“It happened this way: I fell in love and then, because the love was ruining everything I cared about, I had to fall out. This didn’t happen easily, or simply, but if I had to pinpoint it, I’d say the relationship started to fall apart the night I nearly killed my oldest friend’s two daughters.” … Read more
Readers all have favorite books—book we re-read, books that encouraged us, inspired us, challenged us, and soothed us. However, I wonder, is there a difference between most memorable books, and the individual characters who stay with us far after we finish the last page? I think so. I’m not an academic scholar who can deconstruct … Read more
The tragedy in Haiti points ever more poignantly at the amazing deeds of everyday heroes. Right now, somewhere in Haiti, selfless men and women are putting their lives at risk and sacrificing comfort, sleep, food, peace of mind and who knows what else to pull someone from rubble, to deliver a baby in the midst … Read more
Writing a book resembles entering a reverie where the entire world is your playground. Birth, death, war, and peace (it’s in your hands. Then you finish. It”s the next step and you can’t get a handhold anywhere. Control is gone. You are subject to the whimsical tastes of agents and editors who hold the key … Read more
Books on Writing: Part 1 Whisper the words books on writing to a bunch of writers and you might have to watch the whoosh of air as they take sides so fast it’s like being transported to West Side Story. Jets: “Books, I don’t need no stinking how-to-learn-to-write books. Long as I have John Gardner, … Read more