This is what I wrote in my cottage journal at Hedgebrook, during my residency there over three years ago. The journals are a tradition, a chance to share your thoughts before, during or at the end of your stay. Each cottage has a shelf of them, and each resident is encouraged to read through them …
Vida
The novel I'm working on takes its inspiration from a book of Marge Piercy's that I read when I was still a teenager. Vida tells the story of a fugitive radical, still living underground, still committed to her activist principles. Vida's story has stayed with me all these years like a kind of beacon and …
And… reboot
Two weeks ago, I had a fall at work and broke my wrist. There's all sorts of things to say about being injured, or being injured at work, or being in pain and living one-handed -- all of it. For now, I'll just say this: I'm trying to make the most of it. I have …
Redux
"The country no longer wanted leaders, evil or otherwise. In this new era, a performance and scripted words would do just fine." The novel I'm working on first situates itself in 1980. The line quoted above is a reflection from one of the characters, on Election Eve, as he watches the results come in. I've …
First you make a map
Long ago, I had a writing teacher who explained that when faced with dilemma of plot and story, her solution was, "First, you make a map." I've returned to some version of this advice often over the years, liberally conjuring up maps of various shapes and sizes. Sometimes they are literal and hand drawn and …
