All That I Don't Know
Last Wednesday, halfway through that terrible week, I took my son and his friend hiking. I needed to be outside, to disconnect from the news, to work my muscles and remind myself that this grief, although it felt as though it had landed on my doorstep, didn’t belong to me. Because it feels as if…
For Boston With Love, Bad Language Included
My dad grew up in Southie. If you aren’t from Boston, aren’t from Massachusetts, that has different meaning for you. To me, it means afternoons spent at my grandmother’s house, listening to white boys wearing gold chains pass on the sidewalk outside, trying to understand what they said. It means going to the playground with…
Boston, You're My Home
Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened. Gandolf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. Boston. I love…
Writing Advice at the Bottom
I have been a slacker this winter. Oh, I have run on the treadmill, and hiked with the dog, but in terms of logging good, heart-pumping, want to keel over and die miles? Not so much. This is bad for so many reasons, the main one being that my mind, it goes like a hamster…
Choose Your Adventure
I’ve been thinking a lot about the choose your adventure books that were popular when I was young. Remember those? You’d read a few pages, and then make a choice — turn to page 21 to search for the treasure in the mountain, skip to page 35 to search by the sea. Your choices determined…
I Know, I Know …
It’s Tuesday, but I’ve got nothing for you today. Well, that’s not completely true. I do have a FABULOUS interview coming up with one of my all-time favorite writers, Alice Hoffman, on the Writer Unboxed blog on March 29th. If you get a chance, stop by, okay? And until then, Happy Spring!
Snow Day Redux
I’m not writing much today. I’m sitting by the window, a cup of tea in hand, watching the snow fall. There’s noise from the bedrooms upstairs — footsteps from one room to another, quiet giggling. In a few moments they’ll be down demanding breakfast (yes) books (yes) television (no). It has been like winter in…
Sometimes What You Hate is What You Miss Most
On a good day, mornings at my house are controlled chaos. On a bad day, it’s just chaos. Like most parents, I’m fighting a losing battle against the clock — there’s breakfast to make, the dog to feed, backpacks to prepare, and one child who points out EVERY morning what a nicer place the world…
Keeping Your POV True
Point of view is on my mind this month. My friend Vaughn Roycroft wrote an excellent post on head-hopping that you should read. And as I am deep in the midst of my own head-hopping with my current book, I thought I’d share my favorite tips here for any writers who might be going through…
Digging In
For someone who hates being cold, I love winter hiking. There are no ticks or mosquitoes to contend with, no vicious horse flies, no gasping for air in the humid New England summer. Often, particularly if the weather is unpleasant, the Slobbering Beast and I can go for miles without seeing another human soul. There’s…
Dinner Party
We have lots of bookcases in our house, and they all have their own purpose. The bookcase in the basement, for example, holds the baby books my kids enjoyed looking at when they were toddlers. (They’ve been chewed and drooled on and I still can’t bear to part with them.) In my office, I keep…