Creating wholly believable characters is often the most difficult and exciting challenge for an author, in part due to the fact that in finding ways to explore and express the depths and dimensions of their characters, authors can be faced with some depths and...
our stories, ourselves
The Hard Parts
Recently a dear author friend, Virginia Euwer Wolff, posed what seemed to be a very simple question: What's the hardest part about writing and editing? As I explored how I might want to answer her question, I realized why I haven't posted anything on my...
Beginnings
Margaret K. McElderry 07/10/1912 – 02/14/2011 My mentor and friend, Margaret K. McElderry, passed away at the age of 98 on February 14, 2011. Valentine's Day. A day on which we celebrate and express love. And a day somehow wholly appropriate on which to say farewell...
Alignment
As artists we seek to create our own sense of the chaos. Through our storytelling, poetry, painting, composing, sculpting, designing, we wrangle and wrestle with a swirl of ideas and emotions that seem at once as heavy as lead and as elusive as air. We all of us seek...
The Great Wall
A few years ago, my partner and I were lucky enough to be able to take an incredible month-long trip to China. It took about six months of planning and preparation and before that, it had taken several years of “what if”ing to set it all in motion. We wanted to see...
Nesting
I have been nesting . Cleaning the house. Doing the laundry. Sorting through books. Sorting through old clothes. Organizing folders and drawers. Writing the e-mails and proposals I thought I would do later, but have decided to do now. Paying the...