August 9, 2018
15 Things To Do Before I Die
On Showtime’s The Big C (yes, I watch old shows when I can’t sleep), when Laura Linney’s character finds out she has cancer and only a certain amount of time left, she […]
August 1, 2018
When Things Fall Apart: Leadership in Desperate Times
I’ve been thinking about the connection between literature, politics, and leadership because I gave a talk, “When Things Fall Apart: Leadership in Desperate Times,” in James M. Van Wyck’s terrific […]
July 27, 2018
There’s Just Something About Female Friendship
(Yes, that is Anne of Green Gables and Diana Barry, founding members of the Female Friendship Hall of Fame.) I never thought I would be married with two kids and […]
July 23, 2018
10 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was Younger
1) Nothing replaces hard work–not even the stupendous, mind-blowing genius you’re hoping to catch like a cold. 2) You will benefit from the personality you were forced to build as […]
July 13, 2018
On Transforming Yourself
It can be a visible change or something so far down inside that only you know a thing about it. Sometimes it takes years and sometimes all it takes is […]
July 3, 2018
A Writer’s Misadventures in Writing
Sure, sometimes writing is a many-splendored thing, but sometimes it sucks. There are always the half-finished manifestos, the botched verbal symphonies, the sleepless nights staring at a computer, more insomniac […]
June 30, 2018
The Writer as Liar
I was quite the liar as a child. The stuff I invented seems pretty stunning now as I look back. I am still struggling to decipher whether these untruths were […]
June 25, 2018
Staging a Coup Against Writer’s Block
Although I often suffer from its opposite, verbal diarrhea—that most unfortunate state in which mediocre words indiscriminately pour forth–no writer is a stranger to the dreaded squeak of the brain […]
June 18, 2018
What is it About Some Writing that Makes Us Gasp?
What is that sharp inhale, then heart flutter, then shot of warmth, then some kind of quiet in me when I read genius writing, that high I stalk again and […]
June 12, 2018
The Marvelous “Maybe” in Faulkner’s Short Stories
While Jennifer Burg, Anne Boyle, and Sheau-Dong Lang claim that “Faulkner’s stories can leave unseasoned readers with a jumble of ‘incidents’ related through the ramblings of memory,” this jumble is […]
June 8, 2018
The Quest for the Enchanted Writing Tip
Many writers spend their whole careers chasing that enchanted writing tip that will make them extraordinary, and there’s certainly no shortage of craft advice. Some authors (I’m looking at you, […]
May 23, 2018
Your Online Dating Profile Written by Famous Writers
The Misunderstood Detective With a Poet’s Soul: About You: You love to dwell in uncertainties. You relish the chance to analyze anything, whether it be a text, film, or person. […]