I’ll be teaching in La Canada at Flintridge Books with Victoria Zackheim and Anne Perry on Sunday October 2nd- ( www.WriteTeachers.com) and starting an ongoing workshop at Vromans in Pasadena on Saturday morning October 8th. Hope to see those of you living in that part of town at one or the other – or…
I realize I haven’t posted on my blog for over a month and I have the best reason in the world – I’ve been writing. And reading. I suddenly got very sick of the sound of my own voice talking or writing about writing. Or saying anything about me me me via social media.(Though…
Next Sunday, 7/17/16. Victoria Zackheim, Anne Perry and I are conducting writing workshops at Flintridge Bookstore in La Canada from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, come join us. I’ll be doing a session for those of you with work-in-progress – so if you have a partial manuscript bring…
There really are no cast-in-stone answers for literary problems. I wish there were, it would make life so much easier and calmer. My students ask: What should be the structure of this memoir? How do I end this essay? What’s the right voice for it? Each is a mystery to solve – whether it’s my…
People sometimes ask authors if they have a favorite book they’ve written. I always say that my books are like my kids, or grandkids, I don’t have favorites. Mostly because (unlike your kids and grandkids) you get really, really sick of a book, especially a novel, after you’ve finished it finally. You’ve lived with the…
So I bought a new iPhone today and the guy said just plug in the old one to your computer and blah blah blah and then download it to blah blah blah. Then plug in the new one and blah blah blah. I came home and immediately texted my friend/all-things-electronic guru Rob Daly that OMG…
This is the only real concern of the artist, to recreate out of the disorder of life that order which is art. – James Baldwin I find that if I don’t give shape to my experience in language, if I don’t spend time in the crafting and honing of that experience in words,…
Writers need to walk every day – not only for exercise but to clear their heads. (Actually this is true for everybody of course.) Nelson and I walk about three miles every morning on the beach very early and lately the dawn sky has been amazing. Also amazing are some bits of conversation I…
A space has opened up in the November 13-15th Lake Arrowhead Writer’s Retreat. If you’re interested please email me and I’ll send you an application. The cost is $820 and this includes room and board (fabulous meals! plus wine at dinner), workshops, one on ones with me, tips, everything. All you have to do is show…
It occurred to me this past weekend during my Writers Retreat at the UCLA Conference Center in Lake Arrowhead that this is how I’d like to live. Surrounded by other writers, working every day in a cosy room with a fireplace and a view of trees, coffee delivered all day, three amazing meals you don’t…
