It’s that time of year again where I go back to 2009 to relive the anxiety of having micro preemie twins in the newborn intensive care unit. Or maybe…I go back to relieve the anxiety of then. Like some kind of time-travel transference.
At the time, I wanted to be strong enough to accept any outcome, so hope was out of the question. When a nurse gave me an article that profiled micro preemies who were now teenagers, I stared at it in disbelief. That was definitely too much to hope for.
Read MoreIn the fall of 2021 I spent three weeks at MacDowell, an artist residency in Peterborough, New Hampshire. I was assigned to Veltin, which is one of 32 artist studios spread out over 450 acres. Veltin has hosted artists such as Wendy Wasserstein, Leonard Bernstein, Thornton Wilder, and Tommy Orange, among many others, as attested by the tombstones around the studio. Outside the stone cottage is a plaque with a quote by Edwin Arlington Robinson: “I shall have more to say when I’m dead.”
Read MoreI get it. There’s a lot of horrible things happening out there. And sometimes reading about real-world tragedies is leaves us feeling overwhelmed and helpless. The list of atrocities seems endless and the list of solutions looks incomplete.
Here’s where art comes in. Art can offer visuals for a more compassionate world, provide examples of healing, and model community outreach. Whereas news articles tap into our intellect, art touches the spirit and builds a deeper connection.
Read MoreThat’s me talking about Scrivener. Need to organize a large manuscript? Want to link research materials to several different chapters? Wish you could coordinate comments across multiple versions?
Scrivener to the rescue! Why me? Why Scrivener?
Read MoreSometimes process feels like a slog through the mud. And for what?
Although, recently, I did slog through mud.
It started as curiosity. What if…I walked barefoot through a muddy arroyo? Squished deep red sludge through my toes? Layered black clay on my skin? What if I rolled around and made mud angels?
It looked like this.
It felt like connection.
Read MoreI admit it. Sometimes good books give me writer envy.
Why can’t I write award-winning literature like this?
But not these titles. These books are sublime and exquisite and inventive and thought-provoking and make me grateful to be a reader. No room for envy. Just awe. As my husband says, “Chapeau.”
Read MoreStuff to read: a novel, inspiration for climate hopefuls, an essay and a trip down memory lane.
Lately I can’t stop thinking about Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind, Rachel Sarah’s Girl Warriors, and Naomi Williams’ braided essay about braids and braided essays. Plus, I wrote something. About the Nutcracker. Again.
Read MoreThe first time I opened my Scrivener software trial, I had a hit of déjà vu. The format looked strikingly similar to the Eclipse software I used to organize my thousands of lines of code into modules and abstract functions.
Of course! Why hadn’t I seen it before? Writing and revising variables, objects, and methods was not that different from writing and revising narrative prose.
Read MoreFull Disclosure. I’m a unicorn. I guess I’ve always known I’m a unicorn but last October I made it official and joined the Club. The magic comes from head unicorn Minal Hajratwala in the form of group meetings, private coaching, access to Minal’s previous classes (such as “Writing from the Chakras” and “The Creative Art of Proposals) and other brilliance made available to the Blessing. (That’s the group name for unicorn. Honest!)
Read MoreScrivener offerings in the New Year: Learn how to use Scrivener to track submissions, manage research, or just learn the basics. Private consultations are also offered. All classes take place over Zoom.
Read MoreHere are a few of the titles that got me through 2020. Thank you to Oakland Public Library for curbside pickup, East Bay Booksellers for creative (and safe!) ways to buy books over the last ten months, the ChaBoBo (aka "The Book Box"), recommendations from friends, Hut Landon's newsletter, and the old stand-by favorites on my shelves.
Read More“What We Didn't Expect” is a long list for 2020, but in terms of anthologies, What We Didn't Expect is out this month from Melville Books. (Just in time for Prematurity Awareness Month!) My contribution "Destination: Okay" takes place long after we left the NICU. Michael and Wagner's language delays changed the way I looked at my expectations for my children.
Read MoreIf you could ask the Pandemic anything, what would it be?
#AskthePandemic is a work-in-progress by artist Rene Yung and she's looking for questions. Check it out: each question will be put on a post-it. Each post-it will be put on a wall—a wall in the Project Space of the Headlands Center for the Arts, to be specific. From now through the end of October.
I started this post a few weeks ago, when the skies were orange and the West Coast was literally on fire. I sketched a draft but didn't send it out because, people couldn't breathe. Some were losing their homes. Others were still reeling due to COVID-19 fallout. The timing didn't feel right.
Read MoreScrivener offerings PLUS Middle Grade reviews from real middle graders. Both Wagner and “Mr. Mikey” loved Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson and Parked by Danielle Svetcov. Read on for their reviews! (and spoilers).
Read MoreThis book was pitched to me as a novel about Marcus, a black attorney in big law in San Francisco, who has anger-management issues around race. So at the end of May, when I had my own anger-management issues around race but didn't know how to give voice to them, Knucklehead called out from the bookshelf.
Read MoreAt the busy stoplight between Rockridge and Temescal neighborhoods, we broke into four corners for eight minutes and 43 seconds of silence.
My family and I took a knee.
Read MoreIt's a good time to make fun to the things are that are un-make-funable. On June 24 at 7pm, I'll be in conversation with warm and funny author Mary Ladd to discuss her book The Wig Diaries, an irreverent book about cancer.
Read MoreThe first step was to run the stems under water and cut the requisite inch from each one before laying them in straight rows on a dishcloth. Each week I’d stare at the assortment of odd shapes and clashing colors: the runt of a bird of paradise, a speckled bloom that looked like a crumpled tissue.
Read MoreIf you told me a month ago that I'd be scrambling to buy a gallon of off-brand hand sanitizer, I'd have told you that you've been reading the wrong tea leaves. And yet, here we are. Day 4 of Shelter in Place.
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