The Writing Life
Fiction Writers Get to Play Pretend
Even as a kid, I loved reading the newspaper, especially the advice columns. The problems people wrote about fascinated me—cheating husbands, in-laws from hell, warring siblings. Long before there was reality television, there was Ann Landers. Half the fun was in reading her salty responses to the letters she received. Not surprisingly, “advice columnist” landed…
Read MoreIn My Next Life, I Want to Be Dean Koontz
Okay. I admit it. I’m incredibly jealous of Dean Koontz. It’s not just his prodigious talent and prolific success as a writer. It’s also that he still writes on an old Commodore word processor. He’s never bothered to learn how to do email. If he needs to send a message, he simply writes it out…
Read MorePlaying the “What If" Game
The other day I put my one year old grandson Milo down for his morning nap and retreated to my desk to do some writing, baby monitor in hand. He fell asleep quickly. I eagerly opened up my lap top, figuring I had a good hour and a half to work before he woke up.…
Read MoreAre We Always Writing the Same Book?
Years ago, I was at a writer’s conference chatting with a New York book editor. He asked me who my favorite YA writer was. I named her, and he said rather dismissively, “Yes, she’s good, but she always writes the same book.” To which I replied, “But it’s such a good book.” In fact, there…
Read MoreEaves-Dropping for Inspiration
My husband gave me a gift certificate to my favorite consignment shop for our anniversary. For months, I put off using it. I was knee deep in writing the first draft of my third novel. But the minute I typed “The End,” I celebrated by grabbing my certificate and heading to “Nearly New.” I love…
Read MoreSeven Weeks of Togetherness
For years, I was in a writer’s critique group that included two wonderful writers whose husbands had retired and were now hanging around the house “all the time.” Oh my, the complaints I heard! “Every time I really get involved in a scene, he comes in and wants to show me or tell me something.…
Read MoreYou Might Be a Writer If…
Stepping through the doors of any library and combing the shelves for treasures qualifies as one of life’s most exciting adventures. Really. Recently, I came across Neil Gaiman’s poignant and humorous Newbery Medal Acceptance speech for his novel, The Graveyard Book (2008). In it, he speaks of his devouring (literally) the books at his local…
Read MoreFrom Dancer to… Writer?
Originally posted on May 21, 2015 After spending decades as a dancer and choreographer, I often get puzzled expressions from folks when I tell them I’m now writing fulltime. “Don’t you get antsy?” they ask. “All that ‘butt-in-chair’ time after years of leaping around?” Well, yes. I’m only too glad to get up from my…
Read MoreIn Praise of Snail Mail
Originally posted on March 14, 2014 No writer is everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve been blessed to have my share of fans for my debut young adult novel, While I Danced. In emails, reviews on the web, and phone calls, folks have told me that reading my story moved them emotionally. They cared about…
Read MoreWriting
Originally posted on January 19, 2014 The other day, I ran into a friend who told me she’d been reading While I Danced and was amazed to discover that my mother was French! I had to explain that my novel wasn’t autobiographical. My mother was a California girl who played the piano. In fact, the details…
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