The importance of reading for writers

This post isn’t going to say what you think it’s going to say. You probably think it’s going to say that I think writers should read all the classics and all the award winners and all the “important” books. But I don’t believe that to be true. I’ve always been a reader. I hesitate to — Read More

Writing without a goal

People told me that once I published a book, I’d have to be careful not to let “the industry” distract me from my love of writing for the sake of writing. I didn’t think this would be a problem for me, but it has been. Before publishing a book, I wrote the stories I wanted to — Read More

What it’s really like to publish your first book

It’s weird. Let me start there. It’s very weird. The thing is, I’ve dreamed of publishing a novel since I was a little kid. It was the quintessential pie in the sky. My first attempts at making the dream a reality began in my early twenties. The rejection (from agents and publishers alike) made me — Read More

Why writers are crazy masochists

On Sunday, I was scrolling through Facebook (never a good thing), and thinking about how most people spend their time on weekends. For most people, those days off are dedicated to fun, letting loose, getting out and about (or, that’s what Facebook implies). For me, weekends are a little angst-ridden. I struggle with how much to work on — Read More

Flirting with nonfiction

While waiting for feedback on my idea for a second book, I’ve been working on something…different. I don’t know what it is yet, exactly. Meaning, I don’t know if it’s destined to be an essay or a book. But, I do know that it’s nonfiction, memoir-ish. I didn’t plan to work on something like this; — Read More

The daunting outline

When you want to get your first novel published, you have to submit the entire manuscript for consideration. Nonfiction is different in that you can get a book deal based on a detailed proposal. I always envied this. But, now, as I’m working on pitches for various ideas for my second novel, I’m realizing the difficulties. — Read More

The state of the book

Every now and then, I feel the need to do a post about the state of publishing. Are books really dying? It’s hard for me to believe because I LOVE books and cannot imagine life without them. But, it appears that many people can totally imagine life without them. According to a 2015 survey by the — Read More

Why you don’t want to be friends with a writer

I hate prioritizing. Or, rather, I hate having to prioritize. I frequently fantasize about a stress-free life with wide open spaces of time to gradually tackle everything on my life to-do list. The key word in that sentence: fantasize. The reality is that I have a very busy day job, meaning the only “free time” I have — Read More

The nonfiction in fiction

I’ve done a handful of radio and newspaper interviews since my book came out (I have one tonight, actually), and every single person has asked me if the book (or its characters) are based on real life. The truth is simple: No. The core of PEOPLE WHO KNEW ME is fiction, in the truest sense. — Read More

The writer’s fraudulence complex

In the April issue of Poets & Writers, Leigh Stein wrote a piece called “Poet, Writer, Imposter” that had me nodding along vigorously. She starts: “To begin with, my credentials are worthless. I’m no expert. A better writer should have gotten this assignment. My editor is ignoring my e-mails because my work is unpublishable and — Read More