Category Archives: Uncategorized

I wrote recently about my favorite exercise for crafting character–100 Declarative Sentences. If I don’t say so myself, I was rather eloquent about the magic that happens when I’ve made 70 or 80 statements about a person. However, today I hang … Continue reading →

  I spent the past week at the Wildacres Retreat in the mountains of western North Carolina enjoying the wonderful gift of a writing residency. I had my own beautiful cabin where I spent hours every day writing on the screened … Continue reading →

Neil Gaiman converted me to the religion of the hand-written journal. For about a year-and-a-half, I’ve been carrying around a leather-bound book in which I write by hand. Writing in this way is slower than typing. Writing slowly gives my ideas more time … Continue reading →

In 1995, UNESCO organized a yearly celebration of reading, naming April 23rd World Book Day. The date is appropriate, in part, because it is the date of Shakespeare’s death, but it was also chosen because of the long-standing tradition of exchanging books … Continue reading →

In an essay called “Children and Fairy Stories”, J. R. R. Tolkien writes about how important it is for authors to create secondary worlds that readers absolutely believe in. He says that if the reader has to “suspend disbelief,” then the secondary … Continue reading →

I always like to read what other writers have to say about writing. It is comforting to discover that I use the same strategies or struggle with the same problems as people I admire, and I often get ideas for new … Continue reading →

In a recent post about Kindred Readers, I wrote about how profoundly important some books are to our senses of self, to our ability to know and make our worlds. I described characters or images or well-chosen words that “thrum … Continue reading →

I am in the midst of a writing retreat at my university—four days in a quiet, comfortable place, working alongside other people who are thinking and creating and writing. It is a luxury. A gift of space and time (and … Continue reading →

During this season of giving, I have been doing my very favorite kind of matchmaking—matching readers to books I hope they will love. Sometimes people ask me to recommend books for people I don’t know, and this can be a … Continue reading →

I am very fortunate to be on a two-week trip to England and Greece for the purpose of gathering ideas. I’ve spent time in the British Library, which is a massive institution that houses 170 million books, and I’ve spent … Continue reading →