Day 1 It is the Sunday after Thanksgiving and everyone is home, in the house, while I write. I’m in the basement at our Ikea secretary, writing 15 minutes on the here and now, in the same spot, every day for 30 days. I hear it may get tedious after a while. The heater rumbles … Continue reading Snapshots from the writing desk
“No writer should be without a Very Large dictionary.” – Priscilla Long On a bitter cold Tuesday afternoon when hat, scarf, gloves, and wool coat were not enough to keep the icy air out of my bones, I popped four quarters in a meter in downtown Blacksburg, bent my head to the needling wind, and … Continue reading Word trap
In October of 2012, one year ago this month, in the quiet of one morning before my family woke, I began a daily writing practice. On weekdays, I set my alarm for 6 o’clock, rise shortly after the clock radio announces the morning news, descend two flights of townhouse stairs to our desk in the … Continue reading Five tips for getting words on the page
We rearranged our furniture. Now my writing desk is downstairs, in our den, away from the stove and my French press. The first morning I woke to write, it was 20 minutes before I got to my keyboard after filling the tea kettle, grinding beans, waiting for water to boil, then waiting for coffee to … Continue reading We rearranged our furniture and a new ritual was born
“The only time I have anything interesting to write is when I go on vacation.” (“No way,” “That’s a bunch of crap,” from around the room). John, in my critique group, was talking about how he has a hard time coming up with new material in his regular life. “You know, on vacation everything is … Continue reading From writing to parenting: the mundane matters
I thought about visiting an art museum or strolling in a garden for my artist’s day out*, but what I really wanted to do was sit in a coffee shop, eat pastry, and watch the world go by. So that’s what I did. At Bollo’s, a cozy café in Blacksburg, there were a handful of … Continue reading Prime real estate… in the coffee shop
Butterfly Mind 