The arrival of spring reliably brings with it the urge to clean up, throw things out, and bring order to the accumulated dust and detritus of indoor living. The urge comes to me in unpredictable waves and must be acted upon immediately before it...
What Do You Have To Teach?
A few years ago, not long before the pandemic began, I made the decision to stop teaching and become a full-time writer. I was a little hesitant to give up my affiliation with the university and its creative writing program, but I also knew I was...
The Hero’s Journey Paradigm: Why it doesn’t work for me as a female fiction writer
After dwelling in a period of uncertainty about what to write next, I recently plunged into developing an idea for a new novel. As always, the idea is filled with possible landmines and diversions that could sink the entire project and, as I’ve...
Off the Page and In the Mouth–Memorizing Fiction
I have asked my fiction students to memorize a paragraph of prose of their own choosing. This is not the first time I have done this. In the past, students have executed the task gracefully, if nervously. One student amazed me by committing to...