Quote of the week:“Literary novelists are slightly defensive about being repetitive. I think it is perfectly justified: you keep doing it until it comes closer and closer to what you want to say each time.” — Kazuo Ishiguro (this quote helped me understand why I  continue to explore grief in my novels) What I’m reading:This — Read More

Quote of the week:“The reason it’s worth it is because you’re giving a gift to readers. You’re giving your best thought, your best feeling, your best technique. And it’s not about fame; it’s not about fortune. It is about giving with generosity. Because this is how we repay the richness we have received from the — Read More

Quote of the week:“Putting together a novel is essentially putting together the lives of strangers I’m coming to know. In some ways it’s not unlike putting together my own life. I think I know what I’m doing when in truth I have no idea. I just keep moving forward.” — Ann Patchett What I’m reading:The — Read More

Quote of the week:“There is this existential loneliness in the real world. I don’t know what you’re thinking of what it’s like inside you and you don’t know what it’s like inside me. In fiction I think we can leap over that wall itself in a certain way… There’s a kind of Ah-ha! Somebody at — Read More

Quote of the week:“Sometimes the healthiest thing a person can do is fall apart.” —Malena Ernman What I’m reading:The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness by Jill Filipovic What I’m listening to:Our House is On Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis by Malena Ernman, Greta Thuberg, Svante Thuberg, and Beata Ernman What I’m — Read More

Quote of the week:“Your feminist premise should be: I matter. I matter equally. Not ‘if only.’ Not ‘as long as.’ I matter equally. Full stop.” –Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions What I’m reading:The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness by Jill FilipovicDear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in — Read More

Quote of the week:“Storytellers are the meaning makers in a society, and therefore they have a weighty influence and the ability to move humanity forward.” –Elizabeth Lesser, Cassandra Speaks What I’m reading:American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins What I’m listening to:Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell — SO GOODA bunch of Julie Bjelland’s HSP podcast episodes (HSP = highly sensitive — Read More

Quote of the week:“The work of the moment, and the work of the next 4 years, must be the restoration of democracy–of decency, honor, respect.” –Joe Biden, in response to the appalling attack on U.S. democracy at the Capitol What I’m reading:American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins What I’m listening to:Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through — Read More

Quote of the week:“Why do the stories endure? Why did humans tell them in the first place? For a very simple reason: Life is hard. It’s confusing. We have enough intelligence to ponder existence, but not enough to really understand what’s going on here in our small corner of the vast universe. That’s why we — Read More