I’ve got thick skin! After thousands of rejections on my way to various publications, I’ve developed a pretty good ability to constructively receive criticism of all kinds. I’m no scaredy cat. Still, every time you step up to ask for feedback on your creative work, you have to suck ...

Reverse it.

Talked to my brilliant, brilliant (truly genius) expat friend who went to Stanford B-school, and she gave me an awesome tip. Flip it up and reverse it.

Now if you haven’t clicked it yet, click Missy...

Explains why many writers require solitude, are often alone even in crowds, but not lonely. They are examining their alone-ness, discovering what they alone love, and therefore what must be written.

Sixth grade, we were lined up at the school salad bar, wondering how much ranch dressing would render the so-called diet lunch no longer low-cal. My friend “Shannon,” (let’s call her Shannon), had recently broken up with her boyfriend and was officially single. She stopped in front of the iceberg and said, I need your advice. Who should I like?

Andre Dubus III told me to relax... write this novel right... remember, there’s no hurry. Au contraire, mon frère! Dude’s got to be wrong. Even if he IS Andre Dubus III. I’m an unbearably slow writer. Ten years for Rapeseed. Effort of Will is is now ...

It's that time of year when the college freshman come home for the summer, the high school grads get excited about leaving for college, and there are a lot of summer conversations about in-between-ness and limbo, and how best to step towards the future.  (Do the limbo toward the future!  Or not).  Anyway, here's my own personal anecdote, for your edification.

I al...

Partly, I write this post because I want to be sure I can easly find and click Dani Shapiro's excellent speech from Arianna Huffington's Thrive event.  I have been reading her writer's guide 'Still Writing: the Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life' and let me tell you, wh...