Mar 17, 2018 | On Writing
They say that on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish. I say there’s a corollary, on St. Patrick’s Day, all writers are a wee bit Irish. My grandmother claimed to be Irish, but no one in our Alsatian-American family believed her. I believed her, because I wanted to be...
Dec 11, 2017 | On Writing
Starting a new novel is like planning a war campaign. Strategy is everything, and in those early days of testing characters and settings and plot lines, it’s best to go in quietly, fully armed, surprising the elements of your story into submission. At least until you...
Nov 11, 2017 | On Mindfulness, On Writing
When after thirty-plus years of child-rearing I found myself with an empty nest, I needed something to do. Something to help me figure out who I was if I wasn’t a mom, first and foremost. Of course, I had other roles to play: agent, author, editor, significant other,...
Jun 22, 2016 | On Writing
I love writing. I love baseball. And I love the Boston Red Sox. These are the truisms that direct my summers. Like most every writer I know, I have a day job—literary agent—and my own writing takes place outside the 50 to 60 hours a week I dedicate to helping other...
May 18, 2015 | On Writing
Go epic or go home. Ground your story in time and place. Let the girl who can’t find love find it right under her nose. When your heroine must choose one thing or another, let her figure out that there’s always a third option that may let her live her life...
