“You know what I believe? I remember in college I was taking this math class, this really great math class taught by this tiny old woman. She was talking about fast Fourier transforms and she stopped midsentence and said, ‘Sometimes it seems the universe wants to be noticed.’ That’s what I believe. I believe the […]
Read the rest of this entry »Author Archive
Quick take: Complicated
Plan complicated quirks, flaws and weaknesses in your whole cast of fictional characters. But then make these quality have consequences. Santino, Sonny Corleone, the oldest son in The Godfather was impulsive and a hothead, but he was also a loving father and husband and believed in protecting women and children. When his pregnant sister Connie […]
Read the rest of this entry »Thought for the day:
“No matter how careful you are, there’s going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn’t experience it all. There’s that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should’ve been paying attention. Well, get used to that feeling. That’s how your whole […]
Read the rest of this entry »Here’s one for Motivational Mondays
You know, I do believe in magic. I was born and raised in a magic time, in a magic town, among magicians. Oh, most everybody else didn’t realize we lived in that web of magic, connected by silver filaments of chance and circumstance. But I knew it all along. When I was twelve […]
Read the rest of this entry »Scholarship
I am offering a scholarship to my upcoming From Idea to Story workshop on Saturday. The information about it is a few posts below. Also, the autumn The Writing Life newsletter has been emailed. If you didn’t receive it or need to update your email address please let me know. Keep writing, keep dreaming, have […]
Read the rest of this entry »Slightly Crazy: Map Your Course to Survive NaNoWriMo
I’ve heard NaNoWriMo referred to as the writers’ version of running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain; a tequila hangover, a 30-day migraine, and an icy plunge into Lake Michigan in January, except you can’t escape from the water. It teaches you to show up to the page. it teaches you how immersive and powerful […]
Read the rest of this entry »From Idea to Story workshop on November 8
November 8, 9-4:30 Tabor Space, Portland, Oregon Writers have long grappled with the problem of taking a flash of inspiration through the marathon process of completing a finished work. That flash is your premise. But a premise on its own is flimsy, […]
Read the rest of this entry »Motivational Mondays: Alliances
Alliances Storms sent from Tropical Storm Anna roared through here last week leaving behind a soggy, tousled world and scattered, fallen branches. On Saturday we took down bird baths and feeders and anything that could fly around in our yard, and pulled out flashlights, matches and candles. On Sunday after the storm passed through we walked […]
Read the rest of this entry »Motivational Mondays
Thoughts about living with awareness and openness: “We waste so much energy trying to cover up who we are when beneath every attitude is the want to be loved, and beneath every anger is a wound to be healed and beneath every sadness is the fear that there will not be enough time. When we […]
Read the rest of this entry »
