Dear Vi,You might have heard that the streets of Dawson City are paved with gold,but the truth is, they aren’t paved at all.Here’s evidence: boot brushes outside the door of every establishment.And miles of boardwalk.This summer has been a writing retreat for me. I left home with a sketchy idea for my next novel, and… Continue reading The Streets of Dawson City
Category: Writing
Head and Shoulders, Knees and…Elbows? Searching for ergonomic solutions in small writing spaces
Dear Vi, I hate to be a complainer, but I just have to tell you: Too much hand quilting, knitting, typing, and gripping heavy weights at the gym have given me tennis elbow in both arms and caused the arthritis in my hands to flare up. It’s my own fault. I let it go too… Continue reading Head and Shoulders, Knees and…Elbows? Searching for ergonomic solutions in small writing spaces
Fire!
Dear Vi, It’s foggy this morning. Outside my window, wisps of fog stream past like smoke from a chimney. Wait… maybe it really is smoke. I get up to check. Nope, it’s fog. Relieved, I take another sip of coffee. And then I burst into tears. A couple of months ago, I woke up in… Continue reading Fire!
“At that time of night, the only traffic consisted of trucks filled with bodies and detainees, and police cars that roamed the streets like lost wolves howling in the darkness of the curfew.”
That sentence was written by Isabel Allende, and can be found at the bottom of page 442 in her 1985 novel, The House of the Spirits. I honestly think this may be one of the most perfect sentences ever written. You don’t need to know what the book is about to feel the fear and… Continue reading “At that time of night, the only traffic consisted of trucks filled with bodies and detainees, and police cars that roamed the streets like lost wolves howling in the darkness of the curfew.”
The Worst Job I Ever Had was Pulling the Heads off Dead Chickens
After I graduated from high school, and after all the cap-throwing and after-grad partying was finished (about 3 days later), my parents decided that I needed a summer job. After all, I’d be heading off to university in the fall; it wasn’t unreasonable to expect me to make a financial contribution. I had a student… Continue reading The Worst Job I Ever Had was Pulling the Heads off Dead Chickens
To Write or Not to Write (…what was the question?)
Both Elizabeth Berg (Escaping into the Open) and Carolyn See (Making a Literary Life) advise against telling people that you are writing a book. Why? Because then people will, of course, want to know what it’s about. It goes like this: You: So, what do you do? Me: Oh, nothing much – this and that… Continue reading To Write or Not to Write (…what was the question?)