward the masculine–ivan, jake, jimmy, john, sven. One thing is clear from this list: characters in the book, for better or for worse, seem to spend a whole lot of time looking and thinking. across against always arms away baby bed beneath big black body boyd boys came car city come dad darlene day door down dress even everything eyes face father feel first front...
Writing Exercises
calling all scorpios
It’s my birthday. 35. Yikezoid. Scorpio to the core. Yes, go ahead and hate me–scorpio is the most reviled of all the astrological signs. I can’t imagine why. Please send me tales of a)your weirdest birthday, b)worst birthday present, or c)your dream birthday celebration. Wait, wait…even better! Have you ever been on the receiving end of some bad scorpio vodoo?
grace
I came out of my favorite little sandwich shop in Burlingame this afternoon to see a meter man circling my car, punchpad in hand. The machine was already ticking, spewing forth the ticket that would set me back four times the cost of my sandwich, which I wasn’t convinced I wanted to eat anyway. “Oh!” I said. “Please, please!” Which is what I say every time I see a meterperson circling my car. I expected him to give me that condescending, all-powerful glare that is the province of meterpersons. But lo and behold, he just smiled slightly and said,...
people who need editor people
Yesterday, I received a note from Ericka Lutz at Literary Mama, suggesting a small edit on a story of mine they’re running in October. It was a very good edit, so precise and insightful, and, in a way, so obvious, that I was surprised I hadn’t thought of it myself. I told Ericka to go ahead with the edit, noting, “Why didn’t I think of that?” In response, she quoted a zen aphorism: “The eye that sees but cannot see itself; the sword that cuts but cannot cut itself,” adding, “That’s why, I guess, it’s often helpful to have...
The international bestseller about one woman’s search for a missing child…
"Mesmerizing." ~Library Journal, starred review.
Stop dreaming, start writing!
