Sometimes when Latin American literature comes up as one of my areas of research in a casual setting, I hear things like, “Oh, so you read Borges, right?”
Don’t get me wrong: Borges is great–and important. So of course I … Read more
It’s a rare thing, maybe, for an author to celebrate her book being locked up. But in this case, going to lock-up means being freed to find a new audience–and getting my book into the Michigan Reformatory library.
I stumbled across … Read more
To help YOU go write today, I’ll share my number 1, go-to method of getting my style muscles in condition.
There is something to be said for having a shock-proof shit detector that can be turned “off” for the purposes … Read more
A day late, and a bad joke too many, but for labor day… I was thinking about fictional depictions of childbirth. Not motherhood, mind you, but proper labor. I think this is something most of us mothers would rather leave … Read more
Today’s post offers a review of ANNEXED·by Sharon Dogar and suggests pairing it with NO CRYSTAL STAIR by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson.
(Note: this is part of my “If I were a librarian” fantasy in which I would always … Read more
For me, death is the hardest chapter to bear in the story of a life.
Recently, my brother asked me to share some good memories about my grandmother, who passed on the fourth of July after a long struggle with … Read more
I reader recently emailed me to ask about the most-read articles on this blog. (Thanks for your question, Christy!) Here are the ten most popular posts, in reverse order to maximize suspense.
10. Five reasons NOT to self-publish your novel as … Read more
For me a first draft is like that impossibly slow climb to the top of a roller coaster… a roller coaster from hell that keeps getting higher and higher so that you spend WEEKS thinking, I’m almost there… I’m just … Read more
Anybody who’s remotely paying attention should know that I love Scrivener. I’m near evangelical about its virtues for everything from novel-writing to blog-touring to academic blah organizing. (Yes, my academic blahs need to be organized.)
But there’s something that … Read more
The husband and I just finished reading Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, and it has sparked lots of good conversation about our priorities for the food we put onto our–and our son’s–plate. That’s a conversation … Read more
