Monthly Archives: May 2011
From the Hammock
Arguably, the most productive thing I’ve done this weekend is mow the grass. Not that anyone’s arguing. I also spent an entire day in the hammock reading, mixed up an icy pitcher of home-made lemonade, and watched my daughter make a pear and peach pie from scratch. Then I ate a wedge or two.
We know how to slow down, here in Connecticut, come Memorial Day weekend. A neighbor stopped by with her dog to bring me a flyer about a potluck and sat in a… Continue reading
Q. Do You Think Social Media Matters to Writers?
A. I did not, initially, find the prospect of joining social media innately appealing. Do not mistake me for shy or insecure because I’m not, but I am rather private and low-key. I’m the sort of girl who’d rather hang out with a friend on the couch than dress up and go to a party, and social media looked like a party of strangers. Besides, I was busy writing, and I hadn’t considered that interacting socially with new people online might be worthwhile.
It turns out it… Continue reading
The Other Reality
I was an hour late to my son’s crew regatta Friday because I was writing and lost track of time. My husband tried calling me when I didn’t arrive to pick him up as planned, but I ignored the phone, and even when he walked home to find me, I just thought he was early and kept writing on the back porch. In short, the portal to this world was closed. Only awareness that my husband was eating lunch finally penetrated to my consciousness and brought me back.… Continue reading
Book People
Last week, Billie Levy and I figured out how to use the camera feature on her cell phone so we could ask our waitress at Rizzuto’s to take a photo of our happy lunch with Karen Romano Young and Kat Lyons. Billie and I huddled together, pressing buttons and switching through the menu layers in an ever deeper maze of tiny icons, and I must say, it was a kick when we hit the first instant the screen was clearly seeing through a lens.
Billie Levy, Caragh O'Brien, Karen… Continue reading
Raising the Stakes
Suppose your character is running late. If she’s late to class, or late to her sister’s wedding, or late to see her mother on her deathbed, the stakes are different. Suppose she needs to exit a room. It makes a difference if she can simply walk out, or the door is locked, or the room is on fire. Next suppose she needs to get out of a burning, locked room in time to save her mother from dying. We’ve just raised the stakes.
Locked in.
In… Continue reading