Writing Rituals
To write you have to sit and…write. That’s it. But for some of us, staying at that desk and writing is hard. There are a multitude of distractions: family, TV, a sunny day. So I’ve created a list of writing…
An Interview with Jeanne Blasberg, author of Eden
A sweeping family saga, Eden chronicles four generations of Meister Fitzpatrick women from 1915 to 2000. The book centers on an extraordinary summer home aptly named after the Biblical paradise. As the novel opens, the family matriarch, Becca, is faced…
Random Thoughts of a Debut Author on the Precipice of Publication
Last Thursday, I had a total breakdown in the Harvard Square post office. I was in the process of writing a message to my dad in my debut novel, Cottonmouths, which I was about to mail to him. This isn’t out…
An Interview with Lauren Grodstein, Author of Our Short History
Lauren Grodstein’s latest novel, Our Short History, takes the form of a memoir written by a dying mother to her son. Things become complicated when her son’s father, who was not aware that he had a son, comes back into…
How to Teach a Craft Session at a Conference
I’ve just returned from the Muse & Marketplace 2017 Conference put on by Grub Street It was a wonderful, happy, exhausting, enlightening, and inspiring time. I was chosen to be a presenter, along with my friend and fellow crime writer,…
Confessions of a Non-Voracious Reader
Standard advice to novelists is to read a lot. Of course, it would be ironic to find a writer who does not like to read. It’s the “a lot” where I get hung up. Unlike many of my writing colleagues,…