I decided to write a historical novel because I wanted to get completely out of my day-to-day life and contemporary everything—terrorism, the failure of capitalism, modern marriage, childhood and adolescence, politics, racism, climate change, you name it. Did I have…
I was fortunate to enjoy a young adult fiction double header a couple of weeks ago. It began on a Friday night with a panel of five YA authors at Wellesley Books, followed the next day by the 5th annual…
I took a research trip in mid-September. The trip itself was amazing. I spent time with archival information. I saw photos of the woman whom I’m modeling my protagonist after. I felt my main character in that room with me….
I haven’t had a chance to binge-watch Luke Cage yet. I’m still binge-watching Smash to take my mind off revising my latest shitty first draft while waiting for my I-hope-it’s-not-shitty-please-let-it-be-final draft from my editor. Life motto: hope for the best, expect the worst….
This summer I got to travel around Asia for two months with a dear old friend—a novelist and playwright, and my best reader. For weeks we’d looked forward to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the massive Hindu temple complex dedicated to…
This spring I nearly declared a moratorium on violent fiction after reading three savage novels: The Orphan Master’s Son, The Sympathizer and A Little Life. Afterward life felt dirty. Basta! After all, the news is horrific: a toddler refugee washes…