The Writing Life

In the past, I often approached time away from work with the same spirit of competition and productivity that governs my work life. By the time I approached a vacation I had often worked myself into a state of exhaustion, so I was absolutely going to “vacation well” and maximize every moment I had away […]

The headline of this post may surprise those who know that I have published two books that have a total of ninety “rules” about writing and publishing. But trust me, I called them “rules” with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. There are no rules in publishing. Come up with any supposedly ironclad “rule” […]

Morten Høi Jensen wrote a great essay today that was touched off in part by a reporter’s now-deleted tweet questioning how anyone could read fiction during Times Like These. I wanted to chime in on this not just to point you to Jensen’s excellent article, but also to riff on one of the undercurrents of […]

Bracing. In the past, nothing has quite brought out the snide emails and comments like suggesting that writers should do more than just write. (Remember when I said it’s helpful to be able to type fast? I sure do!). There’s a certain slice of writer who bristles at any suggestion that their beautiful art won’t […]

We’ve finished another trip around the old ball of plasma at the center of our solar system, which means it’s time to reflect and think about what lies ahead. Nearly all of us have had two pretty horrendous years that often felt like an ongoing process of destruction: to our social lives, our civic institutions, […]