I’ve been thinking about what kind of stories I want to write. I read a lot – sci fi, fantasy, nonfiction, political, contemporary fiction, essays. Sometimes all this material is like meat tossed to the carnivore – my curiosity endlessly hungry for more and chasing down every interesting lead presented. It’s all fuel for my…
I’m still working my way through Neil Gaiman’s MasterClass, having taken some breaks along the way. Today I followed instructions in Chapter 6 about taking a story in unexpected ways. The prompt I used was “child raking in a sandbox next to his nanny”. The initial result of my free writing session is below: Merton’s…
This is what I’ve been reading this spring. Most are audio books, which have the additional level of vocal performance to add to the experience of the story woven by the writer. Trail of Lightening (The Sixth World, #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse. This the kind of story that starts out fast and quickly accelerates. You…
I’ve begun a writing project that I intend to use while taking writing classes. It’s a piece I can experiment on, something without a lot riding on it (unlike the Novel In Progress or other work). I got the idea from one of the lectures from Neil Gaiman on MasterClass. He was talking about how…
This book, more than 5 years in the making, is finally getting out into the world. Around 30 contributors share their personal experiences and journeys in discovering what gender means to them, in defying gender norms and finding a place for themselves outside the gender binary. Contributors have their copies and it will be available…
All the usual things have been keeping me busy lately – work, volunteer work, relationships, parenting.. and also some creative and fun things as well. Just today, with the help of my youngest, I finished a stunning and colorful puzzle featuring two sea turtles. I love sea turtles so much that I had some tattooed…
or, Giving Myself the Gift of Learning I’d seen the ads many times. The confident face of some master artisan staring out at me, promising to teach me their secrets of the trade. “Explore online classes from the best in the world”. There was Steve Martin teaching comedy and James Patterson teaching novel writing, and…
Idea for a resolution, if you do those: If you’ve been a person who often has a platform and is comfortable telling your story, consciously make space for people who don’t have a platform and are nervous/anxious/afraid to tell their story. There’s a lot of power in stories. Grant some of that power to those…
I know I’m not the only one who approaches the holidays with a mixed feeling of happy anticipation and dread. I’m also probably not the only one who looks forward to cherished traditions and time with loved ones, while also fantasizing about being somewhere far away for the entire month of December. Today is Christmas…