Writing

There’s a great, big spider that’s built a web outside my living room window. At first, I observed her alone. She built an exquisite web to span the entire width of the glass – [...]

This weekend, I drop off my “baby” at college. It won’t quite be an empty nest… my oldest doesn’t go back for her second year for two weeks. But as I inventory the [...]

Darkly, tragically, infuriatingly, heartbreakingly, it is far too common to learn of more senseless loss of life due to gun violence in the United States. I have absolutely no doubt that one day [...]

At no other point in my lifetime have I been as aware of the need for frank discussions about serious issues. Of course we’ve always had problems. But never before has hate seemed to be in [...]

You may remember me gushing about a writing workshop I went to in May with the inimitable Laura Ruby and Anne Ursu. It was a writer’s dream for so many reasons: it was at the fantastic [...]

In Anderson Cooper’s poignant tribute to his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, this week he mentioned a quote that made him think of his mother. It is from a book by Mary Gordon: “A [...]

When someone loves me, I’ll fly high I’ll swoop low and feel safe I’ll twirl on a breeze and be light as a feather. “I love you,” says the wind. But the wind is too [...]

The other day, I was watching a screenwriting video on YouTube. I’m a novelist, not a screenwriter (yet!) but screenwriters tend to be very good at advancing plot (since in movies things [...]

Warning: spoilers abound. No, seriously. Turn back now. I did not jump on the Game of Thrones bandwagon early on. I hadn’t read the books. I’d vaguely heard of this show that people [...]

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event gives you a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from your favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this [...]

Regular readers will remember I recently announced that my story “A Port in the Storm” was chosen for a cool new anthology coming out in May of this year. The premise of Five Minutes [...]

This past (long) weekend, I took a whirlwind trip to Atlanta. It was to a by-invitation-only gathering of published writers, and I had no idea what to expect. I’d made the decision to go [...]

Today I worked on edits for my story in the Five Minutes in Hotel Stormcove anthology (I can’t wait for you guys to read it!). Revisiting the short story format gave me another idea for [...]

When it rains, it pours, chickadees. You’ll remember a few days ago I let you know about Five Minutes at Stormcove, an anthology I “cold queried” and just found out I got into a few days ago. [...]

There’s an old Twilight Zone episode I always think about, the story of a curmudgeonly guy who wants nothing more than to be left alone to read all the time. It was supposed to be a [...]

Eeeeep!!! I am so excited! If you’re a regular reader, you know it has been a long, dusty road on the publishing trail for me. I can (and have) bored you with the blow by blow before, but a [...]

In the span of under two years, I have gone from someone sensibly skeptical of law enforcement to a regular pilgrim to the chapel of Saint Mueller. How did this happen? I blame Preet Bharara. [...]

Going through my phone, I sometimes find pieces of things I’ve written in my notes in waiting rooms or some such. I like posting them here, because when I’m looking for something [...]

It may not seem so, but spring is right around the corner. And with spring come literary festivals and other bookish fun. I’ve updated my Events page (it’s about time, I know, I [...]

Those of us with several trips around the sun under our belts, and a commitment to leading purposeful lives, tend to have a long history with New Year’s resolutions. I’ve written [...]

As many as 14,300 kids are being held in facilities which house large numbers of migrant children, despite the fact that studies have long shown that warehousing of children leads to lasting [...]

I don’t spend a lot of time navel-gazing about why I write. Some things just are, like breezes and cooking smells, my caterwauling cat and the my wonky nail on my right middle finger. [...]

I wear my family on my back like a turtle wears her house. Read this letter for me. What if they come? What do I do? I wear my family on my armor Of stay away Of you don’t understand Of we [...]

I’ve been quiet on here of late. It’s not for lack of things to share, but for an insistent desire to pull out of the bonds of what’s been said and send out news, clarion and [...]

It probably began with Madonna. There she was, dazzling beacon of my emerging girlhood, writhing on a boat in blue spandex pants against a backdrop that looked dreamed up for her Like a Virgin [...]

I took Italian in high school by happenstance. They only offered three languages in my tiny Catholic all-girls school: Spanish, French and Italian. Since I already spoke Spanish, that felt like a [...]

Immigration articles for students and resources linked below. But, first, some thoughts about why they’re important. I am a former undocumented immigrant, and the author of a book inspired [...]

This morning, my email homepage invited me to read about Heidi Cruz’s latest silly statement. It quoted a Vanity Fair article in which she lamented the fact that her husband Ted *only* [...]

The great tragedy of my middle age has been to finally get to unwrap the beautiful gift box of the American Dream, and to find that’s what’s contained within is not all I hoped for [...]

Rain is the wish for warm skin against mine the thought of the drain outside my basement which capriciously backs rainwater into my home some rainy days yes, some rainy days no. Rain is the empty [...]